Flashback: Brewer Park

We love hearing about the great parks around the city. What's yours? by Sara

Despite several nearby parks, we regularly make the trek from Orleans to Old Ottawa South to take the boys to Brewer Park.  Its located across the street from Carleton University, tucked away behind the City of Ottawa Brewer Complex.  There is a large parking lot off Bronson Avenue but you can also park on the many shaded side streets off Sunnyside Avenue, which are right beside the park.  If you use the parking lot, you need to walk across two soccer fields to access the park.

Brewer Park is divided into five areas:

1) A  fenced-in (but not impervious to adventurous toddlers) area with two play structures suitable for the littlest members of the family.  The fire truck play structure is a big hit with my two boys.

2) A play structure on rubber mats for preschool children

3) A multi-level splash pad (there is a large ramp and bridge to access the upper level and water slide)

4) A larger play structure for elementary aged children

5) A sandy area with wheel-chair accessible sand tables, activity walls, and swings.

There are also several shady spots to set-up blankets for snack time and picnics as well as one large covered picnic area in the middle of the park.  The only disadvantage is that the play structure for older children is separated from the rest of the park (by the splash pad), which makes it hard to supervisor children of different ages.  One last important detail: there are (clean) washroom's located next to the toddler area.

What I love most about Brewer Park is the variety.  Both my boys have very different interests and Brewer is one of the few parks where they are easily occupied, entertained, and safe.  Their play structures have fewer death-defying drops and are generally safer for small kids, which is one of the drawbacks of our neighbourhood parks.  My 2-year-old can explore and climb without me hovering right behind him.  While my four-year old love splash pads, my 2-year old hates spraying water; however, at Brewer there is a splash pad and water slide, which means they're both happy to play in the water.

Unlike a lot of parks in new suburban areas, the play structures at Brewer are protected by shade (depending on the time of day), which makes it a great place to visit on really hot and humid days.  It's often busy because camps and daycare's frequent the park so be prepared to keep a close eye on your kids, as its easy to lose them in the melee of swim-suited bodies running around.

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 6-year-old ” firefighter”, 4-year-old “monkey”, and a third boy, “bug”, due in May.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.

Flashback : Victoria Day Festival

Here's a great post by Sara about the Victoria Festival from a couple of years ago. I'd never heard of this festival until she first wrote about it! Don't miss out on the Victoria Day Festival which runs from May 11 - 21. We haven't been this year so all the descriptions may not be exactly accurate for what they've got going on this year. ~Lara by Sara

The Victoria Day Festival is the perfect opportunity to combine kid-friendly fun with tulip gazing at Dow's Lake.  The Festival runs from May 13th to May 24th and culminates with a fireworks show on the final evening.  The festival is being held at Queen Juliana Park (corner of Carling and Preston), which is across the road from Commissioner's Park on Dow's Lake.

On the weekends there is a charity breakfast from 7 am to 11 am and all proceeds are donated to CHEO.  The festival opens weekdays at 4 pm and free parking is available (evenings and weekends) at the Sir John Carling building across the road as well as the Dow's Lake NCC parking lot and Dow's Lake Court parking lot (intersection of Champagne and Carling)

We arrived just as the midway opened at 11 o'clock and took advantage of our early start: the boys were oftentimes the only kids on the rides.  The rides are best suited to preschool and elementary children, with only two stomach-churning spinning contraptions on site.  There is a 7 metre high Ferris wheel, which gives you a birds-eye view of Dow's lake and the tulips and several midway games where you can test your hand-eye coordination (for the record, mine is sadly lacking).  My boys especially enjoyed all the vehicle midway rides and took turns driving a fire truck and big rig.  I was greatly appreciative of the seatbelts on every ride, which kept my almost two year old in his seat.

There is a small petting zoo and pony rides at the back of the park, where a very loud turkey is currently in residence.  While we were admiring the sheep, we were treated to a show by the three ducks, who took turns bathing themselves in the water trough.  Even my animal-phobic four year old peered through the fence to check out the action.  Along with balloon animals and concession stands, there is live music everyday starting at 12 pm.

The festival gave the boys a chance to burn off their energy before we ambled through the tulips in Commissioner's Park.  I wasn't expecting so many tulips to still be in bloom and was pleasantly surprised that there were still so many flowers to admire.  The boys enjoyed running along the pathways and through the park and took turns (gently) smelling some of the flowers.

Summer is scheduled to make a return this week so I encourage you to get out and enjoy both the Victoria Day Festival and Tulip Festival before both events end on the 21st.

