Florida Vacation: Day 2 - A Royal Invitation

If you need a guide, this is the best. We're using it for our next trip:

The morning after our arrival, we had a royal invitation to have breakfast with princesses at the Disney castle. We eagerly boarded the Disney Shuttle to the Magic Kingdom park to be at the castle for 8:30am. Disney World is huge, but its highway system is so great it put Montreal's to shame. Their shuttle system is even better. We made it to the park around 8:10am. From the entrance there's a main street that brings us to the castle.



Breakfast was great, we were welcomed by Cinderella, and got to meet Aurora (Sabrina's favorite), Snow White, Ariel and Belle.

Aurora and the kids

Snow White and the kids

Ariel, the little mermaid, and the kids

Belle, the kids, and no Beast.

After breakfast it was time to enjoy the park and its attractions. It is really well designed, almost magical. We had a good times on rides like "It's a small world", "Dumbo", "Pirates of the Caribbeans", "Jungle Cruise" and "Liberty Square Riverboat". Though it can be quite complicated to eat out with Sabrina's peanut allergies, we found a great place at Tony's Restaurant (Lady and the Tramp).




We got back to the hotel for a bit of swimming at the hotel (the pool is twice as big as Mom's land). Fantastic!



After a bit of a rest we went back to the Magic Kingdom to see the night parade "Summer Nightastic" and the fireworks at the castle. Mathieu fell asleep on the way to the park, and woke up on the way back. He did not even wake up at the fireworks.

Florida Vacation: Day 1

We woke up bright and early to catch our 8:50am flight, hoping to arrive around 1:00pm at the hotel and spend the afternoon at Magic Kingdom. The kids were very excited.

Unfortunately, when we arrived at the airport, we learned that our flight had be delayed for 2 hours (11:00am), and after further delays and a wonderful time at the airport we finally took off around 2:20pm.

Three hours later we were at Orlando International. We jumped on the Disney shuttle and were finally on our way to our resort.

The Animal Kingdom Lodge resort is amazing and makes you feel like you're in Africa. Everything was top notch, and rivalled 5 stars hotels.

Tell me how many people can claim to see giraffes from their room balcony?

We had supper at Jiko (careful: 2 meal plans, entrees and alcohol not included). The food was amazing, the wine great and as a bonus we got to bring back the bottle to our room. Sabrina and I tried to go on a night safari excursion but we couldn't find the place. By 10:00pm we were all sleeping tightly.

A great idea for wires.

I took this picture from some site, somewhere. If I infringe on the copyright, I'll take it out. It's a great idea and the ingenious person who thought of it should be acknowledged.

Summer Days are really here.

Finally, our kitchen is done... well almost

All we need now is a new blind for our window. Note that the grout is still wet, it should become whiter with time.

Mathieu playing

"It was agent E, the best guy in the jungle"

LEGO invention from Mathieu - flying car for papa

Wine of the evening

Domaines Les Bromes, Cuvee Charlotte 2008 - A pleasant white wine made of Seyval and Geisenheim.

Dentist

The kids had an appointment at the dentist this afternoon, and it was quite fun. Sabrina, her second time around, acted like a pro. It was wonderful to hear her answer the assistant's question without hesitation. As for Mathieu, who was going there for the first time, it was just amazing. The assistant told me it was quite rare to be able to complete all the steps with a three year old. While paying I was told something like "I heard you had wonderful kids" or something alike. I should be used to it by now, but they were really well behaved.

As long as we don't give Benadryl to Mathieu, he's a charm to be around.

Sitting on the chair the assistant is adjusting to her height, Mathieu turns to her, palms opened:

"You guys didn't tell me you had a magic chair".

renovations

We've done a lot of renovations this past week. The carpet on the steps have been replaced to something that's more contemporary. The "beautiful" pick tiles in the entrance, and the funky black ones near the fireplace have been replaced with a tile that match the house better, as well as our still, which is very earthy. We've also had the entrance closet doors changed to something a bit more classy. We should receive them in 4-6 weeks.

The last major changes this spring is in the kitchen. We're getting a green glass backsplash and have had lighting installed under the counter. The lighting is great, we should have the backsplash installed within the next 2-3 weeks.

Then I'm working on the mouldings.

Nice weekend

It's been another nice weekend, though Suzanne worked most of the day on Saturday and it rained all day Sunday.

Saturday was low key, we were outside a bit, finalize a hotel on St-Augustine beach with balcony on the water (I just can't wait to sip wine on the balcony with Suzanne while the kids are sleeping in the room). At night, Sue and I had a good meat/spinach/swiss cheese roule and the kids had tacos. We spent the evening on relaxing and reserving the dinners at Disney.

