Life is a beach!

Well, summer is officially here, and being the water baby that I am, that has meant that we have been hitting the beach!  On Saturday we took a drive to our favourite little town of Knowlton in the Eastern Townships.  It is just the most quaint and charming little town and it has been a ritual over the last few years to go there several times in the summer.  We stop to stroll in all the little shops and bakeries (and of course the fudge shop!!!) before we head to the beach.  Unfortunately, Mathieu was disappointed that the train store that had a big electric train track going through the store and outside is now closed.  But, they had a great time at the beach.  It was a cool day with big grey clouds but that did not stop us from all going swimming (I think the water baby gene must be hereditary!!!).  Once again, Gabriel refused to get out of the water even when his lips were turning blue!!!

Yesterday was father's day and the boys and I spoiled Vincent (a well-deserved spoiling!) with some new shirts and some new books. Then we hopped on our bikes and rode to Parc Jean Drapeau on Isle St. Helene.  It is a quite a ride since we have to cross the bridge to get there but, once again, Mathieu was a little trooper pedalling with great determination behind Vincent.  He was quite fascinated by the fact that we were taking a bridge that "went over the sea" .  Once there, we decided instead of going to the outdoor pool that they have there that we would check out the man-made beach.  It ended up being quite lovely with a really great play structure so we set our towels down and spent a few hours at the beach. 

The other day, we were also lucky enough to get a visit from Liz and John and their new baby William.  Both of the boys were quite fascinated by him and Mathieu has been asking for a new baby sister lately because, "We have enough boys in this family maman, we need another girl"!!!!

The boys are doing really well.  Mathieu is very proud because he lost another tooth yesterday.  The tooth fairy came last night and Mathieu decided he was going to save his money this time instead of spending it.  Gabriel is beginning to show signs of being 2 soon!! He is not being bad at all but he just wanting to explore and get into everything lately!  He is a ball of happy energy and he definately keeps us moving. And even when he does do something "naughty" it is so hard to be mad at him when he looks up with his big blue eyes and blond curls and gives me this absolute angel face "Oh Oh maman"  Anyway, that is all for now.  We are having a joint birthday part for myself and Gabriel on Sunday with a bunch of friends in the park so I will post those pictures soon.

Well, we've had an eventful few weeks here.  

The other weekend we took the kids to the botanical gardens in Montreal where we enjoyed a day of roaming through the chinese gardens, japanese gardens, the lilac fields and the Canadian forest.  The kids had a great time and Mathieu especially loved watching the big japanese goldfish swimming in the pond.  The gardens really are beautiful and such an escape from the city that we decided to get a yearly pass.

We also took the kids to the pool that same weekend where we discovered how much Gabriel LOVES the water.  He was so excited from start to finish and squealing with delight.  A few hours later, blue-lipped and exhausted, we still had a struggle to get him out the pool.  Mathieu, on his side, was happy to discover that he is now big enough to go down one of the water slides!

This weekend, we took a bike ride up the mountain together.  Mathieu now rides with his bike attached to the back of Vincent's bike and Gabriel is in a bike seat behind me.  It is so funny to see the look of absolute pride on Mathieu's face as he pedals his little heart out.  He is just so happy to be a "big boy" who can ride with his papa.  Gabriel seems to enjoy it too and was singing the Diego song all the way up the moutain, "Go Diego go!".  Once at the top we enjoyed a picnic at the newly constructed playground that is at the top of the mountain.

So all is well here and we are slowly starting to prepare our trip to Japan.  Yuko has been helping us decide where to visit and has book us some hotels around Kyoto and Hiroshima.  As I look at the pictures, I am getting more and more anxious to go!

I've been lucky enough to have been working part time in two CLSC's close to my house for the past couple of weeks so it has been lovely being able to walk to work and to enjoy my familiar neighborhood streets during my lunch breaks.  I have been learning a lot on the job and am enjoying the challenge.

Well, that's all for now.  I can hear the boys starting to stir in their beds so it won't be quiet for long.  Today is a rainy day so we are going to make a trip to the library and an indoor wading pool!

Hi,

Back again to report the latest news!  Well, last weekend we had a wonderful visit from dad and Jan.  They came in on Thursday and were out on Sunday so it was short but sweet.  Once again, I did not tell Mathieu they were coming so he was very excited when the "surprise" I promised him turned out to be Grandpa and Grandma sitting on the balconey when we got 

home!!!

