@Tomaschik618
Winterlude 2/14-2/19/19
Feb 14 - Feb 18 2019
@Tomaschik618
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Feb 14 2019

We arrived in Ottowa after a long drive. There is tons of snow, which is exciting considering CT had minimal to none. We unpacked, checked out the hotel, ate at Zoe’s and the kids went swimming. Perfect start.

Passed Whiteface Mountain-incredibly beautiful.

Tons of logging trucks.

Canada!

Chauteau Laurier

Gorgeous room with two bathrooms!

View looking out from Zoe’s. The old train station now houses government offices since The Parliament is under construction.

Trying Poutune for the first time. His new favorite dish!

Hotel Pool

@Tomaschik618
Feb 15 2019

Today we headed to the Canadian Aviation and Aerospace Museum. It was amazing! It snowed on the way there and we passed the Ottowa River. The kids got selected to partake in a demo on fighter pilot equipment. Garrett truly thought they were going to eject him out of the seat! 🤣🤣 Jeremy went into a flight simulator and the kids were asked to be filmed for a video to the government on the importance of museums.

After roughly 4 hours, the kids happily played on the huge snowbanks of the parking lot while Nicole and Jeremy chilled in our heated car-perfection!

We then headed to Byward Market Square

Had dinner at the Clarendon Tavern, ate Beaver Tails, checked out the snow sculptures, got hot cocoa and had an epic snow ball fight with Jeremy. It was a magical night!

Jeremy drove back to the hotel with Garrett and Grace and Nik walked in a shop (Zone) in the beautiful snow. I’m in heaven!!

Kids went swimming with Jeremy when we got back to the hotel. Blissful day. ❤️

Good Morning View!

Heading out for the day!

Kids were asked to be filmed for video for the museum!

Flight Simulation for Jeremy! So cool!

@Tomaschik618
Feb 16 2019

Ordered room service for breakfast and Grace called in our order. She was so excited, adorable and did a great job!

After we fueled up, we headed to the Rideau Canal and skated for 4.8 kilometer mark-roughly 2.5 miles. The weather was beautiful! We took lots of breaks with the kids and had lots of snacks! After 2.5 miles our legs were tired and we got off the ice at Landsdowne. We changed into our boots and headed towards The Glebe section of the city. We passed an epic sledding hill, Brewfest and landed at Milestones Grill and Bar for some food and a great margarita!

After we ate, the kids found an awesome outdoor playscape and an outdoor skate rink-so they laced back up and hit the ice for a bit! We took the free Sno Bus back to Byward Market. We ate more BeaverTails, got Canada cookies for Jeremy’s co-workers and walked back to the hotel Awesome day! Exhausted in the best way;)

@Tomaschik618
Feb 17 2019

We are all dragging this morning! We’ve been going non stop and loving it, but needed to recharge!

We ordered room service again, which was divine!

Next, we geared up and headed to Jacques’s Cartier Park in Quebec to the Snowflake Kingdom. Nicole suggested that the family walk the 1.4 miles so we could walk over the pedestrian bridge and see the great views of Ottowa. Grace was not happy, but eventually turned around. We were all pushing through our exhaustion😜.

Garrett and Grace enjoyed tossing large chunks of ice into the river and collecting icesicles along the way.

Once we arrived at the Snow Park-it was packed! We waited in line and ate some more BeaverTails.

We finally connected with The Durden Family which was nice. Angus was ill so we said a quick hello before he fell asleep. It was so nice to see the sweet boy I saw weekly when he was a babe. His family has always been so special to me.

The kids chose to bypass the zipline, and snow tubing because of the long lines. We enjoyed the snow sculptures, snow cut outs and listened to a drumming band before we caught the Sno bus back to Byward Market and walked back to our hotel.

We chilled a bit in the room, kids swam and then we headed back to Zoe’s for dinner. Terry and Cathy met us and shared a few drinks with us while the kids connected to their iPads for a bit and had hot cocoa.

We headed up to bed around 11. Great day!

@Tomaschik618
Feb 18 2019

We packed up and headed out this morning. We went to the famous Zak’s Diner to eat before we hit the road. The kids have collected Canadian candy to have a food challenge on the way home. They were hilarious trying all the types of different junk food. Garrett even got ketchup flavored Pringle chips! 🤦🏻‍♀️

This trip has brought our family closer by exploring a new city together and experiencing new things. We came, we laughed, loved, even shed a few tears, and had so much fun! Thank you, Canada, for sharing your beautiful people and city with us. Until next time,Eh?!

Our beautiful hotel. Best service we’ve ever experienced! Albert Einstein, Gorbachev and many others have stayed here!

@Tomaschik618