Cottage Rentals in Eastern Ontario - Loughborough Inn

We weren't looking for cottage rentals in Eastern Ontario at the time. We were looking for a hotel in the heart of downtown Kingston while our family relocated for my husband's job. Instead we found ourselves living north of the city on the shore of Loughborough Lake, surrounded by the peace and beauty of nature in a cottage at Loughborough Inn for the month of August. 

Our booking was quite last minute so there wasn't one, single cottage available for the full duration of our stay which meant that we had the opportunity to stay in a couple of different cottages. Of course, we got pretty familiar with all that Loughborough Inn has to offer its guests, so you can take our experience and the details I'll share into consideration in case you want to plan your own family getaway in Ontario!

Top Notch Lobster Fishing Excursion (Prince Edward Island)

If you're planning a trip to P.E.I., you'll want to know about the Top Notch Lobster Fishing Tour because it was one of our favourite experiences!

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Without a doubt, if you ask Ken what his favourite experience of our entire Eastern Canada road trip was, he'll tell you about our lobster fishing tour! It's definitely up there in my top moments, too. This was SUCH a memorable, educational, delicious, and fun experience!

Things to do in Cavendish PEI (Our P.E.I. Vacation)

This post shares some great things to do in Cavendish PEI.  We went on a P.E.I. vacation with our kids in 2017- it was an awesome trip across Eastern Canada, from Ontario to Prince Edward Island. 

Now that travel is more available after the pandemic, I'm sharing this post as it's the perfect time of year to start thinking about planning your own trip! Perhaps seeing what we did will give you some ideas or inspiration for your own trip!  (This post was originally shared on August 28th, 2017)

I've always loved nature. One of the things I love most about L.M. Montgomery's books is her descriptions of the beauty of her surroundings in Prince Edward Island. I always hoped I would be able to see it in person someday. When we arrived at Cavendish Beach, I came over a grassy hill to take in an idyllic view: sandy beach surrounded by red cliffs with blue skies. I had a moment to myself, feeling very alive and like I had "made it" to a place in time that I had spent years thinking of while never being quite sure that I would make it. It was pretty awesome and I'm glad I got to share it with my little family!

Charlottetown Prince Edward Island - Road Trip with Kids

Last summer we had such an awesome road trip across Eastern Canada! I thought it would be fun to revisit some of those experiences by sharing them again. It's the perfect time of year to start thinking about planning your own trip and maybe seeing what we did will give you some ideas or inspiration for your own trip!  (This post was originally shared on August 25th, 2017)

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The idea for our road trip across Eastern Canada came to life one night while the girls and I sat, cuddled up on the couch, watching Anne of Green Gables. I knew I wanted to go someday, but that's when I really started thinking about doing it this year. We spent three nights in Prince Edward Island and most of our time in and around Charlottetown or Cavendish. This post is all about our Charlottetown adventures!

A Couple's Getaway to Ste. Anne's Spa in Winter

The first time I visited Ste. Anne's Spa, I went for a mother's day getaway with my mom. The weather was beautiful, the grounds were in full bloom, and there was plenty to do both inside and out. It was heavenly! How would a visit with my husband, in winter, compare to that? We visited last week and I'm ready to tell you all about it!

The scene upon arrival was like a winter wonderland!

Canada 150 Travel Photography & Fuji X-A3 Camera Giveaway!

Our summer road trip across Eastern Canada was fabulous. If you haven't had a chance to read about it yet, click here to find those posts. I had so many photos I wanted to share with you that I couldn't fit them all into those posts!

The photos I'll share today are some of my favourite photographs without people in them and I think they really showcase the kind of photography the Fuji X-A3 is capable of. At the end of the post, you'll have a chance to win your own Fuji X-A3 camera in a giveaway!

Note: I may get commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Parks Canada Xplorers Program for Kids

During our Eastern Canada Road Trip, we discovered that Parks Canada has a special Xplorers Program for kids and families. At some Parks Canada locations, they will give your children an Xplorers booklet filled with fun activities and tasks to accomplish. During your visit, your children complete some of them and at the end of the visit, they receive a certificate and a little "dog tag" style souvenir that shows where they went.

We discovered this while we were on Prince Edward Island. I wish we had known about it at the start of our trip because it would have been so nice to have stopped at Canada Parks in each province that we visited! We got pretty close on our way back home, though!

MOSAÏCANADA 150 and Cirque Du Soleil Volta (Gatineau & Toronto)

The final stop on our road trip across eastern Canada was in the Gatineau area of Québec. We drove around 10 hours from Saint Andrews, New Brunswick to Ken's cousin's house in Ottawa where we stayed overnight (Gatineau is the part of Québec that borders Ottawa).

MOSAÏCANADA 150

While we were in Gatineau, we visited the MOSAÏCANADA 150/Gatineau 2017 exhibit in Jacques-Cartier park. It was absolutely beautiful!

There are 40 different arrangements and they are all pretty amazing! One of the first that we saw was this Anne of Green Gables one- perfect after a trip to Prince Edward Island! :)

The Algonquin Resort & Saint Andrews New Brunswick

Although heading toward home from Nova Scotia was a bit of a sad thought for us after such a wonderful trip eastward, we were excited to get to see more of New Brunswick. New Brunswick is a beautiful province, full of lush forests, fields, and breathtaking vistas. We loved all the little towns that we passed through, but one of our favorites was St. Andrews where we stayed the night at the incredible Algonquin Resort.

