Category: Canada

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On my birthday this year we went and explored the Canadian Museum of Nature. You loved the stroller we borrowed there which felt more like a cart, and happily sat in it as I whizzed you around past various exhibitions. Lots of wows at the dinosaurs, you liked the massive skeletons but quickly said no and bye-bye to the “real” ones. Mammals were also fun, but only the smaller ones, the big ones like moose and polar bear were also a quick bye-bye. Your favorite part was the water exhibition, with fish and turtle aquariums as well as a boat which you could play in. On the top floor there was a insectarium, and you got to see ants working up close and learned their Chinese name “ma yi”. The same floor also had a bird gallery showing every single species of birds living in Canada, and here mommy wanted to say bye bye but you were happy to look at the birds closer and found more than a dozen different “owl”. So far that’s the only bird you can call by name, otherwise they are all “niao” (Chinese for bird).

Later on in the evening as we sat for dinner in our chateau restaurant, by the large windows overlooking the main street in downtown Ottawa as the rain poured down, I was telling your dad about our day and you immediately caught me saying “ma yi”. Suddenly you were repeating “ma yi ma yi” and excitedly pointed downwards. To our surprise you had in fact found the only ant crawling in the whole restaurant!