Lebanese Fun Festival

July 20, 2006

Every year Ottawa is host to two Lebanese Festivals. This year we attended the bigger one at the St. Elias church. They scaled down the festival a bit in light of recent events in Lebanon, and added a fund raising component to rebuild what is currently being destroyed by the fighting overseas and to help all the victims of the crisis. We went right after work with the kids so we couldn't stay for all the music and dabke dancing but we enjoyed the best part... the food! Although Helena might argue that the rides were more enjoyable for her ;-)

let's go!

a lebanese flag... we must be at the right place!

a quick look around

 
helena is worried that she might not be tall enough...
but it's all a matter of perspective.

helena was quite merry as she went around

khalil also enjoyed enjoyed the ride

helena will have to wait until next year to try out this ride

sounds promising... so guess what we did next?

ate some lebanese food...

mmmm... the food was really yummy!

samantha enjoyed putting hummus on crackers then licking the hummus off!

all aboard!

choo-choo!

look everyone... flying elephants!

this ride should satisfy helena's need for speed!

patriotic souvenirs!

a sample of traditional clothing

khalil explains the items on the table

a closer look.

over an hour in and the kids are still having fun!

khalil decides to see if he's got what it takes to be professional soccer player.

helena then showed him how it's done.

looks like we are too early to catch the music

jo is pushing helena around.

hopefully the festival will raise lots of funds.

jo looks very proud to be part lebanese!

and now for a tour of the church...

the outside.

the front of the church.

the view of the dome from the inside.

the back of the church