Wednesday, 15 June 2016
Equality
Why can't we treat each other as the equals we are? Black, white, gay, straight, christian, muslim - we ALL have struggles. Don't give one person / group of people special treatment because they struggle. I have not met one person in all my life who doesn't struggle. Sometimes the struggle is easy to see, sometimes it is not. Struggles we have all vary - abuse, depression, alcoholism, fear, anxiety, divorce, loneliness, infertility, sexual identity, health issues, mental issues, and more. We all struggle. I usually dislike any posts giving preference and attention to one group over another, but today I can't get those poor people who were at Pulse, and their families out of my mind. All of those people who were in the gay night club were equals. I'd go so far as to suggest the shooter, who is reported to be tied to ISIS, was an equal - however he was a very misguided person who needed to think for himself. He also likely needed help for mental issues he was born with or given to via his upbringing. Think for yourself. The media is one-sided and will mis-guide you if you follow it. Question things. Get help if you are feeling depressed or alone. Believe in what you believe based on your heart and mind - not based on what someone keeps telling you. This should all be common sense, but every day I read judgemental comments about mothers being un-attentive (mother's the person has not even met before), people being unworthy of things because of something they did or said, people being "idiots" and "losers", people having different views and therefore undeserving of love and attention. Until you live in their shoes, until you stop judging and try to understand them, you have no idea how they feel, why they feel what they do, or why they do what they do. Build people up. Don't tear people down. Be positive. Even if the person you are responding to is misguided and/or wrong, tearing them down will not help. Calling them names will not help. Un-friending them will not help. Talking about them or making fun of them behind their back will not help. Be loving with each other. Be kind. Offer your friendship, try to understand them more, offer to help them if needed. I am not saying this because I feel I do this better than anyone else but because I believe in it. I wish everyone including myself could be like this. All the time.
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Stepping out of your comfort zone
I have a hard time opening up, relaxing in social environments, and connecting emotionally even with my own family. It's always been that way and it's not something I can control. Social environments can overwhelm me at times and I get this anxiety starting to bubble up inside me in loud environments or after a certain amount of time has elapsed in a social atmosphere. I have always believed in the importance of relationships and despite feeling very awkward in new social situations, I have always pushed myself to be among other people because it feels better to be with people than feel isolated and alone. Feeling alone is the worst feeling in the world, so though it is sometimes hard for me, and though sometimes I still end up feeling alone, I have always pushed myself past the awkwardness, past the anxiety, and past my fears. It has been good for me, and good for others. It will be good for my children. I have never used my anxiety or difficulty connecting as an excuse. I don't think I ever will. I can be too hard on myself, and often spend far too long inside my head. I have always been much better at opening up through words on paper or a screen and just can't do it well in person. All of my closer friendships have developed through letter writing, on paper or through email. Even my marriage started because our emotional issues and feelings were discussed over email. We've had our ups and downs, and our share of relationship problems - we separated after 2 years of marriage partially because of our communication issues. But when we got back together I think we had a clearer idea of what life would be like with one another and made a decision to be in it despite any difficulties we come across and nobody understands me better than him. I am far from perfect - I have a hard time being compassionate in the moment (it takes some processing first) or being emotionally available. I have a lot of good qualities too - like being independent, smart, organized, and level headed. We have a happy life. At least I think so.
I often feel lost in social situations and I created a social group to connect with other moms in a way I felt more involved. I am the creator, organizer - the person that makes it all happen - so I'm just not some quiet person lost in the background of all the noise and connection happening around me. If I can't be connected emotionally to other people - I am happy I am at least the reason it is happening between others. It is so important for people to genuinely connect and not feel so alone. More important than pretending to be someone you are not. More important than a clean house. I open my house frequently to guests, friends, and family. Though I do my best to clean all the clutter, sweep up the floor and clean all the counter and table tops when I have guests, my house will be far from perfectly clean. Should you choose to visit you won't find sparkly clean floors. My carpets may need a vacuum, my windows haven't been cleaned for ages, sometimes there is clutter laying around, my bathrooms may need some cleaning (especially the upstairs ones which visitors seldom use), and I won't look like I stepped out of a beauty salon. My hair will probably be pulled back into a ponytail. I need a hair cut so badly (very difficult with a baby). I usually try to wear the best of what I own, but my clothes will be comfortable and I don't often get new clothes as I'm a stay at home mom with very limited income. What you will find is a person who is trying to make you feel at home and welcome. I want you to feel comfortable enough to have me over as well without feeling you have to spend hours scrubbing the floors and putting on a "show". I want you to not feel alone and like my home is ALWAYS open to you. I want to be your friend. Maybe I can't connect emotionally as well as most of your other friends, and I have a very hard time with phone calls (to the point I try to avoid them) but it doesn't mean I don't care about you, or that you aren't important.
Through all of it, because I have pushed myself into awkward uncomfortable (at times) situations, I don't feel as alone. I have a wonderful husband, parents, sister, in-laws and other family members, and friends who care. And I've realized it's okay to be different, it's okay if some people don't get me or don't want anything to do with me. God made me special and though I'm not perfect, as long as I am trying to be the best I can be, striving for improvement and loving as much as I can (which is more about action than it is about a feeling anyway), I'm doing good.
My point is - I encourage every one to push themselves and step out of their comfort zone once in awhile. Good things may happen.
I often feel lost in social situations and I created a social group to connect with other moms in a way I felt more involved. I am the creator, organizer - the person that makes it all happen - so I'm just not some quiet person lost in the background of all the noise and connection happening around me. If I can't be connected emotionally to other people - I am happy I am at least the reason it is happening between others. It is so important for people to genuinely connect and not feel so alone. More important than pretending to be someone you are not. More important than a clean house. I open my house frequently to guests, friends, and family. Though I do my best to clean all the clutter, sweep up the floor and clean all the counter and table tops when I have guests, my house will be far from perfectly clean. Should you choose to visit you won't find sparkly clean floors. My carpets may need a vacuum, my windows haven't been cleaned for ages, sometimes there is clutter laying around, my bathrooms may need some cleaning (especially the upstairs ones which visitors seldom use), and I won't look like I stepped out of a beauty salon. My hair will probably be pulled back into a ponytail. I need a hair cut so badly (very difficult with a baby). I usually try to wear the best of what I own, but my clothes will be comfortable and I don't often get new clothes as I'm a stay at home mom with very limited income. What you will find is a person who is trying to make you feel at home and welcome. I want you to feel comfortable enough to have me over as well without feeling you have to spend hours scrubbing the floors and putting on a "show". I want you to not feel alone and like my home is ALWAYS open to you. I want to be your friend. Maybe I can't connect emotionally as well as most of your other friends, and I have a very hard time with phone calls (to the point I try to avoid them) but it doesn't mean I don't care about you, or that you aren't important.
