Category: travel

Fun For the Entire Family at Westin Blue Mountain #WinterWarrior

Winter vacations are some of the most fun and thrilling experiences you can have as a family. They are a time for new adventures and venturing out of your comfort zone. Just North of Toronto you can find all this and more at Blue Mountain! And the perfect place to stay while you play? The Westin Blue Mountain.

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Last week, my family and I ventured the two hours North of Toronto to Collingwood (talk about a beautiful drive up there) to test the hills and see the beauty of Blue Mountain during the winter months. We had always been hesitant of a winter family ski vacation because of our children being so young but I was pleasantly surprised to see so many young children on the hills and in the village (putting my skills to shame that is for sure!).

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We checked in at Westin Blue Mountain and what a beautiful sight it was! Standing tall and prominent against the hills and village of Blue Mountain, Westin Blue Mountain made us feel like we had escaped to another country.

We stayed in a large two bedroom suite that came with a complete kitchen, two bathrooms, balcony and stunning views from each room overlooking the pond and village. It became habit for me to open the curtains wide right around the living room so that we could enjoy the panoramic view of the village, hills, pool and pond.

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The interior of our room was stunning. The suite had a dining room table and the kitchen came with all the utensils and appliances you would need to cook during your stay. The large windows give a light and airy feel to the rooms while instantly connecting you with the outdoors and Blue Mountain village. It was awesome to stand at the window and watch the village wake up as well as watch the night life!

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One of the best features of the room? The bathroom! I could have lived in the shower alone – the shower head was incredible and felt like you were standing outside in a light rain shower. It was calming and soothing – the perfect way to relax both in the morning and evening.

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The Westin Blue Mountain features:

  • outdoor pool and hot tub (an incredible, must experience activity!)
  • fitness studio
  • Kids Club (with mini arcade and play room)
  • New Balance gear lending
  • Westin Well Being
  • In Room Spa services
  • Dining in the hotel at Oliver and Bonacini
  • pet friendly hotel
  • valet services
  • ski concierge

The hotel also has close access to Plunge Aquatic Centre and Le Scandinave Spa.

And the staff? Incredible! I have never been to a hotel where the staff were so helpful and happy. If we became lost or unsure there was always a staff member to help us out. Several staff members that greeted us on our first day were around for our last day and remembered us which was such a nice surprise. The amazing staff really helped make our stay perfect.

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The Westin Blue Mountain hotel is the perfect place to spend your Blue Mountain family vacation. Watch out this week on the blog for more Blue Mountain fun including: Family Activities, Dining at Blue and Le Scandinave Spa.

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Mother and Daughter Time with Glama Gal Tween Spa #GGPajamaParty

It is so important to take time out in our busy lives to share in special moments with those whom we love in our lives. Our children (and our nieces and nephews!) need these bonding moments to help nourish their confidence, to feel loved and accepted.

Glama Gal Tween Spa stands by their philosophy of inspiring tween girls to feel their best and to be confident in themselves. Young women are constantly under pressure to feel and act a certain way. At Glama Gal our young women can relax, be refreshed and more importantly they can just be who they are without any fear. Glama Gal wraps this all up in a unique spa environment that makes it all a win-win!

In true Glama Gals style, Glama Gal Tween Spa is hosting a Mother and Daughter Pajama Party this Friday, September 19th from 7 to 9 p.m.

You can spend quality time with the special tween in your life in the the luxury of the spa with the comfort of your pajamas – bringing back any memories here? Pajama parties were a huge part of my tween and teen years!

This special event includes:

  • Sweet Like Mommy Sundae Bar
  • Mommy and Me DIY Chocolicious Facials
  • Cotton Candy Mani’s with hand massage lesson
  • 4×6 Memorable Moment Photo Keepsake
  • Funky Hair Face Off (Daughters will give their Mom the funkiest hairstyle to win a prize!!)
  • Movie and Pink Popcorn during the event

Sounds like fun right? Seriously – I want a chocolicious facial right now!

Make sure to purchase tickets for the event on the Glama Gal website. The event is $80 for the duo (well worth the price!). Then get those pajamas ready to have a fabulous night of fun and bonding!

What is your favourite activity to do with your daughter?

Disclosure: I am a Glama Gal Tween Spa Glambassador and receive special perks as part of my affiliation. All the opinions expressed on my blog are my own.

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Come Break Records with @KinderCanada at the CNE! #kindersmiles #kindermom

Are you ready for another surprise from Kinder Canada as they celebrate their 40th year?

This Saturday, August the 30th they are inviting you to join them at the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto to attempt a Guinness world record!

Excited? 

Now here are all the important details you need to know before this special event:

Arrive at the CNE (210 Princes’ Blvd, Toronto) at Bandshell Park near the Kid’s World at 10:20 am. Starting at 10:40 am every participant will receive a Kinder egg (free!). Then at 11:00 am we will attempt to break the Guinness record for the most people unwrapping chocolate at the same time!