Sunday was low key again, with the rain and all. Sue and I worked on Sab's bike, and did some laundry and cleaning. Sabrina and Mathieu spent some time looking at Disney videos on the Net. Supper was steak for us and the rest of the tacos for the kids. I did some Nuance work at night and watch some BG while Sue read downstairs.

The wine of the weekend was the Chateau Berliquet St-Emilion Grand Cru 2004 -- Excellent, but a bit pricey ($45). The 2005 is $61. Suzanne's description: "It's good, it taste expensive".

Walt Disney

While sipping a glass of Chateau Berliquet St-Emilion Grand Cru Classe 2004, we booked a vacation for July to Walt Disney resort. Planes and hotel are reserved, now we just have to prepare a few days at St-Augustine. We're quite excited.

Here is what we're expecting to see from our hotel room balcony. Please don't tell the kids, it's a secret!

Oh and the wine is excellent.

Wednesday

A normal day. Sabrina goes to school, Mathieu stays with me, the cleaners come to take care of the house and I go through two meetings. Normal supper, normal everything. The homework is good, Sabrina does D-F, Mathieu recites his letters. Everyone has what they like for dinner.

I'm instituting leader day at our home. Sabrina, born on an odd date, will be leader on odd days. Mathieu will be leader on even days. So next time I hear: "me first" I'll know who to take care of first.

Quiet Friday, beautiful Saturday

Mathieu is not feeling well, he has a deep cough, so I've decided to stay home on Friday. Today is beautiful, Mathieu is also feeling better, so once I'm done cleaning I think it's going to be time for some sun. We went to eat at the Egg this morning, while Suzanne went to her office in St-Lambert. Talked to mom, she just bought herself a new Ford Fiesta (available June).

Montreal Dow Planetarium

The kids and I went to the Planetarium today. We were able to get in for free using our Boston Museum of Science Member Card, like we did at the Cosmodome. The first 10 minutes of the show were precious, seeing the looks of awe on both Sabrina and Mathieu's faces. A real great thing. Otherwise this was a great day, beautiful, the kids played well together. Tonight a treat, Sue is putting them to bed.

Spring break

We're enjoying the beautiful weather, but ski season looks like it's winding down. On Tuesday we went to the Cosmodome in Laval. Real fun.

Comic Relief

We've had a hard day. A long walk this morning. This afternoon I moved a tree and winterize our awning and our air conditioner. So when came time to put the kids to bed, I wanted everything to go well, which they didn't of course. After Sabrina was done with her cereals, I asked her to go brush her teeth:

"Sabrina, please go brush your teeth"

Nothing's happening. She's doing what she does best when she doesn't want to do what I want her to do: ignoring me.

"Sabrina can you go brush your teeth please"

This time I'm told she wants more cereals (a favored stalling technique). I saw no, she's already had lots. We start this tug of war battle where I say "go brush your teeth" and she says "give me more cereals". It comes to a point when I start losing it and tell her that if she doesn't heed my request I'm going to bring her in her room, door closed. To which she answers:

"Say pretty please, and I'll go brush my teeth".

Please understand that at this point all negotiation possibilities are gone and I'm not in a humor to let her win. There is no way I'm going to say pretty please so my answer to her is:

"I'm bringing Mathieu's bowl to the kitchen, when I come back you better be on your way to brush your teeth or I'm bringing you to your room".

She stays steady on her seat while Suzanne is saying "Pretty please, Sabrina, now go brush your teeth". When I come back she is still sitting on her seat, telling me to say "Pretty please" or she won't go brush her teeth.

I grab her in my arms and start going upstairs, at which point she understands that I'm not joking. At the same time, Suzanne is taking Mathieu to brush his teeth by laying him down on his changing table.

Before I reach the first step, Sabrina concedes and she asks me to bring her to the sink, which I do. As I'm passing near the changing table, I hear Suzanne tell Mathieu to stop clowning around and to lie on his back.

To which he answers:

"Say pretty-please"

Ever wonder what I do for a living?

-Martin

"What are you talking about, Batman"

Mathieu, playing with two of Max's Batman figurine. He's repeating this non stop.

Sabrina telling a story

"... and the tire was flat, but they forgot their pumper, so ..."

Some funnies from Sabrina

"I like to do things when they are my idea"
"Timealot" = pool thermometer
"rainbrella" = self-explanatory

This weekend

Sunday was an amazing day: we worked outside on the garden and the pool, and then spent a lot of time in the pool. This is so far becoming an amazing summer even if I have to work on Saturdays (Martin). I did change my wireless network from a Linksys G box to a Time Capsule (n box). All in all though, it was an outside day.

