San Diego Zoo

On Tuesday we headed to the San Diego Zoo, with the pass we had to get in we were able to ride for free on a tour bus around the zoo. I think that was the best way for us to see the zoo as it was so hilly! I think I would have died pushing TJ up all of those hills. I think it was easier for everyone, it is nice when you can sit at each one for a while but we were grateful for what we were able to see.

We were also able to go on a sky ride, which took us up above the zoo, in a gondola sort of thing, which was a pretty neat way to see the rest of the zoo. We walked down to the Polar Bear exhibit which was the perfect time, as they were up swimming around. The walk back up was awful as it was uphill:( Luckily for me my Dad and brother did all the hard work!
We stopped at the petting zoo, which really wasn't too much more then the kids see all the time, but they were still excited about it.

Last stop was the reptile house, I could not believe the size of some of the snakes! This las pic I think was Thomas' favorite think of the day.... the komoto drangon!

Sea World

Monday morning we headed to sea world, it was amazing! I think my favorite two things was the dolphin show and the ray tank, and I didn't take pictures of either! In the dolphin show we sat in the soak zone and oh difd I get soaked! Harrison who was on my lap did not appericate it at all. The ray tank was awesome because you were able to stick your hand in the water and touch them. Everyone got a chance, I am just sad I forgot to use my camera. We also stopped at a circus show they had there, it was amazing!

Giant Turtle
I couldn't believe how many flamingos there were, it was crazy.
This was the sea lion show, I think the big white one is a walrus but I am not positive, the show was so much fun, they did a really good job.

They had a play area that we hit last, it had a bunch of climbing places for the bigger kids and then a little playing area for the small ones, the kids had a blast in there too!

California here we come!

Well we were home for a week and then we were off again. On Thursday night TJ and I stayed at the Edmonton General Hospital as TJ had a sleep study test that he had to do. It didn't go that well but hopefully we won't have to do it again! Friday we left not quite as early as we hoped but still not to bad and headed for Idaho Falls. What a long drive! The kids were really good, just had to stop for bathroom breaks and gas. We made it but it wasn't until 11:30pm so it was a really long day. We stayed with some of Jordie's family and they were so nice. Saturday we headed for Salt Lake City, we were able to go the the Salt Lake Temple which was amazing, can't wait until I can go again! We left from there to St. George, again not getting in until late, it was earlier but still too late, it was about 10:00pm. We stayed with a good friend of Laura's, it was great, they had a beautiful house and they were very hospitable. On Sunday we went for sacrament meeting with them and then stopped to see the temple, it was beautiful!

We continued on through Arizona, Nevada and then into California, we made it to the KOA camp ground in San Deigo! Hurray!

Last Day

Well our last day we headed to Ottawa for the airport. On the way we stop at Parliment Hill, it was really cool, it would have been better if we could have spent the whole day at Parliment Hill as there are lots of tours to go on. We ended up going to the peace tower which is right below the clock. It was pretty cool.
Vi had to stay home, so Charles was the lucky one to take us around. We met up with Michelle for lunch at Boston Pizza, it was awesome that they were able to come up to see us. The flight home was pretty good, Maggie slept for most of it and Thomas waited until we were decsending to fall asleep! The airport lost one piece of our luggage, which we were really worried about. Luckily Corey(we borrowed their luggage) had put a name and address on it so they were able to get it back to us.

Back to Sharbot Lake

So on the Saturday we headed back to Sharbot Lake. On Sunday we headed into Kingston for church, we were there for about 15minutes of church and then had to head home as there was a water leak in the house. On Tuesday we went to the fishery, which was really neat. They had quite a few different kinds of fish. The neatest part was they had a protected lake which was full of small mouth bass, we were able to feed them some bread, the kids thought it was the best thing! On Wednesday we went mini golfing, just Thomas, Maggie and me, Thomas was really good. Maggie was amusing! Finished off with ice cream.

Grandin Bookstore

Last stop in Palmyra was Grandin Bookstore, where the Book of Mormon was published, it was really fun.

