Then (circa 2003, Krakow, Poland):

And Now (circa 2008, Ottawa, Canada):

Yikes! Sure, my head is larger than Julie’s. Hell, it’s larger than the average watermelon, but, after we previewed the picture, we decided we could use the close-in perspective to my head’s advantage and have Julie in front of my shoulder rather than behind. The result:

Much better, don’t you think? Unfortunately, there was no easy way to use the camera to eliminate my double-chin. Hey! Some people have a unibrow; I have unidimples. That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it!

Probably one of my favorite pictures from the trip was a hastily snatched moment of full family cooperation around a dancing bear statue in a courtyard we stumbled upon:

We also encountered a massive spider outside the art museum (click the image to view a larger version):

Alana tried out her Mission Impossible skills at a large war memorial:

And Carson tried out what it would be like to be memorialized on a coin at the Ottawa mint:

Carson also transformed himself into Obi Wan Wilson with a hotel bathrobe:

And Alana tried out my sunglasses:

All in all, we had a fairly action-packed day+ in Ottawa. We also managed to squeeze in a swim in the hotel pool, check out the locks that ran right past the hotel (waiting long enough to watch three boats move from one lock to another…if not all the way through the entire process), and take in a light show that was performed on the side of the main parliament building. From there, it was on to Rangeley, Maine on Monday…

It was a block away from our hotel, so we wandered down on Sunday morning to watch the daily reenactment of the changing of the royal guard.

Which wound up being canceled for Sunday.

But, until we found that out, Julie played around with some odd-perspective pictures in front of the main tower:

We got a shot of most of the family at a statue of Queen Victoria on the grounds (click the picture to view a larger version):

And, on the backside of the building, Alana and Julie took in the view:

Benton voluntarily chauffeured Alana around throughout the time we were in Ottawa. He liked to push her fast…and she liked to be pushed fast!

There is also an over-sized tea party set of statues memorializing the women’s rights activists from Canada’s past. Carson settled in with them (and there will be a Then and Now post at some point with Julie):

And, just a block away from the grounds, Carson was inspired to leap up on a pedestal and meditate (this pose was entirely unprompted!):

Luckily for us, we were staying for a second night, so we got to return on Monday to watch the reenactment of the changing of the guard. This involved several hundred people, including a full band that had a bagpipe section:

A bit more randomness from Ottawa in the next post…

We’ll trickle out some pictures and details of the trip over the next week…or so.

For me, I spent all of 16 hours at home over a 15-day period. I made a business trip to Austin the week before our vacation, got back home on Friday afternoon, and then headed out for vacation at 6:00 AM on Saturday morning. Julie had everything pretty much prepped and packed up by the time I got home on Friday.

This included:

• Plenty of snacks, including powdered donuts and a plan to pick up Bruegger’s bagels on the way out of town on Saturday morning
• A new tandem DVD player — one of the two portable ones we already had was pretty much dead, while the other one was a little flaky but still working; all three kids are now: 1) old enough to be entertained by DVDs, and 2) old enough to not want to watch the same thing as their siblings; so, with the new addition, we had enough to keep everyone happy
• Changing the “normal” kid seating in the minivan — putting Alana in the back seat with Benton so that he could help her out as she swapped out activities, and moving Carson up to the middle (where he could, as he put it, “be closer to Dad so we can talk better”)

The best laid plans only go so far, but things went fairly smoothly overall:

The story(ies) behind the picture above:

• That’s the one non-new DVD player…and it died within an hour of us getting on the road; all in all, that didn’t turn out to be too much of a crisis
• Powdered donuts…consumed within an hour (see picture below for further lip-based evidence)
• Bruegger’s…opens an hour later on the weekend; but, as Julie stood at the door and realized that it was locked because we were a half hour early, the guy inside came over and let her in; we were limited to plain bagels…but they were as fresh as possible; the little cup next to Alana above has cream-cheesed pieces doctored up for her consumption

Carson, still holding the last of the powdered donuts and enthralled by the movie he was watching (the new players strapped to the headrests of the seat in front):

Despite the sugar and movies, it was an early start to the day, and after lunch, I snapped one of the pictures that Benton would be mortified to find I had posted on this blog (so…shhh! Don’t tell him!):

That’s it for the kids, but there were some interesting clouds in the sky as we drove through New York:

We made it on through to Ottawa, where we spent two nights. Overall, it was a long day — capped by some delays in getting to our room once we arrived at the hotel. But, we made it. Tomorrow…The Wilsons Check Out Canada’s Capital.