Last week in Toronto...

Field trip to the ROM..Royal Ontario Museum!

Lori made a gingerbreak Banks house and stars! 

Toronto closing night party 

Lyndsey, Me, Cam, Neka, Annie, and Dakota 

Goofing around 

Thank you, Toronto, for a fantastic 9 weeks!

The Best Birthday Party EVER...

For my birthday, the cast/crew/musicians of Mary Poppins helped celebrate by coming to my party at Medieval Times! It was a lot of fun!! We all cheered for the Green knight (Lisa especially!) and although he didn’t win, he came close.  Before the show started, I was called up by the King and KNIGHTED!  The food was really good, my favorite was the ribs and chicken.  They don’t give you silverware, you have to eat with your hands like they did back in medieval times.  Our section definitely cheered the loudest for our knight.  I’m pretty sure everyone had a really good time.  Thank you to my Poppins tour family for making this a birthday I will NEVER FORGET!

Celebrating my birthday and New Years....

Finally! Snow in Toronto...on my BIRTHDAY! 

Going to see Hugo 3D with my mom on my bday 

Birthday dinner at my favorite steakhouse, Ruth's Chris's Steakhouse 

Intermission Bday cake  

Making a wish.... 

White cake with lemon filling...YUM! 

Great Wolf Lodge on New Years Eve 

The Lobby 

Lyndsey, Me, and Dakota  

Look at all those beach balls ready to drop at midnight 

Aloha! 

Trying to make it across 

This place is awesome

Hula Hoop competition...I came in THIRD!  

Lazy River 

Wave Pool 

Me, Camden, Lyndsey, Dakota, London, and Jordan 

Party in the lobby 

Enjoying the night 

Camden, Me, and Lyndsey relaxing in the wave pool 

 

Best NYE ever! 

A bunch of party animals  

Playing a few games in the arcade 

Strawberry Daiquiris 

This place rocks!

A VERY MARY CHRISTMAS!

Making Christmas cookies with Dakota 

Lyndsey is overseeing the action

YUM!  

Making a movie with Lyndsey and Dakota 

A "Talk Back" after the show with 6th graders 

Thanks Secret Santa... how'd you know I love Starbucks? 

A very MARY Christmas Party 

The Banks Brats 

Making Gingerbread stars! 

Hours later...still making Gingerbread stars!! 

Seven Fishes for Christmas Eve Dinner 

Dakota and I building our gifts from Julie, our awesome wrangler 

Santa was here! 

Christmas morning!  Opening presents from my stocking 

Lego Game 

Ahhhh! It's a MacBook Air! 

Skyping with my Dad and Grandparents

I unwrapped a clue that leads to a PRESENT! 

Lyndsey and Dakota get clues too!  

The scavenger hunt leads us to the lobby 

Doing some math calculations to find the next clue 

Hmmmm...this is HARD! 

FINALLY! Our clues led us to our big suprise.... 

A New Years Eve Party at Great Wolf Lodge! 

Dakota couldn't resist...he gave me my Bday present a few days early! 

It's a puppet like his! I named him Chef Luigi. 

Playing "Love Thy Neighbor" 

I had a terrific Christmas this year! It's hard to be away from my family and friends during the holidays but that didn't stop me from having a terrific time.  I love to bake, so  we made a LOT of cookies and gave everyone in the cast some.  We made gingerbread stars, just like in the show!  I didn't think I liked gingerbread, but I do now.  Our cast played "Secret Santa" and we got to buy a few little gifts and one big gift to the person whos name we pulled out of a stocking.  I pulled Neka's name!  I had fun shopping for her and buying her gifts.  I got her some chocolate, fuzzy socks, gummy candy, tea, Hunger Games books, and "I Love Lucy" DVD's.  She never guessed it was me!  My secret Santa was JOSH!  I didn't guess it was him either.  He bought me all kinds of cool stuff like a bunch of candy, a little lego kit, a starbucks giftcard, an awesome pink tie, and a Pharoh's Quest Lego set.  I loved all of my gifts!

On Christmas Eve, we had a traditional Italian "7 Fishes" dinner.  It was a lot of fun but we all ate way too much!  I was so excited for the next day that I wanted to go to bed early but I couldn't fall asleep!  Finally I did and I woke up at 5am to open my gifts. My mom told me I had to go back to bed until it was light outside so I did.  When I woke up again I finally got to open my presents.  I got some great gifts but my favorite thing by far was a MacBook Air!  It's really light and it's super cool.  I even got a Darth Vader sticker to put on it.  Later on I Skyped with my dad, Grandma, Lolo, Neal, Nina, and Lina. It was good to see them, even if it was just on a computer screen. I told them about my presents and  they told me about theirs.  I'm going home for a week in a couple weeks so I get to see them all soon.  I also Skyped and talked on the phone with my Texas Family, my Nana and Pop Pop, and some friends from PA.  It seems like everyone had a terrific Christmas too!

Just when I thought all my gifts were opened, my mom handed me one more gift. It had a clue in it that led me to Dakota and Lyndseys room. They got a clue too.  Before we knew it, we were on a scavenger hunt to find our secret present.  It took about an hour and it was really fun to figure out the clues.  At the end of the scavenger hunt we discovered our suprise....we were all going to Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls for New Years Eve.  I've never been there so I was very excited.

Later that afternoon, we had a big Christmas dinner with turkey, ham, and all kinds of food. After dinner, we played card games and watched Christmas movies.  I am very thankful for all of my great family and friends, in the United States and here in Canada this Christmas!

Stay tuned for one last Toronto post before we move on to Mexico City....