Family Vacation in Toronto

I'm still unburying myself from the things that I have to catch up on since my To-Do List ballooned right after we got back from our Toronto trip. It was a "forced family vacation" I insisted upon that coupled with the tail end of the professional conference I attended in Toronto. I figured that I would've gone anyway, so most of the expenses are business-deductible, albeit out of pocket. So we're getting a vacation "cheap", relatively speaking. Besides, we've never been to Toronto and it would be a great opportunity to see it. I'm admitting that it was my bright idea to attend a work-related conference at the Toronto Convention Center (or Centre, as the Canadians would have it), which is in the heart of downtown Toronto. Fun? No! The conference was good as I had the chance to further my knowledge by attending classes and talks and gain those valuable certificate-maintenance points. But, by deciding to bring my family along, I did not have much opportunity to network and hobnob with colleagues over dinner. Between attending the conference and trying to squeeze out some family time, I had maybe two minutes downtime to rest and maybe even check my email. Worse of all, when I did return from the conference to join them, Scarlett didn't want to see me. She wanted me to go back to "work"! That broke my heart. Why would I think that dragging my husband and 21-month old daughter to downtown Toronto would be fun? There was not much for her to do in downtown and she was not interested in sitting in her stroller all day long while she gets pushed around. In fact, I felt bad for Brian that he had to lug along a diaper bag, drag the stroller around, while chasing after Scarlett where ever he went. Scarlett stayed on California time during the whole trip, which was great in that we all went to bed the same time at night. But she woke up much earlier than she should almost every morning, didn't nap well, and didn't eat well. That all translated into a fussy 21-month old with frequent blow-ups, especially during meal times. It wasn't until the last 3 days of the trip when we rented a car, went to the Toronto zoo, and stayed in Niagara Falls that we actually had a more enjoyable time.


All in all, the days in Toronto were exhausting and I really appreciate Brian for all that he did. But I still think it was a worthwhile experience. With all the stimulation and new experiences, Scarlett learned a lot on the trip and picked up more words to add to her vocabulary. In fact, she started speaking many sentences during our trip. "No want it" was definitely not my favorite but "I touched ma (horse)" was on the top of my list. We are a family and the memories we create going on trips/vacations add to those memories. So no, I don't think we'll take Scarlett to Tahiti, if we ever go anytime soon. But I don't agree that we should sit at home all year long just because she's too young to remember the trips and because it's a lot of work to bring her along. I know many people go on vacations (even Europe) with their small kids and no, this is not a competition to one-up everyone else on the number of vacations taken but it's an attempt to live a little and take those opportunities to do things as a family when we get the chance. Scarlett, I hope you remember this trip but if you don't, we'll always tell you that you saw Niagara Falls already!