Moms and families across the capital were celebrating Mother’s Day Sunday, a day to honour mothers and everything they do. The National Capital Commission’s (NCC) River House was holding their annual Mother’s Day brunch for more than 400 guests. “Over the years and today, unfortunately, we don’t have enough room. We have to turn a lot of people down,” said Steve Lachance, president of Bytown Catering. The event was flipping tables every half an hour to accommodate the crowds. Robin Fraser was happy to get a reservation at the River House for her family to enjoy a nice meal right in their neighbourhood. “We actually have my mother-in-law, my mom, my sister and her girls. We have three families here altogether,” Fraser said. All were bringing the family together to connect and take advantage of the day. “I love it because on Mother’s Day, often mothers plan and organize and make all the food. Not in every family, but a lot of the time. With this, it gives everyone that day off where we can all just come enjoy the food,” Fraser said. At the Rockcliffe lookout, one family is making the best of their own personal celebration. Sisters Tracey-Anne and Jessica Laporte planned a Mother’s Day high tea at the lookout for their mom and grandma. “My mom was telling me that she really wanted to do a high tea but the problem was that everything was already booked,” said Tracey-Anne. The sisters gave their mom and grandma strict instructions to surprise them. “I got an invitation, a formal invitation that it was a surprise for myself and my mother-in-law, to not book anything for today,” said Roxanne Laporte, Tracey-Anne’s mom. Tracey-Anne and Jessica say they tried to come up with a plan to still make it special and wanted to hold it outside since the city has great scenery. “We grew up doing picnics at the Rockcliffe Park when we were kids, so my sister had decided that it would be the perfect place to come and have a little bit of a picnic of ourselves. It’s kind of a flashback to what we did as a kid, but a little bit more elevated with the heightened thematic,” said Jessica.
