Summer of Awesome - OPL Centennial

by Lynn Our Summer of Awesome was a little less awesome these past two weeks, because we did daily swim lessons in the middle of the day. And while that's fun too, and good progress was made, it doesn't really make for spectacular blog posts.

The floating! The gliding! The blowing of bubbles! See what I mean?

Since our ability to take splendid day trips was dampened, we did a lot of going to the park and having playdates and baking at home.

But the best thing we did is go to the library.

Our closest library is the Hazeldean branch, and quite frankly, it sucks for kids. The kids' section is smack in the middle of one big room, and while your kids are yelling and running around and grabbing books from shelves and shouting, "MOMMY! READ THIS ONE! AND THIS ONE! AND THIS ONE!", you're fielding a ton of dirty looks from librarians and over-the-top shushing from people in Adult Education at Algonquin who are trying to get something done.

(Or, your kids are sitting quietly at a table reading to themselves, in which case, we can no longer be friends. Be well in life.)

Anyway, recently we discovered the Centennial branch, which is in Bell's Corners. It's not too much farther away and such a huge improvement. This is a library designed with kids in mind.

When you enter, the adult books, and a separate quiet study room, are to your right. The kids' area is completely separate, off to your left. It's a huge round room full of books just for kids, their own computers, and an adorable little circle for sitting and reading. Plus, with a massive skylight and kid-centered displays and decor, it's bright and inviting and FUN.

I don't feel the same need to keep a close rein on my kids here, and that is awesome. The kids' room usually has its own librarian on staff and she's friendly and helpful and above all, tolerant. The kids are free to explore the shelves and curl up on a miniature couch with their choices. They can ask me questions without me constantly telling them to be quiet, and if we want to have a little impromptu storytime, we can just go for it.

Not a bad way to spend an hour or so, with enough take-home goodies to cover the pre-dinner rush for the rest of the week.

All of the Ottawa Public Libraries have kids' programs, but Centennial has more than most. They have Lego building events and craft series and storytime ALL the time and family puppet shows. It's like they actually WANT you to bring your kids there. Really! Let them touch stuff! Let them explore! Let them be kids!

Amazing.

And the very best part about the library? It's free. I usually tell the kids they can each take out three books. While the Captain limits himself strictly to this limit (because more than that would be breaking the rules, NO NO NO), and Gal Smiley is always delighted with whatever three titles I pick out for her, Gal Smiley can never limit herself to less than 10. And that's okay! Take them all! Because it's FREE.

And now, excuse me while we go do some serious reading.

Lynn is mom to 7-year-old Captain Jelly Belly, 5.5-year-old Gal Smiley, and 2.5-year-old Little Miss Sunshine. She blogs over at Turtlehead.

Planning a Fairy Party

by Brie Do you have any little fairies living in your garden? Perhaps some gnomes hiding behind a tree stump? Elves frolicking in your bird bath?

Then I think it is time to invite them all to a party!

Recently the girl and I went to a wonderful fairy garden party at the Children's Garden located at Main Street and Clegg in Old Ottawa East. In amongst the trees and tomato plants roamed every colour of fairy, gnomes and elf you could possibly imagine. It was an explosion of gold, pink and blue. And fun!

I was completely blown away by the attention to detail at the party. The organizers did a great job in creating a non-commercial environment that stayed true to the spirit of a fairy party. They also said I could share their secrets with you.

So here is some great ideas and tips if you are interested in planning a fairy garden party:

1. Face painting. The girl headed straight for the face painting as soon as we got there. She was delighted with the simple pink and purple design that was painted on her forehead.

2. Magic wands. The first of the two crafts the girl made was a magic wand. The wands were already cut out of a firm cardboard. The kids were able to decorate them with peel-off stickers, little jewels, glitter glue and ribbon.

With #1 and #2 done the girl was ready to party!

3. Little fairy friends. The second craft on hand, which I had to help her with but would have been great for older kids to do one their own, was to make fairy friends. The fairies had pipe cleaner arms, legs and bodies and little wood bead heads with faces already painted on. Kids could add fake flower petal wings and skirts.

