livingfamilytravelmediahome decor

Canadian Museums for Your Next Family Road Trip

westfield

Our family loves a good museum visit. And any time we visit a big city -- from New York City to Toronto -- we'll make sure to carve out time to check out that city's premiere museum. But we also like to find the smaller, hidden gems that don't make it into the tourist guides. These are often run by faithful locals who are just as interesting (or more so!) as their collection. We've even been known to visit a city solely because of its museum, … [Read more...]

Manitoulin Island: Highlights from our Roadtrip

IMG_20150811_211431

If you live in Ontario, there's a good chance that you've heard of Manitoulin Island and said to yourself: "Oh, I must visit there one day!" That's exactly how our family felt, so we were sure to include it in our list of places to stop for our family's summer roadtrip 2015. To say we enjoyed our stay on the Island is an understatement. We only had three nights on the island, but could have easily spent far more time exploring, hiking, and … [Read more...]

Summer Road Trip 2015: Northwest Ontario

road trip 2015

After last year's epic adventure to Australia, this year's summer holiday needed to be a bit more subdued. My husband suggested a road trip across Canada -- from Ottawa to Vancouver. Um, how is that scaling back exactly? He then countered with a camping road trip in Northern Ontario. I was not excited: is there anything but mosquitoes in Northern Ontario? I was wrong. So very, very wrong. For our 10-day trip, here is the route we took: 1. … [Read more...]

First Camping Trip of the 2015 Season!

Arriving and setting up.

It will come as no surprise to some of you that we chose Achray campground in Algonquin Park for the location of this season's first outing with the pop-up tent trailer. (If you've never heard of Achray and want to learn more, click here and here for details.) Nature was so kind to us! We had beautiful weather, with beautiful people and left with beautiful memories. So, I'd thought I'd share some of this beautiful with you ... … [Read more...]

Mungo National Park (aka that big sand dune place), NSW, Australia

A sample of some of the interesting sand formations along the drive tour.

In the late 1960s, a young geologist was studying the Australian landscape and climate when he happened upon one of the world's most remarkable discoveries: human remains that date back more than 40,000 years. The area where these remains and many other artefacts have been found is now designated as Mungo National Park. Outside of Africa, Mungo remains highly unique and it tells of the very long history of the Australian Aboriginal … [Read more...]

Top 5 Reasons to Visit Niagara Falls

Niagara_Falls

This weekend, I'll be working on downloading all my photos from our 6 weeks in Australia. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy this guest post by freelance writer Lindsay Edwards. If you live in my neck of the woods (Ottawa area), then a trip to Niagara Falls might be just the perfect way to squeeze in some last minute summer time with your kids before heading back into the school season.  Top 5 Reasons to Visit Niagara Falls, by … [Read more...]

Australian Wildlife: Kangaroos in the Bush

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

When we host visitors to Canada and take them out for a drive in the woods, they'll inevitably ask about bears and moose. But the chances of seeing one of these special Canadian creatures is fairly rare. Fortunately, this is not the same for kangaroos in Australia. Seeing a kangaroo in the bush while out driving is about as likely as seeing squirrels hopping about in your backyard trees. While I did live in Sydney for close to a year … [Read more...]

Melbourne’s Royal Botanic Gardens, Australia

Despite the winter weather, there were some beautiful buds.

It's hard to believe that these amazing grounds in the Victoria state of Australia were once unusable swamp land outside of the city of Melbourne. Now, these beautiful and calming gardens, which are the Royal Botanic Gardens of Melbourne, are the perfect place to raise the spirit of the groggy, jet-lagged traveller. While the locals will tell you there's not much to see in winter (June to August in this hemisphere of the world), we … [Read more...]

Our Epic Adventure: 6 Weeks in Australia

aus intro

Wondering what's up with the radio silence around here? I've been itching to write and share .... but just haven't had a spare moment to do so between end-of-school events with the kids, packing, and then actually doing the travelling bit! And, now -- yes! -- we are here in Australia for our epic adventure. It's something we've been wanting to do for some time now. But as you can imagine, it takes a lot of planning and saving to actually pull … [Read more...]

The Winter Resolution: A Weekend Away in Ontario’s Highlands

Print

In my last "Winter Resolution" post, I shared that I had bought myself ski gear for the first time. Yep, at age 42, I am now the newbie owner of downhill ski gear! It's my way of committing to this "love like the winter" kick I've been on since I first posted about my struggles with winter back in December of 2009. Downhill ski gear is the most recent in a list of commitments I've made since 2009. The others include: A warm down-filled … [Read more...]

Downtown New York City with Kids (Part 2 of 2 of NYC with Kids)

Chelsea Highline park in NYC.

In Part 1, Sarah shared so many awesome things to do with kids in Midtown New York City with kids that I'm not sure I'd ever even make it out to Downtown! But all that means is that I would need to schedule another trip to NYC ... darn, I would hate that. ;) Here, she share her favourite spots for kids in the Downtown region of New York City.  DIGGING DOWNTOWN NYC WITH THE KIDS (by guest poster: Sarah McCormack) Depending on what part of … [Read more...]