They are so smart ...

Sabrina read the cars book to Mathieu. We're talking about 50 pages with about 150-250 words per page. She read it almost verbatim. Except that she doesn't read yet (I'm working on that). She read it to him from memory.

All of Mathieu's shorts are dirty so I put his swimming suit on. "What's that papa?" he asked. "Those are your pants". "No" he replied, "it's my bathing suit". He's a bit more then 1 1/2 but he speaks so well. I met 3 years old that don't speak as well as he does.

No epipens today

I'm working from home for the rest of the summer to take care of our amazing kids. Suzanne left for work this morning with the epipens in her purse this morning and to be honest, I feel like I'm in a car on the highway with my family and nobody is tied in. People don't realize how brutal a peanut allergy can be. I'm sure a lot of people think we are overly paranoid.

It's our anniversary today!!!

Six great years, two amazing kids...

So what do we do on this special day? Suzanne works half the day and I fix the central vacuum (thanks to http://builtinvacuum.com/flowchrt.html). Right now Saby and Suzanne are doing the groceries. Matt and I just got the darn vacuum pulling again. I foresee a short dip in the pool.

Thanks mom for reminding me what day it was today.

My little swimmer

From afraid to expert in 2 hours.

Father's Day

It's funny how things go. My idea of Father's day was to sit in front of my new iMac and learn how to use it. That didn't happen. It was even better! We went to have breakfast at Cora's then I worked on the pool. At 88F, it's pretty warm so it didn't take long for me to jump in. Sabrina was close behind. She came in with her new floating speedo bathing suit. We had a good time, her hanging on to me for dear life.

However in the afternoon, she came back and went from someone hanging on to me to a little swimmer, sitting on a noodle with a floating balloon on her back. She is so amazing she can now manage in the pool by herself.

Even better, she is so considerate she counted that there weren't enough chairs for the five of us at the patio table so she went to get one by herself. Real amazing. Her and Mathieu were full of "I love you" and I even got one from Max. The day ended by a massage.

I wish it was father's day everyday. With my family it does feel like it.

The iMac

The Mac is a wonderful machine I find to be a cross between Unix and Windows, so far. It is by far the most elegant of them all, and OsX is a joy to work with, once you understand how things are done. A lot of people I know who switched from Windows to Linux made a big mistake by jumping over the Mac. It is by far a much superior machine that is very pleasant work with.

Now that I have a full English keyboard (thank you Mac Expert at the Apple store in the Eaton center), one that is unwrapped, typing is much easier. It's not a PC keyboard though and I'm typing at about 60-70% but I can see myself getting used to it. It is very sturdy and has an excellent feel.

Working on a 20" 1680x1050 screen is amazing. The OS looks great on it and is a joy to work with, apart from the idea of having the top menu bar morph into whatever program you're using, instead of having a menu bar on each window. I understand the need for this on a small 9" screen. On a 20" inch screen, I find I do a lot of travelling with the mouse, a lot more then I should. I'm sure it's even worst on a 24" screen.

As far as the OS goes, there is a learning curve and I'm climbing it. But just the fact I could easily fire up a terminal, type python and see the familiar prompt within 5 minutes of starting the computer is good enough for me.

If Windows is like a normal sedan like a Ford focus, or a Toyota Corolla, Linux is like a Yaris, a Geo, a Kia, a Hyunday or any small high production car that doesn't cost much. Working with a Mac is like driving a Smart, a Prius, a Mini, a small Mercedes, a car that has a certain amount of elegance and pizazz not everyone is ready to pay for.

It's too bad, it's a great machine.

I've cross on the other side... and I like it

A few things happened in the past few days... I am now permanent and we got an iMac. The picture below was taken with the camera on the computer.

the purchase hasn't been as smooth and as elegant as I associate Apple with:

• Because I'm on Voip, I'm not on Canada411 so validating me an my credit card took a while.
  
• I asked for an English machine and I got a French one. When I called the store I felt like I was bothering someone. So I am now finger typing on a wrapped keyboard to make sure I can return it. No 30 words/minute here. Takes away from the experience.
  
• The learning curve is bigger then I expected. And the menu bar only on top of the screen may work well on a 9" screen, but it;s a lot of travelling on a 20" screen. Not very ergonomic.
  

I love the machine though... very much.

It begins (part II)

Sabrina was arguing with Suzanne a few minutes ago: "Where's my email, maman, where's my email". Yes we are geeks and she has an email account, but for a 3 1/2 to actually ask for it, well...

