Tobogganing. Is. Awesome.

by Zach  Our two year old boy clung to me, weeping. "It's okay," I said. "I'm going to go on the tobbogan with your sister, okay? You can wait up here with your grandpa."   "No!" he said, and held on tighter. "Okay," I said, "alright." His four year old sister was sitting patiently at the front of the toboggan, ready to tip over the edge of the tiny, tiny hill. I tried to think of some way to compromise.   "Do you want to sit on my lap?" I suggested, not for a second thinking he'd accept that. "Yeah," he said. He wasn't happy, but apparently preferred to think that at least we would all go to our doom together.   I folded my legs and sat him down on my lap, held on tightly, and pushed off.   On the way down, he giggled. "Again!" he yelled when we slid to a stop. So we did, again, and again, and again.   I had high hopes at the beginning of the winter for tobogganing, but I'm a little embarrassed to say that last weekend was only the second time we'd gone tobogganing. The first time amounted to a kind of warm up, with the girl agreeing to watch me slide down a miniscule hill on the toboggan by myself. She laughed, but didn't particularly want to participate. The boy choose to sit in the stroller, out of the wind, and watch us skeptically.   This second round, though, was an enormous success. The girl hopped right on our toboggan that we had bought at a garage sale, probably around five years ago, ready to hurl herself down whatever hill might be closest. Though the boy had been excited when I suggested tobogganing, when he actually saw what it involved, he decided this really was not a good idea after all. However, I think to everyone's relief, he eventually came around and thoroughly enjoyed himself.   We were at Patterson Creek, at Bank Street just south of Patterson Avenue. The former creek bed sits a few feet below the level of the surrounding roads, which means that the park area is almost entirely ringed by toboggan hills perfect for the four year old-ish age group. The area is popular, and I've often seen the corner of the park by Patterson Avenue and Bank Street overrun by families and various snow-sliding devices.   The large amount of space also means that a four-year old can move restlessly around the edges of the park, picking and choosing new places to slide down. There's plenty of street parking, and the Glebe is just a short ways south for hot chocolates and other snacks to bolster little sledders.   Of course, there are loads more hills in Ottawa, and I look forward to dragging the kids to as many as they will tolerate as they get older ... or possibly they'll be the ones dragging me. The city of Ottawa has put together a great list of the hills, which includes details like nearby parking, some of the features of the hills themselves, and potential hazards.   What has your experience been with tobogganing in Ottawa? Do you have a favourite hill, especially for a particular age range? When did you start with your kids, and what were their reactions?

Zach is a dad to a four year old girl and two year old boy. He sometimes blogs. He is often blogged about by his wife over at Capital Mom.

Petrie Island in the Fall

by Lara

Way back when it was warm (doesn't that feel so long ago?) Misty told us about Petrie Island and what a great place it was for kids. I have to be honest and say that before her post I thought Petrie Island was just a beach.  And beaches aren't particularly my thing...

It took me awhile to get there, but we headed over there last week and not only is it a lot of fun, but the Fall colours blew me away!

If you're looking for a spot over the next few weeks to enjoy the Fall colours but you don't want to head up into Gatineau, you can definitely find some here.  And while you're there the kids can balance on logs, look for turtles or other wildlife, walk into the wilderness, play on play structures or run around on the huge beach.

It was a great outing on a Fall afternoon - and if I do say so myself, makes a great backdrop for some fabulous photos!

I highly recommend you check it out!

Lara is mom to 9 year old Kiernan and 6 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can read her blog at Gliding Through Motherhood.

Going to the dogs

by Julie Our family's weekend morning routine is to go to our local dog park.  Any time of year, and in almost any type of weather.  It's a great way to meet some people in your neighborhood, get some exercise (if you walk there), and a real fun way to get some fresh air and let the kid(s) run around.  And yes, everyone knows the dogs names more than their people's names.

