1. It’s becoming increasingly obvious that I am a prairie girl as the mildly curvy highway we were driving on into Toronto gave me the first real bout of carsickness I’ve had in a long time. But seriously, it’s a little embarrassing that a little stretch of highway that looks like this could make me feel so crappy. But I suppose the trip I’ve taken most often in the past ten years is this one and it is a lot straighter. Apparently my delicate flatlander constitution can’t handle anything but the most gentle of curves.

[Edit: I accidentally had the links mixed up. They are fixed now. Let it be known that my most frequent trip has not been down the twisty moderately curvy highway 403, but rather the basically straight highway 11 from Saskatoon to Regina.]

2. Gas in Toronto is free. No wonder so many people live there!

3. Matching skills? Not so much.

4. There a lot of parents out there who don’t have a clue how to control their kids. I’m not saying all kids should be little zombies and behave perfectly all the time. But when your kid skips in line in front of 6 other kids waiting in line to try out a toy (a spinning thingy in this case) and you say “Oh little Johnny! It’s not your turn sweetie!” and then let him continue to ride for, oh, five minutes you are clearly not the one in charge. It IS ok to physically remove your child if necessary instead of shrug your shoulders helplessly and let him continue to ride. Also, when other kids are riding take your obnoxious kid away instead of letting him try to “help” my kid who just wants him to leave her alone.

5. The flip side of that is…when your kids are waiting in line and another kid (which may or may not be mine) accidentally skips ahead of your precious darling, who is standing there with her eyes glazed over for an unreasonably long time rather than going ahead and taking her turn, you have no right to start barking at my child and other children. While it is ok to pleasantly say “Oh, I’m sorry, it’s little Jenny’s turn right now! The line is right here if you want to get in it.” it is definitely not ok to roar like a freakin’ Mama Bear. There are about 87 gazillion kids at the Science Center today and there simply isn’t time for dawdling.

6. I need to start saving empty cereal boxes and bottle of juice. There “grocery store” part of the kids section in the science center was probably the single most popular exhibit. The kids adored picking out food to “buy” and trying out the cash register. It is so simple, there’s no reason not to do it. When I have a little more space, that is.

7. These things are not only disturbing to watch, but when you watch EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. stick their face and/or hands in it, you are amazed that our entire civilization has not perished from a supervirus plague of death that is most definitely brewing in between the little pegs.

7. If your son is having surgery in two days (hypothetically speaking, of course) and your doctor advised you to avoid crowds and people who might be sick (really, this is all theoretical), it may be wise to stay away from the science center (see number 6). Especially on a long weekend. If you are of lower-than-average intelligence and imagined it might not be too bad because “doesn’t everyone go away for Easter?” and went anyway, it is best to stock up on a big-ass bottle of antibacterial handwash for the occasion. Try to avoid the temptation to make your kids take a swig right from the bottle.

8. When there are signs saying “CASH ONLY” at the entrance to the parking lot what they really mean is cash and debit card. Only. Do not send your husband away to find an ATM.

9. This thing is super cool. It’s the image of a pond with fish swimming around in it which is projected onto the ground. You can see the stones at the bottom of the pond and the fish are moving. But when kids walk through the “pond” the water ripples and the fish swim behave as though there are real feet coming towards them! The picture doesn’t do it justice, but trust me, it was cool.

10. The $47 we paid for admission to the science center was unnecessary as my kids were just as happy to sit on the boat ride outside the restaurant where we ate dinner. We didn’t have to put money in or anything.