O Canada, our home and native land!

We're in Ottawa visiting Dan & Carlynne!

Time spent with Dan & Carlynne is never dull. They picked us up at the airport for our midnight arrival, but had unintentionally thrown away their parking stub (as Clyn was ever so diligent and cleaned out the car directly before our arrival). Without the stub, the parking attendant wanted $20 from us even though the car was there for less than 30 minutes. On principal (i.e., refusing to pay the exorbitant amount), we found the garbage can and Dan & Carlynne rummaged through the clutter in search of the stub.

Find it they did, and $14 we saved!

(PS- As you may notice, Daniel's got a pretty impressive Movember 'stache goin on).

After a late night, we had a late breakfast this morning before strolling along the Rideau Canal and touring downtown Ottawa.

During the cold winter months, the Canal is transformed into a skating rink- complete with stops for hot cocoa and Beaver Tails.

This boat was hanging out in the drained locks of the Rideau Canal. We're not sure what the deal was, but we documented the occasion anyway...

We got up close and personal to the parliament buildings- Lowell’s first time in the nation’s capital! We’re saving the indoor tour for a less busy weekday, but thoroughly enjoyed the view from the great out of doors.

We asked a young lady to snap a photo of the four of us in this very nationally significant place. She took this photo…

…then said, “and now I’m going to zoom in” while she ran closer to us-- zooming-in the old fashioned way!

As we were exiting the grounds, we were recruited to sing 'O Canada' for a couple attempting to win their way to the Olympics (as spectators/bloggers). They’re planning on piecing together clips of several people singing the national anthem. Once the final product is up on their website, we’ll share it with y’all as we’re more than likely to be the stars (jokes jokes- I’m a little more humble than that…although they DID tell us that our version was the nicest one they’d heard all day. But again…not bragging…remaining humble).

(Note the camera in the bottom/centre of this picture. That's who we belted out 'O Canada' to!)

After the Parliament Buildings, we perused the outdoor market and scarfed down BEAVER TAILS. For you non-Canadians, a beaver tail is a very Canadian (and delicious!) pastry SHAPED like a beaver’s tail (Canada’s national animal)… to my knowledge, no part of an actual beaver’s tail was involved in the beaver-tail-making process).

We also had a little taste of an "Obama Cookie" (named such because Obama tried one at some point and liked it)...

They do appear to be RATHER CANADIAN, however, and I wonder if it wouldn't be more appropriate to refer to them as "Harper Cookies" (as I'm sure he'd like them too). Lowell responds to this small scandal with "what an Obamanation!" (let the record show that we are still huge fans of Obama)...

After continuing our refreshing walk along the Rideau Canal, we drove to Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s home and felt much like the paparazzi snapping photos on the other side of a sturdy cast iron fence. I may or may not have used our 18X zoom to get a better look at what was going on close up...

There was even a cat in the yard, and I remain convinced that it was indeed the Prime Minister’s cat. So this, folks, is somewhat of a celebrity cat (in my opinion)…

It's been a spectacular day- and it's not over yet! As I write this, Daniel is preparing a birthday supper for Lowell, Carlynne, and I... complete with a bear cake which is appropriate given my unusual interest in bears as of late...