Winter fun in the T dot

I was just downloading pictures I took of yesterday's toboggan-polooza at Withrow Park in Toronto, and felt the need to post this picture.We had been there for 1.5 hours when suddenly the sun poked out and the snow stopped and the skyline came into view while the tobogganers continued playing in the foreground and it just gave me the warm-fuzzies.

Winter fun at Withrow Park, January 2011.

I LOVE that we have this in my city - in my neighbourhood. I don't know why I've always been stuck with the notion that tobogganing is a country sport.  It lives in my past life: growing up in the country, it was an entire weekend project, to craft a roller-coaster-worthy toboggan hill that would last the week for after-school fun.
And more recently, it lives in my head as something we do at the cottage (not this year since there's a renovation taking place). Even though I've lived here for 12 years, "tobogganning in the city" just doesn't roll off my small-town-tongue.

But lo and behold, it is right here. Right here! We went to this same hill last week, and ended up meeting up with a ton of people we knew from the daycare and school. Yesterday, we called some of the kids' friends to let them know that we were going to be there and bang! Four more families hooked up with us for some good ol' wintertime fun.

I love it. I love being forced out of my countrified thinking. My kids can absolutely have what I had growing up - they might not have the pond in the back yard that me and my sisters meticulously shovelled off so we could perfect our Donny and Marie Show: On Ice Extravaganza, but they will have a lake to skate on at the cottage and rinks galore right here in the city, around the corner. They may not have a hill at the side of their house like I did, but with a little 20 minute hike (or four minute drive) we can meet up with a ton of friends and view the picturesque Toronto skyline while trying to catch air on the "mogul run", to the left of the runs shown here.

The truth is, my kids can have the same, awesome experiences that I had - and in the Big City, no less! There's more community here than I ever had growing up, where my nearest neighbour was a bike-ride away. 

I am so proud to be a city girl. What's next, Toronto?