I love how close Montreal is to Ottawa, especially since Brad's brother Mike lives there as well as some of our closest friends. With three kids, it's a bit much to sleep anywhere, and though we do often stay over at our destinations, I like that it's not necessary for Ottawa. We can leave bright and early, spend the whole day there, and I'm still home for my preferred bedtime of 10pm :)
Last week we spent 10 sun-drenched hours in Ottawa and it was really wonderful. We started off in Hintonburg, a really fun neighbourhood which is home to my dear friends Brit and Jen, who both moved there to plant Resurrection Church. This visit I only got to see Brit and her three sweet kiddos, and only for two hours, but we savoured it nonetheless. Brit's kids are spaced similarly to our kids, so there was a whole lot of fun goin' on with six kids, age five and under! How did we get no pictures at all? Even though all eight of us were wearing Salt Water sandals, which was so funny. Oh yeah, six kids, aged five and under! Duh.
We grabbed coconut iced coffees from Bread by Us (which were amazing, though the croissants were a bit burnt and dense) and hit the park and splash bad, stopping at a community library en route.
Hanging out with Brit is like an injection of encouragement to my soul. She's so intentional about parenting and marriage. Iron sharpening iron, totally worth the drive even if our time together was short.
After we said our goodbyes the kids and I hit up Suzy Q's donuts, which we visit every time we're in Ottawa. You know my love for donuts, and these are up there! The top three are blue vanilla fruit loop, then L-R are lemon thyme, grasshopper pie, and raspberry cassis. If you're in Ottawa you MUST go!
Then we hit up the Great Glebe Garage sale in Mike's 'hood, which is of course, The Glebe. After scoring some free books we headed to Landsdown park to play in the fountain and enjoy some free bouncy castles.
When we saw the road sign for Ottawa the kids literally started chanting "UNCLE MIKE! UNCLE MIKE!". It was the cutest thing! You can see why they love him so much :)
On the way home, only 20 minutes into our drive, Chloe started throwing up in the back seat! OMGGGG I couldn't believe it. After six years of parenting and who knows how many kilometers driven with my crew, it was the first time this has happened. There wasn't an exit for a while so I had to just keep driving, while she was crying, covered in barf. It was quite a moment, you guys! But I was so proud of my older two. They were (obviously) grossed out, but they showed such compassion for her. Also, by some miracle, I had wipes and paper towel and even Mrs. Meyers air freshener in the car! But I didn't have a plastic bag (darn you, reusable shopping bags for sale at every check out counter!) so I had to put everything from cleaning up (including her clothing!) in a reusable shopping bag and just leave it at the side of the road. I'm not proud of littering, but seriously, what else could I do? I'll never leave home without some plastic bags, wipes, and paper towel again!
Even with that tail end drama, it was a great trip :)
Last week we spent 10 sun-drenched hours in Ottawa and it was really wonderful. We started off in Hintonburg, a really fun neighbourhood which is home to my dear friends Brit and Jen, who both moved there to plant Resurrection Church. This visit I only got to see Brit and her three sweet kiddos, and only for two hours, but we savoured it nonetheless. Brit's kids are spaced similarly to our kids, so there was a whole lot of fun goin' on with six kids, age five and under! How did we get no pictures at all? Even though all eight of us were wearing Salt Water sandals, which was so funny. Oh yeah, six kids, aged five and under! Duh.
We grabbed coconut iced coffees from Bread by Us (which were amazing, though the croissants were a bit burnt and dense) and hit the park and splash bad, stopping at a community library en route.
Hanging out with Brit is like an injection of encouragement to my soul. She's so intentional about parenting and marriage. Iron sharpening iron, totally worth the drive even if our time together was short.
After we said our goodbyes the kids and I hit up Suzy Q's donuts, which we visit every time we're in Ottawa. You know my love for donuts, and these are up there! The top three are blue vanilla fruit loop, then L-R are lemon thyme, grasshopper pie, and raspberry cassis. If you're in Ottawa you MUST go!
Then we hit up the Great Glebe Garage sale in Mike's 'hood, which is of course, The Glebe. After scoring some free books we headed to Landsdown park to play in the fountain and enjoy some free bouncy castles.
When we saw the road sign for Ottawa the kids literally started chanting "UNCLE MIKE! UNCLE MIKE!". It was the cutest thing! You can see why they love him so much :)
On the way home, only 20 minutes into our drive, Chloe started throwing up in the back seat! OMGGGG I couldn't believe it. After six years of parenting and who knows how many kilometers driven with my crew, it was the first time this has happened. There wasn't an exit for a while so I had to just keep driving, while she was crying, covered in barf. It was quite a moment, you guys! But I was so proud of my older two. They were (obviously) grossed out, but they showed such compassion for her. Also, by some miracle, I had wipes and paper towel and even Mrs. Meyers air freshener in the car! But I didn't have a plastic bag (darn you, reusable shopping bags for sale at every check out counter!) so I had to put everything from cleaning up (including her clothing!) in a reusable shopping bag and just leave it at the side of the road. I'm not proud of littering, but seriously, what else could I do? I'll never leave home without some plastic bags, wipes, and paper towel again!
Even with that tail end drama, it was a great trip :)
Haha I carry a roll of doggy poop bags in our diaper bag, since I need to do something with the wipes bc we are cloth diapering! Obvs you guys are done with diapers (yay!!) but a roll of doggy poop bags is cheap and super compact for your purse! Useful in many situations!!!
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