Through all of it, because I have pushed myself into awkward uncomfortable (at times) situations, I don't feel as alone. I have a wonderful husband, parents, sister, in-laws and other family members, and friends who care. And I've realized it's okay to be different, it's okay if some people don't get me or don't want anything to do with me. God made me special and though I'm not perfect, as long as I am trying to be the best I can be, striving for improvement and loving as much as I can (which is more about action than it is about a feeling anyway), I'm doing good.
My point is - I encourage every one to push themselves and step out of their comfort zone once in awhile. Good things may happen.
Saturday, 3 August 2013
The funny thing about worrying...
I recently became a mommy again for the second time. It's very different this time. This time I have a baby girl, and no post partum depression, or rather anxiety as I did 5 years ago. 5 years ago I remember every day feeling like a week, and crying because I felt so overwhelmed and tired. Oh so tired. There are many things I just don't remember from my first 3 months with my son, maybe because I was just trying to get through each day, and really not enjoying him until he was a bit older. I REALLY started enjoying him when he started talking but things (and our bond) got better starting from 4 months on. This time I have only cried a few times... once out of frustration with my son for not listening when I was super stressed due to a crying infant, and a few times when I was looking at my daughter and just felt so overwhelmed by love and happiness to have her in our lives. I hardly sleep, but besides losing patience at the end of the day (well, sometimes throughout the day too) and feeling extra tired some days I'm actually coping much better with the lack of sleep this time. My daughter has cried a LOT. She has colic which was the worst from week 2-7. It is hard, but I never feel like I can't get through it or I need to escape, like I did 5 years ago. She cries some days more than others, and the natural tendency is to figure out what is bothering her and try to fix it. I worry and stress about wanting to help her feel better and be okay. It's stressful to hear her (or anyone) cry.
The funny thing is that I worry no matter what. She has days that she hardly naps and slept in short hour long stretches at night, and I worried it wasn't enough sleep. I complain how hard it is and hang on to hope and knowledge that it will get better. But, the truth is it would be worrisome if she slept too much as well, maybe more so. If all she did was sleep I would worry there was something wrong, or she was sick, and would wake in the night just to check she is okay. I do wish she slept longer though...
I think I was destined to fail from the start at breastfeeding this time. I knew from the start before she was born I wanted to supplement and was skeptical from the start about succeeding. With my son when I made the decision to switch from breastfeeding to bottle feeding I felt so guilty. The nurses made me feel bad. This time it was a nurse in the hospital who actually gave my daughter formula for the first time, without me even telling her to do so. They were much more supportive of either option and though I don't feel guilty about making the switch at such a young age (probably because I know how switching with my son was the best thing I could have done, helped us bond more, and helped ease some of the stress of being a new mom), I am definitely not proud of it, and am often embarrassed in public when pulling out a bottle, feeling like others are judging me for not breastfeeding. I don't really care (it's their problem if they are judging, my reasons aren't all selfish, but even if they were I'm the mom and it's my decision not anyone else's), but it crosses my mind. At the same time, I hear from moms who do breastfeed how they feel judged for breastfeeding in public and worry about how others feel - so you worry no matter what.
My daughter, just like my son was at this age, is very chubby, probably due to the formula. Sometimes I worry I feed her too much, but I'm happy she is big and healthy instead of not gaining enough and sick. Doctors seem to prefer chunky babies, and my son was probably even more chunky as a baby but evened out after he started walking. She may start to even out sooner because hopefully she will be able to crawl and move around on her own sooner than my son (he never crawled).
I worry about everything but try not to obsess over anything. I worry she is too hot at night and other times I worry she is too cold. We have air conditioning on and it is hard to know the right way to dress her. Both my husband and I prefer it to be cool at night in order to sleep better.
For the first few weeks our daughter had bad diarrhea. We were going through about 16 diapers a day. We even took her to the doctor because of it. We switched formulas in some people's opinion too many times, but I knew none of the ones we tried worked for her and wanted to find the right one. We have finally settled on soy formula, even though this one seems to make her constipated.... the opposite of our earlier problems. In order to combat that we started giving her bio gaia probiotic drops which offer some relief, but she still only has one bowel movement a day which is probably harder in consistency than it should be and she often struggles to get it out. Why can't there be a balance? There are worries either extreme.
Then there were the bottles - we tried every single one. The ones we settled on, for now, are our Medela bottles we used with Ryan with Dr. Brown nipples. They are the slowest flow we can find. She seemed to choke on all the other brands. These seemed too slow at first, but the others were definitely too fast. Nothing was perfect. And now that we settled I wanted to purchase some extras but all the stores that sell the brand are all sold out of level 1 which is the size we need. Now there is no point. By the time they stock them we will soon be moving to level 2 (3 months).
Sometimes I worry we aren't outside enough, to get enough fresh air, but when we are outside I worry there is too much sun or it's too windy and we'll get sick. Even with my son I worry. I worry he can be sooo sensitive about things like name calling that he will end up being bullied at school. But then he has such a strong willed bossy personality that I worry he will be a bully. In the end there will always be things to worry about. I am just happy I have two happy healthy kids that smile a lot and fill my heart with love every day. I don't think I will ever stop worrying about them, but I think that is pretty normal. Things are not always perfect but we have each other and that is just perfect.
The funny thing is that I worry no matter what. She has days that she hardly naps and slept in short hour long stretches at night, and I worried it wasn't enough sleep. I complain how hard it is and hang on to hope and knowledge that it will get better. But, the truth is it would be worrisome if she slept too much as well, maybe more so. If all she did was sleep I would worry there was something wrong, or she was sick, and would wake in the night just to check she is okay. I do wish she slept longer though...
I think I was destined to fail from the start at breastfeeding this time. I knew from the start before she was born I wanted to supplement and was skeptical from the start about succeeding. With my son when I made the decision to switch from breastfeeding to bottle feeding I felt so guilty. The nurses made me feel bad. This time it was a nurse in the hospital who actually gave my daughter formula for the first time, without me even telling her to do so. They were much more supportive of either option and though I don't feel guilty about making the switch at such a young age (probably because I know how switching with my son was the best thing I could have done, helped us bond more, and helped ease some of the stress of being a new mom), I am definitely not proud of it, and am often embarrassed in public when pulling out a bottle, feeling like others are judging me for not breastfeeding. I don't really care (it's their problem if they are judging, my reasons aren't all selfish, but even if they were I'm the mom and it's my decision not anyone else's), but it crosses my mind. At the same time, I hear from moms who do breastfeed how they feel judged for breastfeeding in public and worry about how others feel - so you worry no matter what.
