Beautiful Blue Mountains, Ontario
When I sat down to write this post, I learned something about myself: I am not a travel blogger. I knew I wanted to share some pictures and highlights from our vacation, and I tried to wax poetic about the different sites we saw and things we did, but it just didn’t flow as naturally as I wanted it to. I realized that I’m more of a “how-to” girl than a tour guide, so I’ve decided to bring you…
“How to Have a SWEET Vacation”
Sit back, relax, and try not to laugh too hard at my obvious nerdiness. 😀
Step 1- Stay at an Incredible Hotel
…and preferably stay for free because your husband is awesome at the “travel rewards points” game. We made the 7+ hour trip to the Westin Trillium House in Blue Mountains, Ontario, Canada. When we pulled in and were met with this…
…I knew the long drive was well worth it! It was absolutely stunning. They truly thought of everything at this place– multiple pools, an indoor/outdoor water park on site, gorgeous indoor and outdoor seating areas, beautiful waterfalls and fountains, work out rooms, a sauna– this place had it all!
Step 2- Make Sure Said Hotel is Part of an Awesome Resort Village
The Westin Trillium House was pretty cool in and of itself, but it was also part of The Village at Blue Mountain Resort, which upped it’s coolness factor even more! The Village boasted amazing restaurants, adorable little shops, and tons of fun activities for the kiddos, including…
carriage rides with our favorite horses, Goldie and Storm,
a super-duper mini golf course,
paddle boats, {on which Caleb and I tried to take a selfie while simultaneously driving the boat…kind of a fail, lol}
a climbing wall, a roller coaster, street performers, concerts, kayaking, and much, much more!
Step 3- Add in the Most Beautiful Views You’ve Ever Seen
The view was pretty good, eh?
Um, wow. We took the gondola up to the top of the mountain where we caught a glimpse of the entire town and Lake Huron and spent some time exploring the hiking trails.
The C’s were too young for mountain biking or segway tours of the mountain, so we may have to go back when they’re older so they can really take advantage of all the adventurous activities!
Step 4- Have Your Cake and Eat It Too
The thing I loved most about Blue Mountains is that you get the best of both worlds– the mountains AND the beach! The kids had a blast playing in Lake Huron, and mommy seized the opportunity to soak up a little sun!
Step 5- Take the Obligatory Family Photo
Hubby and Connor share a love for tennis, so one night when we stopped by some courts to hit the ball around, we also discovered yet another stunning spot, and we couldn’t resist grabbing a picture…or 100.
I always pick the “good” pictures of our family when I post them on the blog, but just to keep it real, here is one of the “outtakes”…
{Connor, I promise not to show this picture to any of your future girlfriends…unless I don’t like them…then I may email a copy to them from a fake email address… #kidding #butnotreally 😉 }
So just follow these simple steps, and you, too, can have the sweetest vacation ever in life. All joking aside, though, we really loved every minute and by the end of the week, Connor asked me, “Mommy, can we move to Canada?” 🙂 I loved watching our kids have the time of their lives, and I’m so thankful for all of the fun memories we’ll have from this vacation. The only problem will be trying to top this one– the bar has been set pretty high– but I think we’re up for the challenge!
I link up at these fun parties!
What a fantastic vacation this was!! Gorgeous venue!!! Your family is beautiful, especially little “picky nose”! Adorable!! Definitely keep that one as a “blackmail” picture when he’s around 16!!! Have a great week, sweet friend!!~~Angela
Seriously, I have blackmail for life now, lol. I couldn’t believe he reached up there right when the picture was snapped. Crazy little boy! Thanks for your sweet words, friend!
~Abby =)
What a beautiful place! And with so much to do! It really is a perfect vacation spot! Beautiful pictures too Abby!
Thanks, Tiffany! It certainly was beautiful! Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful week!
~Abby =)
You definitely move to Canada. It’s a beautiful country and I’m so proud to call it home!
