Family DayWeekend in Ottawa

Tempted by an online seat sale, we decided to head to our nation's capital for the Family Day weekend.  Three of the four of us had never been skating on the Rideau Canal, and Tats' online search revealed that skates were permitted in carry-on luggage, so we packed light and jammed four pairs of skates into our bags, and headed off to Ottawa on Saturday afternoon!

I seem unable to travel without being randomly hit with classroom inspirations, and this adventure was no different:  Having shelled out three bucks a pop for some snow-hardened maple syrup candy on a wooden stick, I thought, "hey, this would make a great science lab as part of our pure substances and mixtures unit in Grade 7" -- after last week's "rock candy" debacle (our supersaturated sugar solutions failed to yield even the tiniest crystals, much to the disappointment of my two grade seven science classes), I figure a make-your-own-maple-candy would be a worthwhile inspiration for students to consolidate their understanding of how to prepare and write up a good lab report!

The canal proved inspirational for the kids, too: Despite the EXTREME cold in Ottawa this weekend, Alex and Tatsy were not deterred from a second skate, the next morning at 7 a.m.!  (Simon and I slept in.)

After breakfast, Tats took both boys across the bridge to Quebec, where they partook of the Winterlude festivities happening there.

Then it was off to the National Gallery, first to see Maman outside (the boys remembered her well; Trevor and I had taken them here on their first ever airplane trip when they were 2 or 3 years old), and then inside to check out Voice of Fire ("Outrageous!" they agreed when they heard the $1.8 million price tag) and As the Old Sing, so the Young Pipe, before some free time during which a random rove through Canada's Inuit gallery led us to a large, child-like painting of several stylized teeth, breasts,  penises and clitoris ("clitorii"?) -- the boys were not impressed, and noted that the enormous, colourful circle painting nearby was considerably more striking.  I agreed, but suggested that if they were ever caught doodling inappropriately at school, they could always use the "I'm going through my Dennis Burton stage", hehe.)

After art, it was pizza time -- found a neat little stone-fire place in Byward Market that allows you to build your own pizza, and also has free wifi!

There we spent an hour or so before heading back out into the bitter cold and returning to our hotel for the evening.

No trip to Ottawa is complete without a visit to the parliament buildings, and so before making our way to the Natural Science Museum and then the airport the next day, we squeezed in a quick family photo (why do kindly strangers who offer to take pictures on one's phone insist on putting a giant thumb into the lens?!) in front of the eternal flame.

Tats also found time to lay into some homophobic idiot who was displaying a lovely array of offensive signage, including a graphic image of an aborted, 21-week-old fetus, a plea to all to not use birth control (so.... we shouldn't kill unborn babies, but we also shouldn't practise responsible family planning?!) and a large sign proclaiming that the only gay marriage is between a man and a woman.

Although the boys found it "cool" that one of their moms was giving this guy a piece of her mind, and couldn't wait to share the story with friends at school, I decided to take a less in-your-face approach:  Next on my to-do list is finding the contact info for the permit office so that I can inquire about why -- in a country that has legalized marriage equality for over a decade -- I have to explain to my children why some strange man standing on the hill of a parliament building whose property maintenance my tax dollars contribute to is allowed to publicly pronounce his personal problem with the moral fabric of our family!  (Despite the fellow's insistence that he is entitled to a different opinion than mine, I'm assuming the permit office doesn't issue protest permits to good Canadians whose opinions promote the segregation of blacks and whites, say, or the killing of all Muslims or Christians. Just sayin'!!!!)

Since this weekend also marked Canada's 50th anniversary of our flag, the boys mused that we should sign up for the waiting list (currently 15 000 names, or approximately 42 years, long!) for a flag -- apparently each day a new flag is raised on parliament hill, and the preceding day's flag presented to a Canadian citizen who has expressed interest in receiving one.

While Tats headed back to the canal for a third and final skate (almost the full 8 km, and a coffee and a beaver tail all to herself!), the boys and I relaxed in the hotel lobby with some free wifi followed by lunch.

Our next and final stop was the Nature Museum, not unlike the Museum of Natural Science which we had visited while in BsAs last year.

After a short visit to the Museum, we headed back to the airport in time for our plane back to YYZ, which got us home nicely in time for bedtime.

Happy Family Day Weekend, everyone!