The building is breathtaking and the grounds, the interior and amenities are no less impressive.

The room we stayed in was charming and nicely decorated. It was a small room with two double beds, a desk, a closet, a dresser and T.V. as well as a very nice bathroom. Our youngest daughter described it as: "Amazing, awesome, super comfy bed, stunning," and..."kapow!" (I'm not too sure what to think about that last one - but she sure was excited talking about it!)

Peaceful Family Cottage Retreat (Oceanstone Resort, Nova Scotia)

Nova Scotia was the final province on our summer road trip list and the last stop before heading homeward. We were in for a real treat in Nova Scotia because we stayed at the Oceanstone Seaside Resort, just a few minutes from Peggy's Cove. We stayed in an adorable cottage named the "Periwinkle Cottage",  with the ocean just steps from our back deck. It was peaceful, relaxing and absolutely lovely!

If I were to visit anywhere near Halifax Nova Scotia (about 50 minutes away), I would definitely want to come back again! It's such a beautiful place for a family getaway, a couple's retreat, or a group event. In fact, the Oceanstone is recognized as one of the top 5 places to get married in Canada!

Moncton New Brunswick Road Trip with Kids

I took the girls to the library a few weeks before our road trip and we borrowed books about each of the provinces we would be visiting. We learned about some of the unique landmarks and features of each of them and at the end of that educational afternoon, one of the things at the top of our lists of things we were excited to visit was Hopewell Rocks in New Brunswick. We decided to stay in Moncton for two nights, between Quebec City and P.E.I. as it is central to many of the things we wanted to do.

Fun Family Friendly Hotel (Delta Beauséjour in Moncton)

If you're ever traveling in the area, looking for a fun, family friendly hotel in Moncton, you will want to check out the Delta Beauséjour!  Here are all the reasons why we loved it for our family trip!

The second stop on our Eastern Canada road trip was New Brunswick. We stayed in Moncton for two nights because it was near some of the activities we wanted to do. As soon as we decided on our destination, I started my search for a family-friendly hotel in the area and came upon Hotel Beauséjour. It's a Delta hotel by Marriott, so we were looking forward to it because we've had great experiences with Marriott hotels!

Delta Beauséjour in Moncton

We arrived in Moncton after a 7.5 hour drive (plus stops) so we checked in quite late at night. We were all wide awake still, so the girls were thrilled when they were greeted with a bag of cotton candy! I have to admit I was thrilled too; I still get excited about cotton candy.

Québec City Road Trip with Kids

On Day 1 of our family road trip across Eastern Canada, we drove 9 hours (plus stops) from our home in Southern Ontario to Québec City.

This post covers a bit about the trip out there, things to do as a family in Québec City itself, and in Old Québec City.

Family Road Trip Across Eastern Canada

I grew up in Southern Ontario and although we took several family road trips to the U.S.A. during my childhood, it wasn't until recently that I ventured outside of Ontario within my own Country. My curiosity about the other provinces was first peaked as a child, when I read Anne of Green Gables and read L.M. Montgomery's romantic descriptions of the beauty of Prince Edward Island. When I learned more about the geography of our whole country, I found myself with an unspoken bucket list item, to visit the coasts of Canada someday. This year is Canada's 150th and it seemed like an appropriate time to take that leap (or drive, in this case) and visit Eastern Canada with my family!

If you're following me on Instagram, you already know that we began our journey on the first of this month. Now that we have returned home, I have so much that I want to share with you about our experiences and what we learned about road-tripping across Canada with kids!

Sharing Childhood Memories & Making New Ones at Port Dover

Summer Holidays during my childhood were all about playing outside with my siblings and friends. "Screen Time" wasn't a term I had ever heard; we rarely watched movies at home as kids and we didn't even have a computer until I was a teenager (smart phones and tablets didn't even exist)! Childhood summers are different for my kids, but I'm doing my best to limit screen time and expose them to the same kind of outside fun and freedom that I experienced as a kid.

Last week, Ken took a day off from writing his thesis and we all went to the beach! A couple of other families met us there and we had a great day together. This was particularly fun for me because we went to Port Dover where I remember going with my family when I was little. It brought back so many great memories.

Travelling to Ottawa with Kids - Canadian Museum of Nature

The second museum we were able to see while we were in Ottawa and Quebec was the Canadian Museum of Nature. We were impressed right away when we walked in and the first area we looked at was all about dinosaurs.  They had a lot of dinosaur skeletons on display.  This one was Katrina's favourite:

The girls walked through this area with a lot of interest, reading the information on signs, trying things out (there were lots of hands-on things to do).  In the photo below, they were comparing two dinosaur bones to determine which was real and which was a replica.

Travelling to Ottawa with Kids - Canadian Museum of History

When I was in high school, my History class went on a trip to Ottawa.  I have photos from that trip and memories from some of the places that we visited while there. One thing that I remember taking a photo of was the ceiling in a museum. I could remember what it looked like, but I didn't remember which museum it was. When we returned to Ottawa as a family and were walking through the Canadian Museum of History, I looked up and saw that ceiling!  Here's Katrina's face when she saw it :)

I love the ability to re-experience something through the eyes of my children!  What I was too old to experience then (I'm not sure if it was there then or not!) but was able to experience this time with my kids, was a very cool Children's Museum within the museum!