He started

It's hard to believe how quickly they grow... Last Thursday (March 27), a few weeks shy of being 18 months old, Matthew asked and did one of the biggest number 2 in his potty. He repeated the deed today. It has begun

We went to La Case de Mateo last night

A family outing. We had a relatively good time, Mathieu still being a bit hard to handle in restaurants. This was 6th or 7th night outing in a restaurant as a family, and it was the first time it was something different then St-Hubert (Suzanne and I have been out together once in three years). Anyway, it was kind of family rock-n-roll until the Mariachi band showed up, then both Sabrina and Mathieu were enthralled. Anyway, just look at the video

He asks for it, and does it

His first pipi in the potty. He does it on Wednesday March 22nd. He also can recognize M, A and T but that's another story.

Sabrina talking to Mathieu in the bath

You know Mathieu, une p'tite crotte is a yucky caca.

She's learning French alright !

"I stink I'd like to have a snack"

There are still a few words Sabrina mispronounces:

Stink == Think
Cuter == Computer

Like the rest, I'm going to miss that when she outgrows it.

First time potty

We have a potty in the bathroom. For the past few weeks Matthew likes to do like his sister and sits on it. Well last night he went on it by himself and did a small poo and a pee. It has begun.

We have to remind him to put his penis in the potty, but it's happening.

She spells, writes her name

We came back home last week and Sabrina had written her name on a drawing she had done. Now she writes her name constantly. The S and the N are a bit fuzzy, but it's really good.

Oh and she can spell it too.

3 1/2 years old ...

She writes her name!

Sabrina can now write her name. We are so proud of her!

Children are advanced beings

When I talk to my kids, words come out and have absolutely no effects, demonstrating that I have not attain a capacity for communication.

All they need to do is come to us, grunt, and we understand exactly what they need and we then do what they want. Their higher form of communication allows them to communicate with us mentally, using odd noises and grunts to capture our attention.

Therefore they are using advanced forms of communication with their higher intellect.

Unfortunately for them, they have to figure out how to communicate with us at lower level so that they may understand us, so they learn to speak our language, and with practice, lose all forms of advanced intelligence and become us.

I may have an IQ of 138, yet I am saddened by the fact that it was way higher when I was a child. What a bummer.

Yesterday at my mom's

Yesterday the kids and I drove to my mom's for breakfast. It was really nice and I enjoy spending those Saturday morning with my mom.

10:30pm call

Someone called at 10:30pm last night, extirpating me from my slumber as I ran to try to lower the ring to make sure it wouldn't wake up the kids.

So I decided to call them around 5:30am when I wake up to see what was wrong (but Sue stopped me, telling me I was mean).

Please, after 9:00pm, it's a bit too late.

We got a lot of snow ...

38 cm of snow fell on Sunday on the Montreal region, along with the other 30 cm we got 2 weeks ago. We have shoveled the driveway four times so far, and there's still a small part left to do. Mr Plow created a 4x6 feet wall on our driveway. I shoveled it today, it was so hard it three my back.

Suzanne went to shovel with Sabrina tonight. Our little girl has a lot of fun on the "mountains" that are easily twice her size. At one point, Suzanne turned to shovel, looked, and Sabrina had disappeared. She fell backwards from the top of the mountain.

"I slid down like a snowball" -- Sabrina

I promise some pictures. Btw it's still snowing.

"No not that" -- Mathieu

Mathieu is 15 months and his vocabulary has exploded in the past 2 weeks. He now knows about 40 words, from normal words like "ball", "that", "doux-doux" to tonight's assemblage: "No not that" he said when Suzanne pointed to something he wanted.

We are relatively sure he meant "yes that", but since his favorite words are now "no no no", well ...

The lion and the bee

This is the story of the lion and the bee

A bee came to a lion.
"Are you like me" asked the bee.
"Do you have a large crowning mane like mine?" asked the lion
"No" said the bee
"Do I have small fluttering wings like yours?" asked the lion
"No" said the bee
"Do you have four strong legs like like mine?" asked the lion
"No" said the bee
"Are you big like me?" asked the lion
"No" said the bee
"Then I must not be like you" concluded the lion.

"But..." said the bee
"Do you smile like me when you're happy" she asked
"Yes I do" said the lion
"And do you talk with others like I do" asked the bee
"Yes I do" said the lion
"And are you happy like me when you eat good food" she continued
"Yes I am" said the lion
"And do you enjoy the sun's rays as I do" asked the bee
"Yes I do" said the lion

"So..." the bee said.
"Maybe you don't look like me, but you are like me" she concluded.

"Martin"

no no no

Mathieu was really good with "yes" now he's just learned how to say "no". Each time he would see the doctor (great doctor at the Children's btw) he would cry and shake his head yelling "no no no".

