Trip to Ottawa

This past weekend, I took the kids, by car, to Ottawa to visit my sister, Alison and brother-in-law, Billy. It was just me and the kids.

We left Toronto Thursday afternoon (at nap time) and arrived there five hours later without suffering any two-year-old temper tantrums, baby bawling-athons or mommy meltdowns. In fact, the drive down went surprisingly well with both kids being very well-behaved. I had the passenger seat laid out with toys and snacks and from time to time I had to pass something back to one of them, but other than that we did ok. Nothing a few sing-a-longs, a soother for Alex, toys and treats couldn't solve. Oh yeah, and an TV show for Austin on the ipod when he declared that he wanted to walk the rest of the way there (we still had 60 km to go).

On Friday, Ali and Billy had to work, so me and the kids did what we normally do on a weekday -- found something to do. In this case, I found an indoor playground nearby and we hung out there for a few hours; then headed back for naps and a little playtime outside before it got dark.

That night, my cousin Mindy and her partner Kevin came over for dinner. We had a nice visit and it was nice for her to get a chance to meet the kids. I was pregnant with Austin the last time I saw them.

On Saturday morning, Ali, Billy and I took the kids to the Children's museum where Austin had a blast. It was a great, hands-on place and definitely the kind of thing I would get a membership for if we lived there.

Although there wasn't much for Alex to do, she seemed to love watching the action from her perch in the snugli. That is, when she wasn't sleeping in the stroller.
I had planned to leave Saturday night at bedtime and drive straight through to home while the kids slept in the backseat, but the weather forecast for Toronto wasn't looking good so I opted to stay one more night. We left first thing Sunday morning, and again the kids were both really good in the car and we made it home in five hours.

Thanks Auntie Ali and Uncle Billy for letting us crash with you guys for a few days!