Visiting the Toronto Zoo

Jessica • March 4, 2016

Its been snowing for the last three days and my happiness scale defiantly falls with the temperature. Its just so hard to be excited about life when it takes 20 minutes to pack up all the cold weather gear every time we want to leave the house, when your breath gets knocked out of you as you step outside, and when all you want to do is thrown on flip flops instead of snow boots. But… this last weekend we did have an amazing day as far as winter weather is concerned so we took full advantage and headed to the Toronto Zoo.

This past Christmas, I took the advice plastered all over multiple parenting blogs that “experiences” are better then presents and asked my dad for passes to the Toronto Zoo instead of gifts. I am so glad we did. I don’t think my kids are quite old enough to really appreciate experiences over gifts, but my husband and I certainly are so in stead of sending my parents an amazon wish list of stuff we don’t really need, I landed on asking for an “experience” and it was a good choice.

The Toronto Zoo is very similar to the San Diego Zoo, a lot of greenery, a lot of walking, not the best for close ups with the animals but probably better for the animals then the steel cages at Brookfield Zoo in Chicago. I happen to really like Brookfield Zoo because you get to see every animal every time, but animal rights and whatever… Anyway, we had a really great time walking around and enjoying the beautiful weather.

I see many trip to the Toronto Zoo in our future and we can’t wait to see what the place has to offer in the summer. Let me know if you are a GTA local and would like to plan a zoo playdate. We would love that!

Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose.

Glaze Family Update + A New Favorite Product WaterWipes

By Jessica • July 14, 2019
Four kids, I have four kids! Sometimes (well, every day if I’m being honest) I have to remind myself that I have FOUR kids to be responsible for. If I’m not forgetting to keep an eye on my mischievous 2-year-old, then I’m walking out the door for dinner without dropping a jar of baby food into my bag. (Fries for dinner never hurt anyone, right? That’s what Mr. August survives on once a week at least.) Life as a parent can be chaotic sometimes. #thisisparenthood Thank God my two older kiddos are basically self-sufficient otherwise we would never be able to leave the house. Being responsible for four other human beings (Sometimes five if my husband is in town, am I right ladies?) is so hard!

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It’s no secret that I am no fan of winter. If you live up north like we do now, you know just how cold, cold is and I can barely survive the frozen temperatures. Even though I would happily leave behind the cold, but there is nothing I love more than Thanksgiving and Christmas! Best holidays of the year, hands down!

Away We Go, Again

By Jessica • September 13, 2017
It has been three years since we left behind our life in California. Three years since we made the announcement that we were moving to Canada. Three years since we started a new adventures as immigrants in a country that is so close to home, yet so very different. And now, after three life changing years, we are on to our next adventure.

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By Jessica • August 30, 2017
Eli is 5.5 months old, rolling left to right and every other which way, so that means it’s time to ditch the swaddle. *Que the ugly cry.* If you didn’t know, we love swaddling in our home. Rusty and I can count the number of times we have ever had to wake up more than twice a night with one of the three kiddos on our fingers and we thank swaddling for that luck. We start swaddling from day one and we use that as a basis to establish great sleep habits from the beginning that last forever. Sadly, once the skill of rolling is learned, it is no longer safe to swaddling and the transition from swaddled to un-swaddled can be rough. Thankfully, we found the Nested Bean sleep sack this time around and the swaddled/un-swaddled transition has gone perfectly smooth.

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By Jessica • August 28, 2017
The Glaze Brigade spent the second to last official weekend of summer (which is kind of a joke because summer never actually arrived here in the GTA) at Center Island and we loved it! I’m actually a little bummed that we have lived here for 3 years and only just decided to make the trip on the ferry over to the island.

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By Jessica • August 14, 2017
We are just three weeks away from the start of the next school year and I am so not ready! There is nothing I love more than the freedom of summer. No school schedules to follow, flexible bedtimes, endless weekend adventures, and daily trips to wherever we can get some sunshine. Sadly, all of that is about to end and I am already planning our next summer.

Rainy Day Fun with Erin Mills Town Centre

By Jessica • July 24, 2017
Since moving to Toronto, the best part of summer is getting outside. Our days are usually filled with trips to the playground, our near by amusement park, riding our scooters around the neighborhood, or taking a fun road trip, but even in the summer, there are days we are stuck inside. Sometimes we spend those rainy days cuddled on the couch, watching a movie and eating junk food, but another fun rainy day activity we enjoy is visiting our local mall.

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By Jessica • June 21, 2017
I was just a little surprised to learn that Carter would be starting kindergarten, at the ripe old age of 3, just a few months after moving to Canada. I considered putting her in a preschool a few days a week, but never did I think I would be sending her to an all day, every day, kindergarten class in a school that holds kids up to the 8th grade. Cue the mommy freak out. Of course, Carter loved it and I had nothing to do worry about.

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By Jessica • June 12, 2017
My middle child, Monroe, was born with a severe tongue tie, it was actually so severe that he couldn’t swallow. For the first week of his life, we had no idea that his entire tongue was attached to the bottom of his mouth (behind his bottom gums), but over and over again he would choke and sometimes even turn blue. Rusty or I or a nurse would have to suction his airway to get things cleared out. It was the scariest time for me as a parent.

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By Jessica • May 17, 2017
Facebook is filled with groups of moms complaining about the lack of help they get from their husbands. Either dad has never changed a diaper, he doesn’t help pick up toys, dad doesn’t help discipline, or he flat out cannot keep the kids alive if he is left alone. I understand that it can be completely frustrating to get no help from the one person that should be helping you the most, so I am going to share with you a few tips that I’ve used to encourage my husband to be a hands on dad.
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