A Little Recreation Time

by Amy I recently quit my job and bought a house. These two moves meant that I have been at home looking for activities for the kid and me in our new neighbourhood.

There's a park close to the house and a few things around, and we've been going swimming at the Kanata Wave Pool. My kid was born to be in the water, it's something she's always loved, but at Kanata I found that the slope of the pool was good for her but hard on my knees. So I took to the city website and tried to find another pool close by, and that is how we happened upon the Goulbourn Recreation Centre and their fantastic pool.

The centre is in Stittsville, just off Hazeldean and about a five minute drive from our new house. The pool is built for all ages. There is a shallow area for younger kids, with a palm tree that rains on you and another contraption that shoots water out at all angles. This shallow area leads into the wide open part of the pool for older kids (and, when you attend the preschool swim, an aquafit class). There is also a great big water slide, but the kid is still a bit young for that.

My husband and I took the kid to the pool on Sunday afternoon and it was pretty busy, but there seemed to be room for everyone. On Thursday I took the kid to the preschool swim and we only had to share the pool with the aquafit class and a few other moms with their toddlers.(The preschool swim is one of the best things I've discovered since taking on my new role).

The Goulbourn Rec Centre is a wonderful addition to our lives and I'm looking forward to enrolling the kid in some of the classes there in the fall.

Do you have a rec centre nearby that you're in love with?

Amy is mom to two year old Maggie and a 6 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.

Birthday parties: Bowling Bash

by AmandaY A few weeks before his birthday J and I were discussing what kind of party he would like to have.  He started by saying he wanted his grandparents and aunt and uncle to come over for supper.  I told him we would do that too, but I was really asking what kind of kids party he would like to have.  His eyes nearly popped out of his head, such was his surprise.

"A kids party?  I can have my friends at a party?"  He was so happy about that simple fact that he really had no clue what kind of party he should have.  So I gave him a few choices (based on my cost analysis research) and he ended up picking a Bowling Party at Merivale Bowling Lanes.

First of all, bowling is a great activity for kids.  It is active, fun, and really not all that hard to do.  They put bumpers on the lanes for kids so there are no gutter balls to discourage them.  This way, they hit the pins a lot more making it more fun for everyone.

The bowling balls are smaller, not as heavy so the kids can handle them fairly easily.  I don't recommend it for kids under 3-4.  There is music blasting, lights are low and the shoes glow in the dark!  Such simple things to enhance the experience. (Young or very sensitive children may be a bit scared or overwhelmed by the music, lights and noise of the bowling alley.)

My son invited six of his friends, 3 boys from school and 3 kids he's known since he was very little through my friends and daycare.  The kids dove into bowling with lots of enthusiasm, they picked up quickly when it was their turn and how to keep track of their scores, and at one point we had a mini mosh pit of little boys rolling around on top of each other.  Birthday boy was at the bottom, of course.  His friends were all so excited that they just piled on top of him to wish him happy birthday!

Merivale Bowling lanes did a really great job with my son's birthday party.  They were well organized, had a hostess assigned specifically to our party to facilitate our experience there.  We had one hour to bowl and one hour in the restaurant for lunch and cake.  Our hostess organized all the kids with their shoes, programmed all the lanes with names and such and checked in with us regularly to make sure things were going smoothly.  When we were done with bowling we went to the restaurant and the table was set with all the gifts at one end, and the food was ready so the kids didn't have to wait for anything.  They could dive into their pizza, bash open their bags of chips (yes, there were chips everywhere!), and they were all thirsty and so there was apple juice for all sitting at their places.  Presents were opened and cake was served.  Overall, the food was really good and they did a great job on the cake.

We would definitely go back again, both for just family bowling and likely for another birthday.  The cost was really very reasonable, it saved me a whole lot of work, all we had to do was bring the loot bags for our guests.  We bought gift bags in bright colours and filled them with fun items from our local Dollarama.  At the end of the party everyone seemed happy and the birthday boy was thrilled with it, which was, above all, the whole point.

Have you taken your kids bowling?

Amanda was born and raised in Ottawa where she continues to live with her husband and son “J”. Amanda is bilingual and interests include reading, blogging, socializing, and advocacy on children and teen issues.

