Thursday. We awoke at 8:30 this morning to the excitement of “trucks” being out our window. You can see quite a few trucks from the 5th floor… and when you fall asleep talking about trucks (and everything else you can think of for 45 min), you wake up ready to see trucks. “Ssshhhhh!” we heard from the other wing of our hotel suite. Apparently one little girl wasn’t quite ready to get up and enjoyed snuggling with her Nana (or La la, as she says). 

We ate a ‘quick’ Denny’s breakfast and jumped in the car to head back to the airport’s short-term parking. From there we hopped on the UP (train) into Union Station and walked over to Ripley’s Aquarium.  ​

We saw jellyfish, sharks, stingrays, lobsters, eels, whale bones, horseshoe crabs, and lots of fish. The highlight of our visit was definitely the underwater causeway where fish, rays, and sharks would swim overhead. 

We had lunch at a new restaurant inside the old train station, walked back over to the UP station and jumped on the train with 4 min to spare before departure. Phew! We cut it SO close that instead of buying the tickets at the station, we decided to purchase them on the train. Fortunately for us (the cute innocent looking mom’s with adorable children), the ticket collector didn’t make us purchase a ticket at all! (Or was it because we looked completely fried? Verdict is still out.) 

Back at the airport we waited patiently for Daddy. Yeay Daddy!!! … and then we waited, and waited, annnd waited. There was the recommendation from one little 4yo boy that we just leave Uncle Jeff… but I’m sure he was joking; you never leave a fellow Spider-Man and Toothless (How To Train Your Dragon) fan. 

Daddy finally emerged, happy to see us and ready to head to the cottage. We’re hoping that his missing checked bag will be following shortly behind… and until then, let’s hope the weather improves so the only attire we’ll need is a borrowed swimsuit. 

(G was excited to see Dada, but had also grown tired of waiting. I’m sure he’ll be more playful once we get to the cottage and have had a solid nap.) Fortunatlely, the car ride was a success… 

Friday. Another rainy day, but perfect for baking muffins, reading books, playing with toys, taking a trip to Art In The Park, and stopping at the library to pick up our winning basket! Graham had a phone call this morning from the librarian that he was chosen as the weekly reader in the summer reading program. Go Graham! We chose the Canadian Proud basket with a really cool hat.