the simple five: crowd pleaser

Last year we visited Ottawa during Canada Day, where the nation's capital hosted approximately 10,000+ visitors to celebrate in one location.  With many free events, concerts and museums to see and visit, fighting through an exceptionally large crowd (especially at night during fireworks) can be a daunting task (and at first, slightly overwhelming) especially when you have young children.

As seasoned travellers, we managed to cut through the crowds and enjoy visiting many attractions without melt downs or anxiety (well, at least not too much anxiety!)

The streets of downtown Ottawa on Canada Day.  A sea of red and white!

Here's a few tips to prepare yourself so you can maneuver through the crowds a little easier during the holidays (or any amusement park or popular destination) and make the day with the family more enjoyable.

1)  The early bird gets the worm.

Wake up early.  Yes, it's a holiday and it's your day off, but if at least one parent starts early, the organizing of the day begins, and the family doesn't seem rushed in the morning. Chances are, if everyone wakes up early, you'll beat the breakfast crowd and you'll get to see everything you wanted because you had a head start in the day.

2)  Pack for the day, the night before.

I know this sounds like a no-brainer, but often while travelling, our normal routines are thrown out the window.  Plan a rough schedule the night before (look at the maps, figure out where you'll eat and set out your clothes).  Pack all the blankets and towels in the backpack ready by the door.  Morning "rush" will be eliminated, and again you can start your day early and seamlessly.

3)  Do the "back nine" first.

I always joke about this with my husband.  He's an avid golfer, so when I tell him this, he knows exactly what I want to do.  When you enter an amusement park, museum or attraction during a time when it's very busy, go to the back of the park or exhibit first, then work your way backwards towards the entrance.  This usually works for us, and sometimes there are moments when we go "upstream" through the crowds, but it gives the children a chance to really observe each exhibit without the chaos.

At the National Gallery of Canada.
With free admission on Canada Day,  this is one of the most popular destinations.
(you can see we missed the crowds here too!)

4)  Figure out your meals in advance, especially on holidays.

If we're travelling, I like breakfast packages that are offered with hotels. The hassle of walking around with hungry kids to find a place to eat, makes breakfast packages a no-brainer for me.  Even if one parent goes and grabs muffins from the local bakery or coffee shop to bring back to the hotel room (getting up early helps here) saves time and aggravation. The same logic goes with dinner...there are many apps where you can book restaurants a few weeks in advance.  Especially on statutory holidays, not all restaurants are open, book quickly or there are long wait lines to get a table.  Plan ahead.

5)  Always bring an extra bag.
I know this is a strange concept that most people think is unnecessary, but I can never have enough bags and I like to carry those foldable travel totes that can fold into your purse or backpack. Whether you've made unforeseeable purchases when you've stumbled upon a vendor or market or need a makeshift picnic bench cover if you're stopping to grab a quick bite, foldable travel totes are really handy and take up very little space.  It has saved me countless of trips back to the hotel to "drop stuff off".

Most importantly, go with the flow and enjoy the day. It is almost a guarantee that travel schedules don't always go according to plan, but if you're prepared, it's easier to be flexible and you can make the best of the day.

Happy Canada Day!

true patriot love

This past week we had the opportunity to celebrate Canada's birthday in Ottawa.   I've always wanted to take the kids there on Canada Day, as there's no better way to experience true patriotism and appreciation for your country than to celebrate it's birthday right at the nation's capital.

Even though approximately 100,000 people (according to Ottawa police) were in attendance for the Canada Day Festivities "On the Hill", it never felt overwhelmingly crowded.  It's a beautiful city to visit, and below are a few places I'd recommend to try, whether you're in Ottawa for a Canadian holiday or for a jaunt on a long weekend.

stay

We drove to Ottawa, so finding a centrally located hotel was key. We parked our car for the duration of our stay and walked everywhere.  All major attractions and destinations were within a 10 minute walk or 15 minute shuttle bus ride.

The Lord Elgin Hotel
I love the grandeur of historic hotels and prefer to stay somewhere that has some history.  We stayed at the Lord Elgin Hotel, which was built in 1941, named after the 8th Earl of Elgin, and has hosted many dignitaries. Centrally located in downtown Ottawa overlooking Confederation Park and just a few short blocks away from Parliament Hill and many attractions, with free WiFi and a Starbucks on site, this hotel had the old world charm of yesteryear but the modern amenities suitable for young families. It is a decent stay if you book a breakfast/parking package.
(Another similar hotel alternative is the Fairmont Chateau Laurier...it was sold out at the time of booking)

eat

Ottawa has a burgeoning culinary scene and there was so much variety to choose from. We chose restaurants that had fresh local offerings and were also family friendly.