My daughter, just like my son was at this age, is very chubby, probably due to the formula. Sometimes I worry I feed her too much, but I'm happy she is big and healthy instead of not gaining enough and sick. Doctors seem to prefer chunky babies, and my son was probably even more chunky as a baby but evened out after he started walking. She may start to even out sooner because hopefully she will be able to crawl and move around on her own sooner than my son (he never crawled).
I worry about everything but try not to obsess over anything. I worry she is too hot at night and other times I worry she is too cold. We have air conditioning on and it is hard to know the right way to dress her. Both my husband and I prefer it to be cool at night in order to sleep better.
For the first few weeks our daughter had bad diarrhea. We were going through about 16 diapers a day. We even took her to the doctor because of it. We switched formulas in some people's opinion too many times, but I knew none of the ones we tried worked for her and wanted to find the right one. We have finally settled on soy formula, even though this one seems to make her constipated.... the opposite of our earlier problems. In order to combat that we started giving her bio gaia probiotic drops which offer some relief, but she still only has one bowel movement a day which is probably harder in consistency than it should be and she often struggles to get it out. Why can't there be a balance? There are worries either extreme.
Then there were the bottles - we tried every single one. The ones we settled on, for now, are our Medela bottles we used with Ryan with Dr. Brown nipples. They are the slowest flow we can find. She seemed to choke on all the other brands. These seemed too slow at first, but the others were definitely too fast. Nothing was perfect. And now that we settled I wanted to purchase some extras but all the stores that sell the brand are all sold out of level 1 which is the size we need. Now there is no point. By the time they stock them we will soon be moving to level 2 (3 months).
Sometimes I worry we aren't outside enough, to get enough fresh air, but when we are outside I worry there is too much sun or it's too windy and we'll get sick. Even with my son I worry. I worry he can be sooo sensitive about things like name calling that he will end up being bullied at school. But then he has such a strong willed bossy personality that I worry he will be a bully. In the end there will always be things to worry about. I am just happy I have two happy healthy kids that smile a lot and fill my heart with love every day. I don't think I will ever stop worrying about them, but I think that is pretty normal. Things are not always perfect but we have each other and that is just perfect.
Saturday, 6 October 2012
Things to do for Halloween & Fall
It's been a few months since I've posted on here. We haven't really done anything new and exciting, except Ryan started junior kindergarten in September. I can't believe how much he loves it! He can't wait to go each day and loves his teachers, all three of them. His teacher's name is Mrs. Johnston, who has a helper named Mrs. Farr, and there is a teacher named Mrs. Rowe that comes in several times a week to do music and games with the kids. He has been learning prayers, songs, stories, and has come home with a smiley face "WOW" stamp on his hand more than once.
Halloween will be here in a few short weeks. Ryan already picked out his costume and he will be Luigi from Super Mario Brothers. Halloween is not my favourite holiday. I don't like kids being inundated with scary witches, skeletons, and all things that represent death. I much prefer Christmas and Easter. However, while I try and limit Ryan's exposure to the more morbid aspects of Halloween, I still want him to experience the fun parts. We'll decorate with spiders and pumpkins instead of skulls and witches. I will not allow him to dress up as some evil monster but will stick to animals, fun characters, and cute costumes, at least till he is older. So far he would not want to be a monster anyway! Hopefully he won't in the future too.
We usually have a few favourite things we like to incorporate into our fall schedule. I have made a list of the ten top things I recommend to do with kids around this time of year. These are mostly in Milton - I haven't been able to find as many events in Mississauga or Brampton this year.
1. Harvest Festival at Springridge Farms in Milton - every weekend in Oct - I have not been to this festival but if you are one who likes or needs to go places on weekends, this may be a good option for you. It is $10 a person ages 2-92 and includes a professional puppet show, wagon ride, boo barn, spiderweb climber, pipe slides, animal barn, sandbox, milking cow, corn mazes, straw bale jumping and pyramids, with pony rides an extra $3 per child.
2. Heritage Fall Harvest Celebration - Oct 13 & 14 only. We went to the teddy bear picnic at this place (Milton Heritage Farms) and it was awesome. So if I could I would go and check this out. Adults are $8 and children 5 and under are free. It includes a visit to a pumpkin patch, a wagon ride, attend and early 1900's school, corn maze, farm animals, historical buildings and displays, fun games and rides.
3. Fall Fairs (Brampton, Milton, Georgetown, etc...). We were planning on going to the Brampton Fall far but the weather didn't work out. We went to the Milton Fair though and it was great! It was expensive, especially the rides at an average of $3 each. Though if the children required adult accompaniment adults had to pay too ($6 for the ride). We didn't do too many of those. The fair had an animal area (called a petting zoo but you couldn't really pet the animals though they did have some unique animals such as a kangaroo). There was also a craft area which was really great (better than Brampton which we visited last year) - there was stamping with paints, puzzles, marble races, a clown with balloons, face painting, popsicle stick craft, coloring, painting derby cars and more. You could spend at least a few hours doing the stuff included in the $8 adult admission (plus $5 parking).
4. Halloween on the rails - Oct 20 and 27th at 6:30pm - At the Halton County Radial Railway - All ages event! Walk through the haunted car barn and travel in the old, creaky streetcars along the mainline and enjoy some hot apple cider & scary snacks. If you’re a Halloween fan this is definitely a spooky experience not to be missed! Costumes encouraged. Reservations not required. Tickets sold at the door. $10.25 per person.
5. Milton Mallo'ween Spooktacular - Sat Oct 29th from 10am to noon. I'm thinking of bringing Ryan to this this year, mostly because of the magic show. He loves magic right now. It depends on the weather (because if it is nice we will probably do something outside instead). The mall is a small one we rarely visit , but this event includes pumpkin carving, crafts, a costume parade and loot bags for free. Bring the kids to Milton Mall to enjoy pumpkin carving and spooky crafts they can take home along with their loot bag. There will also be a musical concert at 11 am and a magic show at 11:30.
6. Tiny Tots on Parade - Downtown Milton on Saturday Oct 29 from 10am-Noon, and in Downtown Oakville on Mon Oct 31 at 10am. Children 5 and under can go trick or treating at participating businesses. Costumes encouraged. Free. Also a possibility for us for this morning.
7. Camp Spooky at Canada's Wonderland - We are planning on going next Saturday if the weather is decent. I have been wanting to take Ryan one last time for the year, but the weather on Saturdays has not been co-operating. There is a scavenger hunt where the kids can go around collecting candy and halloween treats. There are also special hallo'ween mazes set up along with all the usual fun rides we enjoy.