This morning Suzanne was alone with Mathieu:
"Are you hungry?"
Head shakes up and down
"Do you want some cereals?"
"No no no"
He points to the table where we left the St-Hubert boxes last night because of exhaustion...
"Chicken" he says
"There's no more Mathieu"
He starts crying:
"no no no"

Full weekend ...

Saturday morning:
Suzanne and Thelma go shopping, Martin stays home and plays with kids

Saturday afternoon:
We bring Thelma to the airport for her trip to B.C. and drive to knowlton for Zach's birthday. Really fun party, felt like moving back to knowlton. Kids are exhausted, going to bed almost 2 hours after their usual time. Parents are exhausted but enjoy a bit of time alone before passing out.

Sunday morning:
Suzanne goes to work Martin stays home and plays with kids

Sunday afternoon:
Mathieu's first trip to emergency, opened eyebrows, a few millimeters from needing stitches instead got glued. Incident happens at 13:15, we're at the Children's before 14:00, we leave the place at 18:00. Coming back home our 14 months old boy passes out and we order some Chicken on the way (St-Hubert). Food arrives a bit after us, we go to bed and Sabrina and Martin pass out.

Growing up part II

It began with mama, then maman, and then mommy.

Now Sabrina calls Suzanne: "mother"

"Can I have some juice, mother?"

Growing up part I

We were in bed this morning and Sabrina was lying on me naked, and I was tapping her bum.

"Very soon I won't be able to tap your bum anymore"

She turns around and starts tapping her bum...

"No papa, you see, I can tap my bum"

Farter Nosepicker

It is the story of Farter NOSEPICKER,
who farted every time he picked his nose.
One day, Farter NOSEPICKER, picked a bogger as big as his head,
and then farted all day long ...

Farter NOSEPICKER is no more.
He has no more boggers, and no more farts.

2nd snow

We didn't get a break this week. This morning I was supposed to bring the car to the garage to have our winter tires put on. When I opened the door it was pure snow coming in mixed with freezing rain. Once again I worked from home. I like to work form home but I like to work from the office too. It rained (freezing rain that this) all day. Tonight before giving the kids a bath we made a fire in the fireplace and Sabrina had popcorn. Even if Matt was all over the place, it was very pleasant.

I really enjoyed having Saby on me on one side with the popcorn bowl on the other while we looked at the fire.

"We're going in the backyard to see the winter" -- Sabrina

I opened the door to go to work early this morning and I was hit by a snow storm. Snow was falling horizontally in big gusts of winds and there was a lot of beautiful snow all over the place. Needless to say I decided to work from home. Traffic is usually very bad in the first snow.

Sabrina just couldn't wait to go outside and "see the winter". They're out now. I've been working since 6:00am so I figure it was worth it to take a pause to enter this.

A little dance

So both kids started to dance on the table and that was so cute. Mathieu (13 mos) and Sabrina (40 mos) are just so cute dancing, we had to insert that video in the blog.

Halloween

Sabrina and Suzanne went trick and treating while Matthew and I gave out candies. He was quite a charmer saying bye to everyone leaving. Sabrina had a great time and collected tons of candies that had to be sorted afterwards to remove anything that may or did contain peanuts. For a good week afterwards she was always asking for a "Halloween Surprise".

Ecomuseum Visit

We had a family outing to the Ecomuseum in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue and we all had a great time. This is one of the nicest little zoos I've been to. Most of the animals in the zoo have been rescued or were born there and cannot be returned to the wild. An amazing place.

The deers came very close to us. The otters loved to give a show by jumping in the water, coming out and climbing on the rock to look at us. And it doesn't show, but that bald eagle is about the same size as Mathieu.

Mathieu's birthday

Our little boy turned 1 year old on October 12th. We first had a nice little birthday here at our home with Melanie, Francois and Benjamin. Here are some pictures:

Then we had a family celebration at Mom's place. It was really fun and we had a great time (Mom's gift was amazing, like Sabrina's).

His first no

Mathieu was really good at saying yes with his head. "Do you want more food?" He'll shake his head vigorously. Well this morning I asked him if he had had a good dodo, which he understood as "do you want to do a dodo". Of course he shaked his head vigorously from left to right. This was his first non-verbal no.

"Dina" is gone

I knew it was going to happen one day but Sabrina can now pronounce her full name, very nicely. She used to call herself "Dina". She'll always be my little "Dina". I love you honey... (M)

Cereals and chocolate milk

"So what do I do next Sabrina"
"Poor the cereals in the bowl"
"ok what next"
"Now poor the milk in the sippy-cup"
"Ok and now?"
"Put some chocolate milk.... wow that's a lot of chocolate milk"
"There you go, so what next?"
"Now I go down to watch TV, cowboy!"

