Ottawa is rainy this time of year!

This picture is of the fire truck outside of the centre-block parliament building in Ottawa. It never made it to the national news but it was pretty exciting to us!





Okay! We are home! We had a wonderful time in Ottawa and I am so glad that I was invited on this adventure.

Teresa and I left on Wednesday morning and drove straight to the hotel. I had forgotten to write down the directions but was grateful to my memory as it got us there without any mix-ups. Diana and Brad were in the lobby and we had a chance to visit for a bit while we waited for our room to be ready. We were even able to arrange for a room two doors from theirs and that made the visit extra fun.

Diana and Brad invited Teresa and I to join them at a local restaurant for dinner and we settled into the old Victorian home cum fine dining room for the next three hours. My old (and that I mean the age of our friendship, not her actual age) friend from home lives and works in Ottawa. In fact, her office is literally beside the restaurant where we were dining. When she called me to see where we were we discovered that she was in the building next door and she decided to join us to eat. It was a fun and comfortable evening despite Pam being thrown in with people she did not know. She warmed easily to them (and how could she not?) and they to her (again, how could they not?).

After dinner Pam took all of us on a driving tour of Ottawa and we had a chance to see some sights, including the giant spider which made us laugh (and squirm). She dropped us off at the hotel and Teresa and I managed to keep Diana and Brad up until about 3 hours before they were planning on heading to the airport for an early morning flight. I know Teresa and I enjoyed the visit although we left feeling very guilty!

Thursday dawned dull and grey. Instead of walking to the press conference on breastfeeding to be taking place at the parliament buildings, we chose the taxi route. We got ourselves in and through security and even managed to get close to the front of the line at the information desk (to find out where we were to go) when the fire alarm sounded. Everyone was ushered out into the rain while the fire trucks pulled up. Apparently the ENTIRE building was evacuated. Someone later told us that he had never seen the entire building be evacuated before.

Once we were allowed in again we were subjected to standing in line and going through security again. It took a while but finally we made it to the 6th floor. We were sitting in the room where the press conference was to take place and had been waiting a few minutes when "Glenn" came in to tell us that they had had to cancel. Apparently the minister that Teresa was to be meeting with had fallen ill and we were not going to be able to meet. They also told us they had been trying to reach Teresa for a couple of days but because we had been in transit, they had missed her. Oh well, no harm to us and we had a morning filled with a different kind of excitement than we'd been expecting.

We quick trip to LLLC national office and we were back in Ottawa. We settled down to do some serious work on our seminars. We worked diligently for a while. Then Pam called. She wanted to meet for drinks and really, that sounded better than working on seminars. The powerpoint presentations were already done so we were just filling in details anyway.

We kept the evening short and were back to our room in time to watch CSI before heading to bed. We had lots of time to worry about our seminars the next day.

We had a warm and welcoming response to our presentations and there was talk at the end of the "How Birthing Affects Breastfeeding" seminar from some midwives that they wanted more information (meaning they wish more time had been dedicated to this topic). Maybe they will ask us back next year -- and perhaps offer to foot the bill this time! I was especially lucky to be able to look up and see half a dozen familiar faces in the group. Some of whom (Lilly and Christi) long time friends who started on their "helping womyn have babies" journey around the same time I did. They have already finished their midwifery studies while I am just planning to begin though.

We drove through a snowstorm to get home but when we did Doug greeted us in the driveway with empty hands willing to unload the car. After Teresa left he took me out for a drink and some time alone (the boys were at my parents for one more night).

That brings us to today. Doug and I did not sleep in but instead got up to get ourselves ready to go out for breakfast and then get home to make dinner for my parents. Mom and dad were bringing the boys home and planned to stay to eat so we could celebrate dad's pending 60th birthday. It was a fantastic night and both Henry and Christena (Doug's parents) were able to come up and join us for a glass of wine and a visit before dinner. (Another perk of them living so close.)

So, I don't do this blog thing as often as some of my more dedicated friends. What I lack in daily publishing though, I make up for in verbosity when I sit down and create a post!

I hope you are managing to stay warm and dry!

Take care
Sam