On the First Day of Our Trip, I Bought a Postcard: My week of postcards

I do hope you sung the first part of the title. (The 12 Days of Christmas)

My moms coworker suggested the idea of daily postcards. Every day, wherever you went, you would get a postcard and write on the back what you did that day. So that's what I did. But I only have 5 postcards, because I couldn't find one when we were at Garrison Petawawa. The front of the post card is shown, and then what i wrote on the back is underneath.

Saturday

Today was filled with long flights. Calgary to Toronto, then Toronto to Ottawa. An hours worth of driving to Shawville. Me and Xaiea share a room. Our host family has this crazy cat named Caramel. They say that were part of the family.

Monday

Today we went to the Parliament Buildings! The library was magnificent! It's the only part of the building left after the fire. It was amazing!! So was hearing the bells chime O'Canada. The Rideau center was really really big, 4 floors! Best ice cream thought.

Tuesday

Today we went to Montreal's Bio dome and to Old Montreal. Seeing all the wildlife in the bio dome was cool because it was split into sections, each holding different animals. Old Montreal was really cool too! There was a local cupcake shop and I got the BEST bacon maple cupcake. We also got to see the Notre Dame Basilica, where Celine Dion got married! Really amazing architecture. 

Thursday

Couldn't find a postcard when we were in Petawawa. Fabulous place though, super cool.

Today we went up to Gatineau and saw the Canadian Museum of History. Super cool, and I took lots of pictures. Eating pasta and un-long baguette. Were going to a Broadway show thingy tonight and will be back late. 

Friday

 Today our flight was delayed today. w

We would've been home earlier, but because of the weather, our flight was delayed. That was OK because we got to go to the Canadian War Museum, and see a Vimy Ridge exhibit. We also went to another mall. (People were excited about the mall and not the museum and I don't know why!!!)  I did get really good ice cream again. Long direct flight home. Good to come back home.

This is a picture of all the postcards.

And that was my week of postcards.

Ava.

The Rest of This Week (Yes, our flight was delayed.)

Hello! Yes, it's me. This post is about the rest of the week!

Thursday

Thursday was really interesting because we got to go to the Canadian Museum of History, which was the best part of the day! At the museum, there was a Special Exhibit, and it was about Canada's history with HOCKEY! Yea, it does seem weird for someone who isn't fond of sports to write about one of Canada's greatest, but I'm gonna write about it. I have to say, the most amazing part of the exhibit was the hoarding wall. In 2011, a riot broke out in Vancouver after the Boston Bruins defeated the Vancouver Canuks. In the morning, after the protest, the fans cleared the streets and left apologetic messages, making the hoarding wall. Yes, the picture is really blurry, but I only took one and I feel bad because it's blurry.

After the exhibits, we had a wonderful pasta dinner at the museum. We had mini bread sticks, or un-long baguettes, penne pasta and tortellini, and 3 different sauces: Meat sauce, tomato sauce, and cream sauce. I had the cream sauce on the tortellini and it was delicious!

On the same day, we went to a beautiful symphony, Paris to Broadway. The tap dancing was my favorite, and they played wonderful songs from a long time ago (1900's). It was a late night that day, but we had to be up early for our flight...

Friday, flight day.

Woke up early, packed up the rest of my stuff and off to PHS we go!! Today we were flying home and seeing our family's.....or were we. Our flight was delayed because of the weather (we flew with West Jet) and we had quiet a few hours of leisure time. We went to another museum, the Canadian War museum, and to another mall. I had ice cream at that mall....again. I thought it was pretty cool that we got to experience another day-ish of Ottawa, and it was great to not be crammed up in a plane early in the morning. 

When we did get to the airport, we had some time to eat and relax a bit. I had bought maple syrup earlier this week, in Montreal, so I asked around if anyone wanted to have a maple syrup chugging contest. There was me, Shannara and Denver. Xaiea videoed the whole thing and we had a few spectators. It was fun, but I do think we were all jittery afterwards. When we were videoing this, I was being really weird (But when am I not), but enjoy the video, just like we enjoyed drinking Canadas famous sap.

