Last week my family and I went on vacation to Ontario, Canada.

First, we went to Niagara Falls.

The Good: the falls were lovely, we enjoyed the Maid of the Mist boat tour, and no one fell in.

The Bad: the kids’ favorite part of this destination was not the stunning falls but the mega arcade in town (think Chuck E. Cheese on steroids!) They couldn’t stop talking about how much fun they had at the arcade. I think they barely remember the falls.

Second, we visited an old friend near Barrie, Ontario. We kept telling the kids we were going to see “Uncle Mel”, who really wasn’t their uncle. But you know how you teach your kids to call good friends “Uncle”?

The Good: it was a fun, relaxing time of catching up.

The Bad: Sydney, 5, returned to school this week and told her teachers she visited an Uncle. She said she went to an Uncle’s house who she didn’t know and had never met before. It sounds kinda creepy when she put it like that!

Third, it was on to Toronto for a couple days.

The Good: we exposed our kids to a thriving, diverse city.

The Bad: it was expensive and my husband wouldn’t stop talking about that (thanks a lot, American dollar!) Plus, even though we dragged their little butts all over that city, all the kids really cared about was the hotel pool.

Finally, we drove west through beautiful Ontario (which looks a lot like Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, etc.) to the beach at Lake Huron.

The Good: aww, it was sooo beautiful and I wanted to sit in the sand and take all the beauty in all day.

The Bad: we were there on the EXACT day that the horrendous drought of 2012 ENDED and it rained and rained. We ended up looking at the beautiful beach for 30 minutes, freezing our wet keisters off, and just driving home.

All in all, it was a vacation and we had plenty of fun. As my kids would say, what’s next?

How was your vacation?

P.S. Don’t forget to enter the Happy Doodles custom stuffed animal giveaway here!