amazingly hot

What kinds of things can you do on a ridiculously hot and humid day in Ottawa? Well, Auntie M and Uncle VW were still here visiting, and we did this...

Despite the fact that we were walking around in circles in the sweltering heat, we had a blast at Saunders Farm, in the hamlet of Munster. R led us through all the mazes (they have the largest collection of hedge and puzzle mazes in North America)...

and drenched us in the water park...

We played at their very cool park...

and the pirate ship..

and went home very hot and very tired! Auntie M and I however, are never too tired to do some shopping, so we headed out to one of my favorite stores...{don't tell K, but I may now be the proud new owner of two super fab Matt & Nat bags, and Auntie M is too - we had too much trouble deciding which ones we liked the best, so we got them all}!

Good times!

mooney's bay

Since we were up 'till the wee hours last night with Auntie M and Uncle VW, I thought we would spend today relaxing at the beach. We headed to Mooney's Bay for some swimming and playing in the sand...

It was a great day {especially for Auntie M and Uncle VW who would be normally be hard at work on a Thursday afternoon}!

look who's visiting now...

Auntie M and Uncle VW have come to see their niece and nephew! This is a photo of the 3 of us circa 1980-something...

strawberry fields...forever

I put the kids to work, doing this...

We met some friends at the Shouldice Berry Farm & Market...

and picked strawberries and enjoyed the sunshine all morning.

My little worker bee's are not the fastest berry pickers, but they had lots of fun. R managed to fill our basket, eventually {I think he put more berries in his mouth than in the basket}. Miss S picked for a few minutes, then ran around like the wild flower child that she is - she kicked off her sandals, flung off her hat and ran barefoot through the field...

On the way home, we stopped to buy jars so that we could make jam at Christine's later on. And when we got home, we were very excited to see this stuff...

all over our yard! Yeah! We have grass! I guess the days of doing this...

all day are over. But now we can bring out the kiddie pool and the lawn furniture...

scrapbooking tour

Thanks to my new friend Renee, I am now familiar with most of the scrapbooking stores in the Ottawa area! {I'm not so sure that K thanks you for that though}! This past weekend Renee, Wendy and I toured The Scrapbox and Blissful Creations Scrapbooking in Orleans, and this store...

Paper Paradise in Kemptville. We had delicious Thai food for lunch, and checked out the new DeSerres store in the Saint Laurent Centre. DeSerres has an impressive selection of scrapbooking supplies, and I like that I can pick up craft supplies for the kiddies while I'm in there.

So now that I know the shops, have signed up for a local crop and a class, and I have a few more goodies to add to my scrapbooking stash, it just feels that much more like home here!

merrickville, part two

Exploring the "ruins" of Merrickville...

R was impressed with the church bells that were ringing just as we walked past...

Exploring the Rideau Canal and the Merrickville Lockstation and looking for fish...

You can see the Lions Club Campground on the left side of this photo {perhaps we should come back for a weekend with our trailer}...

We watched the road swing around so the boats could pass through the canal - very cool...

Another fun day exploring around home!

being a tourist in merrickville

When K asked where we were going this weekend, I thought of Merrickville. I have been told by a few people that I would really like it, and they were right! Merrickville is a picturesque village located on the Rideau Canal (a UNESCO World Heritage site) about 45 minutes south of Ottawa. It has been called Canada's most beautiful village - and I can see why. There are more heritage buildings here than in any other like-size village in Ontario - you can read a bit about the history of Merrickville here and here. The Main Street is just so charming - I wish there weren't cars parked all along it, so I could get better photos - but here are some shots of some shops and places to eat...


If I come back without my kiddies I want to eat here...

Found some fun white Scottie dog bookends at Village Metalsmiths {I'm using them in my scraproom to hold up my idea books}...

This is the Yellow Canoe Cafe where we had a wonderful lunch on the patio...

Of course my three kids had to stop for homemade ice cream at the "purple store". It smelled like heaven in there - I think they were making the waffle cones...yummy...

This is the Sam Jakes Inn...

Found some vintage Christmas ornaments to add to my collection, here...

More on Merrickville in another post...