A 50th Birthday Celebration, Canadian Style!

Having a 6am flight out of BWI made for a very early wake up call - but well worth it.

I thought it would be fun to go back to Ontario since the last time I had been there was when I was 19 years old, forever ago. DH and the boys had never been, so that made it even better.

Hey now, I have a bus!

 As soon as we landed, we rented a minivan and headed to Niagara Falls. This was definitely the touristy area!

Except for the grapes fields, those came later.

From where we started, we were over a mile away from the actual Falls and DH and boys said it was smaller than they thought... until we actually got there!

So close, so loud!

From there, we took a beautiful drive to the Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours for a jet boat ride.

Here we are nice and dry, but guaranteed to get soaking wet!

I bought a waterproof pouch for my mobile for this trip and this is one of the water dumps we experienced! We had to have both hands on the bars, otherwise I would have held it up.

So the story about this adventure? Let me set the scene...

We arrived at the boat tour just as they were getting ready to board the boats. We got the shortened version of instructions, no problem. There was a large group of German men, probably about 40+ men of all ages, mostly older. These guys didn't like listening to the rules, they were standing up with hands in the air while they were supposed to be sitting and holding on so they wouldn't fall out!

We get off the boat and everyone is soaking wet. Our suitcases were in the car and as we were walking over to get dry clothes to change into, all we could see were suitcases and naked German men changing outside their tour bus! Whoa, way more butts than I needed to see and they certainly didn't look like this little guy!

They were all laughing and having a good time, Nathan tried not to stare.

Those Germans! (I should know, I'm half German!) 

After that eye burning experience, we headed to our air bnb in downtown Toronto and then started walking the city.

Loving the workers planting the lips!

Flip side - did you notice the bee?

One of the first things the Gman2 checked? They are legal in Canada!!! 🍻

We even tried beer flavoured ice cream, yum!

Even Nathan got to belly up to the bar with root beer.

 The following day we took a tour of the CN Tower, I even stepped on the glass floor, barely! They showed a live video of these crazy people hanging from the edge of tower, not for me.

And look what I found in the shop, mermaids!

The boys liked the Lego tower and it might just fit in our great room. 😉

I had this feeling I was being watched...

That evening we walked all the way back to a Blue Jays baseball game. Great seats and only $5 each.

We cheered for them and yeah, they won!

It was a beautiful evening so the dome was open, so cool.

Right behind us was the CN Tower and more crazy people hanging off the edge!

The next day we ventured out and the hit The Distillery District. We were feeling the love!

We walked through this area and I was wondering why nothing was open yet.

Come to find out they were filming, bummer!

On the way back, DH found this place to eat and it received good reviews. Since none of us had ever had chicken and waffles before, we stopped in. It looked like a dive, but it was wonderful!

On my birthday eve, we did a little pre-celebrating.

DH, Gman1 and I went out while Gman2 and Nathan stayed in. Just after midnight they sang Happy Birthday to me, along with everyone around us! And we all had a shot of something good, bartender included - she worked her butt off that night.

She was so sweet, she brought me a brownie to celebrate! Great way to start a birthday.

The next morning, we walked just down the street to the Senator Restaurant for my birthday breakfast. I loved it! It was old fashioned and very busy, always a good sign. Plenty of food and we all enjoyed what we ordered.

Since it was my birthday, I was "allowed" to shop at Gitta's, a cross stitch shop in Mississauga.
It was a sweet shop, with very friendly staff.
I found so many things I liked, but I restrained myself and just bought this sampler and needle nanny (as they call it).

They had this on display, but not in the store until the next day, the day we were leaving. 😞
So I ordered it and received it last week.

And the best part? She's a local designer there!

While I was drooling shopping, DH took Nathan by the water while they waited. Gotta keep that boy busy!

Our next birthday stop was Legoland Discovery Centre, mainly for Nathan, but I was happy to go.
And look, I found some friends there!

Toronto in Legos...

Legos everywhere!

These were on the stall doors in the restroom, too cute!

That evening, I met my girlfriend and her family for dinner, that post is here - THankful Thursday

She surprised me with this cake that was absolutely delicious! Too bad we couldn't take the rest of it home.

After dinner, we walked around the town and got these free tshirts, fun!

So this concludes my 50th birthday adventure.
We are already thinking of visiting Montreal or Quebec next year, we love Canada!

We miss Tim Hortons!