8. Farm fun at Chudleigh's in Milton - In past years we made a trip here for apple picking but there is not much apple picking happening this year due to the weather we had in the spring ruining the apple crops. However, chudleigh's is still a fun farm to visit at this time of year with mazes, sand play, slides, a petting zoo, and ready picked apples for sale. The cost this year was just a little high for me to take Ryan though at $8 a person (4 and up) from tues-thurs and $11 a person (4 and up) from fri-mon.
9. Spooktacular at Vic Johnston Arena at Streetsville's Memorial Park in Mississauga - from 10am to 2pm, for kids age 2 to 10. Wear your halloween costume. Activities include crafts, coloring, games, scary tales, face painting and loot bags to the first 350 kids.
10. Pumpkin Fest at Downey's Farm in North Brampton / Caledon - We went here yesterday and it was great! There is a lot to do for the kids. It was $6.75 each yesterday but goes up to $12 each on the weekends (though on the weekends there is face painting, a puppet show, and other entertainment happening that does not happen in the week). There were bikes to ride, a duck race, bouncy cows to ride, a pirate ship to climb and explore with a slide, a truck to climb and slide down, a huge pipe slide (where we spent most of our time), a petting zoo that kids could actually enter, a hay bounce which was like a huge trampoline covered in hay (lots of fun and Ryan looked like a scarecrow by the end after all that jumping), a big pumpkin patch for pictures (and Ryan just enjoyed walking through it), a scary boo barn (we only got a few feet in and had to turn around as Ryan was scared), a wagon ride, and a big hay maze I didn't feel up to doing (chasing Ryan through it). We were there for 2.5 hours and Ryan cried when we had to leave. It was lots of fun.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy hallo'ween.
Halloween will be here in a few short weeks. Ryan already picked out his costume and he will be Luigi from Super Mario Brothers. Halloween is not my favourite holiday. I don't like kids being inundated with scary witches, skeletons, and all things that represent death. I much prefer Christmas and Easter. However, while I try and limit Ryan's exposure to the more morbid aspects of Halloween, I still want him to experience the fun parts. We'll decorate with spiders and pumpkins instead of skulls and witches. I will not allow him to dress up as some evil monster but will stick to animals, fun characters, and cute costumes, at least till he is older. So far he would not want to be a monster anyway! Hopefully he won't in the future too.
We usually have a few favourite things we like to incorporate into our fall schedule. I have made a list of the ten top things I recommend to do with kids around this time of year. These are mostly in Milton - I haven't been able to find as many events in Mississauga or Brampton this year.
1. Harvest Festival at Springridge Farms in Milton - every weekend in Oct - I have not been to this festival but if you are one who likes or needs to go places on weekends, this may be a good option for you. It is $10 a person ages 2-92 and includes a professional puppet show, wagon ride, boo barn, spiderweb climber, pipe slides, animal barn, sandbox, milking cow, corn mazes, straw bale jumping and pyramids, with pony rides an extra $3 per child.
2. Heritage Fall Harvest Celebration - Oct 13 & 14 only. We went to the teddy bear picnic at this place (Milton Heritage Farms) and it was awesome. So if I could I would go and check this out. Adults are $8 and children 5 and under are free. It includes a visit to a pumpkin patch, a wagon ride, attend and early 1900's school, corn maze, farm animals, historical buildings and displays, fun games and rides.
3. Fall Fairs (Brampton, Milton, Georgetown, etc...). We were planning on going to the Brampton Fall far but the weather didn't work out. We went to the Milton Fair though and it was great! It was expensive, especially the rides at an average of $3 each. Though if the children required adult accompaniment adults had to pay too ($6 for the ride). We didn't do too many of those. The fair had an animal area (called a petting zoo but you couldn't really pet the animals though they did have some unique animals such as a kangaroo). There was also a craft area which was really great (better than Brampton which we visited last year) - there was stamping with paints, puzzles, marble races, a clown with balloons, face painting, popsicle stick craft, coloring, painting derby cars and more. You could spend at least a few hours doing the stuff included in the $8 adult admission (plus $5 parking).
4. Halloween on the rails - Oct 20 and 27th at 6:30pm - At the Halton County Radial Railway - All ages event! Walk through the haunted car barn and travel in the old, creaky streetcars along the mainline and enjoy some hot apple cider & scary snacks. If you’re a Halloween fan this is definitely a spooky experience not to be missed! Costumes encouraged. Reservations not required. Tickets sold at the door. $10.25 per person.
5. Milton Mallo'ween Spooktacular - Sat Oct 29th from 10am to noon. I'm thinking of bringing Ryan to this this year, mostly because of the magic show. He loves magic right now. It depends on the weather (because if it is nice we will probably do something outside instead). The mall is a small one we rarely visit , but this event includes pumpkin carving, crafts, a costume parade and loot bags for free. Bring the kids to Milton Mall to enjoy pumpkin carving and spooky crafts they can take home along with their loot bag. There will also be a musical concert at 11 am and a magic show at 11:30.
6. Tiny Tots on Parade - Downtown Milton on Saturday Oct 29 from 10am-Noon, and in Downtown Oakville on Mon Oct 31 at 10am. Children 5 and under can go trick or treating at participating businesses. Costumes encouraged. Free. Also a possibility for us for this morning.
7. Camp Spooky at Canada's Wonderland - We are planning on going next Saturday if the weather is decent. I have been wanting to take Ryan one last time for the year, but the weather on Saturdays has not been co-operating. There is a scavenger hunt where the kids can go around collecting candy and halloween treats. There are also special hallo'ween mazes set up along with all the usual fun rides we enjoy.
8. Farm fun at Chudleigh's in Milton - In past years we made a trip here for apple picking but there is not much apple picking happening this year due to the weather we had in the spring ruining the apple crops. However, chudleigh's is still a fun farm to visit at this time of year with mazes, sand play, slides, a petting zoo, and ready picked apples for sale. The cost this year was just a little high for me to take Ryan though at $8 a person (4 and up) from tues-thurs and $11 a person (4 and up) from fri-mon.
9. Spooktacular at Vic Johnston Arena at Streetsville's Memorial Park in Mississauga - from 10am to 2pm, for kids age 2 to 10. Wear your halloween costume. Activities include crafts, coloring, games, scary tales, face painting and loot bags to the first 350 kids.
