34 posts tagged “photo-blog”

i'd like to say that we ended of our journey with perfection. unfortunately, poor chaeli has come down with a fever. it didn't develop until we got back to our resort room today. but i knew she was coming down with something (while doug kept on saying that she was just tired - when will dads learn? mommy-psychic powers should never be challenged).

of course, i'm worried that she will have an unpleasant time tomorrow on the way home, as our flight doesn't leave until 6pm. we will try to keep her as comfortable as possible, of course. poor kid. but at the same time, it's good that she didn't get sick at the beginning of the week. she was, at least, able to enjoy disney.

there were some magical moments for her at disney.

the first was her chance to meet five of disney princesses during our character-dining breakfast. she met belle, sleeping beauty, ariel, snow white and cinderella.

then later in the day, while we were visiting 'the living seas' pavilion, one of the employees had just finished lecturing during the afternoon feeding of the fish. she offered to stick around for further questions. before i knew it, chaeli had already run up to her with a good amount of questions. the lady was so impressed with chaeli's enthusiasm that the three of us got offered a special, behind-the-scenes tour. she lead us up a winding stairway where we found ourselves at the very top of the massive aquarium. it was spectacular! and a special privilege. usually, you have to pay for a tour to be in that area. plus, it was a private tour for just the three of us. upon exiting, one of the dolphins swam by just in time to bid us farewell.

we took off first thing thursday morning in search for mickey. what we didn't anticipate was to find both mickey AND minnie. chaeli was beside herself as this was the first time seeing minnie up close and personal.

and as if meeting both mickey and minnie were not enough (as well as the princesses), she got to see them all come out in a spectacular performance infront of the castle. the 'dream along with mickey' is still a family favourite. i always get a tug in my heart during this show but even more so, i love watching chaeli's facial expressions. :)

lastly but not least, we were waiting to line-up for the musical, 'beauty and the best' today, inside hollywood studios, when a disney attendee started to chat chaeli up. she then gave chaeli and us a vip pass which gave us 3rd row and centre seating. at the end of the show, chaeli was lead to the front of the stage where she was presented with a special rose by belle and the beast (turned back to a prince). this rose is only given out five times a day and can not be purchased anywhere else in disney. she was also given a certificate for honourary princesses.

you can imagine how special chaeli was feeling at that moment. :) here is the video capture:

chaeli takes up a lot more room than she needs...

we finally arrived around 3:30pm at our disney resort. i was pleased that our room is right outside of mr. & mrs. potatohead.

after being sick for most of this week, i was relieved to be feeling better by friday. so, we finally got a chance to take chaeli to the CNE for the first time.

we took the GO train down (as she's been wanting to ride 'the green train' for awhile now). the good thing about taking the GO is similar to why we choose to ride the subway/public transit - no need to worry about driving ourselves, no need to worry about finding parking, let alone paying for parking and gas, no need to walk the distance from the parking lot to the main gates as the GO train drops us off at the gates (just a short walk across a small street) and, of course, it's the green way to go.

the day was great - good weather that started off grey and wet but ended off to be a fantastic day. the evening was cooler but i'm not complaining. to be honest, i prefer having to wear a jacket rather then feeling sticky and hot all day in the humidity.

here's a video of chaeli on one of the rides (the one riding the hot pink jeep):

and here's some photos of the day:

a saturday afternoon, exploring a conservation area just north of our city:

 

it was by far a very good, long civic holiday weekend.

friday night, i came home and cleaned the house almost right away. i should remember to get into the habit of doing this much often because it is so much easier to get it done before my parents come home with chaeli, rather then being interrupted and then picking up where i left off at 10pm (or later) after they leave.

they stayed for three hours first to play jr. scrabble with chaeli, and then just to sit and chat with us.

i was asking them all sorts of questions about our vacation trips we took as a child - most of them being road trips.

it's amazing how much i've forgotten. or... how little i remember. but still, it was fun listening to them tell us what we did and where we went.

saturday morning, we woke up and headed off to rattlesnake point (as seen in the photos of my previous post). what a great two hour hike! i tried to pick a trail that wasn't too difficult. not only did i want to make it easy on chaeli but i haven't gone hiking along the bruce trail for quite some time. as i recalled, there were trails that required a bit of climbing through rocky and steep areas. while this trail did have a few spots of rocky areas, for the most part, it wasn't too difficult for a five year old, so long as one of us helped her.

saturday evening started off with a beverage at my aunt's patio, while we visited with then, my doctor and my doctor's wife. then about an hour later, we headed off to diane and rick's place for a bbq with the rest of the highschool gang. di had marinated some chicken and short ribs (kalbi). yum!

after dinner, the men suspiciously wanted to go to starbucks for a coffee run. we offered to go, instead, so we could leave the kids with them and get in an evening stroll but they bypassed our offer and immediately starting taking our orders. while they were gone, us wives discussed our shared suspicions. i even had to ask diane, "there isn't a golf store by the starbucks, is there?"

after all, the men were gone for a very long time.

when they finally returned, we learned that they also went to get fudge and then... the real reason why they wanted to go instead of letting us... they all came back with cigars.

which didn't bother us. in fact, it was quite entertaining to witness their logic - they bought one $26 cigar and five $5 cigar. the expensive one was passed around. which as ada pointed out, was one of the saddest things we heard.

there they were... five grown men all with good jobs (mostly professional jobs including a project manager and a VP) passing around a cigar instead of just buying one each.

anyway - it was a fun night. and we discovered how much easier it is now that all the kids are old enough to go downstairs and play on their own.

sunday morning, i woke up just after 8am with a mad craving for dim sum. i called my aunt and uncle, asking them if they were interested. and it just so happened that my aunt was also craving for dim sum as of lately so they definitely did want to join us. which is great. because unless we find a place that pushes the carts around, i'm horrible at knowing what to order from a menu. i need the visuals so i can say, "what do you got there? oh yes - that one. two of them please." we're finding that less and less restaurants are still pushing the carts around. which is too bad because part of the appeal are the carts.

for the rest of the day, we didn't do much. chaeli took a much needed three hours nap since she only slept several hours the night before (too short for a kid who needs at least 10 hours of sleep at night). doug prepared a jamie oliver pasta dish which is sort of like a spaghetti entree with some twists, including red wine and chunks of pancetta. it was definitely good, though. probably the best spaghetti i've ever had. and it was very complete with the antipasto we had before hand and the red wine during.

monday was a day of both work and relaxation. i had arranged for chaeli to spend the morning at my aunt's house while i went to the gym for a couple of hours. i called over after lunch and my aunt asked to keep chaeli there until dinner time, in which i would join them for some home-cooked chinese food. doug was at arvie's stag (a home-based stag giving some of the people a chance to join in on the fun, whom couldn't make it to vegas). the boys had some of tai's spicy, korean kalbi and i assume, beer, and then watched a movie in the backyard where tai set up a big screen.

i have to admit that i was a bit jealous that i couldn't go - it sounded like so much fun!

anyway, for monday afternoon, i did laundry but also just chilled out in bed while watching my will & grace dvd's.

saturday morning, we headed out to a part of the bruce trail called rattlesnake point. of which had no rattle snakes. so really... i don't know why they called it rattlesnake point...