Canada Update

We have been back from Canada for a couple of weeks now but have had no time to blog about our time! But I finally sat down this morning and have a list of posts I need to do and finally got the pictures organized!

We had a wonderful two weeks in Muskoka and loved every minute of it! We both did not want to come home at all! Besides really missing John, I could have easily stayed for another month!

I will try to capture all of the fun from our trip but we did so much and Peyton had new experiences almost everyday!

Everyone who comes to the Cottage has to help out in some way! One year, John and I, came up for a weekend just to help build the deck, last year's project was the beach, so we all joke how you have to come prepared to work and apparently no age is exempt.Helping "G" in the Garden


After a hard day of work, everyone should just sit back in their chair on the deck and enjoy the sunset! Isn't she funny!

We did her first fire experience one evening and as soon as she saw it she said "hot"! Granny taught her how to put the marshmallow on the stick and roast it. She wasn't too sure about the marshmallow and finally tried it and was somewhat impressed but not as much as she was impressed with watching them burn in the fire. We went through MANY marshmallows but ate only a few!

We spent many days playing in the water at the beach and exploring the sand/mud. One day she saw fish in the shallow water and after that asked that Mommy check for fish prior to proceeding. She likes fish but not in her swimming water!

Every night or multiple times during the day we would enjoy a Popsicle or ice cream! I love how she is doing a "cheers" with her Popsicle!

Granny a.k.a 'G' broke her foot shortly after we caught there....something about a big giant animal attacking her one night. So, when you are out at the cottage you leave the screen doors open all day but close them at night to keep out the raccoons etc. Well, it is DARK outside when you close the doors and most people would turn on a light to see what was on the other side of the door well, my mom has always thought how she should turn on the light but didn't and when she closed the door something jumped in and jumped on her and she flipped out, jumped back and landed badly on the side of her foot! When we went to find the culprit we found a toad! Pretty amusing but her broken foot was not so amusing.

So, we used an electric scooter for much of our trip which Peyton liked greatly!
Peyton and I went kayaking a couple of times which she LOVED! Check out her experience on the jet ski's here. I love to go kayaking around the lake and loved that Peyton wanted to come with me. We only stayed really close to shore since she was with me but it was fun!

Then my dad decided to put the swimming raft in by paddling it out with the kayak attached and then when trying to get in the kayak from the swimming raft...well, this is what happened! Peyton was not too impressed and somewhat concerned.

Our next big adventure was heading to Santa's Village! It is an amusement park that I went to when I was Peyton's age or close to it! It is nothing to impressive to an adult but to a little kid it is the perfect size and Peyton was in awe! When we were walking into it she kept saying, "wow," over and over again!

First stop was playing on some slides and then we checked out the reindeer! She loved it! She would tell them to come "back" when they would walk away and notice her doing the sign for "more" in one of the pictures? She kept wanting to feed them. We even came back at the end of our adventure.


We rode the train (twice) and she thought it was so cool and enjoyed seeing the whole park!

We tried to see Santa but as soon as we got close she told me to go "outside," so he wasn't a hit with her. Instead we went on the Ferris wheel that looks like Christmas ornaments. I hate heights and I HATE Ferris wheel's but I went with her but that is what mom's have to do. She did great and loved it but got a little bored the second time around.

We rode the Swan paddle boats and let Peyton steer. She did great!

I didn't think she would want to play miniature golf so we were just going to walk right past but she insisted and did very well. Papa helped her and once I reminded him that she was left handed it went really well. She was not too impressed with the last hole though where the ball disappears and looked for it!


Here we are as we are leaving Santa's Village! She had an amazing time and could tell she was thinking, "why haven't we come here earlier?" Peyton fell asleep as soon as we got in the car, went to bed early and then even had a really long nap the next day so she was worn out! So much fun creating memories and watching her explore things that I did when I was younger...also a little weird that I was taking my daughter to Santa's Village!

Our last night in Canada consisted of another fire but instead of marshmallows, Peyton was interested in the pine needles so Papa went to the forest and collected piles for her. She was in love!
Papa also caught two fish in the net on the last night and Peyton was so excited. She thought it was amazing and as soon as we let them go was determined to use her net to catch some more. She had been playing with the net all week but you could tell once Papa caught the fish it clicked what it was for!

Finally....this is one of the many things I miss!