Florida Vacation: Day 4 - Disney Downtown

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

You can say that we learned a few things on our 4th vacation day. One is that if you attend to attend more then one park on the same day, you need to have a park hopper (or something like that) pass, otherwise you need to pay the full fare for both parks. We had reservations to have breakfast with Donald at the Tusker house in the Animal Kingdom, and wanted to spend the afternoon at the Magic Kingdom. That didn't pan out, but we still had a great time. The second thing is that if you suffer peanut allergies, it's best to eat at a restaurant, in which case the cost is $100 for either lunch or dinner.

Well breakfast with Donald at the Tusker house was fun, especially since we got to meet Donald, Daisy and Goofy. The kids had a great time.






After breakfast we walked around the Animal Kingdom, did some trails around the Tree of Life and went to play at the Dinosaur Play Park.




It was hot!!!



Thinking we could get into the Magic Kingdom on our pass, we took a bus, and then the Monorail, to get to it. It's definitely part of the experience.



We weren't able to get in, so we came back to the hotel and spent the afternoon in the pool. The kids and I had a great time swimming. Suzanne enjoyed the long chairs and the bar :)

We were meeting Mike, Gen & kids as well as their friends in Downtown Disney. It's a great place to shop, has amazing restaurants and an incredible Lego store. This sea serpent is made in Lego.



It was pretty busy in there, but all kids were happy. The staff even found a lightsaber that Mathieu had lost and gave it to him for free. Amazing place.




We met our friends at T-Rex, a great restaurant full of dinosaurs and sounds. Not a place for a romantic supper, but a treat for the kids.




Another great day.

Florida Vacation: Day 3 - Animal Kingdom

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

We wake up to the most beautiful sight out of our window. We have an excellent breakfast at Boma "Dine under thatched roofs at this buffet-style restaurant and try African food inspired by the culinary culture of more than 50 countries." in our hotel.



Being a bit more savvy as to how things worked, we decided to spend the day at the Animal Kingdom park. The fun part about this park is that it's located a few minutes from our hotel, and the buses are more frequent. The park is beautiful, is divided in 5-6 sections such as Africa, Asia, Dinoland, Discovery Island and some smaller ones. Once we pass admission, we are greeted by the Tree of Life on Discovery Island, in the middle of the park.



Our first "ride" is the Safari in the African section



We embark on this real old truck that takes us through the Savanah where we are a breath away from the most beautiful animals. It's a good fifteen minutes and is about the time we have to wait to get on it.






The ride is fantastic. We then go to Dinoland to try to get on the Dinosaur ride. Sabrina has been studying dinosaurs at school and she's in her element, explaining this and that, and teaching us things I didn't even know. We learn how to use the fastpass system at the Dinosaur ride (which is terrifying, btw).




We go to the Asia part to go in the "Kali River Rapid" ride, a super Pitoune, where Sabrina and I get completely wet. We all loved that ride. A few pictures on the other side of the lake separating Dinoland from Asia:




I'm not mentioning the "It's tough to be a bug" ride, where every kid cries in fear. In Dinoland there's this amazing kids park disguised as a bone dig site. Mathieu and Sabrina spend a good half hour in there, running. It's the warmest day of the week, but they're having fun



We're about to leave when we see that a parade is just about to start, so we find a great spot and watch it. It's great.






Finally we go back to the hotel to enjoy the pool. It's great for the kids as there is a beach side where the water goes down gradually. This gives Mathieu the confidence he needs to learn how to swim. The pool is big, very big, but it is never deeper then about 4 feet, so it's great.

When we come back to our room, we have a beautiful giraffe outside our window.




We have dinner at the hotel's cafeteria, a favorite for the kids as it's non-formal and it has a TV showing old Disney cartoons, to which they laugh out loud. Since it's on our meal plan, we like it too, even if the food is not up to par to the other restaurants. But since it cost $100 everytime we sit down for either breakfast, lunch or dinner, it feels good to not spend. A great day.

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!