Vacation Day 8 - Toronto Zoo

Today was zoo day!!! WOOT! By 10 am we were on our way down the highway to meet with some of the kids relatives. :)

I ate a nice, hearty breakfast to keep me going through to lunch…

• 1/3 cup USVAB & water
• 1/3 cup PC 5 grain oats
• cinnamon
• blueberries
• hemp seeds
• almond butter

Before I go any further I have to put the skids on and back track to last night a moment! It’s banana soft serve time….

This deliciousness comprised of 1 frozen banana and chopped walnuts was my snack of choice while watching SYTYCD. Heaven, except that I’m now out of bananas. :(

Back to today! We hit some traffic on the way so a 1.5 hour drive turned into 2. You can pretty much plan on catching highway congestion coming across Toronto these days. We arrived about 12:30 and pulled our packed lunch out to eat before heading into the park. I packed myself a sunflower seed butter/strawberry banana jam sammie on WW….

Then we goofed around taking shots of us and the Jeep…

Hehe! The Toronto Zoo is pretty massive and usually takes us a good 5 hours to walk. We skipped the bear/wolf area today because it’s rare to see the wolves out and the bear really doesn’t do much. We still walked for 4 hours before stopping at the splash pad so the kids could cool off a bit. Here are some of the animals that we came across…

This guy here is a red panda!

The kids pet a snake (I did , too!)

They also got to pet sting rays…

We took a few family shots…

Somewhere in there I shared a packet of the awesome cocoa covered almonds with my hubby…

And we also bought ice creams along the way…

By the time we got back to the Jeep it was 5:30 and we were all hot, tired and hungry! I snacked on this container of cantaloupe and watermelon on the drive home;

The drive home was even more trying than the one there! I lost count of how many accidents and tow trucks I saw along the highway! A lot of people are not starting their long weekend out on a very good foot! We finally got home just after 7pm and threw a quick dinner together. The fam had eggs, toast and the leftover cod and I threw together a wrap stuffed with pepper jack cheese, leftover chicken and salsa that I warmed up in a dry pan. On the side was the rest of the sautéed zucchini from a few night ago.

Then I inhaled 3 mini blueberry muffins with little dabs of cinnamon honey on each one;

Now I’m going to put my feet up and catch up on all your blogs. I want to extend a warm welcome to all the new readers that have been commenting lately!!! “HI!” I love seeing new readers because it gives mw even more awesome blogs to check out.

Not sure what, if anything, is on the agenda for tomorrow. It will depend on the weather most of all! Hope you’ve all had a good Friday….see ya tomorrow!

Bye for now!!

In A Funk

Hi everybody! Well, we ended up staying home again today. DD woke up through the night with a migraine that lasted a few hours. She was better by morning, by totally wiped out. So…we have plans to go to the Toronto Zoo tomorrow as the tickets we have for there expire well before the ones for Ontario place.

I was pretty zonked, too and didn’t get up until almost 9am. I really wasn’t feeling any food, just lots of coffee! I did finally settle on a bowl of cereal….Nature’s Path Optimum Slim, to be exact.

I enjoyed a cup of this with a few handfuls of Nature’s Path agave granola and USVAB…

This kept me pretty darn full. After some debating, we made a trip to the farmer’s market seeing as DD was OK, but not 100%. I have to admit that I was feeling pretty grumpy so nothing at the market really caught my eye. I did buy some blueberries and corn on the cob, though. By 2pm I still wasn’t very hungry, but I decided to snack on this Clif Mojo bar that I brought along with me…

I really enjoyed this! It was full of nuts and dried fruit and even chocolate chips! I have a PB one yet to try, but I’m betting I’ll like it, too. Once home I also noshed on a handful of blueberries and 3 mini blueberry muffins with some almond butter on top.

I spent the remainder of the afternoon reading out on the deck in the gorgeous sunshine that we had today! My snacks ruined my dinner appetite and I wasn’t anywhere near hungry when the fam was so dinner was on the pathetic side. My hubby grilled up some cod on the BBQ and I cooked up the corn on the cob.

That blob there is some Sabra hummus that was suppose to be for the fish, BUT, I wasn’t feeling the cod at all and only ate about half of what you see. I did eat another half of a corn, though. For my sweet end I pulled out a Kashi dark chocolate coconut bar to try;

This bar had a nice gooey layer of chocolate on it that was sprinkled with coconut….

Although I liked the bar, I didn’t really taste any coconut. :( That and the bar was on the small side. I don’t think this is one flavour that I’d run out to buy again.