4. A troll pinata. What kid doesn't like whacking a troll. especially if he has goodies inside! This troll was handmade and painted a vibrant green. He really wasn't that scary though. The girl was about third in line, so eager was she to take a stick to him.

5. Magic beans. What could possibly be inside the troll's head? Why magic beans of course! Inside a blue velvet bag that the girl rushed quickly to grab from the ground once his head burst open, she found a little clear plastic bag. Inside that bag was a dozen or so magic beans mixed in with glitter and sparkles. As soon as I told her they were magic beans she headed straight for the bean tent to plant them.

6. Cupcakes and iced tea. No party is complete without cupcakes and on this day all the little woodland creatures were offered mini cupcakes topped with candies pansies. The girl ate her's right away. None was left for me. She even drank a full cup of chilled tea. And then she asked for more tea please.

7. Storytime. With so many great fairy tales out there it isn't hard to pick one to share with the kids. I found myself smiling as I watch about twenty little girls sit on the ground and listen eagerly to the story of Cinderella. In this case, a non-trademarked version. It was a great way to end a fabulous party.

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

July : what you might have missed

There's a lot going on in our fabulous city and Kids in the Capital has been hopping! In case you missed any of our fabulous posts this past month, here's a recap! Summer of Awesome

Lynn is having an amazing summer and telling us all about it.  She's been to Cosmic Adventures, Papanack Zoo, AMC Movie Tuesdays and Ray's Reptiles already and has been sharing everything she's learned! We can't wait to hear where she's going next!

Summer posts

Has this not been the nicest summer you can remember in eons?  So many fun summer things to do!  Vicky went to the cottage and brought back some great tips on cottaging with kids, told us about the ice cream truck and strawberry picking.  Sara told us about her backyard garden , did a great Canada day craft, and checked out some Dragonboats.   We  also touched some trucks , found out about some of the great summer camp options at Dovercourt and heard about summer park programs.

On a more serious note, we also covered some water safety tips. Please please be safe near water this summer.

Day-tripping

If you're heading out of town, think about taking a ferry, checking out Smiths Falls or spending the day at Storyland.

Restaurants

Liisa told us about a very sometimes treat - poutine! And Vicky gave us some breakfasting with kids tips and some information on Gabriel's in Orleans. We also checked out Kid Kaf which is a cafe but also a great place to let your kids run around and burn off energy, in a safe environment.

Food

We made butter, lemonade and tofu cookies with Brie (my you've been busy in the kitchen this summer ;)

Festivals

Kari told us about a smorgasbord of festivals, several of which have now passed but are worth keeping an eye open for next year.  And we found out all about the Lumiere Festival which is coming up this September but has lots of mini activities in August leading up to it.

Photography

The ABC Challenge ended this month, but some are continuing on with new challenges in the flickr group - come join in! We also featured our ABC photos at Blog Out Loud, which was an amazing amazing event put together by one of our wonderful contributors - Lynn.

Getting together

We have been having weekly weekday playdates all summer long and we'd love if you could join us in the future.  We also have monthly (or so) evening adult meetups - keep your eyes open for the next one!

Not to mention

And we can't forget the review of a great stroller, the fabulous benefits of yoga for kids, and our wonderful new sponsor Nayla Natural Care (please go visit her and tell her we sent ya ;).

Have a great August, and in case you never filled it out, it's not too late to complete our survey.  And we're always looking for guest posts on the things you love to do with kids - drop us a line! kidsinthecapital@gmail.com

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Question of the month #3

Kids in the Capital is all about parents in Ottawa helping each other out by sharing tips and advice. Each month we ask a parenting question and we want to hear all the gems of advice you have to share. Just leave your answers in the comments! And if you have a question you’d like to see in a future question, leave it in the comments too! Question of the month #3:

At the last Kids in the Capital night-time meet up their was a great discussion about soothers and how to help your kids let go of them as they get older. Neither of my kids were ever very interested in soothers so I was fascinated by some of the creative ways that parents transitioned kids out of using a soother.

Did your kids use a soother? How did you transition them out of using one? What tips and strategies do you wish you had know at the time? What advice would you give to other parents?