Last week on Thursday morning we left for a short road trip....first stop, Ottawa!
Snacks and electronics...all a kid needs for a silent 5 hour trip ;-)
First stop in Ottawa - Byward Market area. My messy boy eating his gingerbread cookie.
Next stop the Canadian Mint. We weren't allowed to take any photos inside but they had lots of random photo op's outside!
This was the only photo allowed inside. The gold bar that you could hold (chained to the table with a security guard standing next to you!) It weighed 28lbs and value was half a million dollars (I think)
This is the outside of the building. I wish we had taken the 'real' camera, couldn't fit the whole building in my phone! It was a really interesting tour and I highly recommend it if you are in Ottawa ever! I was very proud of Eli as he asked the tour guide some really good questions. We were in a group of about 20 adults. I know I would never have felt confident enough to have done that at his age.
Family selfie walking up to Parliament hill.
We happened to be there for National day of Honour for the people who had served in Afghanistan. (David even got his 2 minutes of fame when he was interviewed on global news!)
We were able to see the Prime Minister make his speech.
This was the end of the two minutes silence, there was a fly by of all the different planes used in Afghanistan.
No idea what building this is but its across from the Parliament building!
The kids were allowed to climb up top on the tanks and sit in the drivers seat.
and in the back
Chinook Helicopter that we had to go inside, Eli's orders.
Pulling the trigger on the gun in the helicopter
Heard by Immy "bang, you're dead, bang you're dead" as she aims at people on the lawn! Oh my goodness who is this child!
Immy on top of the tank. Didn't get a picture of Eli as I was scared to move incase she jumped down!
Imogen's new obsessions is Terry Fox. She was fascinated by his statue and story! We had to have a talk about prosthetic legs and then yay she took great delight in pointing out everyone she saw with artificial legs. So embarrassed as she kept shouting excitedly "look there's someone else with a prosthetic leg"!
After a very busy day walking around Ottawa we set off for Montreal. Lil' miss was out in five seconds of being in the car! She slept the 2 hour drive to Montreal!
And Eli watched 'Return of the Jedi' for the millionth time!
A few Montreal pictures. It was a beautiful day to walk around looking at all the old buildings. It was forecast to rain but the clouds parted very early on and it was actually really sunny (and even a little too hot!) unfortunately it was somewhat spoiled by my whining children who just wanted to go back to the hotel and swim! I guess they had done enough walking in Ottawa!
Having crepes for breakfast!
Back at the hotel in the pool.
Happy Mothers day to me!
Driving home from Montreal we thought it would be fun to stop at one of the locks along the St Lawrence River. The St. Lawrence seaway connects the Atlantic to all of the Great Lakes. We stopped at the Iroquois Lock. We timed it perfectly that there was a huge ship coming through right as we got there. Unfortunately though, the water in the Great Lakes is so high right now that they didn't need to use the lock. However we still enjoyed watching the ship manoeuver through this tiny canal and telling the kids all about how their Grandad used to do this very same thing in England.
After the lock we continued on and instead of getting back on the highway we went down the 'Thousand Island Parkway'. It was a beautiful drive. We really enjoyed taking it slow and looking at some of the Islands. Most of the Islands are very small, some just big enough for a house and nothing else.
This is all one property. I so want to live there!
We stopped at a look out tower which had an awesome view across some of the Islands.
The land on the other side of the river is New York State.
Immy loved being at the top!
It was swaying a lot as it was a very windy day. Eli felt sick and stayed on the stairs!
