Le voyage d'amour

Hi,

We got back from our trip to Florida a few days ago and I thought I should take the time to write about it (in other words to stop and count our blessings!!) before the feelings, memories and energy of the trip get too swept away by the busy routine of our regular lives.

I feel it is important to stop a minute and acknowledge what a wonderful time we had. Some trips our better than others not necessarily because of a more exotic location or more flashy or fancy attractions but simply because the time spent with the people you love and the priceless memories that are created.

Vincent defined this trip as our "voyage d'amour" and I couldn't agree more. We only had 5 short days in Florida but it was so wonderful to get away to beautiful Clearwater, Florida after a difficult time in Montreal and truly enjoy being together as a family. It was so nice to be able to relax and spend a lot of time appreciating each other's company...I say it all the time but we are just so blessed to have each other and our two incredible kids that we get such a kick out of.

Although quite cold and sometimes rainy, Florida was beautiful and I was somewhat awestruck at Odette's lovely condo. Vincent says I reminded him of a little girl at the fair when I got gleefully excited (clapping my hands and everything) when we were first checking out her digs...! It was a beautiful and spacious condo right on the beach. The view from every window was amazing...For me, the pièces de résistances were the beautiful heated pool (as heat became necessary in order to swim in the cold weather!) and the fully equipped gym!! I definately took advantage of both...


As a mentioned, the weather was cold and windy most of the time but that did not stop us from enjoying our time there. We went out for dinner one night at Crabby Bill's - a family friendly restaurant that served buckets of fresh sea food. I was in heaven and the kids enjoyed it too- especially the balloon lady. For a few days afterwards Gabriel was still saying "I want to eat cabby bill's".

We took the kids to a beautiful aquarium in Tampa as well as a lovely zoo where we actually got to enjoy the sunshine. And, there were a couple of days where we went swimming in the pool with Mathieu as Gabriel was taking his nap. We would get all ready inside the hotel cabana then count "1.. 2.. 3.. go" and quickly strip down to our bathsuits and jump into the water as fast as we could to get out of the cold. The water was warm so as long as we stayed in we were good!!! We moved really fast when we had to run out of the water towards our towels!

Anyways, Mathieu loved being in the pool with us and has become quite the little swimmer! I think he was most happy about having us all to himself.

Vincent and I also really appreciated having a chance to go out for a dinner just the two of us as Odette offered to babysit the boys one night...Seafood linguine anyone???

We celebrated valentine's day with Odette and the boys with a lovely seafood dinner (what else??) at home. I think Odette appreciated having the company as she had started to find her time alone in Florida a little lonely...

Needless to say, it is a trip that we will surely never forget and always remember as a special time. As for me, I have to say that it did me a lot of good to get away and have some time to reflect on things.

I can say that I am feeling healed.

Blessings are being counted and recounted.

Stephanie

The sun begins to shine...

I feel that before I can continue this blog about all of our family adventures I need to take a moment to acknowledge what was lost.

Vincent and I were very devastated to go through the loss of yet another pregnancy. Today is a particulary difficult day as today was the day we were going to officially find out the sex. I was so looking forward to finally tell Mathieu that he was once again going to be a big brother as he had started to get suspicious of my growing tummy...

And so, as hard as it was to go through this again, everyday I am feeling stronger and stronger and I know that life goes on. I have to believe that there is a plan for us that we have yet to discover.

And once again, I am reminded of how blessed I am to have my husband beside me and my two beautiful boys. Once again, they have been the best therapy as I can't help but laugh and smile when I am with them. Looking at them puts everything in perspective.