There are tonnes of great dog parks all through the city of Ottawa.  And the Ottawa Dog Blog has created an awesome dog park finder, which makes it all the easier.  While we love our local dog park, and have met some really great people (we even know their names!) we sometimes venture out to some of the larger dog parks for some adventure.  Two of our favorites are: Bruce Pit - Ottawa's most popular and largest dog park; and Conroy Pit.  Both are very large wooden areas which have dozens paths that weave through them.

While Chili (the dog) can roam freely, sniffing from tree to tree, the jellybean can also roam freely (sometimes sniffing trees - hey, he's three!).  The paths range from dense forest, to thick shrub, to large fields.  Everyone is very friendly and the dogs are well behaved.  We have yet to come upon a dog that is aggressive or misbehaved.  And considering the amount of dogs you see there on any given day, that's pretty impressive.  While the dogs are well behaved, there is the occasional knocking over of small children, or adult, by rambunctious dogs at play.

The parks are clean and most of the dog poop is picked up.  I say most for those that might not venture into the woods to find where Rover might have squatted, and the few people who don't stoop and scoop.  I say there are few of those people because more often than not people let the owner know, offer a bag if they happen to be out, and basically stare them down until they clean up after their dog.  Yes, that would be me.

Do you have to have a dog to visit dog parks?  Of course not.  It's actually a great place to visit if you have been toying with the idea of adding a new member to your family.  Especially if you have a little one who hasn't been around a lot of dogs.  While I wouldn't bring a child who is nervous to a large place like Bruce Pit on their first outing, your local dog park is a great place for first introductions.  And if you are seriously considering adding that extra member, dog parks are actually a great way to "shop" for a dog.  You will see every type of breed and mutt there is, and everyone is friendly and often very willing to discuss the pros and cons of their dogs.

So instead of quickly walking the pooch around the block before you head out to the hills to go for a great outdoor adventure with the kids, take the pooch with you and have an adventure together.

Julie (a.k.a. smothermother) is mom to 3 yr old Jellybean and married to the hubby.  You can read her blog at www.smothermother.blogspot.com.

McLaurin Bay

by Annie Last summer, the kids and I stopped briefly at the the playground at Parc Martin Larouche in Gatineau (rue Notre Dame at rue Joseph Roy). Julian was 5 and Emma was 2. We didn't stay for very long because it really was a "big kids" park and Emma wasn't able to climb up to go down the slides. We noticed that there was a nature trail starting at the playground, but there were too many mosquitoes to venture into the marshy woods at that time of year.

With all of the rain we've been getting lately, we were anxious to get out and enjoy the outdoors this weekend. Since Emma is a year older and the mosquito season is over, we thought it would be fun to check out this park and trail again. So we packed a picnic lunch and headed out.

When we arrived, the kids checked out the playground. There are large rock climbing walls that you have to scale to get to the top to access the big windy slides. There are also lots of things to hang from (like monkey bars) and balance on, making it a great park for kids to test their abilities. There are a few swings too (two baby swings, two regular swings), but the highlight really is the play structure.

Once the kids had played for a while, we decided to check out the trail. The trail is 1.6km one-way or 3.2km round trip. It starts from the playground and goes through the woods and across wetlands of McLaurin Bay (Baie McLaurin) before coming out at the Ottawa River. At the start of the trail, there is a sign indicating the number of different species of flora and fauna that can be found along the trail. There are hundreds of different species of birds, fish, amphibians, reptiles, mammals, insects and plants. As I read off the statistics to the kids, they became a little bit anxious that we might run into lots of scary animals along the trail.

The first part of the trail winds through the woods and the colours were brilliant. The next segment is a bridge across the marsh at the edge of McLaurin Bay. The bridge is a series of floating docks with railings held together by a cable, so the bridge moves up and down in the water as you step from one piece of the bridge onto the next. The next part of the trail goes by several lookouts. One of them is a deck overlooking an area populated by beavers (no lodges/dams to be seen today) and the other is a tower with a view of the whole bay. The final segment goes through the woods again and comes out between a few homes in a residential area by the Ottawa River.

