Toronto, Day 2

After a very busy day yesterday, we decided to keep today a little more low key. We slept in and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel.

Brady really wanted to see the "underground city" in Toronto. We had tried to prepare him for the fact that it would pretty much look like a shopping mall, but he was still disappointed. Apparently, he and Rudy had envisioned a place where you would see tree roots and dirt. After wandering through a bit, we headed to the subway an up to Casa Loma.

The tour book had described Casa Loma as a European style castle, complete with secret passageways. The boys were pretty excited at first. Unfortunately, it wasn't clear in the tour book that the tours are self-guided audio tours, which didn't hold much interest for the kids. They still thought the house was interesting, but I think we were all a bit disappointed.

We still managed to enjoy it by finding the "cool" stuff - secret doors, an indoor swimming pool, etc. I think the best part for the boys was playing in the garden though!

After the "castle", we got back on the subway and then hopped on a trolley car to go to the Distillery District. Rudy caught a 5-minute catnap standing up on the streetcar:

We'd envisioned an old town kind of place, vibrant with people and activity. It was very quiet with several quite pricey restaurants. We finally found a brewery with more acceptable prices (and good beer...always a bonus). We had a long walk back to the hotel after dinner, so we stopped midway for hot chocolate and a brownie:

The kids managed to find enough energy back at the hotel for a swim:

Toronto Blue Jays

Last night, we stayed in a room overlooking the Blue Jays field. The same room was far out of our price range on a game night, but it was still a unique place to stay!

Tonight, we watched the Blue Jays beat the Mariners. It was a pretty exciting game; we got to see 2 home runs. The roof was open in the stadium and it was a beautiful evening for a game.

Can you see James and Rudy?

Toronto Islands

We had some confusion this afternoon with hotel rooms. We knew we'd be changing hotels because the Renaissance was out of the budget on game nights. I'd booked two reservations at the Hilton Garden Inn, one with points and one paid since I wasn't sure what the rest of the week would look like at the time. Apparently, I accidentally booked them at two different hotels in Toronto and then managed to cancel the point (free) stay at the better hotel. Working all that out took a few hours and a bit of frustration, but at least we had somewhere to stay!

We had grand plans to go to the market and buy a picnic lunch to have on the islands this afternoon. With all of the confusion, it didn't quite work out that way but we did still make it to the islands for the afternoon. It was cool to see the skyline from a bit of a distance and the boys liked riding the ferry, playing football, visiting a small petting farm, and playing on another playground...

I've been to the top of the CN Tower

Those are the lyrics from a lesser-known Barenaked Ladies song; it's been going through my head since we rolled into Toronto! We were a little unsure of the weather today...the forecast was for clouds and rainshowers. Thankfully, the forecast was entirely wrong and we had a beautiful day for a ride to the top.

Rudy swore he didn't want to go to the top of the tower, but we didn't actually tell him what we were doing. He figured it out when we got in the glass-fronted elevator but he did fine. He said it didn't move as quickly as he thought so it was OK.

This picture was from last night on our walk to dinner. [We are loving the new camera!]

Views from the top:

On the glass floor...Brady was fine. James and Rudy were less thrilled!

We went as high as wee could - 447 meters!

Worn out!

Sometimes we forget that Rudy is only four. He is a really great traveler, but visiting big cities is still a lot of excitement (and a lot of walking!) for a little guy!

Both kids have been real troupers...walking almost everywhere with very little complaint. We think that Brady is consciously trying to prove to us that he is ready for a trip to Europe someday!

Welcome to Canada!

After the Ford Factory Tour, we headed off to cross the border. Once across the Bridge to Canada, we took a break to stretch our legs in a park on Lake Huron. The boys were happy to toss rocks into the lake, play tag, and play on the playground for a while. When traveling with kids, we've found that these breaks are key!