Smith Farm/Sacred Grove

A replica of the log house that the Smith's lived in.
What a barn in the time would have been like!
The frame house that was built just down the road.
In the sacred grove, it was so fun. It was a little hilly but everyone had a good time.
Thomas and Maggie were so good sitting for all of the pics that I wanted!

Cumorah Hill

This is the view from the top of Hill Cumorah, I was impressed by the size, luckily we were able to drive to the top!
Poor Maggie didn't want a family picture!
We decided it would be fun to walk down, it started off as a nice zig zag slope and then we hit this, it doesn't look to bad in the picture but it took me and two other guys to get TJ down!

Hill Cumorah Pagent

This is the stage set up at the hill cumorah, we couldn't got to the top because we were there after 6 and it closes to the public after 6 on pagent days.
Our umbrellas from the dollar store were well used, Maggie thought they were great for shading the sun. TJ enjoying Subway for supper.
A couple who were both in the pagent came and visited with us for a while before the pagent started, we learned that there was over 700 cast members who only rehearsed for a week! It was pretty amazing.
This was inside the visitor center at the hill cumorah.

So we spent most of the day driving, we left from Toronto and headed into the states. I was so worried that we would have problems at the border because I didn't have photo ID for TJ but we didn't have a problem. We took a small break for a picnic lunch and then headed to Cayuga State Park where we were to camp for the next couple of nights. We got everything set up and then headed to the Pagent. It took about an hour to get there but we were able to get pretty good seats. The Pagent started at 9:15 and went until 10:30, the kids all stayed awake for it which was good. Thomas and Maggie were really excited about it.

Niagra Falls

The Canadian Falls is so much better than the American Falls but I think all of the souviners had pics of the American Falls!
Poor Harrison was stuck in the stroller gor most of the time.
At one of the wax museums they had this place for pics and then Thomas was so excited when we found Harry Potter.

With great excitment we started on our way for Niagra Falls, only to be surprised by a down pour of rain! So we found a dollar store and stocked up on rain gear only for it to be beautiful for the rest of the day! The first thing we did was the Maid of the Mist which was amazing, we got soaking wet(thank goodness for the rain ponchos!). Harrison did not appreciate the mist at all, he cried for most of it. Thomas and Maggie liked it. After we went to a couple wax muesums which were pretty cool and to Ripley's Believe it or Not. Stopped for a pic at the Dinasour minigolf since the kids love Dinosaurs so much. Thomas wanted to go minigolfing but it was getting late and it was time for supper. We head to Montana's for supper and then headed back to the camp ground.

pics update

Well I am adding some pics from before of things we have done so far on our trip. As I was thinking about it is was the day we went to Niagra Falls that the dog ran off and not the second day in Toronto, either way it was still interesting.

so these are from our flight out to Ottowa, the kids we so good!

this is at Sharbot Lake, it was such a beautiful lake to swim at!

This is the Hershey store, what a wonderful place. Although I think my waist line disagrees!

TJ's grandma that we were finally able to meet, this was TJ's first time!

CN Tower on the glass floor, everyone went on it but I didn't get everyones pic!

and finally the STANLEY CUP I think that was one of TJ's favorite parts of the whole trip!

Toronto Day 2

Well we had a plan to leave nice and early but as luck would have it we needed to wait a little longer, just as we were about to leave TJ's Dad's dog got out of the Rig and took off. Being the sweet little dog that she is she would let you get close and then run, I think it took about half an hour to catch her but it was quite amusing! So after that minor set back we were off to Toronto, I could not believe how big and crazy it was, so many cars! The overpasses were ridiculous and I was so grateful that TJ's dad was driving and not me. Our first stop was CN tower, I was pretty nervous about it, as I really don't like heights but wanted to go at least once. So TJ, Thomas, Maggie, Harrison and I headed up; it actually wasn't too scary , it was really neat to be able to see so much of Toronto and Lake Ontario. Then we headed down to the floor below us which was the glass floor, I was really worried about this as I thought the entire floor was made of glass! Much to my relief there was only a section that was glass. Everyone had a turn standing on it, I think Thomas was the most timid about stepping out onto it, he did a slow creep. Harrison on the other hand immediately climbed out and laid down. Maggie wasn't concerned at all either.

