Okay, back to Toronto.

So on the final day we checked out and left our bags at the bag-check-thingy, and took a couple hours to enjoy the skywalk ( a long glass enclosed pathway to the skydome, CN Tower, and train stations) and had lunch in the basement of the CN Tower. We found lots of bears and Canadian tourist junk there, and like those around us from foreign countries, we jumped right in and took photos of our children with the stuffed creatures...

We slowly made our way back to the hotel lobby after lunch and realized we still had a couple hours to kill before we boarded our train home at 5:30. What to do ....what to do.

We arrived at the hotel with a screaming child, and 20 million staring eyes. It was lovely. I took her to the nearest washroom and changed her diaper and calmed her down. We let her play in the lobby for an hour with Gabe and a couple of balls I had bought at the dollarama before we left....probably one of the best purchases I have EVER made.

Once she grew tired of trying to snatch peoples blackberries and cell phones, she played run away as fast as you can towards the open stairs. It was great fun had by all.

Eventually we loaded them all up and picked up our luggage and found our way to Union Station again. We were supposed to be able to pre-load the train in order to find ourselves a 4 seating arrangement and to get settled before the long ride home. WEllllll....not so. As I was trying to calm little miss tantrum ...again....we were sitting in the waiting area playing peek-a-boo with an elderly lady who thought she could help me by waving her shaky little hand to get crying Ashlyn's attention. Ashlyn picked up on her cue and quieted down and played a happy little game with her....I was just about ready to ask the nice lady if she would like to take Ashlyn home, but then a dirty little hobo sat down beside us...and I was contemplating whether he may be a better candidate to take on such a challenging little girl. He looked agile enough to keep up with her, he'd probably have some grrreat stories to tell her, and they both needed a bath....

I was just about to ask him, when they yelled for all passengers of train 84. Umm Pardon me??? Were we not to be pre-boarded?? We caught up to the crowd and discovered that we had no advantage over the other 400 passengers, we were to scavenge for seats just as they had to. It seemed as though all hope was lost ...when out came my gay, hand-flinging, via-working, train steward(ess) in shining armour. He was 'Oh ssso ssssorry' to hear that we hadn't been pre-boarded and was able to do a neat seat -flippy thing that gave us a 4 seat arrangement .....Ahhhhh...(or so I thought)

We were off...and so was Ashy, Off to win loudest baby on the planet award. several times. It was quite nearly one of my most embarrassing moments...not of the funny variety either. She decided it would be cool to try out her first, most savage, body twisting, ear-splitting tantrum ever. It was horrific. People were giving me those ...'Oooo I'm sooo glad that's not me' looks, with a combination of 'Shut that baby up' and a little 'Wow, she's really loud huh?'.

It was spectacular, she would have kept going if it wasn't for the reeses pieces I was shoving in her mouth, followed by some mouth fulls of apple juice.

The best was when she fell asleep 5 minutes before our stop, and as I was walking out I could hear people whispering...."There's the lady with the crying baby..." It was so nice to be popular.