10. Pumpkin Fest at Downey's Farm in North Brampton / Caledon - We went here yesterday and it was great! There is a lot to do for the kids. It was $6.75 each yesterday but goes up to $12 each on the weekends (though on the weekends there is face painting, a puppet show, and other entertainment happening that does not happen in the week). There were bikes to ride, a duck race, bouncy cows to ride, a pirate ship to climb and explore with a slide, a truck to climb and slide down, a huge pipe slide (where we spent most of our time), a petting zoo that kids could actually enter, a hay bounce which was like a huge trampoline covered in hay (lots of fun and Ryan looked like a scarecrow by the end after all that jumping), a big pumpkin patch for pictures (and Ryan just enjoyed walking through it), a scary boo barn (we only got a few feet in and had to turn around as Ryan was scared), a wagon ride, and a big hay maze I didn't feel up to doing (chasing Ryan through it). We were there for 2.5 hours and Ryan cried when we had to leave. It was lots of fun.
Hope everyone has a safe and happy hallo'ween.
Saturday, 4 August 2012
Rockwood conservation, Niagara Falls, and Park Royal Family Fun Center
Ryan and I have had three incredibly fun and busy days in a row. On thursday, a friend invited me to join her and her family at Rockwood conservation area. It is about half an hour away from me, but a nice drive and there is no traffic coming home even during rush hour, so it beats the distance to professors lake. I had never heard of this place before, and now can not wait to go back again!
We arrived at about 1pm and decided to eat first thing. Our friends were hungry and though I had ate before we left, Ryan still had half his lunch to finish, and of course I packed a cooler full of (mostly) healthy snacks. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw lots of empty picnic tables under a large shelter overlooking the lake. We were able to eat our lunch in peace, with very few wasps around our food, with lots of space. Our kids of course could not sit still at the table for long, but they had a lot of space to run around there which was mostly contained, except for two entrances. After lunch we head down a large set of stairs (with a ramp for strollers) to the beach. It was a small beach but just perfect for us. The sand was soft and the water was warm. The water was shallow at the beginning and about chest deep (on me) at the buoy lines, which is the perfect depth in which I am able to swim around but be able to stand and make sure Ryan is safe and close by as well. We spent hours in the water. Ryan loved spinning around in his tube, and started a game of swim tag with our friends, which led to tickle tag. Him and his friend also were playing a game of sink the watering can and try to be the first to spot it when it rose up to the top of the water again, until the time it never resurfaced! Fortunately for the watering can, later someone else found it at the bottom of the lake. We also had a bit of sand time when Ryan buried his feet in the sand and dug some trenches. He much prefers being in the water to playing in the sand though.
Although I dont know if we had our fill of the water, after several hours of water play we decided to go for a hike. We knew that there were caves somewhere in Rockwood conservation area and Ryan was really excited to see them. I was unable to find them on the map, but was told to follow pot hole trail, which we did. It was a beautiful scenic and fun walk. The boys mostly walked on their own and explored the rocks, bridges, and scenic views along the way. At the end of the trail was a mill ruin - Ryan gasped and was so excited we found something at the end of our journey. They spent about 10 minutes running around the ruin exploring every inch of it and Ryan was collecting all the rocks he could find (which I put back before leaving even though he wanted to bring all of them home). It was 6pm at that point and I wanted to get home for dinner and Ryans bedtime was fast approaching, so we were going to go back the same way we came (the short route) even though our friends were continuing on the long route. But Ryan was begging me to go the long way with our friends so I gave in. We quickly discovered on the map that if we continued on, there were caves ahead, but at that point if we continued to the caves it would probably be getting dark on our way back, the mosquitoes would be out in full force, and dinner would have been really late pushing bedtime back even further. So we told Ryan who really wanted to see the caves that we would come back again and definitely see the caves next time. The trail back was not as scenic as the way there. There were more uphill inclines. And by half way back I started getting really tired. I was so done with walking. Ryan as well was tired and spent most of the walk back in his stroller. Wanting to get back quickly we separated from our friends who wanted to walk at a more leisurely pace. I speed walked most of the way back... a long way back, and was so happy to get back to that van. I had been walking for at least 1.5 hours, in the heat, with lots of hills and am not used to it. I can not wait to do it again, but next time will not take the second way back but stick to the more scenic shorter route. As it was we did not get home till 7pm.
Sean took friday off as a vacation day and wanted to take us to Niagara Falls. We dont go out to these type of places a lot so we were excited to spend the day doing something fun as a family. Niagara Falls is great and there is tons to do ... that is, if you have the money. It is also very expensive because there is just so much and if you add it all up and do everything it would cost hundreds of dollars! We havent been there in years and didnt know where to park, so we ended up parking close to the falls, which was a big mistake. It cost $20 in parking and when walking around we found lots of other parking lots as low as $3 or $4 for the day. If you just want to see the falls, and dont want to walk up any big hills, paying $20 to park closer may be worth it. But for us, who were walking up the hill anyway, it was not. We started by looking at the falls and browing in the table rock store which we found to be very expensive and left empty handed. We were not really there to shop anyway. Ryan was excited to see the falls at first and oohed and ahhed but when we got closer he just wanted to move on. He did not want the mist to go in his eyes. Silly. We walked up a huge hill, and made Ryan walk even though he complained a bit about his feet being tired (it is hard to push a stroller up a steep hill with a 40+ pound preschooler sitting in it). We took a rest break half way up and at the top Ryan got in the stroller for a bit of a break. Cant blame him - it was probably 40 degrees and the sweat was pouring off all of us. We took a LONG lunch break at TGI Fridays. I was excited to go here as I love TGI Fridays in the States... they have the best tostados and pecan salad there. I was disappointed that the Canadian menu is different than the American one, but the food, though expensive, was still delicious. I had the strawberry fields salad which was covered in caramelized pecans and strawberries. Yum! There are so many attractions on Clifton Hill you could do if you had the money and desire. Ryan really would have loved to do the ferris wheel (maybe next time), and there were 3 mini golf courses he wanted to try (maybe not dinosaur themed, but we could and did do mini golf closer to home). There were some haunted houses (too scary for a preschooler), and a neat looking glow in the dark bowling place. There was a big lego workshop, a dave & busters, and a bunch of arcades. We chose to do the mid-way because I knew Ryan would love it and Sean and I could enjoy it as well. Ryan was so excited he did not know where to go first. We used a coupon so that we spent $20 but got $25 worth of tokens. It was more than enough as it lasted us at least 2 hours. Ryan went on 3 kiddie rides, and played a lot of games (similar to chuckie cheese). He played air hockey with daddy, but his favourite was the roller coaster simulator ride that blows air in your face and moves side to side, bumps, and vibrates to make you feel like your in the screen. He went on it twice. He cashed in all his tickets from the games for a spiderman ball, a airplane glider, a spinning top and some other toy that is broken already. There was a bigger rollercoaster simulator ride in the midway that I would love to do another time with him as well as a laser ghost ride. Ryan saw the fun house when we left and wanted to do it so badly. But it was already 7pm, and it would have cost $20 for just him and I to go in. It did not make sense. Instead we told him we would try and stop at a park on the way home so he could play for a few minutes. We walked all the way back to our car (didnt get there till close to 8pm) and ended up stopping at a McDonalds playland so we could let him play while we had dinner, changed him into his PJs, and he ate his dinner in the car on the way home, before falling asleep around 9:30 in the car. We got home just after 10.
