Alight at Night

Last night we piled our three Things into our mini-van and headed south east towards the town of Morrisburg, Ontario. We went to see the famous Upper Canada Village's "Alight at Night" display. For those still trying to decide whether or not to make the trek - absolutely do it! It runs until Sunday night and is only an hour drive from Ottawa. There is lots to see and do there, for kids and adults of all ages.

The three Things really enjoyed the horse-drawn wagon ride through the village. The view of the lights across the water and throughout the village was absolutely spectacular. My shots don't do it justice as I am still such a beginner photographer. I really couldn't get good night shots without a tripod - which I didn't bring with me. It was a bit chilly, so my hands were shaky, making most of the shots with no flash too blurry.

When the cold began to hit us (and in all honesty, we chose a great night to be there, the weather was pretty decent for Ottawa in December) we stopped at the life-size gingerbread house for some home-made cookies and fresh hot chocolate. You can see a great view of the village lights behind the three Things and their dad.

Thing 1 was absolutely smitten with his hot chocolate in a "coffee cup" with a real Starbucks-type lid. He's been talking about his "drinking coffee" episode non-stop for the past 24 hours.


We were able to browse through the displays of contestants and award-winners of the Canadian Gingerbread Competition. Let me tell you . . . these were no trailer park gingerbread homes. These were the cream of the crop, upscale Bel-Air mansion gingerbread homes. They were really fantastic and the three Things offered to do some sampling - completely against the rules of the competition, of course!

This beautifully-lit church was jam packed full of guests joining in to sing Christmas carols. They had the music playing through speakers outside on a nearby skating rink, making the entire atmosphere just that much more festive and merry.

Upper Canada Village will definitely be making an annual appearance on our Christmas schedules for years to come. This is a fabulous activity for families with children of any age. One tip for moms of young children (maybe age two and younger) - bring a backpack or small sled for the little ones. The entire village was larger than we expected so 23-month-old Thing 3 had to be carried a fair bit as her walking on ice and snow skills are not expert yet, by any means.

Melting

Life has been unseasonably mild here in the nation's capital. After a beautiful and sunny weekend with temperatures above freezing on both days, we have seen a significant amount of our snow melting away.

We are not complaining, in any manner.

Just to put this in perspective, here is a photo taken one year ago tomorrow, right outside our home.

This was me, the first in the house to get up, surveying the damage after the storm and trying to dig out two square feet for our dog to sneak outside to use the bathroom.

When you live in Ottawa, you are ready for Spring as soon as you flip that calendar over on February 28th. You yearn for sunshine and the ability to be outside for longer than five minutes at a time. And while NOTHING could come close to how much snow we had last year, we are still eagerly counting the days until we can bare the white flesh of our toes in sandals and run freely across our front lawn.

Thus, with unbridled excitement and anticipation, the 3 Things huddled in front of our living room window to watch Daddy chip away at the sewer grate so the melting ice and subsequent water could flow underground and not flood the street.

As luck would have it, I caught a moment here between Thing 1 and Thing 3.

Thing 3 waved at her Daddy for 20 non-stop minutes. (See? She DOES have hair in the back!)

Managed a close-up of the not-sick-but-teething-red-blotchy-mouth-and-runny-nose face.

Upon asking Thing 1 to go to his room to "cool down" on Friday evening, I returned to invite him to join the rest of his family for dinner. His pre-birthday party excitement was too much. He passed out on the carpet of his bedroom. Ah, to be five again.

What am I talking about? I'd settle for 25 again!!!