It really is so, so beautiful! Just when I thought it couldn’t get any more stunning, we’d go visit a different location, and that was gorgeous too! One difference between there and here that surprised me when we were doing our grocery shopping was that the milk came in bags! (We get it in plastic gallon jugs here.) We had to ask our cashier how to work it; I bet she thought we were pretty dumb! 😉 I would love to come back and visit soon. It was awesome!
~Abby =)
HAHAHAHAHA oh that just made my day!! And the funny thing is that I’ll read something written by an American and they’ll refer to jugs of milk and it always catches me off guard. We actually DO have those here as well, they’re just not as common. We have containers to accommodate the milk bags and we just cut the tips of the bags off and away we go!
Canada is very scenic. You could go to a large variety of places that span across the entire country and be just as amazed by its beauty. I love the architecture of the States (which is why I love Toronto so much as well). I’ve been to New York and man oh man is that something to talk about! I’d love to travel throughout the US a lot more though, and I might be come next spring! Only time will tell! 🙂
I know! The milk thing seemed so obvious after she explained it to us, but we stood in the aisle forever wondering, “What in the world do we do with this thing?!” Lol.
It is such a pretty country. My hubby kept commenting on how clean everything seemed, too. And the homes, at least where we were, were really, really beautifully done. We definitely want to go back, maybe when the boys are a little older, so they can do more of the outdoor adventure-type stuff. Hope you’re having a great week, Renee!
~Abby =)
The real estate here is pretty standard once you get into each small city/town. But there are definitely some show stoppers in every one of them!
It looks like it was a fabulous time! Even your outtake is adorable (nose and all…) and the selfie is perfect! Such a great blessing to have some family time away like that:) Thanks for sharing it!
Thanks, Krista! It was really fun. And I’m sure we’ll get a good laugh for years to come from that outtake! 😉 Hope you have a wonderful day!
~Abby =)
I’ll be chuckling for a while over that “choice” photo That’s kids. Maybe he had an itch, lol.
Bless his heart. You make a wonderful, gorgeous family, hey Hubs ain’t bad either kiddo, lol.
I’m just an old lady that can still appreciate a nice looking man. I’m old not dead for crying out loud. My daughter says I’m incorrigible. Ah well, sue me.
What an absolutely incredible place, wow. Glad you enjoyed yourselves. Must have been hard to leave to go home. Happy week
Lol! You are cracking me up, JaneEllen! It was a fun time for sure, and the kids loved it, so I’m chalking it up as a success! Thanks so much for stopping by!
~Abby =)
Wow!! Looks like an awesome vacation! Gorgeous pictures. 🙂
Thanks, Karah! It was a blast! Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a great week!
~Abby =)
Such a pretty place to go. I love how special taking a weekend away can be just to go somewhere and reconnect with the ones you love.
Thank you, Manda! It was definitely great family time. Love that! Thanks so much for stopping by– have a wonderful weekend!
~Abby =)
How beautiful is Ontario?! I’ve never been to Canada but it’s on my list for someday. Glad you had such an amazing vacation with your cute family!
It truly is beautiful! Definitely a must-see! Thank you so much for stopping by, friend! Hope you’re having a great week!
~Abby =)
Beautiful pictures! I wanna go! You look so well rested too. I love your out take picture! Haha!
Hugs friend!
Thank you, friend! Yes, I took a lot of naps while the boys were napping during that week! (I guess I can get away with that when I have housekeeping stopping by each day to take care of my usual chores for me! 😉 That Connor! I don’t know what I’m going to do with him! He starts Pre-K tomorrow and I can’t even believe it! Hope you had a nice long weekend!!
~Abby =)
Great post, I live not too far from blue mountain and have been there and love it, it is super fun in the winter for the skiing and snowboarding!
A two-year belated welcome to Canada! This link caught my eye as I was reading your recent travel blog post. Isn’t this place great! It’s near our Hideaway, and its proximity is one of the things I love about our new location.