We arrived at about 1pm and decided to eat first thing. Our friends were hungry and though I had ate before we left, Ryan still had half his lunch to finish, and of course I packed a cooler full of (mostly) healthy snacks. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw lots of empty picnic tables under a large shelter overlooking the lake. We were able to eat our lunch in peace, with very few wasps around our food, with lots of space. Our kids of course could not sit still at the table for long, but they had a lot of space to run around there which was mostly contained, except for two entrances. After lunch we head down a large set of stairs (with a ramp for strollers) to the beach. It was a small beach but just perfect for us. The sand was soft and the water was warm. The water was shallow at the beginning and about chest deep (on me) at the buoy lines, which is the perfect depth in which I am able to swim around but be able to stand and make sure Ryan is safe and close by as well. We spent hours in the water. Ryan loved spinning around in his tube, and started a game of swim tag with our friends, which led to tickle tag. Him and his friend also were playing a game of sink the watering can and try to be the first to spot it when it rose up to the top of the water again, until the time it never resurfaced! Fortunately for the watering can, later someone else found it at the bottom of the lake. We also had a bit of sand time when Ryan buried his feet in the sand and dug some trenches. He much prefers being in the water to playing in the sand though.
Although I dont know if we had our fill of the water, after several hours of water play we decided to go for a hike. We knew that there were caves somewhere in Rockwood conservation area and Ryan was really excited to see them. I was unable to find them on the map, but was told to follow pot hole trail, which we did. It was a beautiful scenic and fun walk. The boys mostly walked on their own and explored the rocks, bridges, and scenic views along the way. At the end of the trail was a mill ruin - Ryan gasped and was so excited we found something at the end of our journey. They spent about 10 minutes running around the ruin exploring every inch of it and Ryan was collecting all the rocks he could find (which I put back before leaving even though he wanted to bring all of them home). It was 6pm at that point and I wanted to get home for dinner and Ryans bedtime was fast approaching, so we were going to go back the same way we came (the short route) even though our friends were continuing on the long route. But Ryan was begging me to go the long way with our friends so I gave in. We quickly discovered on the map that if we continued on, there were caves ahead, but at that point if we continued to the caves it would probably be getting dark on our way back, the mosquitoes would be out in full force, and dinner would have been really late pushing bedtime back even further. So we told Ryan who really wanted to see the caves that we would come back again and definitely see the caves next time. The trail back was not as scenic as the way there. There were more uphill inclines. And by half way back I started getting really tired. I was so done with walking. Ryan as well was tired and spent most of the walk back in his stroller. Wanting to get back quickly we separated from our friends who wanted to walk at a more leisurely pace. I speed walked most of the way back... a long way back, and was so happy to get back to that van. I had been walking for at least 1.5 hours, in the heat, with lots of hills and am not used to it. I can not wait to do it again, but next time will not take the second way back but stick to the more scenic shorter route. As it was we did not get home till 7pm.
Finally, today, Sean suggested going to Putting Edge to give Ryan the mini golf experience he wanted yesterday at Niagara, but I was not so keen on spending close to $30 just for one round of mini golf. So I found a different place where we paid the same $30 but got much more out of it. We played a round of 5 pin bowling (Ryan was just as good if not better than us at it), an 18 hole round of glow in the dark mini golf, and unlimited time in the bouncy castle, slide, and play area. The place is called Park Royal Family Fun Center in South Mississauga. After going today, I recommend it to anyone looking for mini golf or bowling with kids. The bowling alley had gutter guards and there were ramps available for the toddlers and kids (Ryan used it half the time and half the time did not - he was just as good without it as with it). The mini golf was not as elaborate and big as putting edge, but it was decorated nicely, still glowed in the dark, and had some nice moving parts on some of the holes, like turning windmills, bowling pins, a loop de loop track, etc... And if you just do mini golf it is half the price of putting edge ($5 per player). There is also a deal where in the summer if you register your child, they get free bowling games when you go. The place was pretty empty and it was Saturday. There was a birthday party going on but the golf course was empty when we were on it, the bowling alley was just us and one other family, and the play area was sometimes empty as well. Ryan had the bouncy castle to himself most times. What a great couple days! It feels like we had a mini vacation right here at home. :)
Ryan has found a new application on his pet pals game for the leap pad. He can record his voice (up to 1 or 2 minutes I believe) and play it back. All the way to Rockwood, home from Rockwood, most of the way to Niagara, and even part of the way to Park Royal he has been making up songs one after the other and playing them back. He makes up the funniest and sometimes sweetest lyrics. I love listening to him. I recorded one, but it is not the best. Some of his lyrics I liked most went something like this: I love mommy soo much. I love mommy to all the planets and back. I love everyone in the whole world, even all my friends who live on different streets. Fall turns to winter and then its spring. We are going to the beach today. God made everyone. God made me. I love my leap pad and yoshi too... Sometimes he fills in his improvised songs with silly nonsense words as well when he cant think of what to sing right away.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Fear
Do you watch or read the news daily? The world can be a very scary place to live. You just never know. Anything can happen. You can get into a car crash, get stung by a mosquito and contract west nile disease, you can go out into the sun and get skin cancer years later, or go see a movie and get killed by some crazy person. Who would have thought? It`s really sad to think about those people who were killed - what could have been had they not been there that day and the shattered lives of those they left behind. I was talking to someone who said they heard that some people have reacted by going out and purchasing a gun to protect themselves. They reasoned that had the people sitting in the movie theatre been armed, perhaps not so many people would have died. To me, that makes no sense at all. First of all the gun man was protected by armor, but secondly inviting more guns into public places could only make things worse. You can let the awful things that happen in the world consume you, scare you, and terrify you into never seeing a midnight screening of a movie, never going to crowded places, or buying a gun. You can live in fear of mosquitoes, never to go camping or go out in dusk again. There are hundreds, no, thousands of things you can be afraid of - but I think the number 1 thing we should be most afraid of is to live a life completely covered in fear. We need to live with hope, faith, love and joy. We can`t let the bad things overtake all the good things. We need to focus on the good and have hope in the humanity and goodness in most people. Otherwise, what kind of life are we living? One of despair, fear, worry, hatred of others, and segregation. Living a life like that will only make things worse. We could lose our lives tomorrow, but what good will worrying about it do? No, I choose to live with hope, faith, and love. Faith that no matter what happens my life is in God`s hands and even death is not the end. Hope that no matter what comes my way I will make the most of it and find the strength to overcome. Love so whenever I die, hopefully at the end of a long and full life, I leave behind something good and enjoy all the time I have.
