We live in Canada’s national capital, so Canada Day is a pretty big deal here. Lots of people, locals and tourists, congregating in the downtown like sardines eager to see bands and buskers, eat street food and watch the fireworks. As a couple, Matt and I always enjoyed partaking in the patriotic festivities. But with massive crowds, noises, sites and smells amped up to the max, we had a feeling we would need to find our own family tradition for Canada Day once we had children. Even for our outgoing social butterflies, Canada Day in downtown Ottawa was just too much for our children. (We learned the hard way through experience: tantrums and tears).

With strawberries in prime picking season and with the fields safely outside the downtown core, we happily adopted strawberry picking as our family’s Canada Day tradition. This year was no different, except that when we arrived at the farm to pick, there were only off-the-shelf berries available for purchase, as the farmer didn’t want people walking in his fields following overnight rain. We decided to go for a hike at a nearby lake instead and go picking at the soonest opportunity, which luckily was just a few days later.

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Thank you to our kind sponsors for outfitting Ro and Sen:

Organic clothing by Nico Nico from Little Heirloom, a lovely Canadian shop, that ships worldwide. LIttle Heirloom is especially great for Canadian shoppers looking for premium brands and organic clothing with domestic shipping rates.

Leather sandals are by Salt Water Sandals and are available from Mini Mioche, another superb Canadian shop stocking organics, shoes, bags and much more, and shipping worldwide.

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