Our Great Adventure part two

After we left Ipperwash beach we drove to my sister's place in Mississagua.  The kids had a blast playing in their pirate ship tree house (unfortunately I left the camera in the car so I didn't get any pictures), and they're just about at the age where the grown-ups can actually sit down and chat while the kids amuse themselves.

The next morning we left for African Lion Safari.  What a fantastic day we had!  We arrived right at the park's opening which was probably smart, because it was beautiful and sunny, and HOT.  First thing we did was hop on the bus and ride through the reserve:

We were first in line!

The drive through the baboon territory was pretty exciting, and funny.   Chris saw how the monkeys were climbing all over the cars and ripping things off them, and promptly turned to me and said:  "THIS is why we took the bus!!

This ostrich was quite taken with the bus, and kept pecking at the window:

Because it was still early, we got to see the animals out and wandering around:

Rhino:

 Giraffe:

Later in the day we watched the elephants slowly meander down to their watering hole, where they went for the swim.  I think they were excited about the swim, because as soon as they saw the water they took off and ran right in!

Watching the elephants swim made us realize how hot we were, so off we went to the splash pad.  Marin absolutely loved it!  She was a wild woman  - running everywhere, through all the sprayers, and falling face-down in the water:

Shannon loved the mini-slides they had.  She went down them over, and over, and over:

Once we were cooled off we meandered around some more.  At one point the kids and I were up ahead and Chris called out:  "Uh guys, you need to come see this!" They brought out a cheetah and it was just sitting there - not more than 10 feet from where we were standing!

By 3:00 we were hot and tired, so we packed up the crew and went to our hotel.  Just a quick word about the hotel, Homewood Suites by Hilton in Cambridge:  it was AWESOME!  For large families like ours it is the perfect place to stay.  Our suite had two Queen beds in a very spacious bedroom, and a really comfy pull-out couch in the living room, plus a kitchen with full-size fridge / freezer, two-burner hotplates, and a dishwasher.  On top of all that, they provided us with a buffet dinner and breakfast - for FREE!!  They also had a fantastic basketball court in the courtyard which apparently is heated in the winter, so the snow melts and you can play year round.

The next morning we were off to Bingeman's which I have to say, was the only let-down of the trip.  You needed to be 48in. to go on the water slides, which meant that Quinn couldn't go down.    So Aidan and Chris went down a few times but then came over to the rest of us because their backs kept getting cut up on the slides.  We puttered around the toddler area for a bit (which Shannon and Marin weren't too keen on because it had a big bucket which dumped gallons of water every two minutes) and hung out by the wave pool, but after a couple of hours we were done.  Then we went inside and played in the arcade and climbing area, and I think the kids liked that more than the water park!

The boys on the slides in the toddler area:

Shannon & Quinn busy at work:

In the Funworks arcade:

Once again, Shannon found a slide she LOVED:

And Marin giggled the whole time she was on this merry-go-round!

Finally we packed everyone up and headed home.  We were exhausted, and crammed a lot into four days, but I think in the end it was all worth it because we had a fantastic time!