Leaving Ottawa

Well we are all now in St Cathrines, it is raining, but it is good to catch up with Lisa, the girl we met in Cuba. We went to Niagara falls last night and it rains but we dropped Aaron off to take some pictures then all headed to the Rain forest Cafe for dinner, was not to bad a place heaps of things like lightening storms and animals that moved every 10 minutes or so.
Today we head for New York about a 7 hour drive from here.

Anyway back to leaving Ottawa, my last night at work was good and the guys presented me with a flag and plaque which was a surprise and also some maple syrup. It felt strange leaving the station for the last time.
I got home and we packed the car and then Mike and Kathy turned up to say good bye and we had lots of hugs and tears. We then called in to see Dany and Rosa for a bit and had the same thing, we did not think it would be that hard to leave, but it is good to know we have made lots of new friends in the time we have been here.

Well hopefully our next month is going to be amazing and we are going to be having a good time, and hopefully Aaron will keep up with our blog incuding pictures....

Our last month in Ottawa

Where to start really, I guess the big thing is how fast this year has gone by, it seems just like the other week we were meeting Mike and Kathy in Vancouver and now in less than a week we will be leaving Ottawa for the time being(not for good as we will definitely be coming back).
So what have we been doing for the last month, well we now have Aaron here but I will get back to that.

At the beginning of August we decided that we would go and check out the highland games in Glen Garry, which is odd as we have never even been to the waipu highland games at home, To get there you head for Cornwall and a small town called Maxville just before Cornwall, we arrived early and looked around at the different things happening and talked to people and looked at all the tartan, and i even got offered a job in the RCMP(not to sure on that but). We found a good spot to sit down and watched both the men's and the women sports everything from throwing the stone to tossing the shet, to the caber toss, it was a really good day and the weather was even better which made it worthwhile, the best thing was the women's caber toss, as the caber was to long so they had to take to it with a chainsaw before anyone could get it over completely.

The next night we headed for Dow's lake on the Rideau Canal for the lights parade. We found a good space and sat and watched the boats all lit up with lights go around the lake for everyone to see, this was only one part of the canal festival that had been on, all the boats followed each other around the lake with only one incident where a boat hit the back of another and one of the people on the front fell into the water, but no one was hurt.
The night was rounded off by fireworks but as you could imagine after Boston on the 4Th July it was just not the same, but we did get a really neat pictures of the fireworks.

Which brings me back to Aaron, Aaron arrived here on the 4Th August after doing a contiki trip in the Rocky's, we picked him up from the airport and it was the busiest we have ever seem it, might had something to do with the lightening storm that had just gone through Ottawa.
The next day we all headed into town and the changing of the guard on Parliament hill, it was a nice day and we even got to see one of the guards faint and get carried away. That night we went to Lac-leamy on the Gatineau side of the river for one of the fireworks competition shows. We arrived early and set up the seats and relaxed and enjoyed the music until the fire works show started, we had gone to see Germany and their 8000 pounds of fireworks, it was a good show and all done to music which made it more interesting.

We also went to Omega park about an hour east of Ottawa on the Quebec side of the river, it is an animal park where you drive around with the animals. It was a good afternon for all of us with the highlights being the bears and the bisson that would come up to the windows, there was heaps of well feed deer at the entrants to the park as everyone feed them carrots

On the 9Th Sarah, Aaron and I all piled into the car and we headed back to Quebec City for the third time for Sarah and I and first time for Aaron, the first day we walked around the old city and looked at all the sights and showed Aaron all the places we had found before, the next day we drove the car along the St Lawrence river and stopped at Massif, a big ski hill in the winter, the difference here being that the car park is at the top of the hill and you ski down.
From there we got to La Malbaie before heading back to the hotel and the surprise for Aaron.
We went and got dinner and then walked around the port and tried to make it look like we were just walking around not going to Cirque du Soleil new show but we got lost a bit and Aaron figured it out, We had got front row tickets to the show and it was worth it and to be so close to every thing as well.
We headed back to Montreal in the hope of seeing Kathy's aunt, but things did not work out so we spent the day in the old part of town before continuing back to Ottawa.

Music in the park

On the 25Th of July Sarah and I Met Catherine(mikes mum) and Andrew in Preston street at Pub Italia for dinner followed by a free concert at lebreton flats. The pub has over 200 beers so s you could imagine it took longer to decide what beer to drink than what to eat.
After dinner we drove the car down the road a bit closer to the park and walked into the park to find a good spot to sit and watch the show.
The main performer was a person called Natalie MacMasters a fiddler from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia, although Sarah and i were not to sure about the music, it turned out to be a good night and was also good to hear some of the music from Cape Breton as when we were there it was the wrong time of the year. We managed to get our seats set up in the middle about 30 metres from the stage so we got a good view of everything happening. As well as Natalie MacMasters playing she was backed by the Ottawa NAC Orchestra, the entire concert was 2 hours long it did not self to take that long, Everyone in the crowd loved the music and lots of little kids were up the front dancing away the whole time she played the fiddle.

