Much fun, many memories

Our flight to Regina, via Calgary, wasn't scheduled until 6 p.m., and the rental car wasn't due back to the airport until 3:30 p.m. so we had time to visit one more attraction in Halifax on our final morning. 

After our continental breakfast, we packed up at the hotel and headed downtown around 9:30 in the morning to the Discovery Center (science center). The day prior the center offered free admission, and I was hoping that might mean it would be quiet(er). Ha! The place was buzzing with children and their parents. 

All of the floors had various interactive exhibits. On the first floor, this piece of equipment was very popular with the children including Eli. He enjoyed his opportunity to move the foam pieces to a nearby box.

I wandered off into another area of the floor...which seemed somewhat less noisy. There were a number of mind-bending puzzles, as a maze. My mind wasn't up to most of the puzzles. :) Eli followed and wandered through the maze backwards...he went in at the finish. Whatever works.

We went up to the third floor next where Eli had a lot of fun, with his mom in tow, while G'ma sat and enjoyed a cup of tea. 

However, it was on the second floor that Eli found the best thing ever, a flight simulator!!! There were several crashes but he did manage to successfully land the plane at least once.

I suspect, had there not been other children waiting to use the machine, we would still be there.

We left downtown shortly before lunch and crossed the bridge to Dartmouth. 

We ate at Boston Pizza and still had plenty of time before we needed to head for the airport. D used the Google machine again and found an indoor playground nearby, "The Kids Fun Factory". 

The place was packed with children and their parents. A warehouse style building with high ceilings, it had climbing apparatus, slides, tunnels, and a ball bit. There are no photos from that activity, I'm not certain D had her phone with her. I had tucked myself in a corner where it wasn't quite as noisy. (Do you sense a theme?) They had couches and chairs, as well as a cafe area outside the play area. 

We left there shortly before 3 p.m., and went to the nearby gas station to fill up before making our way to the airport.  Dropping the car off was simple, as was our check-in at the counter. However, in security I was taken aside; it was my own fault! I'd purchased a small knife to cut up the strawberries we'd had earlier in the trip and tucked it into a corner pocket of my backpack and forgotten all about it. I was appropriately shocked and apologetic and they took the knife and let me through to the gates.

And of course, this is when we started our hurry up and wait portion of our trip. Eventually we were on the five hour flight to Calgary, and no one slept (not even me). By the time we arrived in Calgary, I think we were all exhausted, Eli slept most of the way to Regina, I got about a 1/2 hour and D did not. We arrived at my son's house just about midnight local time, grabbed a cab to C's and after moving bags to my car, Eli and I crawled into bed, while D visited with her brother and his roommate. 

Despite the very long day at the end of the trip, it was an amazing adventure. Eli did so well throughout the entire trip despite the change in routine. I enjoyed sharing places I'd been before with my daughter and grandson, and D did a marvelous job of finding new places for us to explore. The majority of the photos I've shared were taken with her cellphone as I didn't have room for my Canon. She clearly enjoyed it too, and we're already thinking ahead to late June 2027 for our next trip!