A day at the Montreal Botanical Garden

It's just a great place to be. We left quite early to go see the pumpkin decorations at the garden and it was so beautiful.




We walked through some of the greenhouses, and the two that I liked were the desert plants and the Bonzai exhibit. I've decided I want a Bonzai tree in my future office.




We then walked through the grounds, going through a rock garden...



a trip to the China garden...



and we even found a place to play. We had a great time. After a very late lunch, a quick nap back home, we returned to go see the magic lanterns after sunset. Us and half of Montreal that is. It was simply magical (just imagine the pictures below at night, with all the displays light up).

Mathieu builds a star destroyer and plays music

Sabrina is taking keyboard lessons at school and brought it home for the week. Mathieu enjoyed it.



And they like Star Wars. Mathieu built this lego star destroyer (he's 3).

Mathieu is sick

And Sabrina takes care of him in room #6. A glimpse in the future?



I forgot to say that she just started grade one, yet she already reads in English, and is starting to read very well in French. In fact, after a reading in class, her (great) teacher just said: "Wow!". That says a lot. We also have between 45 mins and an hour of homework every day.

Fall 2010

And so much has happened. School has started again, my dad was moved from Rimouski to Montreal (stayed 24 hours here and in residence, has been in hospital ever since). Suzanne has been very busy with work but things are good. This weekend was the first we were able to spend together as a family in a long time, even if the kids have hard colds.





At least I'm not driving to Rimouski every weekend now.

Sabrina is six years old

Can't believe our little girl is six years old already! We had a small party for her.

Sweet Summer Day

Another stormy day intermixed with sun, clouds, rain and thunder. This morning I took out 2 inches of rain water out of the pool. Right now it's 29C, feels like 39C, is pretty dark and thundering.



We were fortunate to have a nice morning. We were even able to eat lunch outside and go for a 1.5 hour swim. Very nice.

The adventure of the unicorn

There was a unicorn who lived in a castle. He lived in a cage. One day he wanted to explore the castle. The knight let it out of the cage. He went out of the cage. He visited the dinning room. He left the castle and found some new friends.

He played with his new friends. Then he found a dragon who wanted to be his friend. So the dragon came with the unicorns. And they went back to the castle.

But he still wanted to explore. So he went out of the castle and he found a key. So he touched the key and the door opened. Then he saw a pirate ship. He also saw pirates on the ship.

But there was no parrot.

He said to himself: “why is there no parrot?”

But then he saw the parrot. And the pirates saw it too. His friends came and there was a shark trying to eat the ship. So he jumped out and hit the man who liked to cut the rope so the boat could go on treasure island.

Then the dragon, he made them fly to treasure island. And they were the first ones to find the treasure. In the treasure they found a key what led them to the knights. But the knights were fighting.

So the fire dragon blew the bad guy castle with his fire. Then the knights made them kings and they never needed to fight again.

-Sabrina Giroux

Sabrina Loses First Tooth

It happened while eating popcorn today.

Weekend at the cottage

We spent the weekend at Kim and Pascal's chalet in Cottage Country. A long drive for sure, but so worth it with great friends, good food and awesome wine. Thanks for having us guys.

The kids always play so well together.



The rock



Pascal with his iPhone. Technology follows us everywhere.



What a view.

Enjoying the rest of Suzanne's vacation

As a bonus, Mathieu finally conquers his fear of water. He had started at the pool at the Disney Animal Kingdom Lodge.

Florida Vacation: Last Days - St-Augustine

"St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States.[1] Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the United States.[2] St. Augustine lies in a region of Florida known as "The First Coast", which extends from Amelia Island in the north, and in the south to Jacksonville, St. Augustine and Palm Coast. According to the 2000 census, the city population was 11,592; in 2004, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that its population had reached 12,157.[3] St. Augustine is the headquarters for the Florida National Guard." Wikipedia, today




This shop was a favorite for the men in our group. It had swords, armors and shields. We couldn't (or wouldn't) afford real swords for the kids, but they did add to their pirate items.



Suzanne loved the beautiful trees.





"The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the United States located in the city of St. Augustine, Florida. Construction was begun on the fort in 1672 by the Spanish when Florida was a Spanish possession. During the twenty year period of British occupation from 1763 until 1784, the fort was renamed Fort St. Mark , and after Florida became a U.S. territory in 1821 the fort was again renamed to Fort Marion, in honor of revolutionary war hero Francis Marion. In 1942 the original name of Castillo de San Marcos was restored by Congress." Wikipedia, today

We visited the Fort on the first day. There are rumors that it's haunted... ooohh :)






We had supper at "The Reef" in Vilano Beach, and Columbia, on the old street (below). Excellent dinners, highly recommended.



We also visited the alligator farm, a great place where both humans and reptiles look at each other and think: "hmmm, tastes like chicken."

"The St. Augustine Alligator Farm Zoological Park is one of Florida's oldest continuously running attractions, having opened on May 20, 1893.[2] Not only does it have over 20 species of crocodilians, but also a variety of other reptiles, mammals, and birds, as well as exhibits, animal performances and educational demonstrations. The address is 999 Anastasia Boulevard." Wikipedia, today

We stayed at the Hampton Inn, a star short of our taste. I called often to make sure we had a beautiful room with balcony and view on the Ocean (no problem sir). When we arrived, we could see the ocean alright, as a sliver on top of the public parking space where Harley Davidson bikers liked to compete for the loudest engine. I rarely complain, but that was a bit too much, and we were move to a slightly better room, with an okay view.




We were there for the beach. The four of us had wonderful moments in front of our hotel (The kids and papa in the water, maman on the sand). We even got to see wild dolphins on the second day! It was excellent!






We left on the last morning back to Orlando to take our flight around noon.

Florida Vacation: Day 5 - Bye bye Disney

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

Today was our last day at Disney World. Once again we wake up with the Savanah. We had a quick breakfast, packed our stuff and left our fantastic hotel.




We spent the morning at Magic Kingdom. We saw the opening of the park (a great show) then went directly to tomorrow land. Mathieu had a great time at the Buzz Lightyear ride (he wanted to go again and again) and Sabrina went to have a chat with Chip & Dale (I heard that Chip or Dale was cruising my wife...:).




We decided to do a little race before going back to the castle.



Mathieu and Suzanne went to ride the magic teacups, and the kids had a chat with Alice and the rabbit who's always late. Alice was definitely my favorite :)




Back near the castle we again went on a few rides, and it was time to leave the site.




As we were leaving, we came upon the fairy godmother. A big hug for Sabrina and a wish was made (by me, I'm waiting to see if it's going to work :)



We came back to our hotel right in time to jump on the Alamo bus with our luggage. We picked up our car at the Disney Car Centre, and drove to St-Augustine in a fierce thunderstorm, the first rain we saw in Florida.

With the help of the iPhone's GPS features, we easily got to our hotel on the beach. We did not have a big supper that night, we were all so exhausted.