On the Friday, we had the annual Carrefour picnic at Parc Lafontaine.  We didn't stay long this year, but still long enough for Mathieu to get his face painted like a spider and for everyone to enjoy some music and clowns.  Afterwards I took everyone on a walk for lunch to China town and then to the old port.  Once again, I realize that I have definately lived in Montreal a long time because what for me was a regular walk was described by dad as a walk to the "Ontario border"!!  Oh well, at least I didn't have him limping like last time in Quebec city although Jan was sporting a big blister by the time she went home!!!  (Note to anyone who wants to visit Montreal...bring comfortable shoes!)

Saturday was a lovely day so we set out to the eastern townships to visit Michel at his beautiful cottage out there.  We had a nice lunch together and managed to finish off three bottles of wine before we left....That night we all went out for Korean food at our favourite Korean restaurant down town...

On Sunday,  Sebastian's parents were in from France (the people who lent us there summer house when we were there) so we had them over for supper.  There was much wine, sausages, cheese, and laughter!!!

Well, we are just getting in from a morning out with our friends in the park and a pizza lunch with Leo and Laurel.  We took advantage of this somewhat sunny morning since it is supposed to rain for the next couple of days.  

Till next time!

Well, it has been awhile since I have written so I thought I write a little bit about what has been going on with our little family.

Since I last wrote, we got a visit from grandmaman Paulette.  Mathieu did not know she was coming in so he was quite happy and excited when she showed up for his music concert!

I started my new job at the same time as mom was in so the boys were treated to a few days of having grandmaman all to themselves where they were treated to some yellow pasta and time in the park!  On the days I was not working, we took the kids to the Biodome and to Imax. Mom and I also got a night out without the kids to see a wonderful performance of Cirque du Soleil.

Last weekend, we went for a family back ride for the first time this year.  Gabriel was behind my bike and Mathieu's bike attaches to Vincent's.  We made it up the mountain for a picnic. 

Vincent and Mathieu went to Quebec city on Friday afternoon for Yann's confirmation.   Gabriel and I stayed at home and went to my friend Liz's baby shower yesterday.  Gabriel was extremely well behaved despite being surrounded by tons of gooey desserts at eye (and grab) level!!!  

The boys took me about for mother's day today at Popessa and then bought me a lovely new leather back pack...Now they are all having a nap so I have some moments of quiet!

Well, that's all for now.  I will post some new pictures in a moment.

Back to the land of the vertical

First of all, congratulations to my dear friend Cori-Lee for the birth of her lovely new daughter, Natalie!



Well. Its been a little while since I have last written. It has been an interesting past week and a half to say the least. On the positive side, we had a great birthday party for Vincent a couple of Saturday nights ago. We invited his friends over for dinner of salmon and sausages on the bbq...and lots of red wine! Then, at 10:30 our lovely babysitter arrived and we were all out the door for a night of dancing which was a lot of fun and much appreciated.



Unfortunately, the next day I started to get very sick. Long story short, after a few days with a lot of vomiting and room turning we found ourselves in the emergency room where I was diagnosed with peripheral vertigo and sent home. We went back a few days later when the room started turning even more and I had developed a drying machine sound in my ear. Anyways, after a lot of laying on the couch, I am feeling so much better. I started to be able to walk again a few days again and now my vision is almost back to normal! I am so happy to be off the couch and Vincent, who was doing everything around here and generally being sweet and amazing, is surely happy to have some help with the kids once again!!!



One thing that I appreciate about this and can not take for granted is how our friends were so good to us offering to help in anyway that they could even with such a minor illness. It just made me appreciate how lucky we are to have such wonderful friends in Montreal. Vincent and I knew that , if we were to have kids in Montreal where neither of us has our family around, it would be important to create for ourselves a circle of friends and support that would become like a family and support network for our children. Nothing replaces family of course, but we are very lucky to have such wonderful people in our lives.



Mathieu turned 5 on the 20th and we had a family birthday party. He got a rocket ship from Grandmaman Odette which he has been playing with non stop!!! From us, he got a space-themed aquarium. The fish we bought him for it have already died so we have to make another trip to the pet store today!! We had to cancel Mathieu's birthday party last Sunday but are going to be redoing it this Sunday. We will have nine little rugrats running around our place!!! It should be quite fun!

We are thrilled that the past days have been warm and beautiful and all the snow is long gone, leaving lots of opportunity to play in the park and in the sandbox. Its fun to watch the two boys play in the sand side-by side and to see how brave Gabriel has gotten climbing the stairs and going down the slide by himself. He has become quite an independent man on the playground!

Well, that's all for now. Our camera should be back from the repair shop soon so pictures are to come!

Stephanie