I’m back.

After a three-week break that included a weeklong stay in Ontario, I’m glad to be back at work.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good vacation but this time it was almost too long.

I figured in my first week back I’d recap my holidays.

The first two weeks were spent in Lethbridge.

Part of that time was spent helping my brother and sister-in-law and parents move into their new home.

It was nice to be able to see the new house before we left for Ontario.

On August 7, I made my way to Ontario to start the celebrations of my brothers wedding.

That weekend was spent with his friends at his bachelor party and a great time was had by all.

The following Monday, my brother and I headed to the Hamilton airport to pick up my parents, my sister and my two oldest nephews.

We had a nice quiet Monday together.

More family joined us late Monday night as they flew into Toronto instead of Hamilton.

Tuesday was the first day we went out and explored together.

We started our day going to Lake Ontario.

There is a beach called 50 Point that we spent our morning at.

At this time there were my parents, two sisters and their husbands, my nephews and then my brother and his now wife.

We had a great morning at the beach before everyone headed to Niagara Falls for the afternoon.

This was my second time visiting the falls and it they were as beautiful as I remember.

It was also very cool seeing my two nephews reactions to how big the falls were.

This time at the falls some of us decided to take the Hornblower into the falls.

I wouldn’t say I was disappointed in the experience but I was expecting to see more of the Canadian falls from down below.

Turns out all the mist prevents that from being an option.

Overall Tuesday was a fantastic day.

Wednesday we all took a trip to Toronto.

My mom, sister and brother-in-law went to the Ripley’s aquarium together while the rest of us went to the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Being at the Hall of Fame was awesome.

My nephews couldn’t get enough of everything that was there to see.

We spent close to 3 and a half hours looking around and playing some of the interactive games they had.

The final room is known as the vault, which hold all major individual trophies as well as the Stanley Cup.

Once I had taken my picture with the Cup, I made my way around the vault and took photos with every individual award as well.

I wanted my visit to the Hall of Fame to be well documented.

After our time at the Hall of Fame, we met up with my mom and sister again near the CN Tower.

I had been up the tower in one of my previous visits but decided to take my two nephews up.

My one sister and brother-in-law joined us as well.

It was again so neat to see how cool my nephews thought it was being so high up and being able to see all of Toronto.

Thursday was more of a low-key day.

We had a bit of a lazy morning before heading out to the African Lion Safari outside Hamilton.

It’s a unique experience as the safari is full of lions, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, ostriches and many other animals that are all able to wander freely as you drive right by them.

The best way to describe it would be a zoo on wheels as you drive past all the animals.

Thursday afternoon was just spent relaxing at the AirBNB.

Friday was another day that wasn’t as jam-packed with exploration.

I went with my sister, brother-in-law and nephews to show the boys where they lived in their short time in Ontario.

After that, we walked a bit to a house that my brother had lived in earlier in his Hamilton days.

Following that, I switched sisters and headed out for an afternoon of paddle boarding in Burlington.

When we got there, we were sad to see it was closed due to high surf.

We decided to go for a swim still because the water was beautiful and the waves were fun to be in at least till one knocked my glasses off.

I had turned my head at the wrong time and got smoked by a massive wave that knocked my glasses off and into the bottom of Lake Ontario.

We searched for a little bit but couldn’t find them.

Luckily I had contacts along as well so I wasn’t blind for the wedding the next day.

The wedding was perfect.

It was a small outdoor wedding and it wasn’t too hot and humid, which was a blessing for a guy who sweats as easily as he breathes.

After the ceremony, we took some pictures and then headed back to my brothers place for a drive by reception.

This reception gave more people a chance to drive by and say congratulations.

Once that reception was over, we had a small group of about 40 people stay for a more formal reception for the rest of the evening.

The day was great and I was happy to be there for my brother’s big day.

Sunday we headed off to my cousins in St. Catherines.

It was nice to have some time visiting them while we were out there as well.

Following that visit, I went with my nephews to the Welland Canal.

This canal is used as a passageway for ships going between Lake Ontario and Lake Eerie.

There are seven different locks that raise or lower ships to get them from one lake to the other.

We started by going to lock 7.

When we were there we saw a massive ship waiting to move.

It outwaited us and we headed to lock 3 before we it ever moved.

We arrived at lock 3 just in time to see another massive ship being raised.

The water was pouring into the lock and slowly raised the ship to the height it needed to be at to continue up the canal.

It was so cool to see how these lock systems work.

Once we were done there we headed back to the AirBNB to rest up and visit a bit more before leaving for the airport on Monday.

The whole week was a blast and I’m glad I was able to share it with my entire family.