Boston here we come

After dropping Chris at the airport we drive north out of town heading for our first stop for on the way to Boston, to cut the trip in half we decided to stay in Burlington Vermont, now the fastest way there was to take the boarder crossing at Cornwall, but this is closed at the moment because of issues with the boarder guards and the Mohawk Indians, so we figured we would drive further north into Quebec and Cross the river at the next crossing and then head across until we came to a crossing into the States, which in theory was fine except we managed to find the smallest crossing of the entire US/Canada boarder and the only one had could not issue us with the visas we needed..... Figures, we had to go though the process and then after about 45 minutes drove back into Canada and about 12 km down the road to the next boarder crossing where we got every things sorted.
The drive into Vermont were really nice there is just forests with the odd town.
We arrived into Burlington and found somewhere to stay and also discovered that they were having there 4Th July celebration on the 3rd so we went and jointed in, now we thought that the fire works in Ottawa was good, in Burlington we got 45 minutes of fire works.
The next day we got up early and on our way to Boston, so not to waste the afternoon.

We arrived into Boston and checked into the hotel and then decided to head into town for the rest of the afternoon and evening for the 4Th of July fire works.
First we decided to go to the visitor information centre which was also the parks head quarters.
From there we walked around the city looking at the old granary burial site and also into Boston common, and over to Cheers, well at least where the out side picture you see was shot.
We then went to where the fire works was going to be seen from and was amazed by the amount of people already sitting waiting for it to start in about 7 hours, we later found out that some families spend the whole day there and have a big picnic and even go back to the same spots every year. We were not that keen so walked around a bit more then got something to eat and headed back to found a spot for us to sit and wait, we ended up with a pretty good spot and crashed on the ground and did nothing until the fire works started at 10.30pm, and as you may guess we sat down about 5pm.
Well was it worth it, yes it was. the first fireworks was about 9.30 and was done to the 1812 overcher with the help of real cannons from the US army. Finally we got the really fireworks and it was good and got bigger and bigger as it went on.
I guess the worst thing about the 4Th for us was having to walk all the way back to the hotel at the end of the night.

The next day we got ticket to the hop on hop off bus, and got a tour of the city with the first stop being the Charlestown naval yards and the home of the oldest floating commissioned battle ship in the world the US Constitution, the tour of the ship was really good with real us naval personnel taking the tour, but of cause we had to go through security checks first and then line up for about 45minutes.
From the naval yards we walked up to the Bunker Hill monument, the place where the first battle between the British and the minute men took place. We made the mistake of walking the 275 steps to the top of the monument.....
From here we got back on the bus and continued around the rest of the tour back to the aquarium and were just in time for the harbour cruise so off we went on the boat, at least we got to sit down for a bit, the ruise went down the harbour and talked about things like the Boston tea party and also the different things that have happened to the harbour over the years. Once back at the wharf we walked over to the Quincy markets and looked around and got dinner before walking back to the motel.

The next day we again got on the bus and this time headed for Harvard university and the free tour that is taken by real students from the university. The tour was good and we got to see lots but we took a detour and went to look at the Cambridge Fire dept hall that was in the middle of the uni and try get a t-shirt off them. We then managed to catch back up with the tour group before the end of the tour. We then got back on the bus and headed for the North end, and went and looked at the house of Paul Revere, it is also one of the oldest wooden building in the city, we then walked to the old North church where the lanterns were hung to tell of the British coming.
Again we then opted for the bus and did the whole tour all the way back to the aquarium, before again headed to the markets for dinner, this time we decided to go to the Cheers Bar for dinner, before once again taking the slow walk back to the hotel.

We wake to rain on our third day in Boston so decided to head for the underground and get day passes and head for the prudential centre, a big shopping centre that would be out of the rain, after figuring out the trains and catching three different trains to get to the prudential centre we spend time wondering around and looking at shops.
The rain finaly eased off so we figured we would go outside and look around, we ended up in front ofthe Christain Science church and decided to do a tour of the building since it was free, the building was huge and the tour was good, we got to look in the old church and the new one. By the time we had finished it was raining again so we went back under ground and made our way back to south station and had something to eat before catching the bus back tothe hotel a much better idea than walking.
By the time we got back to the hotel the weather was improving and we had seen some of thh tall ships had started to arrive for the tall ship festival the next week.
We got back to the hotel got on some warmer clothes and took the cameras and went and took lots of pictures of the ships already there and some of the others that were arriving still.

The next day we got up early and started on our way home via lake placid.
The country side was realy nice and it was good to be off the interstate and back on the normal roads, but would have been better if the rain had stayed away, we checked out lake placid and had lunch but with the weather not the best we did not hang around to long. After a stop at the duty free shop we crossed over the boarder back into canada and drive the same boring bit of highway home.