Sara is mom to a 6-year-old firefighter and 4-year-old monkey.  You can find her at her blog, My Points of View

Flashback: Charlemagne Child Care Services Play Group

Charlemagne's pre-school programs still has a few spots left for the Fall - I highly recommend the program .  Check out Sara's great post about all their offerings! ~Lara by Sara

Tucked away at the side of St. Peter's Catholic High School in Orleans is one of our favourite drop-in play groups.  Charlemagne Child Care Services houses Charlemagne Nursery School and the Charlemagne Preschool Resource Centre.  Located at 750 Charlemagne Blvd, the drop-in play group, which is a satellite Early Years Centre , is open 5 mornings (9 to 11:30 am) and 2 afternoons (Monday & Wednesday, 1 to 3:30 pm) a week.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings are reserved for caregivers.

The bright sunny space is one of my favourite places to take the boys.  We like it so much that we've been regular visitors since 2007, when my oldest was only a year old.  The centre is set-up much like a nursery school or kindergarten classroom.  There are well-defined activity centres throughout the large room, including an art table, two sensory play areas, a dramatic play centre (kitchen, dolls, dress-up clothes), a play dough table, fine motor activities (puzzles, blocks), an infant area, as well as a small climbing structure and ride-on toys.  There's even a separate room, with a half-door, for children over the age of three.  Within the Kinder-room there are more sophisticated arts and crafts supplies, a reading corner, as well as 'big kid' toys, like Rescue Heroes and doll houses.

Because we visit the center at least once a week, I really appreciate the variety of toys, arts and crafts, and sensory activities.  Each activity area is usually centred around a theme, for example, during the Month of May we made Mother's Day cards, created tissue paper flowers, and used spring stickers and paint markers to make colourful pictures.  The sensory areas are even theme-based: in the fall the kids searched for animals in a big tub of leaves and at Easter they hunted for eggs in Easter basket grass.

The resource centre staff, Sheryl and Catherine, are welcoming and go out of their way to make everyone feel comfortable and part of the group.  There's a good mixture of regular visitors and occasional drop-ins, which makes this play-group a great place to meet moms who have kids of all ages.

Between 9 and 10 each morning the children engage in free play and then join Sheryl for circle and story time.  Sheryl has a great repertoire of stories, songs, felt stories, and finger puppets to capture everyone's attention.  Even the busy toddlers who have trouble sitting still (ahem, monkey).   Bring a (nut-free) snack to refuel after circle time.  While the kids are all eating its a good time to talk to other moms and childcare providers or check-out toys from the toy lending library.  There are three large binders to peruse that have toys appropriate for ages 0 to 5.  We frequently borrow large ride-on toys, which are a hit with both boys but too big to keep in the house on a regular basis.  The centre also has a great resource library with hand-outs on a wide variety of health and parenting topics, books, and videos.

The centre closes for the summer on Friday June 11th and re-opens on September 13th, 2010.  Make sure to check-it out before the summer hiatus: I'll be the one following the almost 2 year old whirling dervish from activity to activity.

Sara is mom to a 4-year-old firefighter and 2-year-old monkey.  You can find her at her blog, My Points of View

Secret Spy Birthday Party

by Sara In February my son, the firefighter, turned 6, and with a budget of $100, we set out to host, at the firefighters request, a secret spy party for his closest friends.

And for the first time my superstar husband organized the entire affair. If you're impressed with how it all came together, he deserves all the kudos.

Our nanny/au pair/life saver, who is with us 1-2 days a week, supervised the paper mâché. With her help the firefighter created a giant bomb shaped piñata for his party. It took several days to dry (on one of our hot air vents) and then the monkey and firefighter painted it black.

I typed/printed the text for the invitations and took the firefighters photo in his spy gear and he did the rest, creating invitations for all his friends.

While I had a busy morning of photography sessions my husband took the kids to Dollarama and Party Packagers to get all the party supplies. Here's what they bought:

Spy kits / Loot bags

10 Mini flashlights

10 pencils & notepads (and a pencil sharpener)

2 containers of glow sticks

Party activities

'Caution' tape

Red string (for a laser obstacle course)

Red ink pad (for fingerprinting)

Large bottle of black craft paint

Food

Black cups, plates and napkins for 10

5 types of candy for the bomb piñata

Decorations

Black balloons

In total the party cost us $88. My dad, who has made the boys birthday cakes every year since their 1st birthdays, created a grey bomb (at the firefighters request). Because the party was from 1-3 we didn't serve any other food/snacks, just juice and water.

When the recruits arrived (all wearing black and navy blue!) we gave them 15 minutes to play before they were called to the family room where their secret spy mission (to prove themselves as secret spies and complete the mission) was explained. Each recruit was given their spy notebook and pencil and then fingerprinted.

