Oh, Canada! | Ontario and the cottage - part 2

I'm back today for another round of travel diaries! If you missed our first couple days in Canada and the BEAUTIFUL house and scenery, read this first!

After a hot breakfast and showers for all of us on Sunday, Stacie came up with her crew to hang out with us for the day. Mark's dad also happened to be in Canada at the same time for a yearly golf tournament he plays in so it was funny getting to see him there (when normally we see him in Texas!) 

The gamers jumped right into some more games, now with more people to play with!

After a fun lunch including 'cheese dreams' : half a piece of toast with an American cheese slice and 1/4 of a hot dog (something Mark's grandma made growing up. I wish I would have taken a picture!), we bundled up and went out on the boat for a tour of the lake. Yep, I mean bundled up:

It was in the 50's that day and Mark thought Stacie was being facetious when she asked him if he wanted a hat and gloves. He wished he would have accepted!

After a tour around about 1/2 the lake, mom and I decided to bail early out of fear that the baby would pop out right then and there. It was pretty choppy on that side of the lake and we were bouncing all over the place! 

The others took off to see the rest of the lake but my mom, me, and Angus snuggled up inside:

When the rest returned, they played Settler's of Catan and had some coffee and hot chocolate! 

At the table: Mark, Madelyn, mom, Stacie, and Stacie's mom Judy. Mark's dad was hidden in there as well. 

My dad and I sat on the couch and napped/read our books by the roaring wood fire. Perfect. :)

After the drizzle cleared, the men went outside to start the grill and do some 'surveying'. I always giggle at the shape the conversation takes when it's these three:

We had a great time catching up with the group and they headed home for the evening while we enjoyed our last night at the cottage.

On Monday we got up pretty early and headed out to Toronto to do some exploring. Not without more pictures to remember the cottage, though!

Classic prego photographer pose.

It took about 3 hours to get into Toronto and we headed towards the University of Toronto. The traffic wasn't bad at all and we figured this was a good central area to do some exploring.

There were so many picturesque views of the CN tower! It's pretty much the standout of the Toronto skyline. My dad had hinted quietly at wanting to take the tour of the tower, but by the time we all decided we would do it (even at $34 a pop), we didn't have enough time. Mark made up for it later by showing us some YouTube videos of the tours. ;)

I had heard that Kensington Market was really cool so we ventured down there to have a look at some Toronto culture. We ended up walking by and eating at a pizza place that just happened to be on the Top 10 list for pizza in Toronto for many years. It was tasty! We walked around some more before we decided to head back toward the University. The market area was interesting, but I was a little disappointed. It reminded me of some of the 'dirty' parts of Austin and wasn't really family/tourist friendly. 

dad desperately wanted to reenact the cover of Abbey Road. 

We got back to the University and were greeted with this view. Welcome to Hogwarts! I bet this is GORGEOUS in the fall with the changing leaves.

The campus was super pretty and we were able to get in a nice walk and work up the tiniest bit of a sweat. We ended our walk with a bang when dad and I spotted the ice cream truck (apple doesn't fall far from the tree) and treated ourselves to some cold refreshments. It hit the spot and gave us the energy to deal with the Toronto airport (and the traffic getting there). I also thought it was a bit ironic that our last interaction in Canada included paying with American dollars at the ice cream truck. Kind of took the magic away from the whole 'international' feeling...haha

We ended our trip without hiccups and got back to Dallas around 8:30 on Monday night. We LOVED our trip, time with family, and time spent at the cottage. Thank you so much to Stacie and Trevor for being SO hospitable and also to the rest of the family that took time out of their busy schedules to see us. It was such a treat!

I'm linked up with Natalie for Thoughts for Thursday today! Have a great one!