For Father’s Day this year my husband was fresh off a work trip from Belgium. Having had ample rest and a belly full of great beer and chocolate, it was a hard no on Father’s Day as a nap and a beer kind of day. As a consolation prize he chose to take a family […]
Canadian Museum of Nature with Kids
Ottawa has many museums and per usual, we bought memberships to most of them. I love museum memberships. They give us options of things to do on days where we want to get out of the house but don’t want to spend a ton of money. There are always special exhibits rolling through and there […]
On the Absence of Manners
Deep discussion concerning the effects of social media on the human psyche seem to be popping up with a new fervor. Just recently Instagram implemented a trial program in Canada which hides the amount of likes on a posted photo. My initial reaction was, “Who cares?”. Then, I instinctively reached for my phone to see if an earlier […]
NHL Learn to Play Program: Why to Try It
Starting a new sport for a child is always a gamble. Kids find the idea enticing until the actual activity rolls around. Parents find it intimidating to invest all the money required to start a child in a sport only to find out three months later the child is no longer interested. Enter: frustrated parent, […]
Canadian Sugar Shacks: A Review from a Struggling Maple Syrup Junkie
Since moving to Ottawa and surviving our first winter we have been anxiously awaiting spring. Like much of “spring” so far, there are no flower buds to be seen or blossoms on trees. As I have learned, the sweet smell of a wood stack boiling off maple sap marks the change in season and attitudes […]
Organizing and Storing LEGO Manuals: My Kryptonite
I hit a new level of crazy and laminated my kid’s LEGO manuals. To save some judgment, I did not do them all…yet. Here is how I organized them and why. I loathe LEGO manuals more than stepping on a LEGO itself. The paper is always super thin and almost instantly tears after flipping through […]
5 Things to Know Before Visiting the Kennedy Space Center
As our last Florida spring break activity our family attended the Kennedy Space Center for the day. I have three kids in the age bracket from 2-6. Let’s just say, I should have done more homework. Here are a few things I wish I would have known: The Schedule. You can download the Kennedy Space […]
Universal Yum: A subscription box that hit a homerun
My dad is not an eager international traveler. He enjoys the comforts of our hometown and finds nature and its surroundings more soothing than exploring large cities. His tastebuds are more like a modern travel influencer, wanting to go everywhere and try everything (don’t worry dad, I will explain what an influencer is to you […]
Two Things I Got Wrong When Moving Away From Friends
As a military member and then spouse moving should come second nature to me. For the most part, it hasn’t been that bad. However, our posting to Canada took me by surprise. Our first stop on our Maple Leaf Adventure was an 11 month stint in Toronto. This move was HARD on me. I mean, […]
Fusion Mineral Paint Makes Princess Dream Come True
My mom graciously gave me a jewelry box that was collecting dust in the attic and had sustained substantial abuse. Seeing as I had an itch to refinish something else with my new obsession, Fusion Mineral Paint, I was eager to keep it off the treelawn. I decided I would breathe new life into this […]
Canadian Children’s Museum Review
This is, hands down, the coldest place I have ever lived in my entire life. The temperature regularly dips below freezing by at least 5 degrees and when you factor in windchill, the negative degree is usually double digits. Needless to say, with three energetic children we were eagerly seeking some outlets to get wiggles […]
Refinished Pottery Barn Table
One of the scores from the Kijiji Raid of 2018 was a huge Pottery Barn coffee table. The table was in bad shape when we got it, but it had good bones. The price was right, there were not any structural issues and it was real wood. The real wood translated into heavy AF to […]