it's yonanas...

as an easter gift, my parents got us a yonanas machine. what's that, you say? well, you put in frozen fruits (that's it!) and within seconds you have healthy "ice cream"/froyo. it's kind of amazing and we're love it. it's recommended the bananas be cheetah spotted before freezing them (and peeled as well). obviously, it's a much healthier option than ice cream, since it's only fruit, but i suppose even fruit has natural sugars, so you don't want to overdo it.

that said, you can definitely add in other fixins. bananas, frozen chocolate chips, and stir in peanut butter once it comes out? sure! add in some bailey's? why not! the website has a bunch of recipes posted and the results are endless. most of the recipes contain bananas, since they're what makes it more creamy, but they're definitely not necessary; i've done it with and without.

step 1: let fruit thaw ~10 minutes before going in the machine.

step 2: fruit goes in the top and is pushed down by the wand.

step 3: ice cream!

step 4: stir it around a bit to mix it up and enjoy!

when you're all done licking the bowl and wishing you had more, you'll be happy to know that cleanup is a breeze. the machine very easily comes apart in about 4 pieces, making it easypeasy.

good old hockey game...

yesterday we had a chance to go see the marlies play a game at the air canada centre and then skate on the ice afterwards thanks to a family day event. dylan's mom got the 4 tickets + skating passes + food vouchers through her work so we went with 2 friends and had a grand old time. toronto is proving to be a land of firsts for me in the sports department; last year was my first time at a baseball game and now a hockey game!

 halftime dodgeball with *a lot* of mascots from all over.

 here we go.

 i spy...dylan jumping.

the marlies won 4-1 and even though i can't really skate (i pretty much held on to dylan's arm 85% of the time), i managed not to fall! so there's 2 good things! there were a few close calls with speeding little kids who almost wiped me out, but i managed. even though  i'm not the least bit into sports, it's pretty cool that we got to skate on the rink where the leafs play.

smells like canada...

while doing some christmas shopping at the bay, i came across a pop-up shop called brika that sells all handmade goods - kind of like an etsy in person. i found a few candles that i've since become quite obsessed with. the company is smells like canada and the products are made right here in toronto. i picked up the 'toronto smoke' candle with some christmas money and i definitely plan on adding a few other scents in the future. it has this sweet, creamy, yet woodsy smell to it that i could just inhale it's so good.  i love finding products that are not only great, but made locally, and with quality ingredients to boot.

the grotto; tobermory...

where did we leave off? ah yes, the grotto. from the cliffs, you can easily see the grotto, but figuring out how to get down there, safely, is another story. we just could not figure it out. do we climb down the dangerous looking cliff like some people were? no thanks! do we jump into the water from maybe 50 feet up and swim to the grotto? well, i suppose you could, and people were, though it's definitely advised against by signs, but we had cameras, so that wasn't an option. we spent a good 20 minutes walking around looking for a way in until dylan finally saw someone poke their head out behind a boulder. ah ha! but then it hit me, we had to squeeze behind a boulder and very carefully tread down rocks until you hit the bottom. dylan went and took a look first to see how doable it was and gave us at the top the thumbs up. umm, guys, it was hard and i was freaking out. luckily, there were about 5 guys hanging in the middle that all helped me down! haha once i was able to get myself down there and take a few deep breaths to calm myself down, i was in awe of the beauty in front of me. i've never seen a grotto before, but it was the most stunning thing. unfortunately, pictures really can't even do it justice.

 we see the grotto, but how do we get down??

oh this is what we have to climb through to get down to the grotto? ok sure. :/ #cuepanicattack

 we made it!

a little more mountain goat action to get *into* the grotto.

dyl taking a dive in.

 ah yes, we have to get back *up*. 

 luckily there was another young guy on the way up willing to help me, too. so between our friend behind me, and dylan and the random guy above me, i made it out!

the tobermory trio!

now that we've been, we will definitely be returning in future summers. this place is just too amazing and at a short drive away, there's no reason not to return next summer!

bluest of blues; tobermory...

oh tobermory, what can i say about you besides the fact that you are so incredibly beautiful and amazing. although the area where we spent most of our time isn't technically tobermory, it's the bruce peninsula national park, i think most people generalize it all as tobermory. even though it's a 3.5 hour drive away, we knew we probably wouldn't get there for an overnight trip this summer, so we decided to take a friend and just make it a day trip. the friend we took just moved here from the uk about 2 months ago (his girlfriend was working and couldn't make the trip), and we've only known them for about a month. he was laughing that we considered 3.5 hours to be a day trip and said that he could drive across the uk in that amount of time!

i didn't know a whole lot about tobermory going into this trip, just that it's been a place i had wanted to get to for years. i knew there was a grotto and crystal clear water. gps first took us about a 20 minute drive further than we intended, but we did get to see a lighthouse, the beautiful water and make a sandwich on the side of the road. once we figured out how to get to the grotto, we drove there only to find that the park rangers were turning everyone away because the parking lot was full! (note: it's part of the bruce peninsula) they told us to try again in a bit, and in the meantime we went to a nearby beach called the "singing sands", which was ridiculously windy and a little cold. after about an hour, we tried to get a parking spot again to no avail. we went to the bank and tried again. still no luck. by this time it was about 4:30. the rangers told us that we could just keep circling if we wanted, so that's what we did. after going by them about 5 or 6 times, they finally told us there was a spot available! once we parked,  we had a 45 minute hike ahead of us to the final destination of the grotto and indian head cove. it's quite a nice flat walk along the lake, until you get to the end; then you're scaling rocks and climbing up and down cliffs. but, it is so worth it. this place is absolutely beautiful and i had no idea that a place with water this clear existed in ontario, let alone only 3.5 hours from toronto. and bonus, there's no fish, not even minnows!! well, i'm sure there are when it drops off and the water gets darker blue, but not in the clear part.

ready for a complete photo overload?! it was all too pretty to narrow down.

country roads and clouds along the way.

#arewethereyet?

lots of tourists at tobermory!

 first time laying eyes on the clearest water i've ever seen.

seriously though, are we in the caribbean? 

 singing sands beach.

 sand bottoms and shallow water.

along the 45 minute walk (once we parked) to indian head cove and the grotto.

 the beautiful indian head cove.

 trying to find how we get to the grotto; not easy.

 time to head into the FRIGID 65 degree georgian bay water.

 new best friends haha

 it was weird going into water that cold. my body could handle it, but it actually took my breath away and i had a hard time breathing for a few minutes. i think the coldness shocked my organs ;)

 oh, here come some waves.

tearin' me down. the slippery rock bottom was the main culprit.

 loving life.

:)

i think it's high time i stop here and leave the grotto for monday's post. it was so crazy and cool, so of course i got snap happy!