Play Food & Wine 
(in the Byward Market)
Part of the Beckta group of restaurants, this restaurant delighted the foodies in our house.  Shared small plates of scallops, artic char, mussels, pork belly, watermelon salad, and an impressive wine list made this a wonderful spot to enjoy local food offerings.  As part of my son's ever growing love of cheese tasting, their cheese plates were a delectable treat. ~Cheese favourites were Cendrillon (a goat cheese from Saint-Raymond, QC) & Canotier de L’isle (cow cheese from L’isle-aux-Grues, QC).  We thoroughly enjoyed the Pinot Noir, Chimera, Capiaux, (Sonoma, California, '12).  All dishes were fantastic.

Fatboys Southern Smokehouse
For some hearty grub, this place had good old fashioned, southern style slow cooked BBQ meat (ribs are their specialty).  Large servings, along with comforting sides like bacon mac n'cheese make this a casual and fulfilling meal. Get ready to get messy...and don't wear white. Take. big. nap. afterwards.

BeaverTails 
(in Byward Market or Sparks St.) 
For an afternoon snack or after dinner dessert, Beavertails are a sweet treat.  Found at various locations across Canada, it's first permanent location was in Ottawa. Arguably one of Canada's iconic culinary treats, these whole-wheat pastries are stretched by hand to resemble the tail of a beaver, topped with a choice of toppings. (cinnamon sugar is a traditional flavour)

Gelato at Piccolo Grande (or Pure)

We were undecided with which place received our vote for best gelato.  Both Piccolo Grande and Pure have two locations: one in downtown Ottawa as well as one in the Byward Market.  Pure was recommended by many locals, but Piccolo Grande seemed to have more interesting exotic flavours and claims to be "voted best in Ottawa".  I liked Piccolo Grande for the lychee nut gelato...it was out of this world! 

You'll just have to try both and decide for yourselves.

do

Ottawa has no shortage of museums and on Canada Day (July 1) all museums and shuttle bus transportation are FREE! We only visited two museums (we were stalled at lunch so we didn't make it to a third attraction). The Canadian Museum of Nature and The National Gallery of Canada (the one with the big spider statue at the entrance) were also on our list to see.  There are family packages available and if we returned on a non-holiday, I would would consider purchasing a CityPass.


Visit the Canadian War Museum

With tanks and planes preserved from the war on display and knowledgeable war Veterans available on the premises to provide more information and details about the machines and history of the war, this was quickly the favourite museum of our kids.  We arrived early so it was still relatively quiet from the crowds...this only made the war tanks more magnificent and larger than life.

Visit the Canadian Museum of Civilization 
(formerly Cdn. Museum of History).
This museum took us through the history of Canadian civilization.  Scenes depicting various centuries gave a lesson on how the Canadian people have evolved through history. A children's museum on the main floor is ideal for really young children (the under five group).  On Canada Day, there were free shuttles directly from Major Hill Park to Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau (where the Canadian Museum of Civilization is located)

Take a boat taxi across the Ottawa River
A short 10 minute ride across the Ottawa River from the Museum of Civilization provided lovely views of Ottawa from the water and a cool ride in the hot summer weather. Passengers disembark at the base of the locks where the Rideau Canal meets the Ottawa River.  If you're lucky, you'll get to watch the boats go through the locks from Rideau Canal to get to the Ottawa River.

Take a tour of the Parliament Building
We took the "quick tour" (The Peace Tower & Memorial Chambers) which is ideal for busy families as it took about 2 hours to go through (including line ups).  If you have older children (and are able plan ahead as you can only purchase tour tickets offsite during the summer!), you can have full tours of the whole Parliament building.

see

There are plenty of (free) things to see just by walking around in the city.  The streets were impeccably clean and we always felt safe no matter how late we walked around in the evening.

Changing of the Guards
At 10:00 am every summer morning, the pageantry of the marching band and military drills performed for the Changing of the Guard takes place on Parliament Hill.

Beginning with a parade from the Cartier Square Drill Hall (Laurier Avenue near the Rideau Canal), the marching band and soldiers proceed down Laurier and Elgin Street past the War Memorial, and then onto Wellington Street to Parliament Hill.

Bonus:  Our hotel was situated right on Elgin Street, so the parade passed right in front of hotel. We sat on the hotel benches to watch, then followed the guards right to Parliament Hill where we watched the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

Check out the Byward Market

Enjoy local fruits and food at this outdoor market.  Street performers and local arts and crafts make this a vibrant place to see and do some local shopping.  Most of the amazing restaurants are found here.