Chris Smith

Well with Chris coming to visit we figured we would do things different then for mum and dad, and with Chris only here for a few dads it as going to be busy.
For a start we got a phone call from Chris in Vancouver saying he had missed his flight but was on the next one to arrive in Ottawa the next day now, so we got up first thing in the morning to go get him.
Chris was a bit tired so we let him have a sleep before heading into town for a bit of a walk.
The next day we headed to Montreal but not to look at the old city this time we were heading for La Ronde the amusement park on the river, we arrived about 12 and started with what we all thought was the worst ride to start with called the boomerang, from there not sure if things got better or worse really. We headed for most of the big rides and if your are wondering why people scream on these rides it's because they really are scary.
We ended up having a couple of goes on all the rides we liked so it was a really worthwhile day, and we all agreed that the best ride was the Goliath, the areas way to explain it was it was like driving over the bridges in kawakawa but 1000 times worse.
We ended the day by running back to the car to avoid the rain that had held off all day.

The next day was July 1st or Canada day, so we all headed into Ottawa to join in the celebration, first we all went to Parliament for the start of the day and then checked out the rest of the things happening around town. It was a hot day so we ended up sitting under a tree before deciding to head home for a couple of hours and then come back into town.
That night we all sat on the banks of the river with lots of people for the fire works that went off for 20 minutes with some very big booms.

We all slept in the next day as i think we all deserved it, we then drove around town and showed Chris Ottawa and also the Gatineau park, Chris was amazed how close it was to were we lived, we then figured since we were out that way we would go and find Mike and Kathy's new house, which we did and almost got hit by one of the concrete truck. We then all headed of for dinner before heading back home.
The Friday was Chris's last day with us but the start of another trip for us as Sarah and i Still had 6 days off.

RCMP Musical ride

In between Mum and dad visiting and Chris arriving the RCMP put on a number of free show if they musical horse rides, being cheap we figured it would be a good thing to see, as it is also very Canadian.
The show started at 7pm so we figured we would get there early, along with the rest of Ottawa it seemed, Luckily there was still sitting areas as we did not have chairs so we got a spot in front of the rope and waited for the show to start.
The entire show was 2 hours long and started with horse riding skills from the rider using pistols to shoot balloons and also spears. This is a competition so was marks for the best rider.
After that the was the Yellow Knights the US army ski diving team, and they all landed right on the mark, they even showed what happens when a shoot collapses and you drop it and go to reserve.
Although there was some other stuff as well everyone had really come to see the Horses and we were not disappointed the musical ride was 45 minutes and the horses and rides doing different moves to music.
Al thought i think it took as long to get out of the car park as the show was it was still a very worthwhile night.

Visitors from Home

Well time really is starting to tick by; with just over a month to go it is hard to believe that we have been here so long.

We have been a bit slack on the blog site for the last couple of months, for no really reason either so it is time it got updated.

Since may we have had Tomo and Cheryl, Fraser’s mum and dad and Chris Smith come to visit.
I will start with tomo and Cheryl, they arrived on my last night at work so came and visited, but we seemed to keep getting calls, the next day we all headed to Montreal to see mum and dad who were up there after going to New York.
We all walked the old city and then found a nice restaurant before the slow long drive home in the heavy rain.
The next day we all headed into the city of Ottawa and walked around parliament and also the byward markets looking at things.
Tomo and Fraser went off to the war museum and Sarah and Cheryl went shopping followed by dinner with Harry and Olivette for Harry’s birthday.
On the Saturday we all went to Dany and Rosa’s for Felicia’s birthday and as usual it was a later night.
Sunday it was time for Tomo and Cheryl to head off on the next part of there holiday to New York and although it was a quick visit it was nice having friends from home visit.

Mum and dad Arrived about 5 days later from up north, we picked them up from the train station and headed home. The next day we all headed into town and did the parliament thing and enjoyed the nice weather, on the Saturday we drove to the St Lawrence river and a place called Gananoque, from where we all did a 5 hour boat cruise on the river, it was 3 hours on the boat and 2 hours at boldt castle, the castle is amazing it was build by the manager of the Wald of Astoria in New York for his wife but when she died suddenly he stopped all work on the castle and walked away from it, just leaving it, it is now owned by a trust that is slowly finishing the castle to the original plans.
We also took mum and dad up into Gatineau Park to the look out and also to McKenzie king estate the old home of the priminister of Canada.
Although we had talked about going to the eastern villages mum and dad said they were happy just spending time around Ottawa.
On the week end we all headed to WestFest one of the festivals that is held around the city, and walkedthe street and looked at all the different things that were happening.

Three days before they leave we all headed down to Niagara falls and to Toronto, we drove to Niagara and stayed the night there and showed mum and dad the falls and also the tacky shops at Niagara, the next day we headed to Toronto and town in the hope of going to the CN tower and also having a good look around but the weather was against us again so we spend time walking around the shops and also looking in the underground city before headed back to the hotel for mum and dads early flight from Toronto to LA. Sarah and I then got to drive the 5 hours home from Toronto in the rain must of the way.