multigenerational

On the long Victoria Day weekend in May Joe and I went to New York City, but the kids stayed with his parentals. (the dog went to mine)

Joe's Mom and Dad had some Outings planned, and I'd prepped Neal and Maeve ahead of time to think about this blog and snap some photos. The photo above was taken on the Corktown Footbridge, a pedestrian bridge over the Rideau Canal (using the Pano app on Neal's iPod Touch).

Museum of Nature reopened last year after major renovations that began in 2004. Apparently the Museum was particularly susceptible to earthquake damage before, according to architects. Eerily enough, about a month after its reopening, the Ottawa region experience a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. Critics of this extravagant expense - I mean c'mon; earthquake reinforcements?? in Ottawa?? - were promptly silenced.

The building has a new glass part in the lobby area; anyone who is afraid of heights should not peer over the edge when you're three stories up! Inside they saw all the exhibits, except the Bug Exhibit (Maeve and Grandma declined due to the creepiness factor).

At the Museum of Civilization they saw an IMAX movie: Tahiti The Big Wave and the special exhibit on Japan: Tradition. Innovation. (which was kinda boring since there wasn't much interaction)

They biked on Sunday Bikedays all the way down to the Corktown Footbridge. 

Billings Estate

More biking for the intrepid Hometown Tourists. Last Sunday was the Alta Vista Community Association's Annual Picnic on the grounds of the Billings Estate. It's only about a ten minute bike ride from our home. (Which was great since Maeve wasn't feeling too chipper having had her birthday sleepover the previous night.)

(oldest frame building in Ottawa)

              

Park Hill

As we arrived near the end of the picnic, most things were winding down but the grill was still on and we nabbed some hotdogs for which Neal declared "free food always tastes better".

Neal and Joe wanted to show Maeve and I the cemetery on site:

Maeve reading the plaque out loud

cemetery gates

in the cemetery

Neal and Maeve are like me and are creeped out by the thought that they're walking over someone in the ground. Neal wouldn't enter, but Maeve crept along behind me in my footsteps.


Many of the headstones have fallen over and have been repaired. So some are in an outbuilding:

repaired headstones

According to something I read somewhere the homestead was in the Billings family's possession until 1975 at which point it was donated to the city. 

And while yes, a 180 year old building is very old, having stayed in a 500 yr old cottage during our trip in 2009... my sense of history - or historical timeline - has been irreparably altered.

But don't worry, I still manage to look suitable impressed.

hog's back

We decided to go for a bike ride, so we rented some bikes from our garage where a lovely gentleman ensured that our bike tires were properly inflated. (he said it was the first time the bikes were to be used this season!)

We biked down to the Rideau River, and then south along its banks to Vincent Massey Park and Hog's Back Falls. It's proper name is Prince of Wales Falls, but don't refer to as this... the locals will have NO idea what your talking about! There used to be a rock shaped like a pig's back in the river and that's how the falls got its name.

Hog's Back Falls

at the base of the falls

Along the bike ride we saw a lot of damage from a recent windstorm. This tree we estimated to be about 75 years old. There's an amazing number of trees in this city!

happy hometown tourists