Movember... (the men in my family are ridiculous)

While I support the idea behind ‘Movember’ (a mustache-growing charity event meant to highlight men's health issues), I don’t like what it does to the faces of the men in my family.

Lowell grew a mustache for Movember last year in NZ, and it looked ridiculous.

Since he’s somewhat of a professional now, he thought better than to creep out his clients with a patchy ‘stache.

This year Marc & Daniel are participating. Marc looks like a cop (his words not mine)…

And Dan looks like a used car salesman from the 70s.

I always thought that my Dad was the only man in the world who could pull off the mustache look. Up until April of this year, I never knew my Dad without a mustache. However, now that he has mowed his upper lip, I prefer him clean-shaven (as does my Mom who has threatened him if he ever decides to re-grow it).

I think Daddio & Marc look super handsome clean-shaven...

Daniel also looks awesome...

And that Lowell character is just plain HOT (in my completely unbiased opinion)...

Here's to hopin that all unnecessary 'staches are gone by December first (which I think they will be if Kylie and Carlynne have anything to do with it)!

chaussures et fleuves

I completed the previous post by stating that Daniel was in the process of making us a birthday bear cake. Well, make it he did, and impressive and delicious it was!

(Movember, folks...Movember).

Now that he has proven his cake-making-and-decorating abilities, he has secured his position as "cake-decorator-Dad" (for the future).

Now to finish off our Ottawa trip...

On Sunday, after a failed attempt to attend church (as it had been evacuated due to a gas leak), we walked to Quebec!

Ontario and Quebec are separated by this interprovincial bridge. It was a short jaunt, but I still think it sounds mighty impressive to say that we walked to Quebec.

This is the river that separates Ontario and Quebec. Ontario is on the left; Quebec on the right.

This was Lowell's first time in Quebec...and boy was he excited!!

As we walked along the Quebec side of the river, we enjoyed the parliament buildings from a different perspective.

Carlynne and I also made a point of having a complete conversation in FRENCH while we were IN Quebec. Our French has deteriorated greatly since our high school days, but we managed to scrap together a pitiful conversation about shoes and rivers. It was a very cultural experience for us!

After a delightful walk to and from Quebec, we went to The Works for a hearty (and healthy) meal of milkshakes, poutine, and burgers.

On Monday, both Dan & Carlynne had to work so Lowell and I had a relaxing day bumming around Ottawa and preparing dinner.

About those dinner preparations... we could NOT locate a can opener, so Lowell got creative and mutilated the can with this creative design.

It worked- and we didn't have to go pineapple-less.

Tuesday was our big Parliament day. Daniel had to work, but Carlynne, Lowell, and I attended a lively question period in the House of Commons. We were veeeeery pleased that Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in attendance, and even more pleased that I made fleeting eye contact with him. Woot!

After question period we went up the Peace Tower and took a tour of Parliament.

This is a view of the huge clock- looking through a ceiling window from the Peace Tower...

And these are the views from atop...

(The neat pointy building is the extremely beautiful library. It's the only original part of Parliament left as it was the sole building that wasn't destroyed in the 1916 fire).

I was a very helpful helper girl when I helped hold the 'Senate flag' (which was used to describe the Senate because Senate was in session and we couldn't go in).

After the tour, we strolled around the exterior of Parliament and had a look-see at the statues.

We took this picture of Lowell as a direct copy cat of Marc's previous pose with the same statues.

Lowell:

Marc:

I had to pose with a statue too. A statue that was somewhat of a GIANT...

We concluded our Ottawa experience with more Beaver Tails. Lowell's was ridiculously loaded and likely contained the recommended caloric intake for an entire month.

Yummmmm....

Now we're home again, and our fabulous Ottawa trip already feels like a distant memory. We're already looking forward to our 2010 visit. Perhaps at that time, eye contact with the PM will be upgraded to a handshake...

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...

One is never too old...

One is never too old (or too cool) to wear colourful paper birthday hats...

(My cousin Jackie and her boys, Adam and John, were visiting, so they could join the birthday festivities!)

One is never too old to don a "Birthday Boy" pin, and have a cake covered with swirly candles delivered while the "Happy Birthday" chorus is being belted out...

One is never too old to proudly blow out his candles- even given this germ-a-phobe/H1N1 era that we live in (it's okay. Most of us are vaccinated)...

One is also never too old to complete crazy puzzles with kids, or influence their birthday-hat-wearing habits...

And finally, one is never too old to have a good soak in the hot tub then snuggle on the couch and watch the Smurfs...

I realize that in the grand scheme of things, 28 isn't old. In fact, it's really very young. I just hope that we'll still be celebrating our EIGHTY- eighth birthdays with family/friends, hats, pins, candles, cakes,PRESENTS, hot tubs... aaaand the Smurfs.