Check out The Rideau Canal/Ottawa River
Surrounding Parliament Hill is the Rideau Canal and the Ottawa river where you can see a magnificent view behind the Parliament building.  Monuments and statues are also located behind the Parliament buildings, and if you're lucky during the day, there are tour guides that can provide more information about the monuments and Parliament. My history buff husband was in his element, teaching the kids about the significance of the buildings and what it means to Canada.

In the winter, the Rideau Canal becomes the world's largest skating rink.

See the Fireworks (Canada Day)
Attend the biggest Canada Day party on Parliament Hill for the concerts, activities as well as the magnificent fireworks. Well organized stations for water, emergency, and lost children are set up around the park, and security was thorough.  If you're in Ottawa the night before, there is plenty of room to sit on the grass and enjoy listening to the rehearsals of the music acts preparing for the big day. It's just as entertaining to see what goes on behind the scenes! There's something truly magical listening to the choir rehearse the national anthem while being at Parliament Hill.

Even though our visit to Ottawa was brief (two nights), we visited many museums and attractions that can be enjoyed beyond Canada Day.  There are plenty of things to see and do throughout the summer (many more museums, restaurants, beaches, summer concerts) and the rest of the year (Winterlude in February and The Canadian Tulip Festival in May are popular).  The best part of our trip was the energy we felt when so many people came together to celebrate this beautiful country.  Nothing sent chills down my spine more than singing our national anthem with hundreds of thousands of people during the fireworks.  We really felt our true patriot love...and can't wait to visit again.

 To all my Canadian readers, I hope you had a great Canada Day!

To all my American readers, Happy July 4th Day!

{Disclaimer}: There are NO endorsements or affiliations with any of the businesses or establishments mentioned in this post.  I just wanted to share all of the simply beautiful  places my family enjoyed while visiting Ottawa, and all opinions are my own.

swimming upstream

My children's school started summer break one week earlier than most of the surrounding schools this year.  So we decided to take advantage of what I seemingly thought would be a quiet week, going to attractions that wouldn't be busy since most of the kids were still in school.

We decided to visit the new Ripley's Aquarium, going early in the morning thinking we could have the whole place almost all to ourselves.  Little did I factor that many schools do field trips during the last two days of school (ughh!), and we found ourselves swimming upstream, so to speak.

Our day started by missing the train...we saw it leave the platform as we ascended the stairs.  Once we arrived at the aquarium, my jaw dropped as we saw bus load after bus load of school children line up to get in.  Luckily we were able to "fast pass" the crowd by purchasing our tickets online the night before.

We decided to do what we did at Disney...do the "back nine" first (I'm sure many of you golfers out there understand this).  In other words, we headed to the end of the aquarium and worked our way back towards the front entrance.  We were able to miss most of the crowds, we ate lunch ahead of the long line ups, and got to see a few interesting shows to boot.

After the lunch crowd dispersed, we were able to really enjoy the best part of the exhibit...the shark tunnel!  And we made it just in time for feeding, so we felt like we were swimming with the sharks.

Although the day may not have started as we had originally planned, it worked out after all and we learned that sometimes going against the crowd works out better at the end.  

{Disclaimer}: There are no endorsements or affiliations with any of the businesses or establishments mentioned in this post.  I just wanted to share the simply beautiful  experience my family enjoyed, and all opinions are my own.

Garlic Scallop and Bacon Pasta

Makes 4-6 servings.

Ingredients:

• 10 scallops
• 10 slices of bacon
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• ¼ cup unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. dried parsley or 1 tbsp. fresh parsley
• ¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 450 g of pasta (linguine, spaghetti or fettucine work here)

Directions:

• Preheat oven at 375 degrees.
• In a cast iron skillet, wrap the scallops with bacon, and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
• Boil the pasta as directed.
• In the meantime, in a small saute pan, brown the garlic in olive oil and butter, until the garlic is softened.
• Remove from heat and stir in the parmesan and parsley.
• Add cooked scallops and bacon, and toss until scallops and bacon are coated with the garlic oil.
• Toss with cooked pasta.
• Top with more parmesan, as desired.

Enjoy!

playing with paper dolls

Spring- Hip Casual by simplybeautifulnow featuring a black army hat

When I was a little girl, one of my favourite "toys" were paper dolls.  I'd put outfits together based on the limited choices of skirts, tops, shoes for my little doll.  Now, my daughter has "Polly Pockets".  Very similar in idea, but these miniature dolls (about the size of my index finger!) have various rubbery outfits were you can easily change outfits. 

