Surprise visit

Today was a very nice and relaxed day with the kids. I helped Max put his C.V. together. It turned out really well, he has a nice C.V. for a 17 year old. Max is going to start job hunting on Tuesday, after the holiday weekend.

We had a surprise visit from my dad "Grandpapa" this afternoon. He was in the area for a funeral for his aunt, who died suddenly from a brain tumor, and stopped by to see the kids. We had a good time. Sabrina & Mathieu enjoy his company.

Sushi sushi and Mike Holmes

The kids are in bed early. Martin & I ordered sushi for a special supper with our favourite wine. We haven't had sushi is about a year! Yeah!
Also, I've submitted our master bathroom for a renovation project to Mike Holmes from Holmes on Homes. Keep your fingers crossed that we get chosen!

Sabrina ism of the day: "plush"
Translation: "pouf"

Mathieu vocabulary to date: Mama, Papa, Bye Bye, Hi, Yeah, Abaah (Sabrina), Maa (again)

Car accident part II

I'm fine but the car isn't. The other driver is OK too, even if his air bag deployed. I just didn't see him coming as I was turning left and we almost had a frontal. There was nothing I could do as I did not see him at all. I just remember hearing some breaking, and then going through a big crash.

The process that follows is very well defined. First the fire trucks come in, followed by the police and then a tow-truck. I am asked repeatedly if I'm fine, something I asked the other guy often. I call our dealership and they told us where to bring the car. Called the insurance but they were closed -- it did happen around 6:45AM. We brought the car to the garage, from there they brought me to a car rental place and then drove back to the garage to get the baby seats.

All in all, it was a relatively painless experience. I'm really happy both of us are OK.

Martin in car accident

Martin called me this morning at 8:00am, which right away worried me because he never calls me during the day when at work, to tell me that he was in a car accident. He's OK, the car is not in good shape. I'll know more later today.

Martin cleans the garage

Today can be summarized as follows:
Suzanne does groceries
Martin cleans out the garage (very well I must say!)
Martin works on pool (it's getting there!)
Suzanne takes kids to the park
Martin & Suzanne are exhausted
Kids don't want to cooperate in going to bed early and instead of sleeping by 7:00 pm as usual they fall asleep by 9:00 pm
Martin & Suzanne are even more exhausted
The end

Sabrina ism of the day: Opinol
Translation: Oatmeal

Bonne St Jean Bastiste

We had a wonderful family day on June 24th - La Saint Jean Batiste. We started out our day with the usual plans (pool, work around the house, groceries...) but then we decided to forget about all those chores and do something fun for a change. The initial plan was to take the Metro to l'Ile Ste-Helene and walk around the park and then come back home... but we ended up going with the flow and had a wonderful time. This was Sabrina and Mathieu's first time in the Metro. Sabrina was a little concerned at first because of all the noise, the smells and the hustle and bustle. Once on l'Ile Ste-Helene we saw a wonderful water fountain which Sabrina found quite amusing.
We then visited the "Big Ball" otherwise known as the Biosphere. Sabrina has been obsessed with this "Big Ball" since she was a baby. She used to cry in the car when we would pass it and she could no longer see it. She was quite happy to actually go into the ball and touch the ball. When she's older, we'll take her to visit the museum.
After the "Big Ball" we took a little break at park for kids on l'Ile Ste Helene. Sabrina had a great time on the slides and climbing the rock mountain.
We then proceeded to a wharf to look at the city across the St-Lawrence river when to our surprise a water taxi boat arrived. We decided on the spur of the moment to take the boat across to the old port of Montreal. Wow what a lot of fun!
At the old port we visited a schooner called Marie-Clarisse that was built at the same place and at the same time as the Bluenose. We then had lunch and proceeded to take the Metro back to Longueuil. We got back home by around 1:30 pm and we were exhausted. We then finished our day by going to see our good friends Melanie, Francois and Benjamin for a delicious supper. This was a perfect family day. :)

Sabrina ism of the day : Queuter
Translation: Computer

A walk in the park

On Saturday we went for a stroll at Le Parc Regional de Longueuil. It was a beautiful day, there was a cool breeze and no humidity. We saw a few chipmunks, some squirrels, some seagulls, a goose, a duck and several birds. Sabrina threw rocks into the pond and Mathieu had fun picking clover and trying to eat it. Martin continued cleaning the pool in the afternoon. We expect the pool to be ready by September. LOL. It was a pretty laid back day. We were all tired and went to bed at 7 pm. Today is La St-Jean Batiste. Happy Quebec Day.

Sabrina ism of the day: Kremmins
Translation: Penguins

Max graduates from High School

Class of 2007 Royal West Academy. Max graduated from high school this year. We are so proud of him. Martin and Paula attended his graduation ceremony. Max will be attending Dawson College in the fall and will be studying Moviemaking. He's also very dedicated to his band - The Blacks. He's a singer and guitar player. They've had a few gigs and hopefully will make it big some day.

Matt the Daredevil / Suzanne learns to blog / Sabrina the computer gamer

Today, Martin taught me (Suzanne) how to use the blog. I'm officially a blogger! Yeah! Tomorrow I learn how to incorporate a picture.

Mathieu is the most adventurous baby that I've ever met. In the space of 2 weeks he has gone from barely moving on his stomach to crawling, to pulling himself up, to letting go with both hands and trying to stay up as long as possible. He's determined to walk and run like his sister! His favourite thing to do is to pull himself up on our steps, let go with one hand, wave to mama and then let go with the other hand and fall on his bum. He's so proud of himself and he gets very insulted and angry if I try to help. At this rate he should be walking by next week. I'll keep you posted.... BTW he turned 8 months on the 12th of June.

Sabrina is following in her father's computer geek steps (much to her mother's dismay). It all started approximately 2 months ago when grandpapa sent her a link to a website of basic computer games for kids. Since then she has mastered the art of using a mouse and "jumping" over obstacles. Doom is right around the corner!

Sabrina ism of the day "rainbrella"
Translation - umbrella.

Our own handyman

Suzanne was fixing a toy for Mathieu (replacing the batteries I believe). She leaves to do something and when she comes back, Sabrina is screwing the screws back with a screwdriver. She actually did a very good job!

She'll be three in about two months.

The mirror and "not quite"

Today Mathieu discovered the mirror. We have a huge closet mirror in the lobby and he was sitting in front of it, kissing himself on the glass. Then again he kisses us non stop. He does so by putting my whole nose in his mouth.

He's also becoming very mobile. He can almost lift himself up (he does it once in a while). He rolls around effortlessly and also crawls backwards.

Sabrina's language and conversational skills are absolutely wonderful. Today she has started using the expression "not quite" when Sue asked her a question. She just sounded so sophisticated.

She's also so good. She waits in bed in the morning until Suzanne wakes up before she goes to see her, to make sure she doesn't wake. Also there was a lot of wind last night and one plant arrangement outside fell. Sabrina kept saying: "Don't worry maman, we'll take care of it, don't worry".

I've begun teaching her my own version of phonics and mathematics. We're doing it before the bed stories. We call it "going to school".