After yesterday's walking tour around Ottawa, the kids were VERY excited for us to fulfill Amelia's birthday wish for an hour at the Xtreme Trampoline Park that we had originally planned for on her birthday after the ceramics painting. Because the ceramics too almost two hours longer than anticipated! (Ollie, especially, was really into the painting and the details on his ceramic tank), we couldn't go to the trampoline park that day, and it didn't fit in after our big city adventures yesterday.
Oliver had the back pack packed and was dressed and fed and ready to get us going in order to arrive at the trampoline place in Kanata by the time the opened the doors. I've not seen him this motivated in ages! Needless to say, we loaded up and were at the doors when it opened and had the luxury of being one of about three or maybe four families in the whole place the duration of our visit. I agreed to bounce for half an hour with them first, and then swapped out for Jonathan. Leslie/Gma watched us bounce around and took photos for us :). Kids had a blast and were a hot and sweaty mess by the end. Ollie learned to do a back flip with dad's help and Amelia enjoyed performing various complex routines.
When we got back, I messaged my friend Sheldon to see if they'd still be at their campground hanging out and if they'd be up for us visiting them at Parent Beach in Gatineau Park since we could swing by on our way to visit friends in Wakefield. They could visit us around 3/3:30pm at the beach, so we got to work on getting the rack and bikes back on the rig, fill it with water. We were on the road before 2pm and made a quick stop at the Taco Bell for some bean/cheese burritos for the road.
Got to Gatineau Park around 3:15pm -- gated entrance fee ($13) and a longish drive through the wooded park to the Parent Beach parking lot. A short paved walk through the trees led us to Parent Beach, a nice little sandy spot with bouyed lake swimming section, playground and washroom facilities. I walked down first with the kids and our bags while Jonathan dealt with an AirBnB message from one of our guests. Sheldon, Laura and their daughter, Eleanor, were not far behind. Our kids focussed on making a sand "water park" while Eleanor was immediately in the water for a swim. We had a nice visit on the beach and got caught up on the comings and goings of our families.
Lifeguards. Goofy and Non-Plussed.
the beginning of the "water park"
high school buddy!
Sandy Water Park by Amelia, with hand carved "people" by Oliver
After the beach visit, we drove the 25min or so to Wakefield and stopped in at the Wakefield General Store for some milk and dinner supplies. Such a lovely store!! We arrived at the Castilho-Believeau homestead sometime around 7ish, welcomed by Melanie, Vagner and Estéban... Mateo was at a sleepover. Estéban was immediately enthralled with his new guests and took the kids to look for eggs in the chicken coop. They came out with 5 beautiful eggs (one blue one!). We had a nice visit with Mel, Vagner and Vagner's dad over some veggie burgers, then retired to the kitchen where Vagner and Jonathan caught up and Melanie and I had a jam session on our ukuleles! We swapped songs to try and master... RipTide and Stand By Me. :). Late bedtime for all, and we had a cozy night tucked in on their driveway.
Eggs fresh from the chicken coop!
No comments:
Post a Comment