This picture is of the aftermath of the contest

I do believe that we were, and still are, super tired from this past week. It was fun to experience something new and I would, and will, do it again.

I do hope that we all enjoy our time sleeping and talking with our family's about our trip, cause we do have school on Monday.

Happy weekend

Ava.

Friday, April 7th was supposed to be a bus ride to the airport and start heading home, but with some very poor weather in the East, our flight was CANCELLED.  So new plans were made. Our travel agent was able to get us a new flight, 7 hours later than our first was scheduled, but we were happy to be going home the same day.  So we made the best of it by visiting the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.  This is a huge museum and seeing everything inside was very sobering.  We then went to a mall to end off our week in Quebec.  Everyone traveled very well and we made it home safe and sound.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this trip possible for our students.  We are looking forward to the second half when Quebec comes to Alberta.

On Thursday, April 6th we headed back to Ottawa to visit the National Museum of History.  It was a very large place with full sized totem poles and everything.  It also had a children's area where many of our students let the child out of them and had some fun exploring. 
After that we went to the National Arts Center and enjoyed a symphony.  This was the first for most of us and affected us in different ways.  

Another fun day in Eastern Canada.  Today we spent the day at Petawawa, the Canadian Armed Forces base in Ontario.  We started in the simulator rooms, moved on to the museum, and ended with a tour of the new Chinook helicopters. Here are a few pictures of everyone having a good time while learning.

This Week So Far, sorry I'm late

To be honest posting these blog posts is tough, Early mornings and late nights yet i have found some time today to post this here blog post.

Sunday was yet an adventure as my host took us all dog sledding. beautiful day out, I found it rather peaceful too. 
We went dog sledding at the Escapade Eskimos, I'm sure they have a website, you ll have to look it up

Monday we went to see the Parliament buildings. Yet again was i amazed at the architecture. Walking down that first hall we went in after security and the big open area, i was reminded that this is where the 2014 shooting happened. In that very hall, people had ducked and hid among the columns and spaces in the walls. We were also near those spaces
There peace tower was beautiful as i did hear the bells chime O Canada at the 12th hour. The amazing view was breathtaking and a little dizzy.

Tuesday we went to see Montreal's bio dome. The amount of wildlife in there was crazy, as the dome was split into multiple sections. My favorite sections were the rain forest and also the maple forest. I did take lots of picture of all the animals i could find and see. There were lots of fish for each section and lots of sea life. 
We also went to Old Montreal were we had found a local cupcake and ice cream shop. I have to say that I had the best bacon cupcake in my life. (Red velvet cake, maple butter cream filling and icing and maple bacon to top it off. I savored it and it was delicious) The way the buildings were made was fantastic, as we did go to see the Notre-Dame Basilica, in which famous singer Celine Dion was married, The cathedral was made of dark mahogany, besides the concrete in the pillars and the metal in the foyer. There was also a large organ with almost 7000 pipes and 244 piano keys. 

Wednesday, today.
We went to the Petawawa army base. It was amazing to see the simulator and also to see the museum, where i did take lots of pictures. The Chinook that we got to see, was a large army aircraft plane that could carry alot (i forget how much) They could take up to 33 troops in that plane, where only some could take 18 or even just 6. We had lunch in their Mess hall. Apparently we were special, because you have to be in a promoted position to eat at that Mess.

We don't have to be up as early tomorrow, so that's when I'll post the pictures i have of every place we went in. I cant upload them at the moment cause i don't know why. The pictures will have a brief explanation of whats in the picture, don't worry. You wont have guess  to what it is.

-Ava

Pouring down rain here all day, but we still had a good time in Montreal. We first visited the Biodome and then Old Montreal with the highlight being Notre Dame.  Kids are being great in everything we have done including 8 hours on the bus today!

               Nice day to visit Parliament Hill.  We enjoyed a full tour of the inside and out.

Swinging bridge and rapids near our location.  Sunday afternoon waiting for the program to begin.

Travelling Photos. Everyone made it safe and sound.