From Sabrina:

Sitting on the toilet, almost falling in:

"One day I'm going to fall in, and you'll never see me again!"

From Sabrina:

"Maman, you're the most fabolous cake maker"

Today ...

So I show up at the doctor's office today for an appointment I made two months ago. I have this cold that just won't go away and a sore on my side which is persistent as well, and it's time to take care of it. I am told that my appointment has been cancelled, that I was called two weeks ago and that the next appointment will be at the end of November. So basically, the idea is that I'm cancelled two weeks before an appointment and told it will take another two months before I can see my GP for a physical...

There's something wrong here. Am I going to be cancelled two weeks before my next appointment and be told that the next one will be in February. You know I could do this with Revenue Canada... "I'm not going to pay my taxes now but I'll pay you in two months"...

I don't know if you know but Dan redid his entire house. He had this little home on a small land. He took it, moved it forward and then created a full basement for it, doubling the size. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the thing is, he's done a lot of it himself to save money. Now we don't have that much time. Most of the time not spent on family life for me is spent working and I don't want to lose what little time I have with my adorable kids so we've decided to ask Dan to give us a hand with some renovs. One important one was the shower that was leaking in the kitchen ceiling. Dan was able to figure out where the problem was, fix it and then re plaster the ceiling in a 1/4 of the time it would have taken me, and I'm not sure I would have done such a good job anyway. Thanks Dan, it was fantastic work.

http://www.48valoiswork.blogspot.com/

This way I get to spend more time with Suzanne, Sabrina and Mathieu. We got to see Max one day this week and it was great. He was real nice to his younger siblings and even Mathieu was warming up to him. Sabrina was happy, it had been so long since she'd seen him. He's doing good. Some may say he spent too much time in front of video games and computers when he was smaller but he turned out okay. School and work are going well and I'm real proud. Sabrina is also in school, in an interesting kind of daycare/pre-kindergarten inside a college where she made herself a friend called Sarah. The class is used as a teaching environment for students who want to become teachers or daycare workers. Sabrina likes it so much we have to be careful not to tell her too early she's going to it or she'll be waiting at the door all day. She's there on Mondays and Wednesdays. She's integrated quite well and tends to do so when there are other kids involved. Once someone told us that because we weren't putting our kids in daycare they would be anti-social... Yeah right.

Then again that's the first questions families here get when someone sees you have a kid: nice kid, got a place in daycare yet?

What happened to raising your kids at home? That's the way my mom did it and we turned right.

I have nothing against daycare except for when it's used for parents to dump their kids.

Mathieu is very friendly and charms everyone he sees. He now walks really well and is very proud of the way he walks. He turned eleven months two days ago but sometimes I forget he's not even one yet. I tend to treat him a lot older then he really is, poor little guy. I think I've done this with all my kids. I'm not a strong believer in talking like a baby to your kids.

He walks!

At 4:28PM today (Aug 31st) I received a phone call from Sabrina telling me that Matthew had walked. By the time I got home, it was 5:15PM and I got to see him take between 8 and 10 steps before sitting down. It would appear that he took a few walks before I did arrive. While Sabrina was in the bath, he walked again. He was quite proud of himself.

We are too. He's twelve days shy of 11 months.

A few notes: his first steps were taken because he was angry at Sabrina, wanting a toy she had in her hands. He walked towards her. He wobbles a lot, so he still has a road to travel before he gets there. But it's looking good.

Matthew walks

Matt did something amazing a few nights ago (August 23td). He was mad at Suzanne because she didn't want him to have Sabrina's toothbrush so he got up, started yelling at her, then telling her off in his baby language (I don't understand what he's saying but I'm sure it's foul and I fear that he's going to sit on the bench very often that little one). He then took two steps towards her, unaided. He was so mad he did not noticed he had walked.

Sabrina is three years old.

Wow, I can't believe our little girl is now three. She is so amazing, so bright, a real little princess. She is so intelligent, so full of life that spending time with her is a gift I thank God for. Happy birthday my love.

Disparition de Cédrika Provencher

It's important to remind people
Disparition de Cédrika Provencher (1997-08-29)- Disappearance of 9 yr old
Cedrika Provencher from the Three Rivers, Que. Canada area

La Ronde on Sunday

Thank you Nuance for a great day at La Ronde Sunday (Aug 19th, 2007). Sabrina had a real good time, even though she was a bit scared on some of the rides. Matthew also had a lot of fun as he got to hug a lot of my coworker and their girlfriends (I am not responsible if your girlfriend's clock starts ticking after holding him). Here are a few pictures.

Sabrina on the monorail, assessing the situation.

