Gone with the Family

Searching for Tulips in Ottawa

This year the Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa, Ontario celebrated its 60th Anniversary.  Tulips were originally gifted to Canada by the Netherlands as a thank you for providing a safe haven to the Dutch Royal Family during World War II and as a symbol of the special friendship between the two countries.  During the war, Canada provided refuge to Princess Juliana and her two young daughters in the nation's capital and, when a third daughter was about to be born on Canadian soil, a room at the Ottawa Civic Hospital was declared to be part of the Netherlands so that Princess Margriet could be born a Dutch citizen.    

Under Aladdin's Spell

We vacationed for a week at Disney World when Emma was 4 years old and completely besotted with princesses.  A fair bit of time was spent lining up to see each and every princess, get her autograph, have a chat and pose for a photo.  Then we met Aladdin and Jasmine...

Halfway Between the Equator and the North Pole

 Our first car trip between the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island was completely unplanned.  Katie was not quite 2 years old and we had been spending a week on the island at the tail end of the summer.  Partway into our week, the pilots at Air Canada went on strike and we suddenly had no easy way to return home as there were no other airlines that flew directly from Charlottetown to Toronto.

Cruising on the Seine: A Photo Essay

One of the things that I knew that we had to do when we were in Paris was take a boat cruise on the Seine. I have a very vivid memory of the cruise we took in Paris on our honeymoon and I wanted to relive the experience - and besides it's just one of those quintessential things that you have to do in Paris. The city is so beautiful when viewed from the water, particularly on a sunny day, and cruising on the river provides a different perspective on the buildings and landmarks that you have been walking by and the bridges that you have been walking over.

Disney Castles

The theme for (Almost) Wordless Wednesday this week is Disney Castles.  We have been fortunate enough to visit three Disney parks and see three distinctive castles and it's always that first glimpse of the castle that gets me truly excited about a trip to Disney.  I remember when, as a child, the Sunday broadcast of The Wonderful World of Disney was an event that our entire family looked forward to and it was the image of the castle and Tinker Bell flying over it sprinkling her pixie dust that I associated with both the television show and Disney itself.  That image of the castle symbolized the magic of Disney for me then and still does today.       

The Broken Chair

Across from United Nations European Headquarters at the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland sits a poignant memorial to victims of landmines and cluster bombs.  The Broken Chair monument which stands 12 metres high, was designed by Swiss artist Daniel Berset and crafted by carpenter Louis Genève.  

Disney's Royal Ladies

The theme for Disney (Almost) Wordless Wednesday this week is Royal Ladies and, with two daughters, princesses are one thing of which I have an abundance of photos.  

Mother's Day

During this past week leading up to Mother's Day, Mara at Mother of all Trips dedicated each day to offering tips, inspiration and stories to all the traveling moms out there, especially those who may be wondering how exactly to go about introducing travel to young children.  In each post, Mara has shared the collective wisdom of a group of family travel bloggers and put together a series of informative articles for moms seeking advice on traveling with babies and toddlers.  

A Whirlwind Visit to Musée Rodin

My first trip to Paris was for three days at the end of our honeymoon and when we arrived in the city the museums were all closed as the workers were on strike.  I was very disappointed but, fortunately, the strike ended on the morning of our last day and we at least managed to see both the Louvre and the Musée d'Orsay on that one day.  As a result of that experience, I knew when I first started planning for our spring break family trip to Paris that I wanted to visit both of those museums as well as a couple of more that we hadn't had the opportunity to see on the previous visit.

The Grand Floridian

The theme for Disney (Almost) Wordless Wednesday this week is Resorts & Relaxation.  My favourite Disney World resort is the Victorian-style Grand Floridian located along the shore of the Seven Seas Lagoon.  Our family has stayed there a couple of times and found that it's close proximity to Magic Kingdom via monorail made it ideal for returning for a mid-afternoon break from the crowds in the park to play on the white sand beach or in the pools.  The architecture of the resort is reminiscent of the grand sea side resorts of another era which made me feel like I had been transported far from the hustle and bustle of the theme parks and to a time when the perfect holiday was just relaxing by the sea.  The Grand Floridian would be perfect for treating moms to a special Mother's Day weekend.