Christmas Day 2015

Boogs was excited for Christmas morning. The first thing he did when he got upstairs was to go check the eggnog and cookies he left out for Santa. The eggnog and cookies were mostly gone and Boogs found this little package with a goodbye note from Cutesy the Elf.

There was a thumb wrestling ring inside. Boogs challenged everybody to thumb wrestling battles.

Boogs volunteered to pass out the Christmas gifts.

Everyone waited patiently while Boogs separated and passed out the gifts.

 

Boogs received a new Skylanders game that only worked on a Wii U game system. Boogs has an old Wii system. Grandmaman said she might have made a mistake getting him a game for the Wii U. Boogs found a note attached to the bottom of his last gift. The note was written in Cutesy's handwriting. It said, "In case of a Skylander emergency, check the dryer."

Boogs raced downstairs to the basement to check the dryer. He found a package in the washing machine.

 Boogs carried the package upstairs and unwrapped it. It was a Wii U. He was thrilled.

 This gift got a big thumbs up!!!

Boogs was showing off the new Skylanders cards that came with his game. He ended up with two sets of the cards - one in English and one in French.

 Daddy and Boogs set up the new system and played a few games.

I didn't take very many pictures this day. Here is the only one I took of everyone together. This was after dinner while opening party poppers.

It was a nice quiet family Christmas.

Byward Market and Parliament Light Show

The Byward Market is one of Canada's oldest and largest public markets. There are many shops, pubs, cafes, boutiques, galleries, and specialty food shops within a four block square area. My husband thought it would be fun to spend a few hours wandering around the Byward Market. We could not have asked for better weather to stroll around downtown Ottawa. It was almost 60 degrees.

Boogs has never experienced a BeaverTail pastry. My husband almost had him convinced it was an actual cooked beaver tail. Boogs was happy it was a delicious pastry treat instead of a tough leathery tail.

 Looks yummy!

 Boogs shared a bit of his BeaverTail with the rest of us.

After strolling around and looking in shops for a while, we took a break at Peter Devine's Irish Pub for a bite to eat and a few drinks.

 Boogs taught Grandmaman how to play the Odd or Even game he plays with his friends at school.

 My husband and his dad looked very relaxed after all that fresh air.

 I love this photo.

 Daddy and Boogs were being extra goofy on the staircase.

 

It was a chilly walk by the Ottawa River.

The Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel is beautiful. We had to take a detour on our walk to Parliament Hill and walk around inside it.

This wooden sculpture made us laugh a little bit. I asked what it was supposed to represent.

Then we read the plaque and it seems that even the artist did not know how to describe it, "wooden, spiral, wind-vane thing". I don't know why we thought that was so funny.

 The sunset was beautiful. We passed the locks on the Rideau Canal.

 There was not any snow, but the Christmas decorations were still pretty.

 We made it over to Parliament Hill about 30 minutes before the light show.

Boogs is too young to remember the last time he visited the Eternal Flame. I think he was 3-years-old.

The light show projected images onto the Parliament buildings just like the light show we saw at Disney a few years ago. There were many woodland creatures, a train, a clock, and lots of snow and trees projected onto the building.

 We enjoyed the show and were glad it was not too cold, right about 39 degrees.

 The giant snowman at the end was my favorite part of the show. He kept growing bigger and bigger.

Boogs caught more of the meaning of the light show story than any of the rest of us. It was neat listening to him explain what he thought it all meant.

We were glad we made the trip downtown and saw the Byward Market and the light show. We stopped on our way home at Harvey's for a late dinner. Harvey's is my husband's favorite place to get a burger. Of course we had to get an order of poutine to share. It is practically a tradition for us to go to Harvey's every time we are in Ottawa.

When we returned to GM and GP's house, Boogs got everything ready for Christmas Eve. He spread exactly the right amount of reindeer food on the front walkway.

Boogs made sure Santa had plenty of oatmeal cookies and a glass of eggnog. He was then ready to go bed so that Christmas morning could arrive faster.

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Holiday Trip

My husband's family lives in Canada. Every Christmas, Boogs looks forward to visiting Grandmaman, Grandpapa, Aunt J, Uncle R, and SNOW!

Boogs was a little disappointed with the green grass in Grandpapa's front yard. Where was the snow?

We spent a day at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa. This was our first time visiting this museum. The Science and Technology Museum we usually visit was closed for renovations.

We started our museum tour with a 3D showing of the BBC film Tiny Giants. The cinematography was amazing. The shots they captured inside a chipmunk and a mouse burrow were impressive.

Our favorite exhibit was the Bird Gallery. There were many multi-media experience, interactive displays, and hundreds of birds on display. We spent well over an hour in the Bird Gallery.

Boogs and I played a matching game where you asked questions about bird features to narrow down your choices to pick the bird your opponent chose.

 

I told Boogs this turkey reminded me of him. Gobble-gobble.

 Daddy was excellent at the bird call memory game. He beat us all.

Bugs Outside the Box was a special exhibit the museum was hosting. It featured lots of live bugs to watch and a huge array of preserved specimens.

Boogs bought some honey mustard flavored roasted crickets for a snack. They didn't taste that bad but we each only had one.

This wall had a constant stream of giant bug images crawling across it. Boogs wanted to get a picture where it looked like a giant bug was attacking him.

 We learned so many interesting facts about bugs!

The Queen's Lantern staircase was beautiful from the outside, where it showed off a giant jelly fish form,

to the inside. Boogs had fun running up and down the staircase. It felt like the staircase swayed a little bit. Yikes!

 We quickly moved through the Earth Gallery.

 There were several interactive displays where you could make earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

Next, we went to the mammal gallery. We were able to see all kinds of mammals who have adapted to the cold Canadian climate - cougars, bears, bison, moose, caribou, and others. Boogs enjoyed figuring out some of the puzzles in the mammal gallery.

Boogs decided to be a seal hiding from the polar bears.

Boogs also pretended to be a big horn sheep. I don't think his horns would have helped him out in a head butting battle.

 I had to be a seal for a little bit, too.

We briefly visited the Water Gallery. Boogs favorite part of the Water Gallery was the pump station. You had to pump enough water to use in a typical day. It was hard work to pump enough to reach the top of the chart. Look at the determination in Boogs' face.

The Fossil Gallery was our last stop on our tour of the museum.

 This was what I looked like after 5 hours in the museum.

 We ended our day with a short film in the Extinction Theater.

The Canadian Museum of Nature is a beautiful place to visit. We learned a lot of interesting new facts. It was a great way to spend a cold day without snow.