A trip to Canada - Ottawa

You guys, I take way too many pictures of my kids like seriously (and I don't plan to stop) :). I finally sifted through the gazillion pictures I took during our trip to Canada two weeks ago. It was such a fun trip, I love traveling with my kids and though it's sometimes tedious and tiring, I love making memories with them.

Hubby's sister had a baby 2 weeks after we did, pretty awesome huh, Emilia has a twin cousin. Hubby really wanted to go visit his first ever nephew while he was a baby. We had to wait and see how things went with our baby but once I was feeling well and Emilia was growing on target, hubby booked a quick 1 week trip to London and since I was going to be alone with 4 kids including a newborn, my mom took the week off to help me.

We had been wanting to go visit my second nephew who lives in Ottawa since his mom, my cousin Danie passed away over a year ago but we something always got in the way. This time everything lined up perfectly with very little notice, clearly meant to be. We decided to make the trip with all 4 kids while hubby was away. Since we were going to Canada for a week, we decided to visit my friend D in Toronto too.

Our first stop was in Ottawa. While we were there, we made a quick trip to Canada's Parliament. I love this crew of mine

Since Ottawa was about 9 hours away from us, we decided to travel while the kids were asleep. We left around 2 a.m. on Sunday hoping to drive most of the way there while all the kids were asleep. It was a great idea because we drove more than 4.5 hours before the baby woke up. It was great, my mom and I were chatting while the kids slept peacefully.

The baby woke up, I fed her and put her back to sleep and took a 2-hour nap with the rest of the crew. We drove another hour before we stopped for breakfast. I was so happy because we only had about 3 hours left to go, woop woop.

Breakfast with the crew at Dunkin Donuts. My boys were so happy

We let them play in the arcade nearby after breakfast which made this stop an almost 1.5 hour stop. The boys were happy so we were happy

We got back on the road and the next 2 hours were horrible. I liked the kids better when they were asleep :). We stopped three more times for potty breaks. Luckily the last 1 hour was peaceful when 3 out of 4 kids passed out.

The road trip went really well. It was long but being able to stop whenever we wanted was awesome. Road trips with babies are much easier than with toddlers who are potty trained. It was all worth it to be reunited with my nephew Ian. Tman and his best bud Ian

That afternoon we just chilled and hung out with Ian and his dad. We needed to recuperate from the long trip.

The next day, the boys were up bright and early and full of energy. After breakfast we let the boys enjoy some popsicles before we headed out. Love seeing all the kids hanging out peacefully together before the chaos :).

We decided to take the kids to a nearby park after our late breakfast. There is an awesome beach near Ian's house with a great park for kids. We knew they would enjoy some fun in the sun so we packed them up and to the park we went.

You know me, group pictures are a must, we did just that when we got to the beach

This place is so beautiful, the boys had a ball chasing squirrels everywhere

Look at the joy on Tman and Jbird faces when the squirrel went up the tree :)

We went back and forth between the park and the beach

Check out Tman on the left and Ian on the right attempting to talk to each other through the speakers :)

The boys loved hanging out at this park and totally enjoyed the amenities

Even Bean wanted in on the action but since he is so small, I had to help him

I think he loved it too :)

These two were so adorable together the whole trip. I want to continue to foster their budding relationship

We were back to chasing squirrels :)

These kids were not stopping for nothing

I tried to get a quick picture but Jbird saw a squirrel and was ready to take off :)

I did get this awesome picture with my boys, can you tell they were getting tired from all the running around

As soon as we got back, they took a bath and passed out. Tman slept with Ian that night. Check out my awesome traveler Emilia, barely 2 months old and already hanging out with the crew like a pro

The next day we were celebrating Ian's birthday in the afternoon so in the morning we decided to go downtown and take on the sights. Check us out downtown Ottawa with our crew

And of course in front of the parliament

The boys favorite part of this outing was definitely running up the steps in front of the parliament. Check out this shot of the boys in action, look at my baby Bean in the middle there climbing like a boss :)

They did this many times. It became a game of run up the steps, high five grandma and come back to mommy :)

My boys are like the energizer bunny I tell you and we love to try to wear them out

Before we left we got a few more pictures of course. I love this one of my mom and Emilia

I tried to get a picture with my four kids and chaos ensued, I do like this picture where I am trying to gather them unsuccessfully

Oh well, we did get a 3 generations of girls picture. I will be doing loads of these always :)

On our way back to the car, we saw this awesome photo op set up in the hotel Fairmont Chateau Laurier. Photo op anyone, don't mind if we do

After our hang out, we went back to Britannia beach to celebrate Ian's birthday. I clearly need to work on my skills because that was not the best writing but the cake was delicious

My mom and Emilia were always attached to the hip

Bean fell asleep while we drove to the park, my baby still needs to take a good 2-hour nap everyday

The big boys wasted their fries feeding the pigeons. They enjoyed it so much that I am not sure the fries were wasted :)

After we were done feeding the pigeons, we went back to enjoying the park amenities. I love this shot of Jbird and my mom

We did manage to get a group picture before we cut the cake, poor Bean was still passed out, we really wore him out earlier

After the cake, we went back to playing until it got dark. I am glad we stayed at the park for a while because Bean got a chance to wake up and enjoy the park with his brothers

We went to bed that night within minutes of bath time, the boys were worn out. It was another great day spent with Ian. It was so nice to visit Ian in Canada, we will try to spend more time the next time we visit. Tman is still talking about the trip and is totally looking forward to the next visit. The next day we were off to Toronto to visit my friend D and her kids.