Company, birthday and Sightseeing...
After a week or so with no blogging, I'm eager to get back on here and post some pictures and stories of our latest adventures. I would have kept up daily, but I wasn't able to upload any pictures and became extremely frustrated with the system! I have calmed down enough to try again and I'm crossing my fingers that it will all work out for me today.
Our friends, Jay and Chantelle and their 12 week old daughter, Hannah, arrived late Friday night (2am). We spent Saturday relaxing and preparing for Marin's birthday party the next day. My brother arrived Saturday night, as did Adam, so we ended up with a full house!!
Here are Jay, Chantelle, Hannah and Calli having a little visit. I believe Calli might have been showing the best way to jump on the couch...
I had some nice snuggle time with Calli, Marin and Hannah!
Hannah!!
Hannah tried out Marin's Exersaucer and found chewing on the seat to be a great little discovery!!
Marin and Hannah are only 9 months apart. It was neat for Jay and Chantelle to see what their little girl might be doing 9 months from now!! And to see what size she might be too!!
Marin's party was a lot of fun! Kevin and Chelsea came, as well as our neighbours and their 2 twin daughters. We had a whole bunch of balloons blown up and the kids entertained themselves with them for quite a while. After filling our tummies with all the goodies we'd prepared (hummus and pita, mango salsa and chips, meatballs and homemade sweet and sour sauce, fruit etc), we got Marin's cake ready and sang Happy Birthday to her. She got really shy and ended up smacking her head against her highchair...Hence the crying in this picture.
She was quite cautious with her cake and didn't dive right in. Instead, she picked off the candy sprinkles and stars individually and placed them delicately in her mouth! She hardly took much notice of the rest of the cake!
Here, Marin is demonstrating her sharing capabilities, by giving some cake and sprinkles to her Dad. She is usually quite liberal with her morning Cheerio stash as well.
After all that playing and picking of sprinkles, she got pretty tired.
Here she is on Monday morning... Our little One Year Old!!
We went to Ottawa for the day to see Ottawa and also to visit our friends, Denise and Jan, who were there visiting his family! They live in BC as well, so it was great that 2 sets of our friends were in the same part of the country at once and we were all able to share some time together.
Here are Calli, Marin and Hannah ready for our tour of Ottawa!!
We decided to have a tour of the Parliament Buildings while we were in Ottawa. It seemed the natural thing to do.
It was an amazing tour and we had a very informative and knowledgeable guide who showed us around. Things got started once we passed through security. It wasn't quite as tight as the security at the airport, but it was thorough. They were trying to get Jay to take a Little-sleeping-Hannah out of the Snuggly she was in, so he could pass through the detector. Somehow, Jay managed to convince them that it wasn't a good idea and he really didn't want to remove her. I don't blame him. Babies need their sleep. I guess he could have made a deal that if she woke up screaming, the guard would have to accompany us on the tour, ensuring Hannah was calm???!!!
We had a bit of time to spare before our tour, so we walked around behind the Parliament buildings and took in the views.
A view of the locks from the Plaza Bridge, where boats can travel up or down the Rideau Canal Waterway to the Ottawa River.
The night time view of the Rideau Locks.
We got pretty hungry and stopped for a quick Hot Dog before we went in. Marin has never eaten a hot dog, but devoured Calli's left overs! Calli has never been much of a fan of hot dogs...
The stair case where Pierre Trudeau became famous for sliding down the banister!!
The Legislature, where rules are made!
Here are Marin and I learning about the Legislature.
The Dominion of Canada.
Intricate carvings inside the buildings. Each depicting some piece of Canada's history.
A view of the clock face from the Peace Tower.
A view from up in the Peace Tower.
The Senate...Where rules are possibly overturned!!
Calli convinced us that she needed a maple leaf tattoo and paid for it all by herself in the boutique! Afterwards, she wouldn't let go of the receipt. She must have thought it was part of the prize for paying, or something!
We were walking back to the car after dinner and decided we'd take in the light and sound show on the front lawn of the Parliament. Dusk was amazing...
At one point, there was a flash of lightning on the buildings and some native singing and Calli snuggled into her Dad. She still talks about how she didn't like that part, to anyone who will listen.