So with that experience all done we decided to head down towards the Hockey Hall of Fame. Of course it ended up being right at lunch so we stopped out side Union Station for a hot dog from a vendor. So that is something else I can check off my list of things to do! Since we were right there we headed into the Station. The architecture was amazing, it is crazy the things that they built so long ago. After that quick stop we continued on . The next stop was mostly for TJ of course, my major hockey fan. It was neat though to see all of the tributes that they had in there and then TJ's favorite thing.....the STANLEY CUP! We got a pic in front of it and then a couple with the kids and TJ. The kids even let us sit through a short movie on the origins of the game and how the Stanley Cup came to be. It is interesting to see how much Hockey has changed since the beginning!

After that we loaded back up and drove down to see were TJ's great grandpa had a clock shop and where TJ's dad lived for a while above it. We took the scenic route and stopped and took a couple pictures of Castle Loma, which is in Toronto...so crazy! After that we headed back for night two in a tent!

Toronto Day 1

So we headed off to Toronto bright and early this morning, it was a long drive but the kids did really well. I on the other hand did fine unitl we got more into the city, I am not aggressive enough to drive in Toronto so Charles traded me places and got us to the campground. We, as in TJ's dad did most of it, set up camp and then went off to see if TJ's grandma would come out and meet us. For those who didn't know, we planned our trip to Ontario mostly to see TJ's grandma we later found out that she didn't want to see us! So we were going to her house with the hope that TJ's dad could convice her to come out to the car, well we waited and.... she did. Oh what a happy time, she was so excited to meet TJ that we all we near tears. We didn't have a long visit but we did get some pics so that was really nice. The kids were pretty good too which helped, because she was worried about them being there. So after that we met up with Steve and Krista for supper which was awesome as we haven't seen them much since the moved to Ontario from Barrhead! The kids were totally nuts with the excitment of seeing them too.

Off to Toronto

Well this will be the last blog for a while as we are off to Toronto tomorrow morning. We are camping just outside of Toronto and then will go in to see the CN tower, and hopefully TJ's grandma. Then on Wednesday we head to Niagra Falls and then to the Hill Comurah pagent, we should be back here on Saturday so I will try and blog again then. Oh, and on a side note we went to Balderson not Boulderson, my spelling is awful!

Fun Day Out

Today we headed off for more adventure, we went into the beautiful town of Perth. It is just full of old stone buildings. Churches and houses and restraunts, it was just amazing! So full of history. We then headed to Spring Falls to the Hershey Chocolate Factory, which has unfortunately closed with the store closing at the end of December. What a horrible place to go it was so full of delicous melt in your mouth goodness that is was really hard not to buy everything in the store! So after TJ dragged us out of the store we went to the town of Boulderson for an ice cream and cheese curds, I was so excited for the cheese curds as we use to get them whenever we headed to Cardston but have been unable to get them for a long time. So that was really awesome! After our delicous ice cream and cheese curds we were off to some friends of TJ's Dad and Vi for supper. They are the nicest couple who just moved here from Newfoundland, we had an absolutely wonderful time. They have a chipmunk who visits regularly so we were trying to feed it bird seeds so the kids could see that, but you can imangine how well that worked out! They had tons of fun anyways. Well tomorrow we are off to church in Kingston, so we shall see how that turns out!

A trip to Kingston

So today we took a quick trip to Kingston today and saw John A. MacDonald memorial site while there we also saw Alexander Cambells, it was really neat to be there. Everyone is doing fine and enjoying the time here in Ontario, the kids are having lots of fun minus the couple of bored moments with the rain this morning!

We Made It

Well we did it! We are in Ontario! Things have gone really well so far, the flight was good...the plane was small so there were three seats on each side with an isle down the middle. Thomas, TJ and Maggie were on one side and I was slight the behind and beside them in the other with Harrison on my lap. I had a mom and her daughter beside us, after we were up in the air the moved to two open seats further back(I am not sure if it was really for me like the said, but I was greatful anyways!) So I ended up having 6 seats which was great! TJ's Dad and Violet met us at eh airport and we come to there house by Sharbot Lake. Today after lunch we headed down to the lake, it was sooo awesome! The weather was great and we had a ton of fun!