I had briefly considered taking our picnic lunch with us on the trail and eating it when we got to the Ottawa River. I'm glad we didn't though, because the end of the trail at the Ottawa River is all private property except for the very narrow exit of the trail onto the river-side road (Boul. Hurtubise), so there isn't really anywhere to sit and have a picnic.

All along the trail there is signage indicating the types of birds, fish, trees, and other things that you can find in the nature reserve. The kids enjoyed looking at the pictures and also pointing out the things they spotted along the trail, including different types of squirrels, a dead mouse, a fuzzy caterpillar, interesting mushrooms growing in a tree and plenty of red "Canada" leaves.

Once we got back to the playground, we took out our picnic lunch and ate at one of the picnic tables right next to the play structure. The kids came and went from the table, taking a few bites and then heading off to go down the slide again, and then coming back for more.

The one downside, and perhaps the reason we didn't stay any longer, is that there are no washrooms at the park. So when nature called, we went on our way...

Annie is an Ottawa-area mom of 2 kids. She blogs about the art and science of parenting at the PhD in Parenting blog.

Sunday October 17th 10am- 3pm The Glebe Community Center 175 Third Ave @ Lyon St in The Glebe

Adventures at Mud Lake

by Krista I am a city girl that was raised with a cottage, so I appreciate the beauty of leaving the city and heading to the lake/woods. I have not been able to go to my family cottage that much this year, and have been really missing the peace and quiet that comes with being away from it all. It was only when I found myself at loose ends with my almost two-year-old this weekend that I remembered that there is a wonderful spot close by that brings me to the lake, without having to leave the city - MUD LAKE. Located in the Britannia Conservation Area, it is a small wooded lake surrounded by a hiking trail.

We parked on Cassels Street, where the opening to the path is pretty obvious when you are looking for it. Goose was pretty excited by the nature show that she was given, stepping out of the car to see some neat looking caterpillars, fuzzy and multicoloured, nothing like the boring brown and green ones we have at home. We headed down the path and checked out the first little lookout on the water's edge. We had been there all of three seconds when a duck swam up and walked right up to where we were crouched.

Goose was beyond excited. After many squeals (which somehow did not scare the duck away) I managed to get her back on the path, where we wandered to the next little lookout and saw a couple more ducks and a chipmunk, also a hit. As we continued deeper into the woods, the path wound away from the water. I feared that this might be our undoing, as the lake was the big attraction, but nature won out. There were plenty of bugs, plants, neat looking trees, and birds to keep us both in awe.

After about ten more minutes of walking, we hit a fork in the path. After a little bit of indecision

we headed left and found ourselves on one of several wooden viewing platforms. We were lucky, as there was a Great Blue Heron in the water in front of us. We watched for about ten minutes. We got to see him catch a fish, which delighted Goose, who squealed and startled him.

After he flew away, we turned around and headed home, happy with all we had seen.

Throughout our walk we bumped into a fair number of people, mostly runners, birders or photographers, but it was not at all crowded, even though it was a weekend. A few of the more serious nature lovers were dislodged by the noisy toddler, but they were all good-natured about it. Before we set out I couldn't recall if the trail was safe for toddlers or suitable for strollers. I decided to chance it and leave the stroller at home and am glad we walked. The trail is certainly suitable for strollers. It is crushed gravel, fairly well packed, and about three feet wide in most sections.

We were there for about one hour, but did not walk the entire trail. It is over 3KM long, too long for the little legs. A cautionary note - there are no fences on the trail, nor at any of the lookouts. I did not feel that it was dangerous, but you do have to keep a close eye on your little ones if they tend to be "adventurous" like mine.

Krista is married to Willy and mom to a 3 year old son, Woo, and 1.5 year old daughter Goose. You can find her at Life in the Hutch or on Twitter @kgraydonald