Our school gets a week and a half off for Spring Break, so we had a nice long break. We kicked off Spring Break early with our first family hockey game. The Sarnia Sting is a member of the Western Conference Junior Hockey League, which is basically the minors leagues of the NHL. We went to see them play the Guelph Storm. We were fortunate, because Imperial has a luxury box and Jacob hosted a game for his team where they could bring along their families. The box definitely made it a more pleasant for the kids, since they had room to move around both in the row seats and in the box and there was an endless supply of popcorn. The game was fun and I enjoyed getting to met Jacob's team and their families.
In true hockey fashion, there was one fight that I found amusing. While I won't deny there is their fair share of fights on the football field, it's handled a bit differently in hockey. In football, the first punch is usually quickly followed by a separation of parties by the refs and everyone is pushed to their appropriate sidelines. In hockey, the first punch is followed by a beat down. The refs circle the participants, preventing anyone else from joining in, but allow the parties involved to duke it out until they’re too tired to continue or blood is spilled on the ice. You can image how fun it was to explain that to Brenna!
Buzz and Baby Buzz, the official Sarnia Sting mascots visited the kids in the box. At halftime the kids got to Chuck the Puck onto the rink. If your puck made it onto the targets at center rink, then you won tickets to the next Sting game. We were alittle high and I feared for the safety of the people below us, but Brenna did mange to chuck it all the way onto the ice from our box. All around it was a great experience and I look forward to making another game next season.
For the next stop on our Spring Break tour, we got together with friends to explore the ice caves on the shores of Lake Huron. As the ice begins to melt away in the spring, caves form in the hollow areas between chunks of ice that have been pushed up onshore. The kids loved exploring the caves and sliding down the ice mountains. Of course, Lake Huron is still a vast expansion of ice and snow, so we coached the kids on ice safety.
We visited the Lambton Mall to see CanStruction, which is an annual event where companies sponsor the construction of various structures from cans. All the cans are donated to the local food bank, Inn of the Good Shepard, and donations are taken as votes for the most popular structures. There was Olaf and Elsa's Castle among the CanStructions. Brenna dipped into her piggy bank and spread some love around to her favorites. We also visited our local Imperial Theater with friends for a magic show. All the while, the temperature was slowly beginning to climb and the sun was breaking out to melt away the snow and make for a very nice Spring Break.
Shortly after we moved to Canada, it was announced that Disney would be producing Disney on Ice Frozen. At the initial release of venues, the Roger's Center in Toronto was the closest locations to us. I patiently waited by my computer on opening day for the tickets to go on sale so I could snatch up front row seats. My first attempt for a Saturday show failed and I was forced to pick a Friday show instead, thinking that she would have to miss school for the trip. Lucky for us, we found out several months later that the date of the show landed on Spring Break. Since we wanted to visit Toronto during our stay in Canada, this seemed like a perfect time to plan the trip.
We headed out Thursday morning for the short three hour drive to Toronto. The weather was beautiful for our visit and we were surprised to see that Lake Ontario was already melted. Toronto is a beautiful city and spreads out right to the shoreline of Lake Ontario. We stayed at the Ritz Carlton and enjoyed some of the beautiful city views from our room and around the hotel.
We spent Thursday touring the city. Toronto is a walking city and it was easy to move around the area. We enjoyed a dinner out and then returned to the hotel for a long afternoon of swimming. Friday we headed over to the city center to visit Ripley's Aquarium of Canada. We've visited several aquariums; The Downtown Aquarium in Houston, The Aquarium Pyramid at Moody Gardens in Galveston, The Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans, Coral World in St. Thomas, even the Atlantis Aquarium in the Bahamas. My expectations weren't too high that this would be anything different than we've seen before, but it was one of the main tourist attractions for the area. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a great experience! We pre-ordered timed tickets, which allowed us to by-pass the lines and walk right in. It was packed with Spring Break crowds, but everything was easy to manage. We walked through and enjoyed several of the individual tanks an displays. The octopus was especially fun since he was so mobile. Watching him move about his tank was very interesting.
They have a moving side walk that carries you through Dangerous Lagoon and allows you plenty of time to watch and take in the surroundings without being pushed through the exhibits. There were lots of interactive exhibits that Brenna enjoyed and everything seemed to be awake and on the prowl during our visit. It was by far the best Aquarium we've ever visited.
After the Aquarium, we walked across the park to visit the CN Tower (Canadian National Tower). The CN Tower is 147 stories tall, 1,815 feet high, and the tallest free standing structure in the Western Hemisphere. In 1995 it was named one of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World and stands as an iconic symbol of Canada. It take 58 seconds to reach the top traveling at 15 mph. It was an ear popping ascent. There was a glass floor that no one was willing to standing on! I was hoping to get a great picture of Brenna floating high above the Toronto streets, but she refused to volunteer for the pose. We barely talked her into going out onto the outdoor terrace. The height was a bit overwhelming.
Once we were back inside and safe, Brenna got the opportunity to learn some new skills from some Canadian Olympians. Toronto is hosting the 2015 Pan Am Games. The CN Tower hosted some the Pan Am athletics in preparation for the upcoming games. On the day we were there, you had the opportunity to learn from the Canadian Ping Pong players! It was a neat experience.
Finally it was time for the main event, Disney on Ice Frozen! The show was fantastic. We were only three feet from the rink and could reach out and touch the ice. All the skaters were great and had smiles and waves for all the kids. Brenna sang along and danced through the entire event.
After the show, we caught one last glimpse of the CN Tower against a beautiful clear blue sky and then we headed back to hotel.
It was a jammed packed two days, so we spent the rest of our time relaxing at the hotel and enjoying the pool. Brenna met several kids her age and they all played and splashed until bed time.
I love all the pictures in this post! Toronto looks like a very neat place! We are patiently (sort of) counting the days til Frozen on Ice in Baton Rouge!
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