Canada Wonderland (Part 3)

Yesterday we went once again to our favourite place in all of Canada, Canada Wonderland. This time we were accompanied by Robert, Joanna and their kids, Rita, Bryan, Ray, Christopher, Nicole, Emily and of course Sam. The kids, Sebastian, Joseph and Daniella, were thrilled of going to wonderland and "hitting" some rides with us. So we first determined which rides the kids could go on according to their height. It turned out that all the rides marked as purple or green where ok for them. After the kids decided with whom to go on each ride, we started "hitting" all the purple and green rides one by one. You could immediately see their excitement from their eyes which where wide open and eager to get on every ride. We must say that for some of these rides, even we couldn't believe that the kids were allowed to get on to. For example the Jet Scream ride, the one we already referred to in our blog, was also ok for them. Part courageous and part not knowing what was coming ahead, Daniella and Joseph followed us on to the ride. When the ride started there was then no turning back and up and up went went until the space ship turned a full 360 degrees. Daniella was motionless for the whole ride with her eyes wide open and Joseph screamed a bit, but we must say for a 7 yr old to go on such a ride is really not a joke. Rita, now going into her mid sixties, also came on a couple of rides with us. We had a really amazing day, we jumped, joked, laughed, carried the kids on our shoulders and all sorts of things. All of us were like kids once again. It was simply an amazing day :) One can only imagine what these kids will be telling their friends today at school :)

Eating Out

After the Go Karting session we had to rush back home to have a shower and change because Sam's brother, Robert and his wife Joanna wanted to take us out for dinner. Robert and Joanna have three amazing kids; Sebastian, Joseph and Daniella. Rita, Sam's mum who is hosting us in her house, baby sitted the kids while we were out. We went to an Italian restaurant called Osso Bucco who serves ginormous portions. First the waitress asked us to order drinks and Robert, Sam and Joanna told us to take a typical Canadian drink which is called Ceaser. A Ceaser is made from Vodka, Clamato and Worchester sauce, so me and Leli decided to try it out. Mmmmm when we had the first sip from this famous Ceaser, it tasted like we were drinking cold tomato soup.....bleeeeeeeeeqqqq. Just seconds after, we then ordered some water, which we drank for the rest of the night. Since Joanna knew the Chef of the restaurant, she told us that the speciality of the house, The Usso Bucco, was amazing. This time she was absolutely right and the portion was huge. The beef was served with pasta or potato as a side plate. After we ate and ate and ate until our stomachs were going to explode, we then ordered an espresso to smoothen things out. After this fantastic meal, we then drove to this Italian gelateria and he had one amazing ice cream. It was one hell of a night and we are so much grateful to Robert, Joanna and of course Sam for all they did. Thanks guys and doll :)

Go Karting

Saturday morning was a relax morning, so we woke up late, had a breakfast and then we went off to meet Sam's friend Tino and have a coffee at Tim Hortons. In the afternoon one of Leli's cousins, Brian, came all the way down from Ottawa to meet us. After chatting for some time we then all headed down town, to go and test our driving skills in Go Karting. At the Go Karting track we met with Ray, another cousin, and his kids. After filling out some online forms, it was then time to race each other :) Christopher, Ray's son was all the time saying to me and Leli that he is going to beat us at Go Karting. Our reply was........."just wait and see, we are going to make you cry!!!!". The race consisted of two 18 lap sessions and the person who does the fastest lap wins. Obviously Sam's driving skills are excellent and so he won both sessions, even though in the second session his name appeared as Nicole lolololol. Leli and I maintained our promises to Chris and we both placed before him in the standings of both sessions, with I finishing 2nd and Leli 4th overall. We had an exceptional time and it was a very nice experience, drifting, sliding, bumping, turning and accelerating around the track :)

