Canada Day

Two years ago, Dave and I went on a tour of Eastern Canada.  We started in Quebec City for their 200 year celebration, then went to Montreal for the Jazz Festival, after that we took the train to Ottawa for Canada Day.  Later we flew to Halifax where we spent several days touring Nova Scotia and PEI by car.  It was an amazing trip.

Out of all the fun things we did, though, both Dave and I agreed that Ottawa was our favourite city. I had been there for Canada Day once before but Dave was a newbie to the city and we had a great time discovering (and rediscovering for me) all the city had to offer.  The Canada Day celebration was the icing on the cake.  We saw concerts, did tours of places, ate tons of delicious food, marveled at the hundreds of thousands of people that were out in the streets, and then finally capped off the day with a fantastic fireworks show. 

This year was a little less exotic but not any less fun.  We met up with friends that have a son the same age as Isla and headed to Prince's Island Park downtown.  There were a bunch of concerts, several kids activities (which our babies were a little young for but they should be able to do in future years), lots of multicultural demonstrations, and some tasty food.  We didn't go too crazy with trying to do everything but instead just enjoyed some time with the kids on the grass by one of the stages.  Afterward we walked around a bit and then played in the splash park in Eau Claire.  There were no fireworks for us this year since we figured that it would be too much for Isla.  Since I'm a huge fan of fireworks, I'm looking forward to the days when she thinks they're great too.

Location: Prince's Island Park, Calgary
Cost: The events were all free.
Gear for Isla: I didn't have a Canada t-shirt for Isla so we settled on her Montreal Canadiens shirt instead.  We also had a hat, sunscreen, stroller, lots of cheerios, and a camera.  The free paper Canada flags were also a huge hit as a chew toy.