Time with the kids

So I can report back that we did use up the rest of the City Pass tickets.  Yea.  We went to Ontario Science Centre on Saturday and the Toronto Zoo today.  (Of course, we had to rent a car to visit the zoo, somewhat negating the savings from the passes, but I would have eventually gone and still needed to rent a car.  We had a pretty simple ride on the bus to the Science Centre.)  I actually was completely in charge of the kids both days, partly to make up for how little I see them the rest of the week.  I don't think I'll always be working quite as late as I did last week, but it will probably be a fairly regular occurrence.  As ever, time spent with them is a bit of a mixed blessing, as they never completely conform to how I expect them to act and what I think they should enjoy or at least pay attention to. (How unreasonable that they are autonomous beings!)  I suppose it would have been a bit better had my wife joined me, as there were moments that I basically lost my patience, as well as a brief moment where I was separated from each child (on the two different days).  My son basically had a melt down, whereas my daughter was cool as a cucumber.

They had a good time at both, though my daughter did have more sit down protests at the zoo when she got tired.  It is true you had to walk so far, particularly if you wanted to see the Canadian animals (go figure).  Still, I think in general the zoo was more to my taste, though it was just a bit hotter than I would have liked (and we were overdressed).  That meant that many of the animals were sleeping most of the time we were walking around.  We actually did circle back and saw the pandas a second time (it was the first place we went at the zoo and one of the last).  The first time both of them were sleeping, but the second time we saw one of them pretty up close and it was eating bamboo leaves, naturally.  I saw pandas decades ago when they were at the D.C. zoo, and this was a much closer view, so that was cool.  I think the Toronto Zoo only has them for about a year, so hopefully the kids will remember the visit semi-fondly.

Panda sleeping

Panda eating bamboo - the money shot

The kangaroos and the moose were both big disappointments (too far away and basically just sleeping).  The rhinos and hippos were a bit better.  The best (in terms of viewing opportunities) were probably the bison, the camels, the white lions, the young polar bear, the Arctic wolves, the giraffes and the tiger.  (If I can ever get the photos off my phone, I will post some.)  My daughter decided that bats were her favourite animal and the visit to the bat house went pretty well, though it was dark in there.  At the end, she wanted a pony ride, and I decided that she doesn't take all that many risks, so I should indulge her.  Next time around I might let my son do the camel ride.  Generally it was a good visit, though stressful at times, particularly when my daughter was grousing about her feet.  The drive back was also more stressful than the way in, but we made it back safely, and that is ultimately what matters.

(White) Lions

And tigers

And bears

And bison? Oh my!

I don't think I will try to pack in nearly as much next weekend, particularly if it does rain as threatened, but I might take the kids to the AGO.  But it really ought to be a weekend of rest and maybe catching up on my Russian reading.  And then the weekend after that, assuming the weather is ok, we'll probably do Fort York, as it is supposed to be free to visit the newly reopened visitor centre and learn about the War of 1812.  At some point, perhaps in Oct., we'll rent the car and drive up to Kleinberg to see the McMichael Art Museum.  I'd like to go when the leaves are changing, as it can be quite nice to be a bit out of the city at that time.  I think that is basically it for today.  I still need to do a bit more unwinding from the day, and at some point I have a bit of work work to do.