Our Canada Day

Despite being in the Nation's Capital, we stuck to our local Canada Day celebrations rather than braving the downtown Ottawa ones.  

Heavy rain in the morning kept us indoors for the first part of the day, but after lunch, it cleared up, so we joined my sisters and went to the Canada Day fair in Kanata.  We brought Icon and had him tethered to Alex, which actually worked fairly well.  We had to untether them so that Alex could go on rides, but that was pretty simple.

Nathan asked to go on the Gravitron, which surprised me because he'd gotten scared halfway through last year.  But I agreed and Alex wanted to go as well, so my sister joined us.  As the ride started to spin up, I could see Alex being very casual, with his feet propped up on the board as it slid up to the top.  Nathan, however, began to cry and get upset.  I held his hand and was shouting over the music that it was okay, that I was having fun.  I couldn't turn my head because I got too nauseous.  But after that first blip, he started to enjoy himself.

After we'd been there about an hour, Alex had a tantrum when I told him that we had to wait in line for the next ride.  He pushed Nathan, so I put him in a time out.  (Luckily we were near the edge and there was a chair beside one of the carny trailers.)  I sat him down and he proceeded to have a good twenty minutes of continued tantruming.  He kicked Icon, so I untethered them and moved Icon out of reach.  Then he bolted, giving me a good chase across half the fairground and through the mud.  I got him back and stayed close to him, but then he kept slapping at me or trying to stand up or twisting around to stick his feet on the trailer's steps.  Eventually we got our one minute of quiet cooperation and sitting still.  It was really hard for my father to not react to Alex, but he made a good effort.

After the tantrum, my sister took Nathan on more rides and Dad and I took Alex for a walk.  We ended up at McDonald's and Alex got an ice cream (since he'd done a BM in the toilet earlier in the day).  Then we went back to my parents' for supper and to chill until the fireworks.

We got ourselves set up on a little, out of the way hill, all decked out in our glow bracelets and necklaces (including Icon, who had a very fetching glow collar).  We watched the end of the Finger Eleven concert, with Alex singing along enthusiastically to the songs he recognized.  We had our snacks (cotton candy for Alex, popcorn for Nathan and mini donuts for the rest of us).  The fireworks were late but spectacular and worth the wait.  Then we took our tired boys home for the evening.

All in all, a good day.  Happy 150 Canada.  Hope I'm around for 200.