Day 1 - Leamington - Toronto - Gravenhurst

We left Leamington at about 7.45 and were on our way. We got to Gatwick for about 10.30, had our car taken away by a nice gentleman and did all the normal airport things. It was as we had just gone through security at the departure gate that Liz asked if I had picked up the camera, which I hadn't hence the slight blog delay (see Friday's post).

The flight went without much of a hitch. Maddy fell asleep as we were taking off, slept for about 45 mins, and then remained awake for the rest of the entire journey. She particularly enjoyed walking up and down the aisle so that everyone could smile and wave at her. Jessica did sleep as well and also played games, watched DVDs and was generally a model child.

On arrival in Torornto it was raining the proverbial cats and dogs which combined with the minimalistic approach taken towards road signage in Canada, meant that we got a little lost coming out of the airport. Matters were made somewhat more stressful by the fact that I was driving some huge, environmentally unfriendly, tank thing (subsequently named the 'Pimp Wagon' by some less sensitive souls) which had so many buttons and stuff that I couldn't find the rear windscreen wiper, nor could I see out of one of the wing mirrors. Both of these were quite important when driving down eight lane motorways in the Toronto rush hour.

Anyway, we found our way and I became bold enough to experiment with the various gadgets in the car. This experimentation as bought to a swift halt after pressing a button which automatically connected us to the Canadian emergency services. We apologised to the woman whose voice magically appeared in the car, and decided to concentrate on getting to Gravenhurst through driving rain and thick fog.

We arrived at the Inn on the Bay at about 10.30 Canadian time (3.30 UK time) where we were met by Robyn who was to be our hostess with the mostess for the week. P and C turned up, as did Marsha and Bryan, we put the girls in bed, and followed them soon after, about twenty-four hours after leaving Leamington.