Monkey and Daddy's Day Out Together

This past week Daddy took Big C to daycare and Monkey got to choose the activities for the day. Here's how it all went down:
Start at Tim's and grab a chocolate chip muffin:
Enjoy the muffin on the bus (since it was FREE! - the ticket machine wasn't working so we rode for free)
Get a free yo-yo from a lady from Scotiabank who got on our bus and just started handing them out to all of the kids on board.
Hit downtown just in time for the changing of the guard (something that we always, always miss) - we had a primo viewing spot
Stop in at the memorial room - we just missed the W page Daddy wanted to see - argh!
Go up to the peace tower and catch the first ride up, so that we could see the end of the ceremony

Get a photo together - he's becoming such a smiler
Get a photo with some of the ceremonial guard
Check out the currency museum (also free!) - Monkey read the entire comic book-type story that they had on display about counterfeiting!

Get a photo at the Terry Fox statue - by Monkey's request

Get a photo with the guards at the War Memorial
Step at the canal for lunch.
Badger sighting! Badger sighting!Check out the Ottawa School of Art - take a fun photo
Hold the door open for strangers - most of them Pathfinders from Toronto who were very gracious
Take a photo with the moose
and a photo with the old car in one of the cell phone stores
Then decide - Beavertail or Booster Juice? Beaver tail or Booster Juice? Hmmmm....let's each get one of them and then share!
Take the O-train home
being sure to make funny faces when we go through the tunnel.
Thanks for a wonderful day together. Let's have lots more!

Big C n Daddy Day

A little while ago I had a thought.
I've always wanted to take a day each summer and just do nice stuff for other people. Kind of a 'pay-it-forward' principle.
And then I had another thought.
Why not share it with each of my boys.
So today, Big C and I took what I hope is the first step of many.
Since it was something new and Big C still has some learning to do on the subject, plus a rather short attention span, I thought it wise to start by focusing on just having some fun.
So he got to pick everything that we were going to do.
Here's how it went:
Step 1 : Get out of bed. Not easy considering that with the new bed mommy now has free reign to come in a snuggle her little guy again. Roxy can also get up there with ease.
Step 2: Dancing in the car to the tunes on the radio.
Step 3: Sprinkly donut at Tim's. Yummy!
Step 4: Dancing while we wait for the bus.
Step 5: Dancing while we wait for the O-train.
Then ride the O-train

Step 6: Ride an escalator while waiting for our first stop to open.
Step 7: Go to the currency museum and learn about money! Big C can now check his allowance for authenticity.Then make your own currency (note: yes, ironically enough he does know that the 10 000 000 dollar bill he made is in fact counterfeit)
Step 8: Throw coins in the fountain outside parliament
Step 9: Go up to the Peace Tower and check out the city.
Step 10: Go to Chapters to look at books. Take pretend photos of daddy while he takes real photos of Big C.
Step 11: Off to the 'do things for others' activity - we went to Rideau Centre and held open the main doors for people. Most people walked right through the open doors that we had ready for them. Some people didn't (weird). We stayed for a good while during the lunch crowd and had at least 50 people go through each of our doors. Many, many people said 'thank you', much to the delight of that little boy.
Step 12: Catch a ride back to near where we left the car (NOTE: this is NOT in fact a real bus)
Step 13: go for lunch at The Works. Mmmm.....yummy burgers...and the milkshakes are absolutely good to the last drop!
Step 14: Go home and walk Roxy over to pick up Monkey. Then have a little down time reading in the office (what a great spot to hang out and read!)

Thanks for the awesome day Big C!