To be in your children’s memories tomorrow, you have to be in their lives today. – Barbara Johnson
Two vacation rental bookings fell through, so we ended up splitting Hope’s two weeks of summer camp between two different places. The first week was spent at the Four Seasons Toronto.
Being in Yorkville felt like a safe neighborhood to walk around in, and it gave us easy access to the TTC subway system. Grocery shopping at Eataly turned into a fun little challenge – the store winds circularly around with the restaurant tables, so finding what I needed to prep Hope’s lunches each day took some navigating.
That first lunch: a tomato sandwich, a scone, snacks the hotel provided in our room, snacks her mom had packed in her bag, and some dragonfruit. Egads – prepping lunches out of a hotel room is not as easy as it sounds!
Our mornings settled into a rhythm: breakfast in the hotel restaurant, then a walk to the subway for summer camp – except for the one day the Ontario wildfire smoke filled the sky. Every afternoon, I’d pick Hope up when camp ended.
Swimming after camp quickly became a highlight of her day. Another highlight: bringing her mom into town for a night midweek. That first afternoon we bought matching teddy bear pajamas, and over the week we had our first mani-pedi together, went shopping, visited the ROM to see the dinosaurs, and caught & Juliet, a musical.
And somewhere in there, I was introduced to the world of squishies and Needohs. What a wild trend that is!
Grateful for two weeks, mostly alone, with my niece, in a city I know so well. And so grateful for my MAO – always so supportive of my endeavors.
