Ottawa Trip

I'm a bit behind in my posting as we've been pretty busy these past few weeks. We're gearing up for our big move up to Terrace BC or "New Burnaby" as it is now called. The original plan was to have the movers pack up all our stuff but the moving allowance that Eric's work is providing is only enough to cover the cost of moving our stuff up there, it isn't enough to include packing as well. So now we have to get cracking and I've started putting non-essential stuff in boxes already.

Eric and I went to Ottawa last month for my friend Heather's wedding, but our trip ended up being a bit of a fiasco. We decided to fly down a week early so I could show Eric around a bit and so we could visit with friends. Things didn't go quite as planned though as I got quite ill 0n the plane ride there. Eric and I both thought it was food poisoning from the West Jet sandwich I had eaten earlier and by the time we got to Toronto I thought I was going to die. It was so nice of me to show up at my friend Cathy's place in Ottawa violently ill and unable to keep my head out of the toilet. It was the most intense illness I've ever had but luckily it was also pretty short.

We arrived on Saturday and by Monday I was able to get out of bed and by Tuesday I was feeling up for going out again. Unfortunately that morning Eric fell ill and we made the horrible realization that it wasn't food poisoning. Sure enough my friend Cathy's husband Tyler was also sick. I felt awful! Cathy and I were feeling OK so we went out for dinner with a group of friends from high school that night. It was so nice to see them again. So weird to see them all with kids though!

On Wednesday Eric and Tyler were feeling a little better but Cathy (who is 5 month pregnant) and her 1.5 year old daughter were sick. I was in tears I felt so bad! Eric and I managed a walk around parliament hill before Eric got tired and needed to go back to bed. I drove out to Nepean and went out for a late lunch with an online friend of mine (we both have guinea pigs and belong to a forum to share info). I've been chatting with her for a few years now so it was so great finally meeting her.

After meeting my friend in Nepean I had to return my car to the airport and meet up with my sister Andrea and her husband Mark. We had rented a van to take us all up to Mt Tremblant for the wedding. We had managed to arrange our elementary school reunion for that night. Andrea and I met up with three girls we had not seen since grade 8, and one guy we had not seen since grade 4. It was so strange to see them all again! We laughed our asses off at all the memories! There were a few more people that had really wanted to come but due to illness (it was apparently going around) or work, were unable to attend.

Thursday Eric was feeling himself again just in time to drive up to Tremblant (with Andrea, Mark and another girl - Kathryn) where we spent the next few days drinking an awful lot of wine. We had rented what I thought was a hotel room within stumbling distance from the wedding reception, but was actually this amazingly gorgeous cabin type suite that was bigger than mine and Eric's apartment! It had a large kitchen, and enormous living room, two big bedrooms and two full washrooms! It wasn't even all that expensive either and shared between 5 people was downright cheap! Our room somehow got designated the party room and we had all these wedding guest in our room until well after all of us actually staying there had gone to bed.

Friday we wandered around the village and then for $5 went tubing for 2 hours. It was after dark so they weren't really paying much attention to us and we had fun trying to break all their rules. Two tubes tied together allowed on this run? No we'll do six and we won't be tied, we'll all take a running start at different times and Mark won't even have a tube. It was fun to act 5 again.
Saturday was the wedding. The ceremony was outside on the patio of this beautiful resort overlooking the frozen lake and snow covered hills. It was cold but it was so pretty. The reception was in the ballroom. I was pretty sore from tubing the night before so I didn't feel much like dancing, but Eric and Mark had consumed a lot of beer in the hotel room between the ceremony and the reception and Eric entertained us all night with his dance moves. The highlight of the evening though had to be the "Baggo incident". In order to get the Bride and groom to kiss you had to successfully make a baggo (toss a bean bag and sink into the hole on the baggo platform 20 feet away). During one round my bean bag landed squarely in the baggo hole while my sister's bean bag flew off course and landed square in this elderly man's face. The man was in his 80's and had just recovered from a stroke and triple bypass surgery. Kathryn and I were laughing so hard we had to leave the room while Andrea sheepishly retrieved her bean bag. The next day at breakfast the bride's family had a field day teasing her about it.

The plan for Sunday was to head back to Ottawa and enjoy Winterlude. Eric and I had our hearts set on skating on the canal, eat BeaverTails, and to see the ice sculptures! Unfortunately we were still a bit weak from our earlier illness, we were a bit hungover from the previous night's festivities, and it was damn fricking cold out! Even bundled up in snow pants, hats and scarves, we just weren't brave enough to skate in -40 degree weather. We did manage to eat BeaverTails and go see the ice sculptures but since they are no longer on Dows lake, and we weren't on skates, it just wasn't the same. Instead we opted for the warmth of the Rideau Centre followed by dinner with Cathy, and Angel & Jason (two friends of Marks).

The next day we flew back and had to return to our normal routines. It was really nice to see our friends again, and the wedding was fabulous, it was just such a shame the first half of the trip was wasted being sick.