Loved my Trip...but Missed my Baby...

I never thought that I would have this problem of missing my baby so much that I would cut a trip short.  It's not like I haven't been away from Aby before- I mean, she goes to her Gramma and Grampa's every evening and then there was the weekend where she went to Charles' Nan's place for the weekend.  But leaving for Ottawa, which over an hour from where I live, seemed to be too far.

I left on Friday and that was fine.  Made dinner for my friend because I love to cook and it was nice to make food for someone other than Charles' and I.  I made chicken stew and despite the sauce being more runny than I would prefer (I used too much chicken broth), it was perfect. Went to sleep that night, had a few issues sleeping in a new place but the day ended fine.  Saturday, we woke up and ended up down on Sussex Drive.  Our goal was to see one museum, the Museum of Nature.  It was amazing.  Despite having gone on field trips in school to different places, I had never been to a place where there were dinosaur fossils.  To see them, it was amazing.  I even saw the bones of early horses- Eohippus ('Dawn Horse', earliest horse, and Mesohippus, the next stage up) and that was amazing.  To realize that horses started out no bigger than a Boston Terrier was amazing--makes you respect them all the more when you stand next to one that is much taller than you!

From there we ended up wandering Rideau Street (I've been there before but not as a tourist like I was that day).  We wanted to go see the Museum of Civilization and that was when I realized I wore the wrong shoes-  I had never thought (and I don't know why...shows my thought process somedays!) that we would that we would be walking THAT much.  By the end of the day, I had possibly walked 5kms...all in $4 flip flops.  NEVER AGAIN!  I have already decided that next year, Charles and I with baby (hopefully) will be able to visit.

Only 2 down sides to the trip happened.  First was having my bank account red flagged due to the fact that I went from making purchases in my hometown, then suddenly making purchases in Ottawa.  Frustrating due to the fact as I had to spend 15 to 20 minutes on my cell just find out that I had to hit a bank machine to change my pin.  Had to have the person on the phone locate an ATM nearby on Rideau Street (we were at the Museum of Civilization in Hull).  Not fun.  I like the security but it was annoying when I didn't realize that I had to contact my bank people to tell them I was taking a trip--only thought that credit cards did that.

The other downside was realizing how homesick you can get when you are a first-time Mom.  That night I ended up having a terrible dream, not sure why, but I remember Aby was in it.  Woke up and just wanted to hold her.  Realized then that I just wanted to go home- even my friend, after I told her what happened, was surprised when I originally said that I wanted to stay until noon Monday.  She was great about it- I felt SO BAD that I was leaving early.  I was looking forward to going to another museum that day but she said that it works out- leaves something to be seen when I come up next.  And she is right.  So I made home fries for them (again, I love to cook and I figured it was a good way to say thanks for everything), sat for the afternoon talking to her and boyfriend and then walked to the train station.

I can't wait until I go back- this time with Aby and Charles in tow.



**photos: Chateau Laurier (top left), view from a walking path of the Parliament Buildings (top right), Rideau Canal (right), and me with the bones of Mesohippus at the Museum of Nature (below).  Photos taken by Kayte, except the last one (taken by Tabbie)**