Me and K went to Ottawa for Passover this year to visit K’s family. Lorena came too and their folks met us there. We stayed with Heather and Bruce, K and L’s cousins, and their children Adam and Max. Their other cousins Mark and Tina, and their 2 daughters, Leah and Omi, came from Toronto and stayed there too. It was a full house! K and L’s folks stayed with Rob and Ros who live nearby. Rob is K’s mom’s brother. Got all that?
We had a really good time. Ottawa is beautiful and the weather was perfect. Fall weather. We don’t see that much around here. There was so much open land and trees and animals everywhere. Ros and Rob’s backyard was like a nature preserve. They have a creek running along the far side and we saw a muskrat and a couple of ducks. Ros said they once had a porcupine there!
Everyone was so nice. It was really great to get to meet K’s extended family. I had met most of them before, but had more of a chance to get to know them this time. I was especially appreciative of them all treating me like part of the family and being okay with my need to escape occasionally. They also made lots of amazing vegetarian food so I didn’t have to eat matzoh and peanut butter all week, which I would have done happily, but not quite as happily.
We got to experience Tim Horton’s coffee, which appears to be mandatory in Canada, and Bruce took us on a great tour of the city. I was very comfortable being around all of them, which is not a very common thing for me. It was great spending time with all the kids too. Adam kept us entertained with costumes, music, and a constant soundtrack of the Doodlebops greatest hits, Leah taught us how to play hockey and act like a princess at the same time, Omi did puzzles at lightening speed and provided nonstop adorableness, and Max adopted me as a friend and kept taking me away from the crowd to play in a more quiet place. Thanks Max : )
Pictures from the trip are up here.