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Family Day Activities

If you live in Ontario than you likely enjoyed a quiet day off yesterday...if you have no kids.  Or an exhausting day, if you were trying to entertain your brood on Family day.

We were supposed to take the girls to the Fantasy Fair indoor amusement park, but it was only open in the afternoon, and our friends we had plans with wanted to go skiing in the morning and switch our playdate for the afternoon.  So Adam and I were left scrabbling at the last minute to find morning activities.

The ROM was a bust a few years ago (Big A got bored after half an hour), and like all museums around the city, if you have no membership - which we don't - than it's super expensive for a family of four.  The Science Centre didn't seem like a great option either because the girls go regularly with my in-laws and they wanted to do something different.  There was a carnival at the Rogers Center that we looked into, but quickly nixed when we found out it cost $35 per person!!

So I was thrilled to have the opportunity to check out the Family Day activities at our beloved JCC.  We ended up having several hours of healthy, active family fun!  The pool opened at 9am, so we started with a swim.  Little A and I left Big A and Adam (who stayed in the pool for 90 minutes!!) to attend the family fitness class (jumping, running, bouncing, dancing to awesome music) with other parents and kids of all ages, and then we did crafts and checked out the jungle gym.  Then Big A and I did half of the family yoga class while Adam and Little A stayed and played in the craft room.  By 11:30am, the girls were both hungry and tired so we took them for lunch.

Although friends of mine rave about it, we had never been to Aroma before (http://www.aroma.ca/).  It's a chain of espresso bars/restaurants that is very kid-friendly.  We visited the one in the Annex, just a few blocks from the JCC and had a great experience.  Very healthy options, huge portions and super fresh food.  We were able to get Big A's french toast made with whole wheat bread, and it came sided with a pile of fresh fruit.  Little A devoured her enormous portion of scrambled eggs and whole grain toast.  The warm chicken salad was fresh and tasty and the coffee came sided with a little square of chocolate.  My only complaint was I didn't love the coffee, but then again, I really don't like most coffee besides what I make for myself at home.  I found it a bit too bitter.  Also, the girls coerced me into ordering them orange juice, as a treat, and the juice, which only comes in one size, was way too big AND almost $4 each...so Adam ended up drinking most of it.

Overall, it was a great day.  We didn't spend a lot, we were active, ate healthy, and had a ton of fun.  If you are in the GTA, check out the JCC's Family Day programs next year!!

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