The Magic of a Cardboard Box

by Amy The kid and I have been looking for activities during our days when I want to get a little work done and she wants some play time. Last night I was unpacking some things from our recent move and I ended up with five cardboard boxes of varying sizes.

So this morning, when she was asking for something to do, I brought them upstairs. I got the idea from Stella and Sam, when Sam's friend Owen brings over boxes in boxes in boxes and he and Sam imagine all sorts of things with them.

Today, for a while this morning and again this evening, these boxes have been great toys. These boxes have been houses, hiding places, spaceships and several times towers that she can then knock over.

Get out the crayons and we can draw on them and make them an arts and crafts project.

I thought she might get some fun out of them, I didn't expect hours of entertainment. Now I'm going to have a hard time recycling them.

Amy is mom to two year old Maggie and a 6 year old schnauzer named Henry. You can read her blog at amyboughner.ca where she writes about motherhood and anything else that’s on her mind. She also shares a blog with her husband at boughner.ca where they talk together about parenting a daughter.

A bike with no pedals

by Lara With three kids who all kind of need help when riding their bikes/trikes we decided that for the twins' third birthday we would get them kick bikes.  The idea being that they could self propel without my husband and I needing to help/guide three children constantly.

We headed out to Play Value on their actual birthday (a trip to this store could be a post in itself!) to check out what we could find.

We left with two of these Kiddler bikes:

I'm not going to lie, our walks are pretty slow going.  But they enjoy the independence of doing it themselves and Eric and I get to walk without fussing with the kids as much. Win Win I say :)

Lara is mom to five year old Kiernan and three year old boy/girl twins Quinn and Juliette. Between the kids and her social media consulting business, she spends most of her time running frazzled.

The magic of big wheels and vehicles: Touch-A-Truck

by Karen This was originally published on Karen's Chronicles two years ago after our first visit to Touch-A-Truck. This weekend on June 10th, Mothercraft is bringing out all the biggest and best vehicles for your children to explore and enjoy. It's truly a fun time that appeals to a fairly wide range of ages - you should come out!

*****

I've had some strange looks over the last week whenever I tell someone that we were going to Touch-A-Truck this weekend. For some reason, there were a LOT of people asking me what I was doing this weekend. So, I had to explain what it is to each of them.

First of all, Mothercraft did a great job putting this really fabulous event together. I can only imagine the logistics that went into getting all of those vehicles and people together all at once. And the vehicle operators were great with the kids - even my shy guy.

School Bus! Brandon was most excited about seeing a school bus and the fire trucks.

Déjà vu - I was just doing this a couple of weeks ago at the Children's Museum when Brandon had to share the driver's seat there, too.

Matt was pretty excited they brought in a crane for the day. Brandon didn't seem to care much for it.

Brandon waited none too patiently to finally get to sit in the fire truck. He seemed to enjoy these vintage models, but the big new ones intimidated him.

Military vehicles! We retreated to the far side of the parking lot hoping to find shorter lines and hit the jackpot!

Brandon was shorter than the wheel - not so unusual on a lot of these vehicles, but this was the one we got to document.

She tried to get him interested, but he was having no part of the inside of that truck. It was DARK in there!

Brandon has a minor fascination with motorcycles now, so the Harleys they had inside were irresistible.

Brandon wants to be able to hold the handlebars, so he made it happen. That amused the man who was in charge of the Harleys (thankfully).

Last but not least, we visited the apple with the worm. I think he thought it was a turtle, though.

We didn't last long at Touch-A-Truck this year. The heat of the day and all the stimulation proved to be more than Brandon could handle for more than an hour. Considering his age (and how hot it was), I think he did really well. Who cares if I will never regain use of my shoulder again after carrying him everywhere. ;)

I'm already looking forward to this happening again next year so I can see how Brandon's reactions to it will change. He didn't seem bothered by the noise - and there was quite a bit of noise from all the horns and sirens. But lately we've noticed that he doesn't like crowds too much. I hope it will be less intimidating for him next year!

Will we see you at Touch-A-Truck this weekend?!?

*****

Karen Wilson is a wife to Matt and mom to Brandon (4), who blogs about her life at Karen’s Chronicles. She can be found at Wellman Wilson, helping business use social media more effectively. Lately, she's also busy planning a little conference and doing her part to keep the coffee industry alive.