Bug hunting at Billings Estate

by Krista So when I saw that the Billings Estate was offering twice weekly afternoon sessions all about bugs and catching bugs, I figured it was perfect for the little man who loves bugs.  I played hooky from work this last Wednesday, and took Woo to catch some bugs!

We arrived at the appointed time, and I learned some valuable lessons about advance preparation.  The link that I had seen for the class (not the official site) was pretty vague on details, and I took that to mean that we should just show up.  Apparently we should have pre-registered for the class, and it was now full.  I asked if there was any way that they could squeeze us in, as we were unlikely to be able to stay for the entire session, and I was about to have a very sad three-year old if there were no bugs.  Cancellations were likely, so we were allowed to stay, but this was when I learned the second lesson about advance preparation, that the class was geared to children aged six to eight.  I felt confident that Woo would enjoy part of the class, so I assured them that we would leave if it was not appropriate.

Most of the parents left at this point, but I joined the few that stayed with the group.  We were led to a classroom where they taught about this week's bug.  The lesson was on ants, and the teacher started off by telling the children about the development from egg, larvae, pupa, to ant, fielding the many questions that were asked throughout her talk.  Woo was very keen to learn all about the ant, and remained very attentive in class.   When the lesson was finished, we were told that we would make an ant house for the ants that we catch, so that we could bring them home.  Woo was very excited by this, and eager to catch some bugs!

The children were given bug nets and led outside, where they were told to look for ants, moths, butterflies, spiders, and beetles.  The ants were located to their newly constructed homes, and there were jars to store any other bug that was caught.  The chaos that ensued was great - any time that a new bug was spotted, the group of children all converged on that spot until it was caught.  They then dispersed until a new bug was spotted.  The ants proved difficult to catch, but all of the children seemed to be pleased with the adventure.  Woo was happy to have caught several bugs, including an earwig, an ant, and several beetles.

I am glad that we stayed, despite Woo being under the recommended age.  I definitely needed to accompany him on the excursion, but he did really well, and really enjoyed himself.

The last lesson is up this week on Wednesday, August 25, from 2:00pm - 4:00pm at a cost of $6.00 per child.  I recommend you check it out if you can - it's on spiders!

Krista is married to Willy and mom to a 3 year old son, Woo, and 1.5 year old daughter Goose. You can find her on twitter @kgraydonald

Ottawa's Cake Boss

by Vicky Let me introduce you to Julie. She is the master baker behind Sugar and Spice Bakery. I first discovered her cakes when I was at a birthday party for a friend's son. Julie recreated an In the Night Garden cake perfectly. Iggle Piggle stood with his blanket next to Upsy Daisy in the center of the cake, which was surrounded by individual blades of grass made from fondant. I could not believe the detail in this cake, it was almost too pretty to eat!

I waited for an opportunity to order a cake for one of my own parties. I hosted a baby shower for Lara and ordered this cake from Julie.

Can I also rave about her cupcakes? I splurged and ordered myself a dozen for my birthday. And then I did it again for Valentine's Day! Just recently Julie donated 2 dozen cupcakes for the Post-Blogher Meet up. Aren't they amazing? Red velvet!

(photo source: Angela Auclair)

If you're thinking of booking a cake for your child's next birthday, you need to book fast! Julie is in demand and there's no question why!

Just for kicks, here are a few of my favourite cakes that she's made:

(Photo source: www.sugarandspicebakery)

(Photo source: www.sugarandspicebakery)

(Photo source: www.sugarandspicebakery)

(Photo source: www.sugarandspicebakery)

Vicky is the mom to 3.5 year old son named Joel and 1 year old daughter named Mieka. You can read her blog at blog Some Kind of Wondermom.

Audio stories: my secret weapon

by  Brie There are times when I want to get something done. Okay, there are lots of times when I want to get stuff done. Most of the time I am unsuccessful for various reason, but the main reason is that I live with two kids four years old and under. Sure, I can steal some time if I put on a video but I don't always want to give them some (read: more). That is when I pull out my secret weapon. Audio stories.

I remember when I was a kid we used to listen to stories on records. So one day I went looking for some great stories for my kids to listen to. My recommendations are ones that I have bought, grandma has kindly bought or I have found online. Often you can buy the stories on CD with an accompanying book. I like that, but in our house the books get tossed aside quickly in favour of sitting on the couch reading other books while listening to the story play.

My favorites are:

- Free to be You and Me takes me back to the days of lying on the floor listening to a scratchy record. We have the CD and it plays the same great  stories, poems and songs that I remember. We also have the book, which I read almost every day for six months when the girl was two. Except for the fact that it is a very big and very long book I loved reading it to her. I would even sing the songs and I try to avoid singing. You can check out the CD, book and video and also download some of my favorite songs to your MP3 player on the website.

- We have a number of classic stories on CD from Puffin Storytime. These include Madeline, Corduroy and Curious George. All of these are books that I had read the kids already so they  knew the story before I put the CD on. Once the stories are done, there are songs and poems. I think the girl likes those just as much as the stories!

- Robert Munsch is one of my favorite storytellers. And lucky for us he shares his stories online! His fabulous website lets you choose a book to listen to online. Let's face it, he tells the stories much better then I do. The girl is enraptured when I put his stories on (we also own one of his CDs) and will happily sit for a record amount of time. Another reason to love Robert Munsch.