Matthew having a great time on the monorail. 10 months old and no fear (yet!!!)

Now that's a face!

Maybe this ride is a bit much for Sabrina.

Mom's Daemon

Suzanne's Daemon

My Daemon is a snow leopard. His name is Pereus

My daemon

Her name is Haythia and she's a tiger. She's modest, shy, a leader, assertive and responsible. She's with me all the time, but I am the one who sees her mostly in this world. The Golden Compass is appearing in theaters December 9th. It's Harry Potter for adults. If all goes well it will be Suzanne and I's first child free date together in three years.

-Martin

Addictions

This morning Suzanne told Sabrina everything they were going to do, and everywhere they were going to go. She wanted to do something (you'll find out later) so she started to cry. Eventually Suzanne got her excited in the day's plan.

I went upstairs to make a coffee and Suzanne ask Sabrina to tell me what they were going to do today. To which she reply "I am going to play on the computer?".

Sabrina is another word for persistence.

Nice weekend

Saturday night, Nathalie and Dan came to have supper at our place. Since Dan is becoming an inspector, he evaluated our house. Let's just say there were some interesting findings but a lot of it is OK. The bathroom however could make Mike Holmes cry.



Today was a busy day as we went to visit the "Fort Chambly". As you can see from the pictures the kids had a lot of fun. We would have liked to stay a bit more and read everything that was in the museum but with Sabrina yelling "Let's go there" non-stop, it's quite hard. She was stopped short on the second floor where they have a few scenes with appropriately dressed mannequins. It looks a bit ghostly and it scared Sabrina so much she was trying to get inside of me, yelling, crying, that she wanted to go home. I feel for her, she's probably having nightmares as I write this.




Next I took 1/2 hour to clean the pool and we <<>> took a dip. Mathieu is already a pro, enjoying it so much he was trying to jump out of Sue's arms into mine (a rare occurrence) to swim with me. Sabrina didn't want to go at first, but she had a great time afterwards as well.


All in all a pretty good day. The kids were sleeping by 7:00pm

Matt a World Wonder ...

"WONDERS OF THE WORLD Peru's Machu Picchu was chosen as one of the new seven wonders of the world in a worldwide online poll, it was announced."

We call Mathieu "Machu Picchu" all the time. He is one of my three wonders of the world.

A trip to La Ferme Angrignon

Martin worked from home today. Since I had the car, I decided to take the kids to La Ferme Angrignon. Sabrina was so excited! She kept asking "Are we at the farm yet?" Sabrina's favorite animal was the pig. She saw two pigs, a pink one and a spotted one. They're names were Spot and Spok. Mathieu's favorite animal was the rabbit. He loved watching this cute black and white baby rabbit hop around it's mommy rabbit. We only had one "incident". The llamas are kept with the sheep. The sheep were very hungry and they kept going baahhhh baahhhh through the gate to get our attention. It's interesting to note that different sheep have different tones. The baahhh's kept getting louder as the sheep were trying desperately to get our attention. This frightened Mathieu like I've never seen him frightened before. He screamed and clung to me with such a grip that I don't think I would have been able to pry him off me even if I had wanted to. We had to leave the sheep area to get him to stop crying. Sabrina thought this was quite interesting. When we talked to grandpapa, through video conference on MSN, she immediate said "Mathieu was afraid of the sheep, grandpapa" when he asked her how she enjoyed her visit to the farm. We can't wait for Brome Fair!

Mathieu the shrieker / Sabrina the master negotiator

We had a good first day to our long weekend. Max cleaned the pool (we're getting there!!!). We also did something we haven't done in a long time... we ate in restaurants. We had breakfast at IKEA and then bought a few things and we had supper at St-Hubert. It was actually quite pleasant with the kids. Sabrina is really good in restaurant settings. We were not sure how Mathieu would act. He was good, except that he was so excited that he started shrieking at the top of his lungs. Imagine the highest pitch shriek you've ever heard, such as in a horror movie. It was quite embarrassing but what are you going to do?

Sabrina was also quite sweet over the weekend. We went to the park to play and Sabrina brought back home a collection of branches. When we got home I told her that the sticks stay outside. I then proceed to take Mathieu out of the stroller and open the front door. I turn around, once inside the house, to make sure that Sabrina is following me. She has this peculiar look on her face (a little guilty? a little shy? a little cute?), her hands are behind her back and there's these branches sticking out. I say "Sabrina, what do you have behind your back?" She doesn't say anything. "Are they sticks?". She smiles. I say "Okay, you can bring 1 stick into the house." She starts sorting the sticks and then looks at me and asks "Can I bring 2 sticks in?". How can I resist such cuteness?!? Of course she can bring in 2 sticks.