Winterlude’s Snowflake Kingdom

Standing back, here is a view of the ice slides.

Ottawa is my home. And yet, for most of my life, I thought that Winterlude only took place on the Rideau Canal -- you skate, you look at snow sculptures, you have hot chocolate and a Beavertail! These are very fond memories and stand as some of my favourite things to do during this winter carnival. Over a number of years though, there is somewhere else that has edged its way to the top of our Winterlude-heart. It's Snowflake Kingdom. … [Read more...]

Ottawa Staycation: Cross-country skiing in Gatineau Park

Fluffy snow!

For a second outing during our Ottawa staycation (you can read about our first outing here), we decided to head up to the Gatineau Hills for a cross-country ski. It would have actually been a sin not to go cross-country skiing with all of the snow we had over the Christmas season here in Ottawa! Everywhere around us, as far as one could see, the world had a bit of a magical gleam to it with mounds of fluffy snow hanging upon the tree … [Read more...]

Ottawa Staycation: Canadian Museum of Nature

Dinos at Canadian Museum of Nature

We rarely do a "staycation," but last week our whole family stayed home in Ottawa on holiday. It did involve chores around the house (like mountains of laundry) and items on the to-do list that never seem to get tackled (like organizing the kitchen cupboards), but we also did some really nice outings to break things up. Plus, lots of hanging out in jammies all day too, of course. One of these outings was to the Canadian Museum of Nature. We've … [Read more...]

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

airstream3911

No, I'm not talking about the Christmas decor slowly seeping into the malls ... I'm talking NOW. Autumn. Fall. And more specifically, October. It is THE most wonderful time of the year. I've always loved the Fall. As a child, this was easy to explain -- it is my birthday after all. As I got older, there was a birthday plus the family gathering of Canadian Thanksgiving. But there's also the crispness that comes in the air. That feeling of … [Read more...]

Photos from our East Coast Family Vacay

Huge deck, right on the water

We enjoyed our family vacation to the East Coast of Canada. The people were friendly, the seafood was amazing, and the coast line was beautiful. But my most fave thing of all was enjoying a glass of red on the dock and breathing in the fresh, salty sea air. If you're interested in visiting this area for your next vacation, I've shared our week's itinerary up over at Road Trips for Families. The Cottage at Hubbards Cove The Shore … [Read more...]

Cool Cafes: Jimolly’s Bakery Cafe, Truro, Nova Scotia

Jimolly's Bakery Cafe

After a half-decent roadtripping sleep in a roadtripping hotel, a parent needs -- NEEDS -- a good coffee before hitting the road again. Hubby and I were up and circling the streets of Truro on just such a hunt when we spotted a sign for Jimolly's Bakery Cafe. We had come here to witness a tidal bore (this did not happen) on our road trip from Ottawa to Hubbards, Nova Scotia, and we did not have high expectations -- just a spot of caffeine and a … [Read more...]

Family Road Trip: Ottawa to Hubbards (Part 2 of 2)

IMG01530-20120728-1613

So in Part 1 of this post, I had just left you at when we'd crashed into a deep sleep in Truro. The big attraction for us in coming to this town in central Nova Scotia was to see the tidal bore -- a natural phenomenon that happens twice a day, where the tide sweeps in from the Bay of Fundy and forces the Salmon River to flow in the opposite direction. Apparently Truro is one of the only places in the world to witness this and Hubby was keen to … [Read more...]

Family Road Trip: Ottawa to Hubbards (Part 1 of 2)

eastern road trip

View Larger Map Well, friends, I've been road tripping it big time since I last checked in with you here at Coffee with Julie. 16 hours and 47 minutes of road tripping to be precise, according to Mr. Google. But, naturally, it's actually taken us much longer than that since we've made stops along the way. On Thursday night, we left right after work and put in a few hours to make Friday more enjoyable (or a little less painful, depends how … [Read more...]

Beaches Boscobel, Jamaica: A Tween’s Perspective (Day 4)

At the entrance to Mystic Mountain

Stella, who is almost 10 years old, and I have just returned from Beaches Boscobel in Jamaica, where we were invited to experience the resort. If you’re a parent and you travel to the Carribean during winter, then you’ve likely heard of Beaches Resorts. This chain of resorts is known for providing an above-and-beyond experience to families and their young children. But what about the “tween”? When your child is not a “little kid” nor are they a … [Read more...]

Beaches Boscobel, Jamaica: A Tween’s Perspective (Day 3)

Writing in her journal on our balcony at Beaches Boscobel

Stella, who is almost 10 years old, and I have just returned from Beaches Boscobel in Jamaica, where we were invited to experience the resort. This resort is all about providing a full family experience, so I am sharing Stella's journal -- spelling mistakes and all -- with you so that you can get an older child's perspective, not just an adult's.  On Day 3, we had a really special experience because we left the resort and had a visit to a … [Read more...]