nation's capital, tulip festival and senators victorious

Wow, what a day to visit Ottawa. The sun was shining, the tulips were blooming and the Senators won the series! This was Davin's first real trip to Parliament Hill and he was excited to run around on the grass. I love the feeling of this area in the spring and summer - there are people everywhere, taking pictures, having picnics, sitting in the sun.

Of course I love the story behind the tulip festival. The history of it is as follows:
"The Canadian Tulip Festival has grown into the largest Tulip Festival in the world from a gift of thanks given six decades ago. In the fall of 1945, Princess Juliana of the Netherlands presented Ottawa with 100,000 tulip bulbs. The gift was given in appreciation of the safe haven that members of Holland's exiled royal family received during the Second World War in Ottawa and in recognition of the role which Canadian troops played in the liberation of the Netherlands." While the Netherlands continues to send 20,000 bulbs to Canada each year, today sees nearly 3 million tulips purchased from Dutch and Canadian distributors.

While we were eating dinner at the Outback the hockey game was on and we knew Ottawa had just scored the winning goal because people started yelling! Cars outside were honking their horns, it was fun.