After the fingerprinting was complete we brought them to the studio for an obstacle course to test their physical stamina and readiness for the mission. They punched a focus pad, climbed through a laser maze, and then balanced on a course of beams. They also tried on a variety of camouflage gear and at one point we tied groups of them together with a long rope to see how quickly they could escape (very quickly!).

Before the mission began they had to collect 19 clues (pieces of green painters tape) from around the main floor of the house. They put the clues in their spy books (the tape looked blank but each piece was numbered 1-19 with yellow highlighter).

After passing the retinal scanner they went to the darkened basement with their flashlights to find the decoder. Using our UV light (aka, cat pee light) they put the 19 pieces of tape in order (the light made the highlighter numbers glow) on the decoder square which revealed the location of the hidden bomb (piñata).

Note: Even my fancy-schmancy camera has trouble taking photos when its pitch black ;)

Their mission was to defuse the the bomb (with a broomstick). My wise husband suggested we destroy the bomb in the garage to minimize the mess.

When the mission was complete we let the kids play for 20-30 minutes (as well as colour the huge piece of paper we'd laid out for their cake picnic) before it was time for the second bomb. The cake and sparkler were a huge hit!

Because we have gift free parties there wasn't any need for present opening and after two hours we sent the tired spies home. In lieu of loot bags (something else we avoid at our parties) we sent each home with their fingerprint sheet, flashlight, notepad/pencil, and the candy from the piñata.

Given the laughter, huge smiles, thundering feet, and excited shrieking, I'm going to say that a good time was had by all!

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 6-year-old ” firefighter”, 3.5-year-old “monkey”, and a third boy, "bug", due in May.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.

Flashback: Proulx Sugarbush and Berry Farm

Proulx Sugarbush and Berry Farm is located 5 minutes east of Orleans. The Sugarbush is open from late February until early April, and there are special Easter activities on Easter weekend.

The Sugar bush hours vary, but is usually open from 9 am until 3 or 4 pm on the weekends and is open during the week if you make a reservation.  There is also a buffet that is open from 9 am to 3 pm on the weekends.  If you'd like to visit the buffet during the week, you need to make a reservation.  Although its not required, Proulx recommends that you make a reservation to visit the Sugar bush on Easter weekend because its the busiest weekend of the year.

Admission to the farm is $5 + tax (kids under 37 months get in for free).  Included in the price of admission is access to the petting farm, nature walking trails, and the play parks and slides.  These activities are located in a different part of the farm than the maple syrup shack but a horse drawn wagon ride is included in the price of admission so you can visit the Sugar bush to watch sap being collected and visit the syrup shack to see how sap is transformed into maple syrup.  A variety of maple syrup products are available for sale at the farm, including maple taffy on snow ($3), pure maple taffy lollipops, maple taffy filled cones, and maple sugar leaves (3 for $2.50).

My boys both loved visiting the play houses and slides.  Despite the freezing cold temperatures we were outside for over two hours playing in the mud and snow. Learn from my mistake: wear snow pants and winter boots!  Until the temperature warms up, rubber boots make for a cold outing.

Last year when we visited the temperature was hovering around 0 and rubber boots and splash pants were a necessity.  The farm and sugar bush are very muddy so be prepared to wash everything your kids wear that day when you get home.

There is little in the way of scheduled activities and the petting farm is pretty sparse at this time of year (a donkey, a goat, a few sheep, and some ducks).  There isn't any entertainment and our three hours visit was occupied by the wagon ride and free play in the play structures and slides.

Unfortunately, the cold temperatures meant that the sap wasn't running.  We saw a lot of frozen sap in the bottom of buckets but the boys weren't able to watch is flow through the types and drip into the buckets, which sounds a bit like watching paint dry but is remarkably exciting for 5 year olds!

If you're planning to eat at the buffet, be forewarned: its expensive and on the weekends the line-ups are long.  We were lucky only to have to wait in line for 30 minutes.  We had friends who visited the weekend before and waited for over an hour.  The buffet is $23 (plus tax) for an adult, $18.60 for children ages 9 to 11, $15.05 for children ages 6-8, $10.40 for children ages 3 to 5, and free for children 3 years and younger.  They're pretty vigilant about counting family members as you arrive and plate sharing is discouraged.

Proulx Sugar Bush is a great family outing but a lot more fun when the temperatures are hovering closer to zero.  They do have a large heated tent so I would suggest packing a picnic lunch instead of visiting the buffet.

Sara is a photographer and mom to a 5-year-old ” firefighter” and 2.5-year-old “monkey”.  You can also find her at her blog, My Points of View.