Fun Visits with Family

Over the past two weekends, we've been lucky to have been able to spend lots of time with family. Over the long weekend (Family Day), Kathy and Sarah took the train up from Toronto and stayed with us for a few days. It was great having them here - and Alex loved having Sarah around to play with.

Aside from some fun watching the Olympics, we also got out to our first time at Winterlude (Ottawa's Winter Festival) for a bit of fun on ice slides, and checking out snow sculptures and having some treats. We didn't stay too long as the day was cold and snowy and overcast, but it was great to get out to our first official "Ottawa" outing. The next day, we went to the Museum of Civilization and the Children's Museum and had a great time checking out some of the fun exhibits and learning a bit about different aspects of Canadian history and culture, as well as different cultures from around the world.

Here's a few pictures from Sarah and Kathy's visit and our time at Winterlude and the Museum of Civilization.

Relaxing and playing DS by the fire


Ready for some Winterlude Fun!


Sampling the maple sugar on snow (he wasn't keen on it)


Chris and Alex coming down the big ice slide


Checking out a snowmobile



Alex and Sarah on a bus from India (I think)


Alex checking out how some people live in other parts of the world.


Building a wall in a house with Sarah


Riding a camel near the pyramids



This past week, Chris was in Kingston visiting veterinary clinics in the Brockville, Kingston and Napanee areas, so Alex and I went up by train to join him on his last night there. Alex and I took the train from the Via station near our place and enjoyed a nice relaxing trip to Kingston. Chris and Alex then spent the night in the hotel hanging out and having fun and I went to stay at my parents' place for the night and had a nice relaxing visit with my parents. Chris then dropped off Alex early the next morning on his way out to visit more vets on the Friday and Alex and I had fun hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa.

We made cookies, did some Lego and had a nice time until Chris came home later that day after he was finished work. On the Saturday, Chris and I went to see Avatar in 3D - what a great film! We'd been dying to see it, but just didn't have the time lately, nor did we have someone in Ottawa to watch Alex so we jumped at the opportunity to go see a grown-up film with just the two of us.

Grandpa took Alex out for lunch and then they ran a few errands together before meeting us at the movie theatre after our movie. We then took Alex with us and bought him his first set of ice skates as well as a helmet and face guard, and then we stopped in downtown Kingston to have Alex try out the skates for a bit.

That night, we had another great dinner with my parents and a fun evening. We got packed up the next morning to head back to Ottawa but stopped at the same small downtown rink again for Alex to skate a bit more so Grandma and Grandpa could see how well he was doing.

It still seems odd to be able to go visit them in under two hours - but it's great to be so close.

Here's a couple of pics from our visit to Kingston showing Alex trying out his new skates.