Personally, I don`t read or watch the news every single day. I don`t spend hours researching the wars going on overseas, or all the thousands of problems my neighbors and fellow citizens of the world are dealing with. It`s not that I don`t care. I do. It`s not that I don`t want to help. Deep down, I do. We need to focus on the positive things and act on God`s lead in order to do that. Instead of reading for hours and feeling bad for people, guilty about not doing anything, hopeless that things will change, making excuses and worrying about our own problems, we need to take a step forward in doing something good for someone else. It could be our own children, our neighbors, our co-workers, that person behind us in line, or a compliment to a friend. If we all stopped worrying about the bad and starting acting on the good, a lot more people would be helped, fed, and more emotionally stable. I feel I have a long way to go to get to the point I feel like I`m doing all I can and to be all I can be. But it really doesn`t matter how much you help and how many you help as long as you are acting on whatever you feel called to do - whatever is good, loving, and kind. One step at a time we will make a difference as long as we keep moving in a positive action filled direction. ``Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.`` Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don`t think we can ever erase fear all together, nor is it healthy. We need to be aware enough to do what we can to protect our family and to not be naive to what is going on. However we can`t let it consume us. We can`t let it rule our thoughts, our lives, our hopes and our dreams. We need to let go of it enough to love others, help others, and serve others whatever the cost. We need to live with faith. Faith is the opposite of fear because with it we can achieve and conquer absolutely anything.
Personally, I don`t read or watch the news every single day. I don`t spend hours researching the wars going on overseas, or all the thousands of problems my neighbors and fellow citizens of the world are dealing with. It`s not that I don`t care. I do. It`s not that I don`t want to help. Deep down, I do. We need to focus on the positive things and act on God`s lead in order to do that. Instead of reading for hours and feeling bad for people, guilty about not doing anything, hopeless that things will change, making excuses and worrying about our own problems, we need to take a step forward in doing something good for someone else. It could be our own children, our neighbors, our co-workers, that person behind us in line, or a compliment to a friend. If we all stopped worrying about the bad and starting acting on the good, a lot more people would be helped, fed, and more emotionally stable. I feel I have a long way to go to get to the point I feel like I`m doing all I can and to be all I can be. But it really doesn`t matter how much you help and how many you help as long as you are acting on whatever you feel called to do - whatever is good, loving, and kind. One step at a time we will make a difference as long as we keep moving in a positive action filled direction. ``Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.`` Martin Luther King, Jr.
I don`t think we can ever erase fear all together, nor is it healthy. We need to be aware enough to do what we can to protect our family and to not be naive to what is going on. However we can`t let it consume us. We can`t let it rule our thoughts, our lives, our hopes and our dreams. We need to let go of it enough to love others, help others, and serve others whatever the cost. We need to live with faith. Faith is the opposite of fear because with it we can achieve and conquer absolutely anything.
Saturday, 21 July 2012
GTA Beaches
We have been enjoying an extended extremely hot summer and have been loving every minute of it! I wish the weather was so hot (and even humid) 365 days a year. Of course, if I had no air conditioning or if I had to work without it, that would not be the case! My air conditioning runs through the night as I have such a hard time sleeping when it is warm. We pay the price but it`s worth it, to me. We tend to save trips to wonderland for the milder temperature days that are below 30 degrees. Even though there is a nice big water park there, it`s crowded and a long walk to get to the water. We`ve been spending a lot of time at the beach this year. We`ve been to Kelso three times so far, with plans to go twice more before the summer is up. We went to Wasaga once with plans to go one or two more times this summer, and we`ve been to Professor`s Lake beach with plans to go back one or two more times as well. Ryan and I both LOVE the water - swimming and splashing around in it. Most kids we go with spend a lot of time in the sand building sand castles and digging trenches. Ryan prefers to spend most of the time in the water swimming around with his swim ring on and though I am over protective about him in the water, wanting him to be at knee level water or with me right by his side, I love having a water baby as there is no other place I`d rather be.
I`m thinking of putting him in swim lessons this fall as he really wants to take them. I took swimming lessons for years but ended up learning how to swim on my own - self taught at Kelso day camp. The lessons when I was younger were mostly a big waste of time. That is the reason I have been hesitating putting Ryan in swim lessons till now. It`s not like we have extra money floating around to put him in lots of extra curricular activities. He is already very comfortable in the water, blows bubbles, is able to swim on his own in a life jacket or swim ring, has no fear at all, he has put his face in the water briefly a couple times, etc... I would love for him to learn how to float and swim without a life jacket on but wonder if the lessons at his age would help at all with this or if it will mostly just come with practice and age.