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".

Mathieu is so amazing

On Saturday he looked at a little baby book we have about sheep. He was turning the pages and going "be eh eh eh eh", imitating a sheep.

Sunday night we were in Sabrina's bed. He decided to stand up holding on to her bed's railing, just like that!

He's 7 1/2 months.

Tell me mama, tell me

Sabrina left the lunch table today, her plate almost untouched. Right after she goes to Suzanne and says "Can I have juice maman ?". "You can't have juice sweetheart 'cause you didn't eat your plate".

To which she answers: "Just tell me what you want me to eat Maman, tell me!!!".

Suzanne told her, and she ate it, and she had her juice.

Good weekend

This has been a relaxing weekend. On Sat my family came over to celebrate Max, Nick and Suzanne's birthdays. We spent a good part of the day getting ready for that. Today (Sun) we did a few things around the house. I got some dirt and Javex water for the pool and Mathieu and Sabrina got Suzanne a water hose storage system for Mother's day.

I was walking back home from a walk with Sabrina and Mathieu on Sat when arriving home we got greeted by the neighbour's huge dog. He first left his masters going to smell this and that, trying to look not interested in us, when suddenly he started running towards us, barking. I grabbed Sabrina (Matt was in my arms) and I put her behind me. The neighbour's wife came to stop the dog. The thing is we were only walking towards home taking no interest in that dog or our neighbours.

The dog probably weighs four times what Sabrina weighs, and just jumping on her could hurt her. Of course the lady told me that "he's very gentle, he wouldn't hurt a fly". That's what they all say until the day when the dog actually attacks. I remember (someone correct me) that Max got attacked by "a very gentle dog" when he was a child. I'm sure that's what the owner said.

So they are amazing

Mathieu handles three words, almost four as we believe he is calling Sabrina "Ba". I told you about this morning when Suzanne asked "Matthew who am I" and he looked at her and said "Ma", pause, "Ma".

Well tonight after putting Sabrina to bed I came down in the basement and sat down with Suzanne and Matthew and he looked at me and said, clearly: "Pa-Pa". We were flabbergasted!

I just read in a book that a child should be saying his first words at the age of 12 months and start communicating with a few words around 2. Sabrina is 2 1/2, and she actually makes full sentences better then a lot of adults I know.

Oh and Mathieu is not 7 months old yet.

Mathieu's first words

This morning, Sue points and says, who am I: Mathieu goes: Ma-Ma. It was not the first time he said it but it was the clearest, and he was answering a question. He's not seven months old. We have bright kids.

Matthew is 6 months, Sabrina is 2 1/2

And they are so cute !!!

Sabrina has an amazing vocabulary, speaks more languages then her parents, has an amazing memory (knows for instance where Max lives on Sherbrooke street), sees everything and is a joy to be with.

Matthew sits up, says "Mama", is very good with his playing skills, is very aware of what's happening around him and has mastered the game of high-five.

Sabrina was sick a few nights ago and I took her temperature. She looks at me with her sick eyes and starts laughing: "Silly daddy, you're putting it in my bum". Little did I know that her mom had taken her temperature under her arm a few hours before.

They don't sleep (well)

Our kids are not sleeping anymore. Well it takes a long time to put Matthew down and Sabrina wakes up like three-four times a night... A bit of peace would be nice.

I'm not really ranting, I love our kids, but it would be nice if we got some sleep.

Unenventful Thursday

Or is it. I'm awaiting an important phone call, and I have a CA tonight. Suzanne is giving me a hand with the numbers. The weather is as gloomy as it's been for the past month now. I believe it is starting to affect our morale a bit. The picture of the day is Sabrina with her brother Matthew.

Sabrina made an airplane

Now you have to realize that she's only 26 months old. Yet she came to Suzanne and said, verbatim: "Look maman, I made an airplane". Sabrina is very intelligent, she knows her letters, she can count up to 18 (except that 14-18 all sounds the same and once in a while she recounts the same item once), she can tell us in the car how to get home, over 1 kilometer away from home ("This way papa, this way"). She reads a lot and can recognize certain words. She has a phenomenal memory. She draws some letters and is an expert at happy faces, whom she calls "bunhommes". She also starting to recognize objects in French.

She's my girl.

Pictures of Matthew

Here's our boy Matthew. He was born on October 12th. So far it's been going relatively well. We do have some bits of jealousy from Sabrina, especially when it comes to me and Matthew. But it's all manageable. And now that we've seen Oprah and the woman who understands baby language, everything is going well. We now understand when he wants to be burped, when he's hungry, when he's uncomfortable, when he's tired and when his stomach hurts. Because of this, he's hardly cried in the last few days.