It was a completely awesome, fabulous week and it was hard to say goodbye. I kept saying to Tyler that it was so nice to have someone from our life come out and see where we are and see this great house that we have and this great life we're creating. It makes it more real when someone else can validate it, I guess. Plus, now they can be reassured that we are doing good and we're safe and we have a great branch that is taking care of us. It just felt good. Plus, it was nice for Tyler and I to steal a few minutes here and there to get out of the house sans-kids and have grandma and grandpa there to play with them. We went out on a date for our anniversary while they were here, and it was the first time we had spent time together just the two of us in about 2 months. Crazy.
So here it comes - the goings on of the past 10 days:
My parents flew in to Ottawa on the Thursday, and we were planning on visiting my mom's sisters and brother in St. Isadore on Saturday (about 45 minutes out of Ottawa), so Tyler and the kids and I decided to meet them in Ottawa and do some sight-seeing there. My kid's made a welcome sign for my parents that was so cute, but I forgot to get a picture. They were so impatient waiting at the airport. How many minutes mom? How many minutes?
(Just hangin' with Sir John A...)
It was big hugs all around when they arrived...and big laughs. Oh my dad. He was wearing pants, and a long-sleeved button-up shirt, wool socks, steel-toed boots, and had a 'cool-fall/warm-winter' type jacket with him. We just shook our heads. Dad, you do realize that it's summer? And you're in Ontario, which means that it's humid? He was feeling it pretty quickly!
We got their luggage, rental car and checked in to our hotel. Logan went down for a nap, so my parent's took Lucy and Max to the war museum and Tyler and I got the rooms settled. Then we met them there. I knew my dad would love the war museum...we were not wrong. When we arrived, they had been there already for 2 hours. The war museum has 5 sections. Last time we did it with the kids we did the whole thing in just under 2 hours. So we figured, my dad will take a bit longer, but surely he'll be in section 4 by now. We went through section 4, and 3, and found them at the beginning of 2! Haha. They ended up spending 4 HOURS at the war museum...and we only left because it was closing! Oh dad.
Then it was back to the hotel for a late dinner (Poutine!!) and off to bed. It was a late night, but we hoped for the best. Tyler and I shared a room with all 3 kids and needless to say, I think I finally dozed off at 4am! Nightmares, sore ankles, and crying kids. Oy-vey!
Friday, we spent at Parliament Hill.
A lady at the door offered to take our picture before going in...she cut off part of my dad's head. nice.
It was a fantastically hot day, and so we wanted to enjoy some outside time. It was great! There were no English tours available for a few hours, so we decided to go on a French tour and figured we'd be able to figure it out. The tour promised to be 20-40 minutes. And hour and 20 minutes later and we were so done. Kids were cranky and hungry, and we were tired of not understanding anything anyone was saying. It was cool to see inside the Parliament building, but it didn't mean much, when we couldn't understand the cool things they were pointing out. Plus, chasing a tired Logan around and stopping him from touching everything was getting a bit draining.
There's a cat sanctuary on Parliament Hill that has been there since the 80s. They have little houses and the cats are taken care of by volunteers. With Lucy being the crazy-cat lady, we HAD to go see it. And we were lucky to see 2 cats while we were there. They had just been fed, so they were happy to be outside for a few minutes. Usually on hot days they stay in the shade of their little homes.
(Pure Joy I think!)
The architecture in and around parliament was amazing. We had heard that Jack Layton had passed away that morning, so all the flags were at half-mast.
After Logan's nap, we headed to Ikea in Ottawa for dinner and shopping. There's no Ikea here in Kingston, so Ottawa is the closest. We're still trying to furnish our house, so Tyler and I wanted to take advantage of the trip to take a look at some stuff. They kids played in the kid's section with my parents while Tyler and I busted around Ikea looking at everything we hoped to look at. Plus, a meatball dinner for $1.99 just can't be beat.
Tyler had been feeling sick all day, we figure from the late-night Poutine, so we tried to keep things light all day. But Saturday morning he was much better.
Saturday was the day to go to St. Isadore and visit my mom's family. She hadn't seen her sister Kathy, or her brother Phil in about 10 years. Her sister Linda had been out West to see us about 3 years ago. I hadn't seen them in about 22 years. There were lots of hugs and tears when we showed up...and then all the cameras were out capturing this special moment.
When I saw my Uncle Phil, he commented that he hadn't seen me since I was about 7...then I pointed out Lucy to him and said she was about that age. It was weird that I'm now a mom of a child who is the same age I was last time I saw them. (Does that make sense?)
We had a great day visiting and dipping our feet in the jacuzzi to cool off. My Aunt Linda's boyfriend Bert has a beautiful piece of property and let the boys enjoy some time on his Quad.
We had a great BBQ dinner and we had a great day.
We got home to Kingston late that night and got everyone settled. It was church the next day and Tyler and I both had to give a talk.
I think I'll stop there...phew! Kingston adventures still to come.
1 comment:
It was always great when family came out to visit. Glad your folks could make it out.
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