Swimming through the heat wave

by Joanne Dovercourt is a refuge from the heat!   Just a quick post to say that the Dovercourt is having free swims to help with the heat wave until Sunday!   All swims in the pool are open to all ages and are free of charge until Sunday: - Swims are: Friday 12 to 1, 230 to 345, 630 to 730 pm - Saturday 7 to 8 am, 1 to 4pm - Sunday 7 to 8 am

Wading pools are always free but they have extended the hours! - Mckellar Park, Friday: 10am-7:30pm (extra 1.5hrs) - Westboro Kiwanis Park, Saturday and Sunday 10am-5pm   Joanne the proud mom of Amélie (8 years old) and Mathieu (4 years).  She is new at blogging and you can find her at Our Money Pit.

Ottawa Lumière Festival

By Deanna On Saturday, September 4th, New Edinburgh’s Stanley Park will be transformed into an enchanted evening of light and art. Lit up with the magic of colourful lantern sculptures, professional artists and performers will come together to create a magical atmosphere known as the Ottawa Lumière Festival.

Our family has been going to the festival since 2004 and has witnessed how it has evolved over the years. Each year, we put on our very best fairy costume and join the wizards, angels, knights and medieval princesses that make up the festive crowd. It is wonderful to see both children and adults dressed in enchanted attire, further adding to the whimsical feel of the festival. Artistically crafted paper lanterns line the path along the Rideau River and dangle from tree branches, lighting up the park. Musical, theatrical, dance performers and storytellers entertain throughout the evening, making this a fun-filled event for all ages. The festival usually gets underway around 4:30, but I recommend you get afternoon naps in early and stay past dusk to witness the park illuminated in its magical splendor.

A Company of Fools’ Scott Florence was brought on board as artistic director of this year’s festival, taking over from founding coordinator Joanne Hughes who has moved on to other adventures. I asked Scott what sprit the festival will take this year. “The theme this year will be ‘rebirth’. I think the whole event will have a really transformative and peaceful feel to it. I say that, and at that same time, one doesn't think of birth as quiet and easy, does one?” The Crichton Cultural Community Centre is also undergoing a renewal in summer programming, so for Scott, the rebirth theme seemed very appropriate. Scott adds, “…in planning this festival, just like in birth, you can never truly be prepared for the immensity and intensity of it.” He is just beginning to take a look at different artistic possibilities now, but promises lots of fun with light and fire, and as always, a blend of music, dance and theatre.

The night of art is the grand finale, like fireworks leading up to the big bang at the end. The real magic is happening the month before. Leading up to the event, Scott’s performance group will be providing workshops as part of the festival, offered throughout the month of August at the Crichton Cultural Community Centre, (200 Crichton Street). Classes are super-affordable and it’s a great way to spend an afternoon with kids and share the excitement in anticipation of the big event. We make it a ritual to attend a workshop, making a lantern that my little one proudly carries to the festival each year. Traditional lantern making workshops are planned, but what is new this year is mask making and mask performance workshops. Out of the mask workshops, Scott plans to create a small group of community members and emerging artists and create an original mask performance for the event.

If you’re like me and make it an annual tradition, you’ll know the Ottawa Lumière Festival is a spectacular family event and as I have experienced for many years, exceeds my expectations year over year. If you have never been, be sure to mark it on your calendar... this is one event you will not want to miss!

Further information about the festival can be found at http://www.lumiereottawa.com or by contacting the main office of the Crichton Cultural Community Centre (613) 745-2742.

Deanna is Chief Storyteller for StorylinePR and inspired by the creativity of her 6 year old, Madeline.  She blogs about PR tips and media trends at http://storylinepr.wordpress.com/

ABC Challenge : we're done!!

by Lara Did anyone notice I missed last week's post? Sorry...  my house has been infested with sick and teething for a month and it just couldn't happen.

But this week is a big week!!  It's the final week!  I completed the entire challenge and I know a few others did as well, and several others are close behind.  I am so thrilled that people enjoyed the challenge!

Now we need to figure out what next? A few of us are interested in continuing on with some photo challenges.  Are you interested? Let me know what you'd like to see with regards to photography!

Blog out Loud is tonight! I'll be there with a scrapbook of ABC challenge photos. Will you be there?

Photography tip

One of  the things that I learned most about during the course of this challenge was about Flickr.  It's a great tool for challenges like this. We were able to share photos, discuss all kinds of things and even make new friends! I got to meet a bunch of the abc challenge participants in person which is one of the things we want Kids in the Capital to be about - community!

But now that my ABC challenge is done I still plan to use flickr daily.  I've joined other challenges and communities - like Positively Ottawa (run by Angela and Dani) and 365 community (I'm on day 36 of my 365 project and really enjoying the challenge!)

So I challenge you to explore Flickr. There are so many great places to get inspiration for new and different photos, to learn more, and to share your fabulous photos with others who really appreciate photography.  Please add me as a contact if you're there, I'd love to keep exploring photography with you!

My last 4 photos!

V is for vehicles - doesn't he look like such a big boy here?

