We didn’t make it to the Aurora Jazz+ Festival 2012, but we did manage to swing by the Aurora Farmer’s Market during our visit. With the long weekend for the Civic Holiday, sometimes you just need a change of scenery—no offense to our town, of course.

The music from the festival was playing in the background, and as always, it’s hard to tear yourself away from the park when the tunes are flowing. They were really trying to drum up excitement for the Aurora Jazz+ Festival on Saturday before the main event, but the heat was just too much for us this time.

It was so hot that even Matthew, usually excited about fire trucks, didn’t want to check out the display—now that’s really saying something!

Here’s the issue we’re dealing with: the festival just wouldn’t be ideal for our four-year-old. I get that there’s an admission fee per person, per day, but with the constant back-and-forth and the need to have him in bed by eight o’clock, it just doesn’t seem worth the effort.

Well, at least we got to check out the scene a bit on Saturday morning. I caught a performance of one girl singing and three dance routines. The singing was impressive, though the dancing was just okay. I had been expecting more jazz at the Aurora Jazz+ Festival, but there wasn’t much of it. I guess if you don’t actually go to the festival, you just get the “+” part of the deal.

The exciting part, though, was that Canada won their first gold medal that day, and we heard the announcement from the festival organizers. Big congratulations to Rosie MacLennan for bringing home Canada’s gold! I just found out she has a blog too. Her latest post, “A Day Later, I Am Still Pinching Myself!” really shows how challenging it is to be an athlete. And get this—she’s from our area, a King City native!

Last weekend, we decided to escape the usual and have an adventure at the African Lion Safari zoo. It was a bit pricier than staying local, but totally worth it. We booked a package that included both hotel and admission, so we spent the night in Cambridge.

For those who haven’t been to the African Lion Safari recently, you no longer have to drive your own car through the park (those were the old days!). Now, there’s a bus that takes you on a wild safari ride, though it’s an extra cost.

But here’s the cool part: the admission covers so much more than just the safari ride. It includes unlimited boat cruises, train rides, elephant shows, bird of prey shows, bird of paradise shows, a water park, playgrounds, activity areas, animal displays, pony rides (although those were a bit of a rip-off), food courts, gift shops, and even free parking.

We had an amazing time, especially since it was Matthew’s first vacation out of town. Monday turned out to be the perfect cool day to wrap up our adventure. It was a much-needed break, and a great way to make some fun family memories.

Let’s head over to the community FOCUS LivingInAurora.COM site because we’re starting to see more traffic and interest in writing from a few people.

I’m excited to share that Councillor John Abel is now a contributor to our community FOCUS site! He’s expressed interest in writing regularly, and he’s already shared his first post, titled “Aurora Jazz+ Festival 2012: The Event Observations, Part 1.” John had the chance to attend the festival that weekend, unlike us, and he’s provided some great insights from his experience. It’s fantastic to have him on board and contributing to the conversation!