Larry Attard

Yesterday afternoon we headed off to Woodbrine Race Track. During the drive, Sam was telling us that Maltese people are very famous in Woodbrine and that one of the best Canadian jockey's ever was Larry Attard who is Maltese. This made us feel very proud to be Maltese. When we entered the Race Track building, they were saddling the horses for a race. We started taking pictures and there just in front of us Sam recognised Larry, since we had knew him before when he was just a kid. Sam told him that we were Maltese who were visiting Canada for the first time. Ahhh he said mela you are family come with me. Guess what......he then gave us a super VIP tour around all of Woodbrine. Everybody knows him and we were like kings. He took us to see the jockey's room, training rooms, the VIP lounges, the colours room and finally the stables. It was amazing. There are four well known Attard brothers in Woodbrine and they train about 41 horses each. One of the horses owned by Larry and his brother raced yesterday and it won !!!!!! We ended up taking pictures with the winning horse in the middle of the race track with everybody looking at us :P In 2001 Larry Attard was elected to Woodbrine's hall of fame as one of the best jockey's ever. In Woodbrine, the final race of the triple crown is held which gives you an idea of the importance of this race track. What we admired most in Larry is that even though he is a millionaire he is a very down to earth and welcoming person. We are always proud to be Maltese but after yesterday we are so much more !!!!!! Well done Larry and thanks for everything.

Canada Wonderland (part 2)

Yesterday we went for the second time to Canada's Wonderland and we went on the rides which we did not do on Tuesday. The name of yesterday's rides were: The Bat, Drop Zone, Blackout, Time Warp, Wild Beast and Jet Scream. Drop zone was fantastic, we were fastened to our seats and lifted up around 300ft from the ground. Then with the voice of the attendant going "dum dum dum dum" he released the cart for a 3 sec free fall....amazing. The view from up there was fantastic. The ride which we laughed the most was Jet Scream. This ride consists of a space ship which rotates about a pivot located above it. When Leli saw it, the first thing he asked was "Those this ride go 360 degrees?" and Sam and I replied we don't think so. When the ride started, the first thing it did was to do a full 360 degrees.....lololololololol. Time Warp and Blackout were 2 cool rides. In the time warp ride you are fastened in a flying position and it really gives you the feeling that you are flying. Blackout was a high speed ride featuring the film The Italian Job. Half of this ride was in total darkness and it was unbelievable. However in our opinion the coolest ride of all was The Bat. First the carts are pulled backward up a slope and eventually released. When you almost reach the end of the track the carts are then pulled forward up a similar slope and released, which means that you re-do the track again but now going backwards. Wooowwww that was something we really didn't expect !!!!

The Bat (left) The Drop Zone (below)

Toronto Zoo

Yesterday (23/06/10) Sam took us to the Toronto Zoo. The first thing that happened was that we got lost and Sam being a proud Canadian with Maltese roots didn't want to ask someone where the Zoo in his city was. So after spending some time traveling without any real direction Sam phoned his friend who guided us to the Zoo. This Zoo was massive and we spent a whole day walking from exhibit to exhibit. The curious thing about this was that even though we walked the whole day we didn't pass through the same street twice. The Zoo was split into 5 sections: 1) the Australian, 2) the Canadian, 3) the Rain forest, 4) the Eurasia and 5) the Polar exhibits. These exhibits ranged from huge giraffes to small slinky insects. Amoungst all the exhibits, the Grizzy and Polar bears were the most amazing. They were enormous and both Sam and Leli were joking that any of these bears saw me as a toothpick. It was simply amazing :D

Canada Wonderland

In Toronto Canada, where we are staying, there is the biggest adventure park in Canada; Canada Wonderland. Tuesday morning was very cloudy but no rain clouds were observed, so we said it is ideal to go today in order to avoid a lot queues. So we set off to the adventure park and as soon as we parked and pushed the car stop button (btw we are "cruising" in a new BMW 5 series) heavens opened and its started pouring as hell. I must admit for the first time ever we weren't prepared for such rain but once we were there we said now we stay. Me and Leli were both wearing a 3 quarters, a short sleeve t-shirt and a normal walking shoes. We started going on some of the most amazing rides ever, each time followed by Leli's "Intom se toqtluni". We were speeding of on roller coasters and man, the rain hurts when you are going so fast. The best ride ever was Behemouth which was just launched last year and following it was a ride were we stood standing throughout the whole course called sky rider. The worst part of it was when we were waiting for one of the rides to start and all the water that accumulated during the previous run came down on our pants and that was cold. We were wise enough to make season passes for this park (money wise it was more feasible) and so we can go to this amazing adventure park as much as we want :P