Tag: Life in Ottawa

Beautiful day

Winter in Ottawa seemed to last forever this year – people have been complaining about it for months! This morning the temperature was between 10-17 C and it was absolutely beautiful outside. I asked Mara if she would like to bike to school, and she gave me an excited “Yes!” We headed out 5 minutes before her bus would have picked her up and the bus passed us on the way, but we made it on time! Just under 20 minutes door to door. 

Tessa really wanted to play in the school yard (once she realized going into the building with Mara wasn’t an option). When I told her we couldn’t play there during the school day we decided to go to an outdoor playgroup instead. Everyone was so happy to be outside! 

Here are Tessa and I once we got back home:

  

We passed so many people happy to be outside in the nice weather. Yay for springtime!  

Big weekend

We managed to make the most of our quiet weekend in Ottawa. It’s been a busy summer (just got back from a quick trip to Winnipeg!), so a little downtime is welcome.

James got our bikes up and running so we were able to take Mara out for her first bike ride.

He also set up her wading pool, which she seems to love. She figured out all on her own that there is a slide (I wasn’t in a hurry for her to discover this feature).

This afternoon, Mara and I checked out a kids’ gym for the first time. It was pretty hectic there, but Mara definitely had fun. Not sure if I’m ready to keep up with her on the trampoline, though!

Caught in the rain

Mara was having an odd sort of morning today. She slept fairly soundly after waking her dad up before  6 am, and got up around 9:10 am with a confused look on her face as if to say, “How did I sleep so long? And where am I?”

She wouldn’t get into her seat for breakfast, but I managed to get her to eat some cereal while sitting on my lap. We also nursed on the couch a bit during a thunderstorm. Yesterday had been very active, with us going to Babytime at the library in the morning and then to the park (wading pool and playground) in the afternoon. But with all the storms forecast for today I thought we’d just stay in.

That didn’t seem like the right plan for Mara today, though. Between rain showers I ended up putting her in the carrier and we walked to the plaza down the street. I hadn’t eaten anything myself yet, so we walked to Starbucks for me to get something. I only had $10 on my since I had left the diaper bag at home and luckily my order came to that exactly (expensive!).

Mara was suddenly in a very good mood, and totally won over the mother and young daughter at another table. I think she wanted to invite them to come home with us!

On our way home, the next rain storm started (thankfully, no thunder this time!). We got absolutely drenched, but Mara seemed quite happy.

Now we’re all dried off and just need some lunch…

Open on Sunday

Turns out that our wading pool is also open on the weekend!

We didn’t know this, so when my dad and I took Mara to the park we didn’t have all her swim gear along. She didn’t seem to mind going in wearing her clothes!

After some time paddling around we decided to dry off in the sand…

Green, yay!

After what felt like a very long winter (especially March!), it is so nice to have Ottawa turn green. And we now have a front lawn! And a tree! And tulips in our garden! It is such a treat… hard to believe that just over a month ago our yard was buried in a huge amount of snow.

Mara and I made it to the park yesterday afternoon and she got to play in the sand for the first time. She managed to get one or two small handfuls of sand in her mouth quickly, but not too much. I think she really liked it! And the swings are still a hit (either on her own in a baby swing or on my lap in a big swing).