Visiting Ottawa: June 23- July 6...

So, on June 23 (Saturday) I flew from George River to Montreal and was picked up by my buddy, Sherry and her friend, Kathy. We drove back to Ottawa where I stayed until July 6.

I stayed the bulk of the time with Sherry as she is home with her 15 month old, Jack and is expecting her and Rob's second child, which I predict will be a girl. It was a wonderful vacation, relaxing but fun tat I was able to see lots of people that I had wanted to see. Unfortunately I noticed I don't have pictures from all of those meetings, but I'll tell you about them all the same!

In the first week of my visit, I was able to catch up on some much needed sleep and Sherry and I enjoyed many wonderful lunches on her patio under un-seasonably pleasant temperatures. Her patio is a little oasis...


Jack, who was born after my time in Ottawa was well over, is such a sweetie and warms up to me very quickly. I could make him laugh quite easily and had lots of fun playing with him... In this pic, we were playing chase and I was hiding around a corner as he crawl-raced to catch me.



Jack loves to drums and is quite musical for a baby. When a woman was on Regis and Kelly singing a song from Beauty and the Beast he stopped playing abruptly and slowly crawled, mesmerized towards the TV. He LOVES all types of singing/ music. It's quite incredible!



On Friday of my first week, I had the opportunity to babysit Emily, Jordan and Jessica. The kids of two of my best friends from Ottawa. I used to babysit them and these kiddies are like family to me. We had lots of fun at the park then back at their place playing hide and seek and taking funny pictures before their parents came home and we ate lunch together.





I had a pretty busy day seeing many old friends, including a former colleague from when I worked at the Visitor Info. Centre in Yarmouth many years ago. Darby had since moved to Ottawa so I met her at her apartment and we caught up on the happenings of the past few years while looking out over the city from her balcony. I wish I had had more time that day but my ride was on the way so I had to cut our time short.

On Friday night of that week Sherry and Rob got a babysitter (her grandmother) overnight and we met up with a bunch of people at The Works a burger place with around 30 or 40 types of burgers with wild and wacky topping combinations(including choices with avocado, kraft dinner, fried eggs and peanut butter). It was DELICIOUS and the company was quite enjoyable.







The floats and milkshakes were also phenomenal and HUGE!!







On Canada Day, I took off on OC Transpo to the downtown to enjoy the festivities. I spent the bulk of the afternoon watching a B-boy (breakdancing) battle in the middle of Rideau Street. The music was great and the moves were quite impressive! The MC was a member of the "Canadian Floormasters" who have done some work in Northern Quebec with the students in one of the schools of KSB. I had a chance to chat with him and hope this crew comes to GR next year!



There were both guys and girls showing their moves.





I had a fun trip to OVPC camp with my friend Andrea in her red Mini Cooper overnight on Canada Day Sunday/Monday. We joined the bonfire that night and relaxed most of Monday before a delectable barbeque compliments of Shirlee and Garth before driving back to the city.

I also had one of the nicest days with Leslie, a teacher who was next door to my mentor teacher during a teacher's college practicum I spent at Sir Winston Churchill Middle School in 2003. She was such an incredible woman who I learned a lot from and I have kept in touch a bit through the past few years. She picked me up and took me to her place (beautiful home/ property!) where we ate lunch poolside and paddled around the pool for a few hours talking, talking, talking... I am actually kind of surprised that we didn't run out of things to talk about- whether it was comparing classroom horror stories, to discussing political movements in education, to family vacations... I had such an incredible time, I wish we had longer to spend!(PS Leslie, I can't believe I didn't take a picture from our nice lunch... You'll have to send me a picture of you in your backyard so I can pretend!)

I had another "dinner and a movie" night with Andrea and Sherry on Wednesday, July 4. We ate Thai treats and watch the oh so yummy "The Holiday" and "Casino Royale" (I am in LOVE with Daniel Craig now I think! SUCH a hotty!!)

Other than that, I did a LOT of shopping! Tried to pick up the things I couldn't get in Yarmouth, like a new parka at 50% off, and lots of new clothes from American Eagle, Old Navy and Laura. One place that I would like to mention is the "Ten Thousand Villages" store on Wellington Street, directly across from the MEC in Ottawa. This message is mostly for Nancy, who I thought of when I saw a certain set of dishes and tea set. She is a serious FISH fan and I thought this design was so nice, available from the Ten Thousand Villages store, a fair trade enterprise that helps earn a fair wage for artisans world-wide and often from impoverished areas... enough of the commercial, check out the below photos!











Then on Friday, July 6, Sherry gave me a lift to the bus station so I could make my plane that afternoon in Montreal and fly back to Nova Scotia where my holiday would continue.