Ongoing Summer Activities

Spring Awakes in Gatineau Park - On May 1st Gatineau Park began its nature interpretation program for the whole family with sessions on spring flowers and the sights and sounds of birds. For more information and dates visit http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/data/2/rec_docs/26186_spring-awakes-in-gatineau-park-2011.pdf. More information on Gatineau Park can also be found at http://www.guidegatineau.ca/

Alcatel-Lucent Sunday Bike Days - running right through our neighbourhood, 5.5 kilometres of the Ottawa River Parkway is closed for cyclists from Victoria Day through to Labour Day.  Make sure to stop off at Westboro beach.  http://www.canadascapital.gc.ca/bins/ncc_web_content_page.asp?cid=16297-16299-9970-9972&lang=1&bhcp=1


Watson's Mill in Manotick - Saturday, May 7 - opens for the season - hours are 10-5 - with milling demonstrations on Sunday at 1:00. For more details see last year's blog post at http://kitchissippikids.blogspot.com/2010/05/sunday-excursion-part-ii-watsons-mill.html or http://www.watsonsmill.com/.

Gatineau Park - the parkways re-open on Friday, May 6th at noon! Check out Pink Lake, Larriault Trail, King Mountain trail or Champlain Lookout - all do-able with relatively young children (though take a backpack or a strong set of shoulders just in case!). See last year's blog post on Pink Lake http://kitchissippikids.blogspot.com/2010/08/lots-of-life-at-pink-lake.html. Also don't forget about the Sugarbush trail http://kitchissippikids.blogspot.com/2010/04/sugarbush-trail-in-gatineau-park_02.html. And remember, La Cigale is open for ice cream!

Upper Canada Village - opens for the season on Saturday, May 21, the 50th anniversary season launch, opening of the new Village store, and celebrations of Queen Victoria's birthday will be held. This is a great place for a day trip when you want to get out Ottawa. Interesting for adults, entertaining for kids, wagon rides, canal boat rides, train, history lessons, and a small farm! It's also where my 7 year old baker son loves to buy a big bag of stone milled flour! And you can feed bread to the BIG fish under the bridge. Have fun.

Sunday Excursion Part II - Watson's Mill, Manotick

This was our second stop after Sun -Tech Greenhouses (see previous post) and it was the perfect choice.  I was surprised that we had not heard much of the mill before - it's a beautiful building in a beautiful setting and well worth the visit.

We'd learned things here too.  Sunday's are the best time to visit - (1) the mill is operated between 1:00 and 3:30 every Sunday afternoon; (2) the mill is child friendly and has a variety of hands-on exhibits; (3) the mill will be part of Doors Open Ottawa on June 5th and 6th the same dates as Dickinson Days, the annual Manotick festival; and (4) one can buy duck feed - $1 for a decent sized bag - and feed the ducks off the bridge outside.  A number of people were also fishing.

For more information visit http://www.watsonsmill.com/