First Day of School, First Casualty

Today is Sabrina and Mathieu's first day of school. First we brought Sabrina to school. She was starting at her normal time.

Sabrina and Mathieu

Happy to see BFFs

Kiara and Sabrina

Mathieu who's starting kindergarten had only a half day today. Suzanne and I brought him to his first day of school.

Walking to school

Almost there ...

First day done :)

Both really loved their first day.

We lost our first two fish today. While the kids took it in stride, Suzanne and I both grieved. I also ran a full battery of tests on the water to determine what was happening. A pH that's too high and high levels of methane could be the culprit so I ran to the petshop to get products to adjust the water.

Montreal's Botanical Garden

This afternoon, Thelma, the kids and I met up with Suzanne at the Montreal Botanical Garden. It was the first time Thelma got to see the lanterns. Most of the special exhibits were closed, unfortunately, but we still had time for a nice walk through the gardens.

We ended the evening with a nice picnic in the park. While it was a bit cold, we had a great time. We even played tag after dinner.

All in all a great evening.

Search Results: August 28 , 2012Montreal Downtown

Max Temp: 24.7 °C

Min Temp: 13.4 °C

Mean Temp: 19.1 °C

Precip Accumulation: 0 mm 

More Fish

We got four more fish today. Two Sunset hifin Wagtail Platy and two Dwarf Sky Blue Gouramis.

Dwarf Sky Blue Gourami

Sunset hifin Wagtail Platy

This is a bit what the aquarium looks like now:

I will take a better picture later, once the fish are better. Right now, the barbs are very aggressive.

A day of leisure...

I love those days when we do nothing but lounge in the pool and read.

Current Weather Sunday, August 19, 2012, 10:00 EDT St. Hubert

19

°C

• °C
• °F

Clear

• Feels Like : -
• Wind : SW 13 km/h
• Sunrise : 5:59
• Sunset : 19:53

• Humidity : 68%
• Pressure : 101.49 kPa 
• Visibility : 14 km
• Ceiling : unlimited 

How to train your dragon; Aquarium; Heitz Cellar Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2006

What an incredible day we had today. Suzanne was able to get tickets to "How to train your dragon" at the Bell Centre from livingsocial.

The kids and I went to have what I would consider to be one of the best breakfast I have ever had at Bocacinos.

 Next it was time for the show. Here are a few pictures of the kids at the show:

Here's the review made by a friend of Suzanne's on FB. Quickly though, it was simply Wow!

When we came back home we all went to safari to get our first ever pets. The kids got six fish to begin: 3 platy red top moon and 3 golden neon barb.

Golden Neon Barb

Platy Red Top Moon (Mickey Mouse Fish -- look at Mickey on the tail)

It's such a fascinating thing to observe the interaction of the two group of fish in the tank. The platy stay mostly up, while the barb stays at the bottom. During the day the platy tends to be the most aggressive one, but that's reverse at night. Really cool to watch.

We completed the day with a good swim in the pool. Suzanne and I were able to spend some time with a good wine.

Cabernet-Sauvignon Heitz Cellar Napa Valley Californie 2006 Code SAQ : 00702092 CUP : 00098803 010609 Catégorie : Vin rouge Couleur : Rouge Nature : Vin tranquille Format : 750 ml

Prix : 51,50 $ Disponibilité SUCCURSALES

Fiche descriptive

Pays :
Etats-Unis
Région :
Californie
Sous région :
Napa
Cépage :
Cabernet-Sauvignon
Fournisseur :
Heitz Wine Cellars
Pourcentage d'alcool :
14.5 %

Max Temp: 22.1 °C

Min Temp: 15 °C

Mean Temp: 18.6 °C

Precip Accumulation: 0 mm 

It's my girl's birthday today...

I can't believe she's eight years old. I woke up to see her dressed in her soirée gown, all beautiful.

Well, all I can say is that we had a real fun day today. We could say it really began around 1:30pm when we drove to Cinema Guzzo to watch the movie "Paranorman". We were a tad bit early so the kids got to play in the games. I can't tell you how much fun they had.

Next we went to watch the movie. Paranorman was really good..

In the small New England town of Blithe Hollow, a boy named Norman Babcock is able to speak with the dead including his late grandmother and various ghosts in town. Unfortunately, almost no one among the living believes his ability is genuine and he is ostracized by his family while being ridiculed and bullied by most of his peers for his seemingly strange habit of casually conversing with supposed ghosts.

After the movie we drove to get the next surprise of the day... Max! From the bus stop we went to Tamales to get food for the adults, and McDonalds for the kids. We had a great supper, and a fantastic birthday cake.

Sabrina got the present we've been hiding from her for a few months. A nice 32Gb iPod Touch.

She was quite happy (and poor Mathieu became really upset "I'm the only one without a phone"). It's a really cool device, even without the phone part. Sabrina was able to take the following pictures with her new computer:

I brought Max back to his place afterwards. It was a very pleasant trip.

Search Results: August 17 , 2012Montreal Downtown

Max Temp: 24.7 °C

Min Temp: 18.2 °C

Mean Temp: 21.4 °C

Precip Accumulation: 0 mm 

And then there was a pet...

Okay, not a pet yet, but yesterday we got an aquarium and today we completed the installation. We are now waiting for the water to warm up to add "a couple of hardy fish" to prep the tank for the next 7-14 days. I think we'll call these toughies Arnold and Silvester.

Now all I need is a miniature wooden galley replica and a bonzai tree to reach my full zen state....

Such a pretty day. Chardonnay Calera Mt. Harlan California 2010

We spent a lot of time in the pool, and it felt good. It's so good to be home. And to have some good wine, finally. Here's a 4*

Chardonnay Calera Mt. Harlan Californie 2010 Code SAQ : 11089944 CUP : 00745067 991440 Catégorie : Vin blanc Couleur : Blanc Nature : Vin tranquille Format : 750 ml

Prix : 34,25 $ Disponibilité SUCCURSALES

Fiche descriptive

Pays :
Etats-Unis
Région :
Californie
Sous région :
San Benito
Cépage :
Chardonnay
Fournisseur :
Calera Wine Co.
Pourcentage d'alcool :
13.9 %

On the road again

Nothing much to report. It was a long drive from Gaspé, slowed by construction, thousands of cyclists and a few very slow cars. We got back to a very clean home.

We ate lunch at the Bic

Second Day in Gaspé

Today was a slow day. We had probably the best restaurant experience for breakfast.

This is a really great place to have breakfast. Highly recommended. The rest of the day was spent doing practically nothing. While Suzanne and her mom were packing for tomorrow's trip, I took the kids to Pasbebiac to the play parc.

To the Beach; ISS

The one thing we do a lot when we go to Gaspé is to go to the Bonaventure beach. We stop at the lighthouse, climb it if we can, then go frolic in the water and look for starfish on Starfish Island.

The lighthouse

On top of the lighthouse. Behind is Bonaventure Beach

Before playing in the water

I'm the one with the arms in the air, with Sabrina and Mathieu, on Starfish Island

The most amazing thing happened that night. Suzanne's mom was away for the evening. The kids were sleeping. Suzanne and I decided on a whim to go on the balcony to look at an amazingly beautiful starry night. In Montreal we can only see a few stars. In Gaspé the sky is full.

That's when we saw a bright star (or planet, it didn't twinkle) move steadily across the sky. We realized it might have been the International Space Station (ISS) so I looked on the NASA website to see where it was right now. Lo and behold it was the ISS that passed right on top of us. Such an amazing site...