Do your kids listen to stories on records, tapes, CDs or online? Please share your favorite audio stories.

Brie is the mom of a 4 year old daughter “the girl” and 2 old son “the boy”. You can read her blog at Capital Mom.

Spoiled Sugar

We are so excited to welcome a new sponsor to Kids in the Capital! Spoiled Sugar is not only new to us, it's a new business that has just recently been launched online. I have a feeling that once you check it out you'll wish, like I did, that it had been around sooner. Brigitte Cusson is the owner of Spoiled Sugar. She is the mom of a 4-year-old boy and, wait for it, 10 month old triplets. It was her family that inspired her to begin her business:

When the triplets were born, I wanted them to be as unique as possible. As you can imagine, buying three of everything at large retail outlets quickly got very boring, and I needed a solution. I decided to seek out handmade items to keep things fresh around home as I didn't want to see the same thing three times, all the time!

Brigitte sources items from other mom-run businesses. She is looking to bring quality handmade products to her store. And let me tell you, if I didn't think one those cute handmade bonnets she is selling would look silly on  (never mind fit!) my four-year old I would totally buy one.

Want to know what's next or what is new for Spoiled Sugar? Beside perusing the fabulous merchandise online, you can also keep up to date with the store through their newsletter, Facebook and Twitter. Oh, and you can keep your eyes peeled for an awesome Kids in the Capital giveaway coming soon!

Welcome Brigitte!

Fear and Loathing at Calypso

by Allison We've been sticking close to Ottawa this summer due to my son playing competitive (read: constant) baseball.  My husband had the week off this week, so we planned a couple of activities with the kids, including going here. This would be our grand family adventure, our glorious summer pilgrimage. We would arrive early, we would leave late. We would laugh mockingly as we defied  gravity and tighten our sphincters in the face of danger. It was going to be epic.

Did I mention that my kids are totally lame?

Okay, that's unfair. They're not daredevils, they've never been daredevils, I have no grounds for expecting them to be daredevils. The distinctly un-epic nature of this adventure was a combination of the unknowable and the unfortunate. I thought the park might have some slides that fell somewhere between zebra-striped four-foot-long kiddy rides and scream-til-your-throat-bleeds gut-wrenchers. But it really didn't. Unless your seven and ten year old are adrenaline-junkie thrill-seekers (which I realize a good number of them are), there just isn't a lot for them there. I have a policy where once a year or so I push the kids to do something that scares them because I know how great it feels once you do it. This policy went horribly wrong in the Midway-Octopus-Ride Incident of '07, (and don't think Eve failed to bring that up today), but usually it works out splendidly. So there we were in the lineup for the Canyon Rafting ride, because we could all go together and hey, four family members in a raft, what could go wrong? Okay, it was a little embarrassing standing there with Eve sobbing in terror while I patted her back saying 'it'll be fine, it'll be fine', and then Angus said 'my stomach feels a little sick' which is not-terribly-sophisticated code for 'actually I just realized I'm scared crapless', but we persevered! We stuck it out! We stooped to the ignominious level of telling them how much it cost to get us all in here and chucking them in the raft and hoping they'd be too scared to complain on the way down.

It was... okay. It was less of a fiasco than the Octopus Ride Incident. However, Eve was most emphatically done after that. We  spent a bit of time in the wave pool and had our picnic.  We went down the Jungle Run a few times, which was lovely. Then Angus said he would go down the Fast Track with me. Halfway up the stairs I realized he had really just said it to make me happy and was wearing his 'I'm approaching the steps to the guillotine' expression, so I told him I had already pushed him to do one thing today and I wasn't going to do it again, but I really hoped he would do it because I knew he'd enjoy it and feel great after. So of course he gritted his teeth and conquered his fear and loved me for it, right? Oh hell no, I went down that sucker ALL BY MYSELF.

Also, note to self? Don't use Neutrogena sunscreen next time. We got home and Eve looked at me and said "you got sunburned, Sister. I mean... Mother."

Oh well. It was an adventure. Of sorts. I did eventually apologize for tossing around the word 'wussy' a little extravagantly ("How can you call me that? You're my mother!" "I know. I'm the mother of a couple of WUSSIES.") Truthfully, I wouldn't have done any of that stuff when I was their age either. Thankfully, it never would have occurred to my parents to spend that unholy amount of money in order to give me that opportunity. It's not my kids' fault we clearly have too much disposable income.

A few people told me they have heard nothing but negative reviews of Calypso.  I don't know -- the weather was great when we went and it wasn't too crowded.  If my kids had actually been willing to go on any slides, it would have been a great day, nearly worth the admittedly high price.  I would advise buying tickets online to skip the ticket line-up, remembering to bring cash for the parking (which I agree with everyone is stupid), and packing a cooler which you can leave by the wave pool, since on-site food is naturally overpriced.  And only bring your kids if they're the kind who laugh in the face of danger.  My kids tend to prefer to paint pink hearts on the face of danger and invite it home to watch Vacation With Derek.

Tomorrow? They can play with the hose in the front yard. Safe, unthreatening and free.

Allison occasionally looks up from her book to parent her two children.  She blogs over at Bibliomama.