Winterlude Skate

A couple weeks ago we went to Ottawa for Winterlude. We've done this for a few years in a row now, and every year it gets more and more fun, and easier.

The trip was not without its bumps though. We were supposed to leave on a Saturday, but unfortunately our flight was cancelled for maintenance reasons. Weird. The best option for us was to fly the next day, so we lost a whole day of our vacation.

Once we got going the next day though it was great.

Monday we sort of lounged around the house and got used to being in Ottawa. Right away the kids played with their cousin and had a great time. I think we went sledding for a bit that day though.

Tuesday was the day that we went out for a skate. I had warned Elliot that the ice was going to be different than a hockey rink, and not nearly as smooth. I realized 30 seconds into our skate that I had nothing to worry about. He took off like a rocket and never looked back. I am still very surprised at how much his skating has improved since he started hockey. While skating we took turns pulling Amy in the sled. We stopped for a Beavertail and hot chocolate, then headed home.

Wednesday Sue and Amy went to Montreal for a day trip, which left Elliot and I with loads of spare time. We decided to take in the Museum of Nature. Since we didn't rent a car this trip out, Elliot and I decided to skate there! Very cool experience. We skated down the canal, got off, walked a couple blocks to the museum. We toured the museum for a long time. I let Elliot pick where he wanted to go and we stayed as long as he wanted to. Well, I need to correct that. I started getting tired, cranky, and hungry. I even got whiny. It was time to find lunch. We settled on the Elgin St Diner which was really good. After lunch we walked back tot he canal for the skate home. We had promised Elliot that he could have his own Beavertail, but he was so full he told me he just wanted to split one with me ;)

Thursday myself, Sue, the kids, Sue's dad, and her brother in law all headed to the Museum of Civilization. The kids burned around the childrens museum portion before we took in an IMAX movie. It was a movie about the reefs of the world and how they are dieing. About 15 minutes into the movie, which was narrated, Amy turned to Sue and asked "when is he going to stop talking?". Pretty funny. A little later I felt Amy rest her head on my shoulder. It wasn't too long after that she fell asleep :) Elliot very much enjoyed the movie though.

Friday we went to try out the ice slides, but unfortunately most of them were closed as the weather was too warm. Big bummer.

Saturday we did another family skate, though it was much colder. The wind picked up a bit, and Elliot just was not into it. Poor guy. Still, her persevered enough to get some hot chocolate.

Sue and her family did their ski to a cabin for dinner event again. The kids and I stayed at the house for a movie and popcorn night.

I got another couple skates in before we had to leave. All in all quite a busy trip really.

Coming home was a bit of a gong show too. Sue was flying to Toronto for work, and I was flying back to Victoria with the kids. When we checked in, we learned that our three seats were scattered about the plane. Apparently WestJet couldn't do age math and figure out the kids were too young. After working through the problem we finally got the kids seats together, and mine across the aisle and up a row, for the first two legs. The final leg we were all together. I just talked to the person next to the kids, and they gladly switched with me.

In Calgary, after we had some dinner, Amy was on the moving sidewalk which is a favorite novelty in that airport. Well, her shoelace got caught in the machinery when she got to the end, and down she went, hard! She smacked her elbow and knee pretty bad. I ran to help her, and that was when I saw her lace. My first instinct was to pull on it, but it wasn't budging. Next I tried to hit the stop button. Meanwhile 3 WestJet employees came running to help. One person pulled off her show, then I remembered that that is the correct course of action. At that moment I managed to hit the stop button. We got her show back on, and the WestJetters made sure she was fine and asked if I wanted to have her checked out. She was ok, but a little upset by all the attention. Since we were on our way to Tim Hortons for a donut, we go that, and all was right with the world.

The final incident was on the flight from Calgary to Victoria. There was a medical emergency. Someone was having a seizure. I really hoped we weren't going to have to divert, and in the end we didn't have to. Phew. We landed at 8:15 Victoria time, but that was 11:15 Ottawa time. Late night for the kids.

All in all it was a great trip. We got to play in the snow quite a bit. Relaxed a lot, visited with family. Sue and I even got to go skating by ourselves on the last day.