The Kinder Smiles Booth will also be at the event ready to capture all of your precious #KinderSmiles so if you weren’t able to make it to the Eaton Centre you can take advantage of the booth being at the CNE this weekend.

For those of you who can’t make the event this weekend make sure you follow Kinder Canada on Facebook and Twitter, as well as follow online with the #kindersmiles hash tag. Looking forward to seeing you this weekend!

Disclosure: I am part of the Kinder Mom program and receive special perks for being a part of this program. All opinions are my own.

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2014 Biosteel Training Camp #mazdafan #WW

On Monday we were given the opportunity to attend the 2014 Biosteel training camp in Toronto. I grew up watching Hockey Night in Canada and my boys share my passion with me so we were stokked to attend!

I wanted to share our time with you this week and I hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we had taking them! See anyone familiar??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you tell we had a fantastic time?! Big thanks to Mazda Canada, Biosteel Sports and Mom Central Canada for this opportunity!
Make sure to link up below so that I can check out what you have been up to!

 

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#GlutenWise at Boston Pizza

As many of you may know, I was diagnosed with gluten sensitivity over four years ago. Since that time I have had to alter my diet, follow a stricter gluten free diet, change my cooking habits and alter our family meals at home to accommodate my health needs. I have joined gluten free communities as well as help celebrate National Celiac Awareness Month (which is actually this month!) by attending expos and sharing my knowledge with others. Knowledge and sharing is power!

One of the number one things that I miss since going gluten free is just being able to get out with my family and enjoy a delicious meal (not cooked by me!) without worrying about any potential side effects later on (if you are familiar with the symptoms of celiac disease you know it can be quite painful and unpleasant!).

I jumped (literally) at the opportunity to head to Boston Pizza to try out their Gluten Wise line of products. When I was contacted I was not even aware that they carried a gluten wise line – shows how often we get out right?! I was very curious about the menu itself and how they minimized cross contamination with other menu items.

When I spoke with the manager he explained their process to me which was extremely helpful and gave me the confidence that I needed that the staff were trained properly in preparing and preventing cross contamination with the gluten wise line. The menu items do not contain gluten but may be shipped with other boxes that do contain gluten even though the food products don’t ever actually touch. Regulations are very strict for gluten free labelling (which is great since it protects us as customers!) and since it can be shipped to the store with other items, the food is referred to as Gluten Wise (neat, right?). When a gluten wise item is ordered it is flagged and then prepared in an area separate from other orders that do contain gluten. Toppings are taken from the back fridges that have not been opened and used with other orders that do contain gluten. Boston Pizza makes sure to minimize as many possible sources of cross contamination as possible – which left me feeling confident in my order!

The gluten wise menu had quite a bit to choose from ranging from pastas and pizza (build your own), starters and three main courses. The gluten wise items are found in a separate menu that I was able to ask our waitress for which helped greatly with my selection as it contained only the gluten wise items. Our waitress was very knowledgeable and helpful with my selection which I appreciated immensely.

I ended up choosing the gluten wise pizza crust – I am a huge pizza fan so I could not resist. I topped it off with tomatoes, chicken and green peppers. It was to die for! The crust was thin (one of my personal favourite ways to have a pizza crust), crispy and one of the best gluten wise crusts I have had in a long time.

The flavour was excellent and did not make me feel like I was missing out which some products labelled as gluten free can leave you feeling. The pizza was a perfect size for one person – it probably had enough for leftovers but since I was so hungry after a busy day in clinic I ate the whole thing and felt like I was rolling out of the restaurant after that!

I decided to place an order to go that contained the gluten wise pasta with tomato marinara sauce. This is one of my personal favourite foods to make at home so I wanted to compare it to theirs. The sauce had excellent flavours but I did notice that the pasta itself had some extra starch on it. If you are familiar with gluten free pasta you know that the pasta noodles can have a (for lack of better words) mushy taste to it from the starch and this is quite common. At home I have found that it helps with that starchiness to rinse the pasta off before adding the sauce although this may not be the most optimal solution in a restaurant who’s job it is to provide hot meals to customers.

We had a fantastic time as a family – we enjoyed a well prepared meal and were able to just sit back and appreciate each other’s company. I was very impressed with the quality of the gluten wise line as well as the knowledge of the staff and manager at our local Boston Pizza. They really made sure that I would feel comfortable eating the gluten wise line with my family. I can not wait to go back and build my own pizza again with my family!

Boston Pizza is offering a $2.00 coupon of Gluten Wise at their restaurants! You can print out your coupon here.

Disclosure: I received some of the above products free of charge. All opinions expressed are my own.

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