It's been about a year since we last went to Toronto and I was having family withdrawals. I missed seeing them so much and felt that it was the right time to get up and just go. Plus, they hadn't met Keiston yet and that needed to happen.
We decided that we would try driving instead of flying. flights were about $650/person round trip and we have to pay for Khyrum now. That would be $1950 for the family to go and then we would still have to rent a car. We took Bukky with us and she brought her nephew. We drove almost straight to Chicago. Stopping for gas and food.
We decided that we would get a hotel in Chicago and do a little site seeing. there was some event so trying to get a hotel at 11p.m was not easy. We checked probably 10 places all of which were full. we finally decided to go back to the first one we went to just to try our luck and they just had a cancellation. Phew!! A much needed sleep in a comfortable bed and a complimentary breakfast instead of a fast food breakfast was nice.
We went to the pier and let the kids go on the marry-go-round and saw a few things. then we took a long walk to some shopping. We didn't stay long in the Windy City because we wanted to get our drive done with and it was too hot to be walking around.
We had a little BBQ get together at my moms and invited a bunch of family. It was nice to be able to see so much family at one place. I also displayed my bcharmed jewelry and scentsy products and got a good amount of sales.
We went to Canadas Wonderland with Bukky and some of her family. We spent a lot of time at the splash pad and swimming pool so the kids could have fun. We did get some thrill and rode some of the crazy roller coasters. And of course I didn't leave wonderland without eating funnel cake!
Eating at the Mandarin Buffet is a must every time we go to Toronto. This trip we had to go 2 times to get our Chinese fix! So delicious.
The trip was nice. Of course it felt too short even though we stayed 10 days. It was nice to see so much friends and family after so long. We ended up bringing my little brother Deandre and cousin Ziquan with us back to Alberta. We drove all the way home without stopping for a hotel. we did the usual gas and food stops a quick mall trip and then a few hour stop for Tate to get a quick nap. the trip back took 30 hours, 24 of which were driving. it ended up being not as bad as we expected. Thank goodness!
CAMPING... When I think back to the campsite, the first thing that comes to mind is mosquitos lol. We camped up by Banff with our good friends, The Haylins. We took my brother and cousin with us so they could experience their first ever camping, being the city boys that they are. We had a great time. we were about 75 yards from a river and the bathrooms and showers were that close as well. It was not totally roughing it but it was close. As close to roughing it as I will ever get. We did eat good though. The men were for the most part in charge of cooking as us ladies spent most our time in the tents with the babies. The best meal they cooked was jerk chicken and rice. They cooked so much chicken and it was so good we had to have eaten at least 6 pieces each.
We spent probably 3 nights camping and that was enough. I was ready for the comfort of my own home. When packing up the camp Vanessa took MaiMai and Khy for a walk. Soon she came running back with the kids crying their eyes out. When they were walking a bear came out of nowhere. it was very close to them so she slowly backed up and once she was out of its site ran back to camp. We went back to check out the bear and sure enough he had just crossed the river and was eating berries. Thank goodness they got out of there safe.