The three beaches I mentioned are all really different from one another. The closest to us is Kelso. It`s most convenient for us, with no worries about traffic coming home at 4 or 5 in the middle of rush hour. The farthest is obviously Wasaga, however, it`s only about a 20-25 minute drive away from my parents so it`s a great thing to do when we are visiting them. In order to get to Kelso beach you have to either walk down a very steep hill, walk down a large set of stairs, or walk a very long time along the boardwalk from the entrance. We usually take a stroller in order to carry all our stuff (picnic, sand toys, swim ring, towels, change of clothes for Ryan, drinks, sun screen, etc...) and I usually opt for the steep hill as it is quickest. Going down is the easy part, and I`m not as hot (wet from the water) for the walk back up - I figure I need the exercise anyway, and if it`s bad I stop and take breaks. :) The sand at Kelso is very pebbly and rough on my feet. I much prefer the sand at Professors Lake and Wasaga. Kelso has a nice snack bar where you can buy hamburgers, popsicles, ice cream treats, etc... for reasonable prices in July and August. There are LOTS of picnic tables and you can usually find one in the shade no matter what time you arrive (on a week day anyway). The beach is rigged with little wires above it to prevent birds from flying on to the beach or in the water. The water is very shallow and Ryan is able to touch the bottom even at the divider rope that he is not allowed to go past with life jackets or swim rings on. Professors Lake got deeper which I kind of like as it is hard for me to swim in water that is less than waist deep. The sand was soft and ideal for sand castle building and walking on without pain. There is a large water slide for anyone 39.5 inches or taller. Ryan was SOOO excited to go on it. It was the first thing he did. Unfortunately he lost his balance and ended up on his back instead of sitting up and he said he hit his head somehow on the way down which scared him so much he would not try it again even after watching his friends and myself go down numerous times. Of course he wanted to spend the whole time in the water. There weren`t as many picnic tables at Professor`s lake, esp shaded ones. Next time I will eat lunch BEFORE going. There were a lot of bees and wasps there and I didn`t see as many at Kelso or Wasaga. I am terrified of bees so eating at Professor`s lake is a bit of a challenge for me. We also tried paddle boating with a friend for the first time ever. I was a little nervous being in the middle of a lake with Ryan in his own seat without a seat belt trying to help us pedal but it was a good experience. We had a whistle in case of an emergency and the kids sat in front of us so we could see them all the time. We all had life jackets on. It was a good price at $2.15 per person (4 of us were on the boat). The cost of Kelso and Professor`s Lake is basically the same (approx. $6.50 for both myself and Ryan). Wasaga is more expensive - $16 per vehicle. Wasaga is very shallow for a very long time. But if you go too far you risk the undertow of the currents. A boy just drowned there this week. He drowned in beach area 1 which is the most dangerous beach to swim at due to the currents. We normally go to beach area 4 or 5 which are more family oriented and safer. Beach area 4 had a playground right next to our picnic table which was probably a mistake as the kids wanted to play on it constantly and there were some really high ladders and edges to fall over. We saw several kids fall on their heads on one of the slides which we told our kids not to go down. The beach is HUGE and the nice thing about wasaga is the waves which are so much fun to ride over on floats. The sand is beautiful and the picnic area is shaded though MUCH farther back from the beach (lots of walking back and forth). There are washrooms at all 3 beaches. Professors Lake had a snack bar as well with drinks, popsicles and I believe some sort of hot dog or pizza as well. It was very reasonably priced - we got a slush puppy for $1. Wasaga does not have a snack bar - at least at beaches 3-6. All three beaches are good. I think if you live in Brampton your best bet is Professor`s Lake, especially if you don`t mind wasps.
There is my long review of the three beaches we have visited this summer. Happy summer! :)
I`m thinking of putting him in swim lessons this fall as he really wants to take them. I took swimming lessons for years but ended up learning how to swim on my own - self taught at Kelso day camp. The lessons when I was younger were mostly a big waste of time. That is the reason I have been hesitating putting Ryan in swim lessons till now. It`s not like we have extra money floating around to put him in lots of extra curricular activities. He is already very comfortable in the water, blows bubbles, is able to swim on his own in a life jacket or swim ring, has no fear at all, he has put his face in the water briefly a couple times, etc... I would love for him to learn how to float and swim without a life jacket on but wonder if the lessons at his age would help at all with this or if it will mostly just come with practice and age.
The three beaches I mentioned are all really different from one another. The closest to us is Kelso. It`s most convenient for us, with no worries about traffic coming home at 4 or 5 in the middle of rush hour. The farthest is obviously Wasaga, however, it`s only about a 20-25 minute drive away from my parents so it`s a great thing to do when we are visiting them. In order to get to Kelso beach you have to either walk down a very steep hill, walk down a large set of stairs, or walk a very long time along the boardwalk from the entrance. We usually take a stroller in order to carry all our stuff (picnic, sand toys, swim ring, towels, change of clothes for Ryan, drinks, sun screen, etc...) and I usually opt for the steep hill as it is quickest. Going down is the easy part, and I`m not as hot (wet from the water) for the walk back up - I figure I need the exercise anyway, and if it`s bad I stop and take breaks. :) The sand at Kelso is very pebbly and rough on my feet. I much prefer the sand at Professors Lake and Wasaga. Kelso has a nice snack bar where you can buy hamburgers, popsicles, ice cream treats, etc... for reasonable prices in July and August. There are LOTS of picnic tables and you can usually find one in the shade no matter what time you arrive (on a week day anyway). The beach is rigged with little wires above it to prevent birds from flying on to the beach or in the water. The water is very shallow and Ryan is able to touch the bottom even at the divider rope that he is not allowed to go past with life jackets or swim rings on. Professors Lake got deeper which I kind of like as it is hard for me to swim in water that is less than waist deep. The sand was soft and ideal for sand castle building and walking on without pain. There is a large water slide for anyone 39.5 inches or taller. Ryan was SOOO excited to go on it. It was the first thing he did. Unfortunately he lost his balance and ended up on his back instead of sitting up and he said he hit his head somehow on the way down which scared him so much he would not try it again even after watching his friends and myself go down numerous times. Of course he wanted to spend the whole time in the water. There weren`t as many picnic tables at Professor`s lake, esp shaded ones. Next time I will eat lunch BEFORE going. There were a lot of bees and wasps there and I didn`t see as many at Kelso or Wasaga. I am terrified of bees so eating at Professor`s lake is a bit of a challenge for me. We also tried paddle boating with a friend for the first time ever. I was a little nervous being in the middle of a lake with Ryan in his own seat without a seat belt trying to help us pedal but it was a good experience. We had a whistle in case of an emergency and the kids sat in front of us so we could see them all the time. We all had life jackets on. It was a good price at $2.15 per person (4 of us were on the boat). The cost of Kelso and Professor`s Lake is basically the same (approx. $6.50 for both myself and Ryan). Wasaga is more expensive - $16 per vehicle. Wasaga is very shallow for a very long time. But if you go too far you risk the undertow of the currents. A boy just drowned there this week. He drowned in beach area 1 which is the most dangerous beach to swim at due to the currents. We normally go to beach area 4 or 5 which are more family oriented and safer. Beach area 4 had a playground right next to our picnic table which was probably a mistake as the kids wanted to play on it constantly and there were some really high ladders and edges to fall over. We saw several kids fall on their heads on one of the slides which we told our kids not to go down. The beach is HUGE and the nice thing about wasaga is the waves which are so much fun to ride over on floats. The sand is beautiful and the picnic area is shaded though MUCH farther back from the beach (lots of walking back and forth). There are washrooms at all 3 beaches. Professors Lake had a snack bar as well with drinks, popsicles and I believe some sort of hot dog or pizza as well. It was very reasonably priced - we got a slush puppy for $1. Wasaga does not have a snack bar - at least at beaches 3-6. All three beaches are good. I think if you live in Brampton your best bet is Professor`s Lake, especially if you don`t mind wasps.
There is my long review of the three beaches we have visited this summer. Happy summer! :)
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