It had been two years since our last full family vacation, and two years since we’d flown with the kids. While some things get more challenging as the kids get older, flights just seem to get easier. No one throws up, the level of complaining is proportionate to the length of the journey, and none of the parents have to physically restrain any of the kids for two straight hours anymore. We flew Ottawa to Toronto, then Toronto to Miami, and other than having to inexplicably clear security at Pearson after we’d already done it in Ottawa, the whole thing was pretty painless.
Our hotel was just down the way from where we stayed in 2016, near to a park and shops, and a pretty short ride from the port. To keep things simple for dinner, we went to a nearby McDonald’s – which was probably the roughest McDonald’s I've ever been to: multiple homeless guys (one with no legs), a special needs dude trying to sell a flower to customers in line, an active squad car across the street. I don’t note this in a critical way – that’s life in some places and it’s probably good for the kids to get a glimpse of it once in a while. It was… an experience: part of the trip and worth noting.
We closed out the day at a park near the waterfront, one the kids remembered and loved from the last cruise. A few minutes in, Teddy befriended this kids who was a few years younger.
They exchanged names, talked about where they were from, and the other kid said, “I’m from Florida but my parents were born in Russia!” And for Teddy – familiar with the recent Olympic doping scandal – this set off red flags. “They’re cheaters! Russians are cheaters! They used drugs and try to cheat and win the Olympics!” Fortunately the kid didn’t really understand what Teddy was talking about, and I had a quick chat with Teddy to let him know that your everyday, park-visiting, average-joe Russians probably weren’t doping, and their friendship endured for the remainder of our stay.
From here, we went back to the hotel, all exhausted, and every one of us was asleep by 8pm.
Our hotel was just down the way from where we stayed in 2016, near to a park and shops, and a pretty short ride from the port. To keep things simple for dinner, we went to a nearby McDonald’s – which was probably the roughest McDonald’s I've ever been to: multiple homeless guys (one with no legs), a special needs dude trying to sell a flower to customers in line, an active squad car across the street. I don’t note this in a critical way – that’s life in some places and it’s probably good for the kids to get a glimpse of it once in a while. It was… an experience: part of the trip and worth noting.
We closed out the day at a park near the waterfront, one the kids remembered and loved from the last cruise. A few minutes in, Teddy befriended this kids who was a few years younger.
They exchanged names, talked about where they were from, and the other kid said, “I’m from Florida but my parents were born in Russia!” And for Teddy – familiar with the recent Olympic doping scandal – this set off red flags. “They’re cheaters! Russians are cheaters! They used drugs and try to cheat and win the Olympics!” Fortunately the kid didn’t really understand what Teddy was talking about, and I had a quick chat with Teddy to let him know that your everyday, park-visiting, average-joe Russians probably weren’t doping, and their friendship endured for the remainder of our stay.
From here, we went back to the hotel, all exhausted, and every one of us was asleep by 8pm.
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