Maple Leaf Mommy

A Canadian Mom's Life: Family, Food & Fun

Top 5 Family Friendly Places in Canada to Visit this Winter

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Canada is one of the best places for families to visit during the winter, because everyone will be able to find snow, ice and extremely cold temperatures everywhere in the country. Families should plan on taking a lot of warm clothes that can be layered, so that they can enjoy everything that Canada has to offer during the winter season.   Here are 5 of the best … [Read more...]

Joining the Militia, 1812 Style

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Every Summer we go to this big crafter's fair called Art by the River. It's held at the Fort Malden National Historic Site in Amherstburg, Ontario. We enjoy walking around and looking at all the various things for sale, doing a little Christmas shopping, maybe eating a frozen yogurt or two. The kids always want to stop and paint a picture at the art station. The one part of the … [Read more...]

Cottage Life Made Affordable at Great Blue Resorts (Plus Cool Contest Alert!)

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We've never considered owning a cottage. It's not that I wouldn't want the chance to get away to cottage country, enjoy lazy days by the lake and have family vacations in a home-like setting. It's just that I've always felt like owning a cottage was something only rich people could do. (Check out this article from the Toronto Star which talks about how cottage prices are on the … [Read more...]

That Time I Went to Sunny Mexico & Used Moisturizer Instead of Sunscreen

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I want to tell you guys the story about that time I went to Mexico and I didn't bring any sunscreen with me. A friend had convinced me that it would be better to just buy a container of sunscreen when I got there, instead of worrying about trying to find the right travel sized container that would be okay to bring in my carry-on luggage. However, once I got to Puerta … [Read more...]

Making Connections and Finding Time to Explore Ottawa

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I went to Ottawa, back in April, to take part in the BConnected Conference. BConnected bills itself as a conference for "digital influencers". It was two days of listening to speakers talk about things like authenticity and copyright issues, of hearing why video is the wave of the future, and learning clever email marketing and SEO tips. I took notes. I munched on tasty … [Read more...]

Love Travel? Use #TravellingMaple on Instagram & Share Your Travel Adventures!

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Welcome to Travelling Maple Tuesdays! Each Tuesday we invite you to post a picture on Instagram and include the hashtag ‪#‎TravellingMaple‬. (This happens EVERY Tuesday, I just post about it every few weeks on here as a reminder.) Travelling Maple is a website meant to showcase Canadian travel content. Each Tuesday we move the party over to Instagram, sharing our Canadian … [Read more...]

Past, Future, Why Guess? Know!

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You don't run into these old fortune telling machines too often. I remember the first time I saw one, at a penny arcade in Frankenmuth. I absolutely HAD to waste an American quarter on seeing how this thing worked. There is something compelling and almost eerie about watching an automaton move from up close. The one in the picture here is from Kennywood amusement park in … [Read more...]

What’s in my Travel Kit? a.k.a. travelling with P&G

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  A few months back I was staying at a hotel on an overnight trip. I was packing everything up to head back home when I ducked my head into the bathroom to find half of the contents of my toiletries kit spread out over the hotel bathroom counter. As I unzipped the bag and started to carefully stack everything back inside I had a realization. Laid out on this counter … [Read more...]

Racing Vultures at African Lion Safari

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One of the highlights of our visit to African Lion Safari back in September was when Rainbow got chosen as a volunteer during the Birds of Prey show. And she got to race with vultures. Only she was too distracted with staring at the birds to actually run fast, and ended up way behind all the other kids taking part. Still biggest grin ever, think she had a good … [Read more...]

A September Visit to African Lion Safari

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A few weeks back we did a weekend getaway to Cambridge and took the girls and my mom to African Lion Safari. It had been two years since our last visit. This time the weather was definitely of the "fall is approaching" variety, cool and drizzly. Which I actually loved as the crowds were thinner. Also compared to when we had last visited on a very hot day in July, the animals … [Read more...]

Best Attractions in Mexico

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Mexico remains a favourite holiday destination, attracting millions of visitors each year. With endless beaches, spectacular natural wonders and luxury resorts, it’s not hard to see why. For some inspiration on your next Mexican adventure, here’s some of the best attractions worth visiting. Chichen Itza The ruins of this ancient city have long been a tourist hot spot, as … [Read more...]

The Beauty of Dia De Los Muertos, Year Round in Puerto Vallarta

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Back when I was working at the local arts council, my boss was a huge fan of Frida Kahlo. You couldn't help but notice it when you walked into our office, which was littered with cut-outs of Frida and her artwork, mixed in with pieces done by my artist boss-lady. When I first started working there Frida was a footnote in my mental map, someone I'd read about briefly while doing … [Read more...]

My Mother’s Day Experience with Stars on Ice

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I had the most incredible Mother's Day, thanks to Jergens. Jergens is one of the sponsors of the Stars on Ice tour and they offered me tickets to the London performance of the 25th Anniversary show, which happened to take place right on Mother's Day. So I hopped in the car with my mom, my mother-in-law and my eldest daughter and drove to London for the afternoon. My … [Read more...]