An Island of Excitement!

Hannah and I are just finishing an amazing 10 day staycation together.  We spent the majority of it close to home and it was wonderful!!  Alarm clocks were turned off day 1 and for the majority of the 10 days we didn’t set times that we needed to be or do anything.  We went with the flow, relaxed, played games, read, watched TV, shopped, cleaned and more.  It was a treat as I tend to pack our normal vacations full from start to finish.  I want to do this again sometime!!

One of the first things we did plan though was a visit to Centreville with our friends Auntie K, Uncle J, K & G.  We met at the train Monday morning ready for a day of fun!  We visited Centreville together last year and had a blast and were hoping for a repeat experience this year!

The first ride of the day (season!) is always an exciting one!

Spinning tea cups.  I can do spinny rides within reason.  These sweet kiddos put us adults to shame with their spinning madness!

Even though this giraffe didn’t go up and down it was Hannah’s animal of choice on the carousel that attempted to break the sound barrier it spun so quickly!

The Ferris Wheel has always been a favourite of Hannah’s since she was just a toddler but this time it tickled her tummy a bit more than she was happy with.   It was a 1 Ferris Wheel ride for us this year.

The other times we happily waited for our friends to enjoy more rides round and round.  Auntie K snapped this pic from the Ferris Wheel of Hannah and Mommy sharing some snuggles.  A great trade off instead of a ride for sure!!

As in the past the kids were excited to ride the fire engines and cars and oh did they take their driving responsibilities seriously!  We can only hope they’re like this when they grow up.

Hands down our favourite ride of the day was the log flume!  We lost track of the number of times we rode this rides but it would have involved counting on fingers and toes for sure!  Uncle J showing his respect to the photographer!

While Mommy lumbered into and out of the log each ride, Hannah mastered her own entrance that was entertaining to watch.

One of the last rides of the day for the kids to enjoy was the pony rides and they were a huge hit for all 3 kiddos!

Time for a train ride.

At one point we took a walk around the island and out on a pier.  Hannah and Mommy 2014

and back in 2010 taken during our very first visit to Centre Island!!

Sadly our great day had to come to an end.  I am so glad that this has become an annual tradition for our families!  Here is our beautiful skyline with our ferry in the distance.

Clever Auntie K created a movie of our wonderful day!  She’s so talented!!

Thank you for another amazing day Auntie K, Uncle J, K & G!  We’ll make sure it happens again in 2015!!

Trains, Boats and Rides….Oh My!!

Early last week I surprised Hannah by taking a day off work without telling her.  She thought we were headed to daycare…until I turned the opposite way out of the driveway.  A questioning look came over her face and she quietly asked, ‘Mommy, Where are we going?’    I told here we were going on a train which was met with squeals of delight!  When she found out some of our favourite friends were going to be on the train she almost broke the sound barrier!  Can’t you just feel her excitement in this picture?

Once in Toronto we took a ferry over to Centre Island.

Once on the island we hit the rides immediately!  So many rides and so much fun to be had!

Hannah has loved the ferris wheel since she was a baby when she rode her first one at just 16 months of age so we rode it a few times this day.

Shortly after we arrived we met a gal I had gotten to know at our waiting mom’s dinners while she was waiting for her DD and I was waiting for Hannah.  It was neat to see our sweet DD’s together!

Centre Island is geared towards younger children and it’s absolutely beautiful!!  It is so well laid out in that there are a number of rides but they’re all reasonably spaced out so there’s not a lot of walking needed for little legs.

G enjoying Merry-go-round time with Mommy.

The log flume was a big hit and we rode it over and over again.  Each time we hopped into a log it was a new combination of riders.  Hee!

It was a beautiful warm, somewhat sunny day so Hannah took advantage of this splash pad while her friends were on a ride she didn’t care to go on again.  I love her independent spirit!

By far the ride that was the hit of the day was the fire engines!  Once again they rode this over and over again, switching up combos of people, and spots within their engines.

Hannah enjoyed riding her little white pony Shadow.

The frog drop was a tummy tickling experience!  Can you hear the giggles?

Sailing, sailing….

Drivers in training.  They took their jobs seriously and did great!

Before we knew it night was falling and it was time to call it a successful day!  The kids and parents had a blast from start to finish and I hope we can do this again next year!

I will never, ever tire of the beautiful Toronto skyline that we could see from the ferry as we returned from the island.

After grabbing bagels for supper we were on the train on our way home.  This was Hannah within minutes of us getting on the train and she slept right through until the following morning.

Sweet dreams baby girl.  I hope you dreamt of the fun, fun times we shared with precious friends!  We love you friends!  xoxo

Let the Fun Begin!!

Friday, July 9, 2010 - Park City, Utah

We woke to a beautiful sunny day and our options were endless! The kiddos had been wonderful together on Thursday and played so well, especially when you think that many of them had never met or only met one another when they were toddlers.

As I got ready for the day Hannah had fun playing in the closet on the clothes bar that was just the right height for her to have fun.

Hannah and Solomon sharing a moment early in the day.

Oh yah, I know we're gonna hear about this from some of our local friends! What can I say? She's keeping her options open!!

M3 and I headed to a local park with 5 of the kiddos while a couple of mom's picked up some groceries for the house. Hannah enjoying her favourite thing at the park – the swing!

She’s in good company. Her friends Ree (l) and Ro also enjoy the swings and they’ve totally mastered swinging all by themselves without even needing pushes!

Lauren (l), Maisie (back) and Hannah taking a break from the sun as it was hot, hot, hot!

Just a couple of cute pics of my sweet baby girl.

The park was great and the scenery around it breath-taking! Nothing but mountains. Oooo, I lurve me some mountains!! It was a busy place too with many families playing which always warms my heart.

On a side note, talking of families makes me think of a funny thing happened on our flight to Salt Lake. I was chatting with the lady beside me (surprise, surprise!) and asked her where home was. She said that she was from SLC and had been away visiting 4 of her grandchildren. During the course of our conversation I found out that she had 39 grandchildren and number 40 was due later this year! Oh yes, we were headed to Salk Lake for sure!! :o)

After lunch we decided to head to Park City Mountain Resort to take in some of the rides available there. Oh what fun we had! Hannah was too little to ride the ski lifts up to the slide rides so while she napped in her stroller with the other moms watching her, I took Ree on the slide ride.

What fun! It was quite a long ride up the mountain and we were happy to share the time with Donna and Lauren (l), Tiffany and Eliza (r).

Lisa and Maisie, M3 and Ro.

After the slide ride 6 of us rode a neat roller coaster style ride. So cool!

M3 and Ree; Lisa and Maisie; Me and Ro

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If you check out Lisa’s blog here, she has some really neat videos of their rides down the mountain.

For supper our entire group of 14 headed to a local Mexican Restaurant. I’m sure some diners cringed when they saw our group walk in but the kiddos were great and we enjoyed a fun dinner together.

And finally this picture just makes me giggle! We had the girls dressed in matching shirts and wanted to get a picture of them together. By this point in the day Hannah had tired of her piggy's so had removed them. Cuteness abounds whenever our 3 sweeties are together!!

So thankful for a great day shared with wonderful friends!!