Canada Day

Wednesday, it was Canada Day, which isn't a holiday that I tend to do much about. This year, though, for some reason I had many people ask me "So, what are you doing for Canada Day?" I can't say I had given it much thought, but these repeated questions made me do a little bit more planning than usual. Jeff had to work and the girls had plans to meet friends for sushi, but Calum and I were at a loose end. I spent a couple of hours steam-cleaning our carpets in the morning, since I'd rented the machine with a friend who was moving, but after that was done I packed up some lunch and took Calum to Canada Place on Vancouver's waterfront for their big Canada Day event. We needed to keep him off the carpets while they dried, anyway, and since it's summer it's up to me to get him out of the house as much as possible. A big, free outdoor festival with activities for kids is a good way to wear out even the most energetic eight-year-old.

This was possibly the biggest crowd I've been part of for many years - crowds are why I generally avoid this type of outing - but at least it was outdoors where the effect of so many people in one place is less horrible. The activities were a mixed bag. Calum quite vigorously dragged me away from the face-painting and free fake tattoo booths that seemed to be the most popular offering (Megan has always had an aversion to putting things on her skin too), but he was happy to check out several of the bouncy castles and watch an escape artist. He was bored by the "Flying Canucks", a group of young guys who performed some pretty interesting trampoline routines, yet he was perfectly content to stand in line for half an hour to have a two minute sit in the cockpit of a decommissioned CF18 jet that had had its wings removed. We didn't stick around for the parade at 6 pm or the fireworks at 10:30 pm, but overall it was a nice way to kill a few hours. Not sure that either of us got much of a sense of patriotic pride out of the experience, though, but since we're Canadian I don't actually know if that would be the purpose...