So back in June when we celebrated hubby’s birthday together with Father’s Day, I sort of put the message out there saying that we are going to Ottawa/Montreal in the summer, not quite sure how would it happen but usually that’s the way works in our house. I pick up the signal, a hint or something hubby mentioned casually, and just keep pushing and pushing till it come true, man, we really are a perfect couple, push-and-pull, that is what I mean.
We were in Ottawa for 5 days, it was a lovely family trip. The girls have never been in long car trip, the longest by far was from Mississauga to Niagara Falls, 
(which we may go in August but will see) so this five hours drive is new to all of us. We prepared everything from wrist bands to prevent car sick, to snack for munching, from audio story to in-car entertainment (music and DVD, that is), combined with frequent stops, we finally survived and arrived in our hotel, Courtyard Ottawa. As you can see two happy campers here 
The next day was Parliament Hill day, literally.
Our hotel is just about 10 minutes walk to the Hill, and we were there by 9 o’clock in the morning to pick up tickets for Parliament tour so we can visit inside the building after the Change of Guard. We went on the Rideau Canal boat tour in the evening which the weather was perfect, travelled along the Ottawa river, experienced the Nation’s Capital from both land and water, it was so relaxing with the breeze. Highlight of the day was MosAika Sound & Light Show On Parliament Hill in Ottawa , you can have a peek of the video, it is simply magnificent !!
Canadian Museum of Nature was a day full of woo and ahh from the girls, so much to see and so much to do that we didn’t get out until 5pm. 
We enjoyed the AQUA special exhibition, with “A Journey Into The World Of Water“, it shows us there is a lot need to be done to save this planet, and we are all responsible for taking action to ensure that everyone has access to safe water, in sufficient quantities, today and tomorrow. The girls were also mesmerized by Blue Water Gallery, Mammal Gallery and Bird Gallery, and of course Frogs – A Chorus of Colours too.
Canadian Museum of Civilization is an educational place, not only for school-aged kids but for immigrants like us too. We get to learn the history, people that made Canadian history and Canada’s First Peoples . We also watched the 3D movie “Sharks”, that so many species of sharks are endangered or critically endangered, my 8-year-old hyper sensitive Laetitia came out claiming, “We should all stop eating meat because that’s killing animals, well if you can’t stop, you should at least eat very little meat !” Certainly, this is a great challenge for her 6-year-old carnivore sister, Emmanuelle.
On our last day before heading back to Mississauga, we stopped by the Royal Canadian Mint and got a taste of how the coins were made, also got to hold the 20+ pound gold bar which is the heaviest ever ! LOL.
So why do I say this family trip is sort of patriotic? Because as close to the Capital, I really feel we are so fortunate to live in this wonderful country, so proud to be Canadians again after the 2010 Olympic; I see abundant talents with amazing achievements, and I get teary everything I sing “O Canada”
Special thanks to Denise Breau, Cluster Director of Sales and Marketing at Residence Inn & Courtyard by Marriott Ottawa, who reached out to me on Twitter and gave us special rate. The room is spacious for two queen beds, and very clean, which is the the first the foremost when I walk into any hotel room. It has pool and whirlpool on site, plus fitness centre, so we absolutely take advantage of the facility whenever we can throughout the day. With the HST and everything, we used the discount on our daily breakfast, it saved us substaintially
