Weekend of biking and relaxing in the Laurentians...

Hi,

We rented a little cabin in the Laurentians for the long weekend....Gorgeous weather! Lots of biking! (It's too hot in the house to write more...I will let the pictures talk for themselves!)

Biking!

Hi,

Well, the big news in our family is that Gabriel got his cast off the other day. For the first couple of days he was afraid to walk on it but by Saturday he decided to give it a try. He still limps and we have been told that he could limp for up to 6 weeks but he seems happy to be able to get around more easily. We took the kids to the botanical gardens on Saturday so he was happy to get out of his stroller and explore a little bit.

On Sunday we took the kids up north to the Laurentians to bike on the "petit train du nord". It is a long and scenic bike path through the Laurentians made on the spot where the former railway track used to be years ago. It is a beautiful place to go with the family with lots of lovely spots to stop and have a picnic or just contemplate the view. Mathieu rides attached to the back of Vincent's bike so he pedals his little heart out. He did quite well too as we managed to do about 30 k in total. Needless to say he fell asleep in the car ride home.

Our camera was not working yesterday so I borrowed some pictures of the bike path from off of the website! Those people are not us sitting on the rock but we had lunch on a very similar rock to that one so use your imaginations!

Hockey Fever

I guess I can forget about going to bed for awhile. The city is wrapped up in hockey fever. The Canadiens just won again and there has been a constant stream of honking cars and screaming fans outside my window for the past 15 minutes...

Even Gabriel is aware of what's going on lately since every time he sees a Canadiens emblem he shouts out, "Hockey!!!"....

Hmmm....I may be forced to become a fan.

Mountain Air

Back from my wonderful trip to Calgary...I so appreciated my time there in many ways and will always carry special memories with me...

It did me good to get away on my own and have some time to think and I particularly enjoyed having the chance to visit with my dad, Jan and Chelsea. I really appreciated them giving me the "tour" of some of the beautiful attractions that Calgary and its surrounding area has to offer. Lake Louise and Banff were lovely and there is something about the mountain air that must be good for the soul. I enjoyed taking it all in...

( On a more superficial level, I also enjoyed discovering some of the interesting jewellery store that Banff had to offer. Jan and I spent quite a bit of time marvelling at the various stone pendants for sale as my dad patiently waited for us girls!!). It was difficult to decide between two particular pendants I wanted to buy so I was very happy when the second pendant turned up on my breakfast plate the next morning as an early birthday present from my dad and Jan!

Anyway, as much as I enjoyed my trip it was also nice to get home to my "boys". The boys had had a good weekend in Quebec city but Mathieu said he was counting the sleeps until I came home. He told me, "Maman, the house smells better when you're home" . So, I made sure I made a batch of muffins when I got home to make sure the house smelled like he wanted it!!!

The Laurentians

A few pictures from our amazing weekend at our friend Mathieu's cottage in the Laurentians...

Peace and Quiet

Hi,

I thought I would post a few pictures and some videos of our weekend at Michel's and Yuko's cottage in the Eastern Townships...His cottage is in the middle of acres of forest so needless to say, it is very quiet and peaceful. It was lovely to get out of the city and the boys had a good time. On my side, I also enjoyed spending Saturday afternoon cooking two new recipes (one of which we had for supper!) and baking...It sounds silly but I really enjoy having the time to do that. The boys were playing so well with their toys beside me and Vincent was reading and relaxing so everyone was happy!!!! Vincent and I also each had the chance to go for a nice long run along the country roads. I was particulary happy to learn that there were no dogs in sight as that is always my biggest fear when I run alone in the country...! Everyone has their phobia I guess!!!

Michel has a little pond in the back of his cottage so the boys enjoying going "fishing"...We also made a couple of trips into the quaint little town that is about 10 minutes away to go to the bakery...Despite being in the middle of the forest, we were only minutes away from fresh croissants!!!

As you can see from the video, Gabriel is crawling around like a trooper and has really adapted well to his cast. This Friday, we go back to hospital to get a new, smaller cast so hopefully he will be able to walk around a little bit...We shall see...

April Fools- It's Broken!

Hi,

Well, the April Fool's joke on our family this year was that what we thought was a bad bump ended up being a broken leg! Our little guy was chasing after a ball in the park the other day and took a bad fall. Vincent took him to the hospital after a pretty much sleepless night ("Maman, bo bo foot, ....owww....") and it turned out that he had fractured his tibia. Fortunately, Vincent got there right when the emergency had just cleared out their night patients and before the morning patients arrived so they were seen right away and they were out within two hours. The doctor told him that if he had arrived earlier, he would have been waiting about 8 hours!

So, Gabriel has adjusted well to his cast and does not seem to mind being immobile. We just stick a bunch of toys around him on the floor and he seems content to play. He is now starting to pull himself with one leg on his bum to get to out of reach objects.

The second April fool's joke was that it went from spring to summer over night. On Friday it was 26 degrees outside and we took the kids to the park on the mountain. We were actually too hot and there was not shade since there were not yet leaves on the trees!!!

On Saturday, we went down to Quebec city for Easter. Mathieu was very excited for the Easter Bunny to come and was so happy to see how he left eggs for him in Grandmaman's yard. (Check out the video!). He also felt very responsible for making sure he picked up egg's for his brother too since Gabriel could not do it himself with his cast!

Yesterday, the whole family got together for Easter brunch and Odette's was full as our the family keeps growing. Gabriel was definately the center of attention and everyone took a turn signing his cast.

I am off with the boys today and then tomorrow I have to take Gabriel to back to the hospital for some more tests. The good news is the cast should be off within three weeks and he will be as good as new.