Winterlude

A Visitor from OverSeas

February 6th, 2010 |

Stanley, of Flat Stanley fame, was mailed to us from our cousins on the other side of the Pond. Two Brothers, who attend Grovewood Primary School in Essex, England thought that Stanley would enjoy a visit to the colonies, in particular, Ottawa during one of it’s many festivals. We were excited to see him & show him a typical Saturday in the Nation’s Capital.

When we told Stanley that it was the first day of Winterlude & we’d leave the burbs & head downtown to check it out, he seemed very excited. I think he was a bit disappointed; however that the smallest skates we had were still too big for him. None the less, he was game to check out the World’s Largest Outdoor Skating Rink.

Down Town! There’s the parliament buildings & the Peace Tower. See the sky? Notice that there are no clouds? To a Canadian, no clouds means, it’s a really, really cold day. Today, the temperature with the windchill was -25 Celsius. Stanley found it cold, but it’s not always this cold. In the summer it gets really hot. In February, in Ottawa, it IS ALWAYS super cold.

So Winterlude is one of the many festivals Ottawa has. At Confederation Park, they had Ice Sculpture Competitions with artists from around the world.

Here is Malcolm, Liam (in front) & Emma in front of one of Stanley’s favourite sculptures.

The Sculpture is called Ogopogo.

After looking at the sculptures, we walked the 5 minutes to the start of the Rideau Canal. You go over the stairs, take off your boots & put your skates on right there on the benches on the ice.

There’s Stanley & {Stanley} & Mike, who put skates on everyone. He said his hands were tingling because of the cold.

Here’s Stanley & Emma.

Here’s Amy & Emma (Stanley is taking the photo):

This early in the morning, it’s not very busy at all & the ice was in great shape.

We didn’t stay too long. Liam thought it was too cold. Stanley got a ride with Hula Girl & they stopped on the way home for a Timmies, the worlds BEST coffee & donuts, eh.

So we dropped Emma off for her Ballet & Tap classes, just making it there in the nick of time

Stanley was still pretty cold. The boys came home & we all sat by the fire place to warm up.

Stanley really liked his feet by the fire place & wished he could have taken off his socks too. Now, as Stanley sat there he thought that being really close to a fire & being made of paper was not a great idea.

So he opted to warm up with Sparkle, who was very accommodating.

After a wee bit of rest, it was off to Malcolm’s Hockey Game.

That was cool & Stanley was enamored with the Zamboni that cleaned the ice between games. He thought that would be a fun job to do.

Here’s Malcolm & Liam. Malcolm, under his Hab’s Toque is wearing the Team Player of the Week Helmet. He did great in that game. Stanley was getting pretty tired & decided that he was too tired to walk, so he got a ride on Malcolm’s hockey bag.