I have to apologize for my “blah” attitude in today’s post. Being tired and disappointed in not being able to go to T.O today has got me feeling very out of sorts. I kinda wish I could blame it on PMS or something along those lines cuz I really do feel like a big spoiled baby! Ah, I’m sure that a good night’s sleep will be just what the doctor ordered. I plan on fixing myself up some banana soft serve later to eat while watching SYTYCD. Can’t believe next week is the finale!

Bye for now!!

Day 6….Time to Relax

I woke up to very heavy rain and thunder this morning. A good day to sit around and recoup after 2 days of travelling about. Tomorrow is suppose to be wonderful weather wise, so we’ll be heading back to Ontario Place, armed with the $20 tickets this time!

I made pancakes for breakfast again this morning using a packet of berry flavour Amazing Grass. I find that this is my favourite way to use the product and it makes some pretty mean pancakes!

Once again, I smushed some raspberries on top and served a bit of syrup on the side for dipping. And all on my new shell plate, too!

Yes, I took this photo on the carpet by the sliding glass doors! It was so gloomy out and it was the best source of light. :)

I was so lazy that I didn’t even get out of my PJ’s until almost 1pm! Granted, in that time I went down to the garden and picked 2 more zucchini and the last head of lettuce, cleaned the produce up and baked up some mini Blueberry Chia muffins!

These little guys were pretty good, but had no spice in them. Next time I will make it a point to add some cinnamon for sure. I ended up topping the next 2 I ate with a little cinnamon honey. I got 24 mini’s from the batch which will make great grab & go snacks for the rest of the week.

I utilized some of the red leaf lettuce from the garden in a humongous salad for lunch!

• red leaf lettuce
• the “salad” from Wendy’s that I didn’t eat the other night
• patty pan squash
• grilled red onion
• feta
• leftover pork tenderloin
• Ted Readers peach & bourbon sauce
• Raspberry walnut vinaigrette

A “clean out the fridge” salad for sure! It was so big that I ate it right out of the salad bowl. Greedy me! :) Here’s the dressing that I used….another Buffalo purchase.

I knew that meal would need some help digesting so DD and stole the neighbours pup and went for a nice long walk. I remembered to take a photo of said doggy today so you can all bask in his cuteness! His name is Quesi which is short for “Quesadilla”. I can’t remember his breed, but he’s a type of Cuban dog I believe. Anyways, here he is!

Don’t you just love that face?! I spent the remainder of the afternoon on the front porch reading. Nothing equals relaxing to me like diving into a good book! I was feeling snacky by about 4pm so I dug into my bag of Salt & Pepper Popchips…

I have got to find these in my area because they rock like no other. This coming from someone who doesn’t care for potatoes. I ate about 2 handfuls before I put them away. You see, until I find a Shopper’s in my town that sells them, they are like gold.

When dinner time finally rolled around we grilled up the Al Fresco sweet Italian chicken sausages that I smuggled brought over the border yesterday.

I’ve tried the buffalo wing style before and thought they were better, but these were OK, too. I served mine up with a big side a pan cooked zucchini from the garden that had a drizzle of avocado oil and S&P on them,

My sweet tooth has been in high gear all day so I caved and tried a baggie of the Smart Food popcorn that I bought yesterday;

Holy jeez, was this ever good! Dangerously so. The popcorn is liberally coated with caramel and the are mini chocolate chips and pieces of cookie mixed in, too.

Seeing as I enjoy my sweet stuff, the single serve pouches are great for me. And there was a decent amount in there. What you don’t see that came after the popcorn was 2 PB & chocolate chip cookies. My hubby came home with 2 bags last night! I’ve asked for them to be hidden from me!

Well, that’s all for today. I’m going to go do some more reading while the sun is still out. Then I might take a stroll around the mall to kill some time. Hope you’re all having a wonderful evening!

Bye for now!!

Vacation Day 5 - Buffalo

Hi everybody! I have SO much to show you all tonight and the time is getting late so I’m just gonna get right to it! Breakfast was awesome!

• 1/2 cup USVAB, 1/4 cup water
• Windy Hill Farms Cremo cereal
• cinnamon'
• the end of my cinnamon raisin PB&Co. PB :(
• sprinkle of Dorset cereal

I love this combo…it is very filling! I did some blog reading….which reminds me! I have been reading all of your blogs, but haven’t had as much time to comment since I’ve been off. Hope you all understand!! Anyways, once breakie was digested I geared up for a 3 miler with DD on her bike. Just as we were leaving, the postman shows up with DS’s passport! WOOT!!! Bet you can guess where I went today! Needless to say, I had a fab run!