Now, whenever I need a little break...a diversion where I can fantasize and briefly indulge in my vanity...I find myself "playing" on Polyvore.  Although this site has been around for quite awhile, whenever I need a fashion "fix" (usually when the seasons begin to change) it's a place where I can indulge.  And since spring is finally here...well, let's just say I've been distracted!


Polyvore is a fun site where you can browse, assemble and buy (if you wish) the latest fashion.  It's a fashionista's highly addictive version of paper dolls.  From a huge inventory of clothing (pictures that are either uploaded by members or yourself from any website) you can pick and choose select articles of clothing and create an outfit. 

For Travel by simplybeautifulnow on polyvore.com

Vanity aside, I found this was very helpful while I was trying to pack for our vacation, since most of my spring/summer clothes were in storage. I was able to assemble what I was going to bring, and I didn't have to lug out all of my clothes out of storage to "see" what I was going to wear (I'm a visual person). It was also easy to plan my vacation wardrobe away from home 


Doing this ensemble online also gave me new ideas of putting together outfits using existing clothes in my closet...it also helped "test" outfits to see how the latest trends fit in with my current wardrobe (so I can say yay or nay to the latest coloured jean!).

For the shopaholics, it's guilt-free shopping...cost effective if you don't hit the "purchase" button.   I'm not sure if this will actually curb my buying impulses, at least this transported me back to the little girl, with fantasy dress up...playing with (online) paper dolls!

What I'd wear to the Oscars~ Alexander McQueen by simplybeautifulnow featuring ruby diamond earrings

the wonderful world of disney

                               

We’ve just come back from 8 wonderful days of amazing experiences at Disney World.  The kids couldn’t be happier, and my husband had the opportunity to witness first hand, the miracle of Disney’s well-oiled machine (it was his first visit).

For me, what I found amazing this time around (I’ve been here twice; once as a child and once as an adult on a pre-paid-planned business trip) was the ability to book almost everything in advance, so all you do is simply arrive at the airport, and all the administrative “work” is taken care of, so we can focus as a family to really enjoy every magical moment while we were in Disney.

We stayed at the relaxing, tropical inspired Polynesian Resort, which brought the South Pacific to us (one of the places we considered for our honeymoon).  From our room, we had views over the Seven Seas Lagoon...we could see the Magic Kingdom Castle and the famous Wishes Fireworks from our balcony!

When we were at our hotel at night, this was what we saw every time from our balcony...
Tahiti Room 3018 for those who want to book a similar room!

An invaluable resource was a website/blog, http://yourfirstvisit.net/. Written by a Disney expert, the site charted which weeks were busiest, most expensive, had the best forecasted weather, which rides would likely have the most crowds and which restaurants that have the most positive reviews...and charted schedules based on that information.  We booked ALL our restaurants and mapped out our daily attraction plans, about 6 months before we arrived. Since we booked our restaurants so far in advance, we had some of the best seats at the restaurants.  Most with window views to Magic Kingdom's Wishes Fireworks.  Two great restaurants with fabulous views were Ohana and Crystal Palace.

The book, "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney 2012" (thanks, Nellie for lending us your copy!), showed us which rides to take and which ones to avoid.  We were able to make strategic choices with which rides/shows to enjoy first, which ones to "Fastpass", and which ones to avoid.  This way we were able to make the best of our time, and went on every single major ride or attraction.  We were never in line for more than 15 minutes.  Especially for the most thrilling rides like Space Mountain, Rock N' Roller coaster, and The Tower of Terror.

A 13 story high ride that "drops" in the dark.
My thrill seeking kids loved it (even my little girl!)...my husband, well...not so much!

It has become an art to “do Disney”, and scheduling which parks, shows and restaurants you want to see in advance made it easy for us to see all the best that Disney had to offer (I think the last time I did so much planning was for our wedding!).   With the ability to preplan everything online, it was amazing to be able to enjoy our family vacation with relatively so much ease. 

This is the ferry boat that goes directly to the Magic Kingdom from the Polynesian/TTC centre.

And with everything running so smoothly, it really was the wonderful world of Disney.

Simple Ways to Plan for Disney World

Planning in advance made our life at Disney just a little easier.  Here’s some links and references for those planning a Disney World trip...

A great reference book...don't go to Disney without reading it first: "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, 2012"

A great website that had great charts for scheduling your days: http://yourfirstvisit.net/

Keep track of your hotel reservations, and check into your hotel 10 days prior to arrival for a fast check in once you arrive: Disney Plan

Make all your restaurant and show reservations: Disney Dining & Reservations

If you don't take a lot of photos (unlike me...I took about 2500 pics on this trip!), use their onsite photographers who will professionally capture moments, so you can enjoy at the end of your trip, all the photos on a CD: Disney PhotoPass


Enjoy!