We had a great day and got home late. All the kids were sleeping, so we put them in bed fully clothed and headed off to sleep as well. More to come tomorrow...
Our friends, Jay and Chantelle and their 12 week old daughter, Hannah, arrived late Friday night (2am). We spent Saturday relaxing and preparing for Marin's birthday party the next day. My brother arrived Saturday night, as did Adam, so we ended up with a full house!!
Here are Jay, Chantelle, Hannah and Calli having a little visit. I believe Calli might have been showing the best way to jump on the couch...
I had some nice snuggle time with Calli, Marin and Hannah!
Hannah!!
Hannah tried out Marin's Exersaucer and found chewing on the seat to be a great little discovery!!
Marin and Hannah are only 9 months apart. It was neat for Jay and Chantelle to see what their little girl might be doing 9 months from now!! And to see what size she might be too!!
Marin's party was a lot of fun! Kevin and Chelsea came, as well as our neighbours and their 2 twin daughters. We had a whole bunch of balloons blown up and the kids entertained themselves with them for quite a while. After filling our tummies with all the goodies we'd prepared (hummus and pita, mango salsa and chips, meatballs and homemade sweet and sour sauce, fruit etc), we got Marin's cake ready and sang Happy Birthday to her. She got really shy and ended up smacking her head against her highchair...Hence the crying in this picture.
She was quite cautious with her cake and didn't dive right in. Instead, she picked off the candy sprinkles and stars individually and placed them delicately in her mouth! She hardly took much notice of the rest of the cake!
Here, Marin is demonstrating her sharing capabilities, by giving some cake and sprinkles to her Dad. She is usually quite liberal with her morning Cheerio stash as well.
After all that playing and picking of sprinkles, she got pretty tired.
Here she is on Monday morning... Our little One Year Old!!
We went to Ottawa for the day to see Ottawa and also to visit our friends, Denise and Jan, who were there visiting his family! They live in BC as well, so it was great that 2 sets of our friends were in the same part of the country at once and we were all able to share some time together.
Here are Calli, Marin and Hannah ready for our tour of Ottawa!!
We decided to have a tour of the Parliament Buildings while we were in Ottawa. It seemed the natural thing to do.
It was an amazing tour and we had a very informative and knowledgeable guide who showed us around. Things got started once we passed through security. It wasn't quite as tight as the security at the airport, but it was thorough. They were trying to get Jay to take a Little-sleeping-Hannah out of the Snuggly she was in, so he could pass through the detector. Somehow, Jay managed to convince them that it wasn't a good idea and he really didn't want to remove her. I don't blame him. Babies need their sleep. I guess he could have made a deal that if she woke up screaming, the guard would have to accompany us on the tour, ensuring Hannah was calm???!!!
We had a bit of time to spare before our tour, so we walked around behind the Parliament buildings and took in the views.
A view of the locks from the Plaza Bridge, where boats can travel up or down the Rideau Canal Waterway to the Ottawa River.
The night time view of the Rideau Locks.
We got pretty hungry and stopped for a quick Hot Dog before we went in. Marin has never eaten a hot dog, but devoured Calli's left overs! Calli has never been much of a fan of hot dogs...
The stair case where Pierre Trudeau became famous for sliding down the banister!!
The Legislature, where rules are made!
Here are Marin and I learning about the Legislature.
The Dominion of Canada.
Intricate carvings inside the buildings. Each depicting some piece of Canada's history.
A view of the clock face from the Peace Tower.
A view from up in the Peace Tower.
The Senate...Where rules are possibly overturned!!
Calli convinced us that she needed a maple leaf tattoo and paid for it all by herself in the boutique! Afterwards, she wouldn't let go of the receipt. She must have thought it was part of the prize for paying, or something!
We were walking back to the car after dinner and decided we'd take in the light and sound show on the front lawn of the Parliament. Dusk was amazing...
At one point, there was a flash of lightning on the buildings and some native singing and Calli snuggled into her Dad. She still talks about how she didn't like that part, to anyone who will listen.
We had a great day and got home late. All the kids were sleeping, so we put them in bed fully clothed and headed off to sleep as well. More to come tomorrow...
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