K is for kissing -  Kiernan loves his babies and gives them hugs and kisses multiple times a day. Most of the time they tolerate him :)

B is for books - books at bedtime are a big thing around here.

L is for laughing - Quinn is one of the smiliest and laughiest (both words, I swear) kids ever. This is one of my favourite photos of the challenge.

Participants' photos

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/glidinglara/4763942232/" title="V is for vehicle by GlidingLara, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/4763942232_3af0bdb32c.jpg" width="333" height="500" alt="V is for vehicle"></a>

E is for eating by Dani - ice cream screams summer and with this heat wave isn't it refreshing just to even look at it?

U is for umbrella by Sara - Peek!

J is for jumping by Stella - great jump and great shirt!

E is for eating by Angela - more summer snacks, yumm!

Please take the time to let me know how you enjoyed the challenge, if you found the tips useful and if you'd be interested in participating in more photography challenges.  Other ideas I've had include photography get togethers and maybe even trying to set up some photography workshops.  Thanks for following along!! (But if you aren't done and want to finish getting all your ABC photos - please keep adding them to our group, there will still be people checking out what's there!)

Lara is the mom to 3.5 year old Kiernan and 1 year old twins Quinn and Juliette. You can find her at her blog Gliding Through Motherhood.

I can't believe it's butter!

by Brie I like the idea of making things from scratch. I really like the idea of making easy things from scratch. My new favorite easy thing to make? Butter.

Yup, you heard right. Butter. And I am making it the easy way. No wooden butter churn for me. All you need to make butter are two marbles, a clean baby food jar and some heavy cream (i.e. whipping cream). Oh, and a lot of muscle.

The three-year old girl and I had some fun one afternoon making butter while her brother napped. She plopped two marbled into the jar and then filled up the jar half way with cream. I screwed the lit on very, very tight. Then the shaking began.

I wish I could tell you that she did most of the shaking, but well, that would be lying. Instead she would do a little shaking and then hand the jar back to me to do a lot of shaking. So I shook and shook and shook.

After awhile I couldn't hear the marbles rattling around anymore. I thought this is it! So I opened the jar and found...whipping cream. Convinced that I had somehow done something wrong, like buy the wrong cream, I let the girl eat four crackers spread with whipping cream. She loved it.

While she ate I sat there thinking. Finally I decided to try shaking the jar some more. And what do you know! I heard a distinct slosh sound and what had been whipping cream suddenly split into butter and whey. Success!

The girl ate another four crackers, this time topped with butter. I used the butter in my cooking the next day. Really, the butter is very yummy. After eating it you will want to make butter all the time.

The best part, though, was making something from scratch and showing the girl how butter can easily be homemade.

Brie is the mom of a 3.5 year old daughter “the girl” and twenty-two month old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Summer of Awesome - AMC Movie Tuesdays

by Lynn I love the movies. I used to go once a week back BK - Before Kids. Now, I'm lucky to get to the theatre once a year. I miss it.

But happily, this summer we've discovered AMC's Movie Tuesdays. Each Tuesday morning at 10 a.m., the AMC Theatre in Kanata's Centrum is showing a movie for just $1 per ticket. It's not a current release, but something from the past couple of years that was a big hit with the kids. It's a great way to introduce my kids to the whole movie-going experience and the perfect outing for a rainy day.

Last week we went to our first showing, Monsters Vs. Aliens. We'd seen the movie before, which I consider a plus - that way, I don't have to spend my entire time answering question after question about what happens next. We plan to go often this summer, but with the almost-three-year-old in tow, I definitely plan to focus on movies we've seen before. Here's the complete schedule:

July 6 Madagascar (PG)	July 13 Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG)	July 20 Hotel for Dogs (PG)
July 27 Kung Fu Panda (PG)	August 3 The Spiderwick Chronicles (PG)	August 10 Surprise Mystery Title

The best part about Movie Tuesday is that it's totally aimed at families. Everyone comes with kids, as young as small babies going right up to tweenagers. There's a ton of noise in there - don't worry, you'll still hear the movie over the crying babies and toddlers declaring that they need to pee, but at the same time, there's very little pressure to try to keep your own kids quiet. It's like a huge Mardi Gras party and everyone's invited. Well, except for the beads and drinking and toplessness. Whatever.

We brought our own snacks, due to the Captain's allergies. This is technically not allowed, but it's more of a don't-ask-don't-tell kind of policy. So the overall cost of the morning was just $4 -- well worth it for two hours of entertainment and my own swoony return to the movies. If you do want to buy snacks, they have a special kids' pack during these screenings for just $4 each.

These showings do fill up right to the last seat, so be sure to come early. We got there 1/2 hour early this week and already it was more than half full; larger parties that arrived at five minutes to ten were forced to sit in the very front row. If you're saving seats for friends, be prepared to be aggressive, and tell your buddies not to be late and make you look like a jerk. I'm just saying, LADY NEXT TOO US.

Good price, good fun, and child-friendly environment - I hardly need to say that AMC Movie Tuesdays gets a big Summer Of Awesome Must Do.

Lynn is mom to three tombliboos and blogs over at Turtlehead.