Happy Trails. (Part Two)

Safely tucked into our hotel in downtown Ottawa the real adventure began. We had lots of plans and I wasn't exactly sure I was looking forward to the packed schedule ahead.

The itinerary:

Fri - arrive Ottawa, relax, swim, dinner, bed.
Sat - a.m. visit Parliament Hill, lunch and relax.
- p.m. family wedding (Weddings and kids is a whole other post in and of it self!)
Sun - Museum of Civilization
Mon - Museum of Nature and Experimental Farm
Tues - Upper Canada Village, start working our way home
Wed - the BEACH
Thur - who knows, but one last fun thing before home arriving home tonight.

So, that was our plan in all its glory. You'll notice I say "was our plan" because lesson number one when traveling with children is be flexible. When you read all the advice and info about travelling with kids everyone always say "don't over plan", but I disagree. I say plan to your hearts content, but be prepared to roll with the punches. Be prepared to run through a museum that should take three hours in an hour and half, plan to cut activities and add others, include swims, walks, TV time and all the "regular" activities you would do at home. For us traveling with our kids wasn't about not doing things, but doing things at their pace. An example - Sunday we had planned to have some quiet time at our hotel after the museum and then head out for some exploring of downtown Ottawa. Even after relaxing for a bit we were all zonked and pretty grouchy, but we set out for some exploring anyway. (We hadn't taken in to consideration how late we would be out the night before at the wedding.) This was a mistake! We weren't even half way to our final destination before our oldest daughter was whining, complaining and generally prepared to explode in misery. Quick look down a side street and we spotted a restaurant - it became our final destination. Exploring Ottawa scrapped for now, but with some food in our tummies, a bite of ice cream and short walk back to the hotel our spirits lifted and everyone managed to enjoy a relaxing swim before bed. Schedule re-shuffled and we were able to spend a whole morning later in the week exploring Parliament Hill and the Byward Market. We still did the things we wanted...we just did them when are kids had the energy.

So our plans changed, but that is how the whole week went. Traded one fun thing for another, and tried to enjoy it...even if it wasn't what we expected!