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Day three was an adventure to the Canada’s Wonderland.  It was pretty crowded, and looking back I think the reason for that was Canada Day - which is technically tomorrow, but why not celebrate today and make it a 3 day weekend?  We pretty much stayed in the kiddy area, the wait for larger rides just didn’t seem worth it, and the kids were having a great time.

Today marks Oliver’s first rollercoaster ride which he ended up saying “I AM SCARED OF IT, I AM SCARED OF IT…” and then instantly after exclaimed “THAT WAS FUN!”.  He was very upset that he couldn’t go on the bumper cars, but other than that the kids had a blast.  We got to see a few short shows as well, one with some divers that dove off a waterfall into the small pool below, and a sing a-long Dora show.

Right now as I type this Oliver is playing all over the room with his loot for the day, his two favorites is a hook that you can use to grab things, and a Wall-e robot.

Click the photos, or this link to see the latest photos (66 new pictures)

Today we decided to go to the Toronto Zoo.  We all woke up, had breakfast downstairs, and then got dressed and were on the road towards the zoo.  The weatherman said that it would be clear for the morning and sometime in the afternoon there was a chance of scattered showers.  Of course, they are just as bad - if not worse than in the US at predicting the weather and as soon as we got ot the zoo it started pouring.  Correction, as soon as we paid the admission it started pouring.  Luckily though as the day went on the rain finally calmed down and we were able to enjoy the zoo.

We walked the entire zoo, and even rode the trolly through the zoo - the one thing Oliver was talking about since the moment we stopped into the zoo.  Both kids really enjoyed the animals, and minus some areas that were a bit crowded, it ended up being a completely enjoyable experience - even with the rain.

The kids got a few shirts, and some other things - and I got my squashed penny, this time I actually remembered to take the camera with me though.

click the pictures, or this link, to view all the pictures of our trip so far.

Well we are here, we got in about 2:30am, which was a few hours later than estimated, but there was one thing that was forgotten during our planning.  I completely forgot that Pennsylvania has 2 seasons: Winter, and Road Construction.  After tacking on an extra 2 hours before even getting past Scranton - we finally were on our way.  The police were out in full force, so luckily we stuck pretty close to the speed limit.  We pretty much just crashed when we got in last night, but now as I sit here I can take in all the extra features the room comes with - such as stainless steel appliances, and marble counter tops - even one of those gas powered fireplaces, but I dont think thats going to get much use this time of the year.

Today was mostly a down day, as expected with the late night travel yesterday - but we got quite a bit done actually.  First we stopped downstairs for the free breakfast buffet that comes with the room, and then we took a run over to the local wal-mart to pick up some supplies.  Unlike my previous trips to Canada - the American dollar is actually less than a Canadian dollar (thank you George W!), so it was pretty strange to watch the price go up when they seen we were paying with US Dollars.

We stopped at one of the outlet malls - which ended up being more mall, less outlet - but we picked up a few things anyway.  While the girls were at the mall shopping, I took Oliver over to the theater next to the hotel to watch Wall-e, a movie he has been begging to watch for almost 2 months now.

We stopped at an Irish pub for dinner and now we are getting ready to plan tomorrow - and possibly go do some swimming in the hotel pool.  No pictures today at least not yet - pictures of shopping are not generally that interesting, and the frown on video and or cameras in the movie theaters.

The passports are in hand, the navigation has its destination set, the dvd player is powered up and ready to blast hours of child movie enjoyment, and the car is (mostly) packed and ready to go.  In just a few short hours the Larrabee family will begin our trip to Toronto.  We are headed up north until July 6th.  On the agenda is visiting Canadian Wonderland, park Kim went to quite a few times as a child, as well as a stop over to visit Niagra falls. 

Just like most of our vacations the agenda isn’t really set in stone, the only thing on the agenda is fun….well that, and driving - lots of driving!  I am going to try and write a daily entry at the end of the day again like i did on our last vacation to Disney - we will see if it actually happens or not.  Either way I am sure we are going to end up with quite a few new pictures to share.

I was traveling for business in Boston this past weekend, and originally was not going to be home until after the kids were sleeping on fathers day.  Luckily I got my Sunday return flight moved up so I was home by dinner, and then I ended up snagging an even earlier flight so I was home a little after lunch. 

Of course by bumping my flight up I put a kink in some of the father’s day planned activities, but the family did more than I expected or needed even with the last minute change of plans.  I got home and got my welcome home hugs and kisses, and then a stack of Father’s day cards.  Oliver was so excited to give me his card because on the outside is a caution sign, but with a guy farting as the image instead of deer crossing or whatever, and on the inside it says “dad, I hope your fathers day doesnt stink”.  So when i opened the card, he kept saying “it doesn’t stink, it doesn’t stink, and giggling”.

Then Kim went all out, she made an entire black tie mouse cake for me, one of my favorite desserts, and the main reason I wanted to go to Olive Garden for my father’s day dinner. 

Before dinner, the kids wanted to go outside, so went out to play for a bit in the yard.  Then we left for an early dinner since none of us had eaten lunch.  Since she had dessert covered, we went to Don Pablo’s instead of Olive Garden.  It has been over a year since we went there.

We had to get some grocery shopping done as well, so we stopped at the grocery store on the way home.  Then we all got to have some of the cake Kim made, it was great - even better than the Olive Garden version.  Luckily for me, there is still a whole half of cake left to enjoy all week, unluckily for my Wii Fit…there is still a whole half of cake left to enjoy all week.

In any event, it was a great welcome home, and a great father’s day celebration.