• Time: 31 minutes
• Avg Hr: 172
• Max Hr: 187
• Calories Burned: 385
• Distance: 3 miles

I can run this faster on my own, but have to obey those pesky lights when one of the kids is with me! Also, we had the world’s cutest puppy decide to chase us down the sidewalk so I stopped to grab him for his owner who was chasing after him. Precious!

Once home I showered, packed lunches, went to the bank and then we hit the road for the USA! I was (and still am) beyond stoked about it! I didn’t realize how much I bought until I got home and started taking pictures of it all. I snacked on some grapes before we hit the border…

Sorry for the blurriness. DD was in charge of picture taking because I was driving. There was about a 10 minutes wait at the border so I took the opportunity to eat the wrap I packed. It had LC cheese, ham and lettuce on it;

Our first stop was a mall where we hit up Payless. We do have this store where I live, but there are different style choices in the US. I bought these 2 pairs; the red were $7 and the blue were $9. (My apologies in advance for the flash pictures. It’s dark now and I had no choice because I could not wait until tomorrow to post what I bought!)

Sorry you had to see my feet here….I’m overdue for another pedi! Next stop was Bath & Body Works. Again, we have this here but it is still cheaper over the border if you can believe it! I bought 5 hand soaps for $15 which is exactly what I went there for!

Next up? Target! I bought mostly food stuff here which is bunched in with goodies from Wegman’s. I’m going to be in Michigan August 8 with my bestie so I’ll be buying more clothes and such then. My hubby can take only so much shopping! We left Target at about 3:30 and everyone was hungry so we flew over to our fave place in the world….Panera! I thoroughly enjoyed a strawberry poppy seed salad with a half of a Mediterranean sandwich.

Panera switched up their plates since I was last there! I saved my apple for later on. Satisfied, our next stop was Kohl’s. Here I bought a cool seashell plate…

Most of the plates/bowls you see on my blog are from Kohl’s! I also bought a great sweater and a way cute shirt….

Our last stop of the day was Wegman’s. Even though there are other grocery stores in the area, I much prefer Wegman’s. When in Michigan, I always go to Meijer's. So here are the picture’s most suited to a food blog!!! I am one happy gal, I tell ya!

Smart food in chocolate cookie caramel pecan, Kashi bars in pumpkin pie (so excited about this one!), dark chocolate coconut and dark chocolate mocha, my hubby picked up some turtles Chex bars and lastly 2 pouches on Star-Kist chunky light tuna.

Annie's mac & cheese for the fam, z-bars in PB and chocolate brownie, True Delight bars in dark chocolate raspberry almond and an Archer’s Farm meal pack…..

Pop Chips!! I haven’t been able to find them around here yet. Archer Farms mango peach salsa, Justin's’ almond butter, French vanilla coffee mate powder, Bush’s beans, Crofter’s “South America” jam…saw this stuff on Julie’s blog….pumpkin butter, cocoa baked almonds, Gold fish for the kids (we have’em, but not in rainbow) and heart smart Bisquick…another item that we only have the regular version in. Lastly, 3 new (to me) Clif flavours…apricot, chocolate brownie and cranberry apple…

And the last food purchase picture! Ken’s raspberry walnut salad dressing, Arnold Thins, Thomas 100 cal English muffins, FAGE, OIKOS!! (there’s 4 single serve Fage not in this picture), whipped cottage cheese, Kashi Mayan Harvest Bake (which Hungry Girl insists is da bomb), Al Fresca sausages, 2 packs of flatout wraps and 2 MOJO bars.

YIKES…told ya I bought a lot! Some of this stuff I have bought before and love, other items are new eats that I’ve read about on blogs. Either way, I can hardly wait to dig in!!

When we left I ate my apple from Panera and a Kashi dark mocha almond bar;

Oh, the bar was SO good! Kashi…hurry on up and bring all your fantastic bars to Canada, please! The drive home was uneventful, in other words, the best kind of road trip. We all felt hungry once back in Canada even though we ate snacks only 2 hours before. I told my hubby that Panera felt like lunch to me! I had a hankering for ice cream so we made a pit stop at Wendy’s before coming home for some of the cool stuff. I ordered a Toffee Coffee swirl…AKA Cappuccino Skor Blizzard twin. No matter the name, it t’was great!

I know that this post was l-o-n-g, but bear with me for just a few more seconds here! I have created a banana soft serve monster in my hubby! He wanted more again last night and I was only too happy to comply! He wanted mixed berries in his and I didn’t so I rescued some and stirred in some blueberries. I really like how the berries get half frozen and crunchy-like!

OKAY! That’s all for today. Hope you enjoyed checking out my purchases. I know that some of these items are old news to some of you, but I find them totally exciting! I’m off to catch up on some you your posts for the day!

Bye for now!!