A windy lunch, a submarine and a campfire with friends.

We left this morning for Metis-sur-Mer to visit Melanie, Francois and family. The great thing is, Suzanne's brother Daniel is down from Vancouver with his family and we're all travelling together.

We left pretty early this morning and had an eventless trip up to Kamouraska where we decided to stop for lunch. It's the first time we stop there and it's a beautiful village. We had a windy lunch on a pier. The tide was very low because of the blue moon.

We also stopped in Pointe-aux-Peres to visit the submarine at the Pointe-au-Père Maritime Historic SitePointe-au-Père Maritime Historic Site. We all have great kids they were so well behaved. Everyone listened attentively to the audio information guide. It's a very good exhibition.

We finally made it to Melanie and Francois. A great evening with great friends. It was a great day.

Meet Pinot

Today we drove to La Visitation-de-Yamaska to choose our dog, Pinot, a golden doodle. It's was a long hour and half trip made pleasant with the roof down driving places we've never seen.

The owner, a gentleman named Jean Béliveau is a real great guy who clearly loves his dogs. We were given a box of puppies and the family fell immediately in love with one. Meet Pinot.

Of course there was a lot of reading that day. Mathieu is almost reading as much as Sabrina. He's been reading the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series and he's so much into it. A perfect read for an 8 year old.

Happy New Year From Bromont

This morning our little family went skiing to Bromont. The conditions were beautiful, the snow was fast and it wasn't too cold. The view was wonderful, the snowy hills contrasting with the somewhat green valleys.

I'm amazed at how good our kids have become. Sabrina is a beautiful skier. She takes her time, examines the slopes and goes down with perhaps a touch of fear maybe not for the hill per se, but for how her ski style is. Mathieu is not as worried about his style but attacks a hill with power and enjoyment, sometimes showing the signs of a future pro in his own YOLO (You Only Live Once) way. He's a lot like me and is a pleasure to ski with. We ended the day with a run on a double black.

Tonight: salmon tartare and ribs (yes strange mix but that's how it is).

So Long 2014

What better way to leave 2014 with some kale chips, Suzanne's excellent Brie melt and a Moscato D'Asti, sometimes before an excellent salmon. It's been a good year.

A ski day when everything goes wrong...

It started with Mathieu's ski boots being too small, and Sabi's brand new expensive Kombi mits missing. Originally timed to leave around 8:15, we didn't get on the road before 8:45, making it to Bromont a few minutes before 10:00am. While Suzanne and Sabrina went to do a few runs I took Mathieu to the ski rental to get him some boots and have his skis adjusted to them.

We met up with my friend Jean and his gang which was fun. What was a lot less fun was that Mathieu's skis kept unclipping because the guy at the shop missed his adjustment. A few clips later and my son was finally able to get back into it.

Except it didn't happen.

The three intelligent adults asked the four kids to take the chair in front of us so that we could have some adult conversation which unfortunately didn't happen. As soon as we got on the chairs, the kids were not able to lower the security bar and found themselves clinging to the back seat in terror as we watched about ten meters behind. There was nothing we could do but spend a stressful climb while shouting some "suggestions". Everything ended well.

I started skiing when I was six. It happened often in my childhood when I went up the hill in a chairlift that had a broken security bar, and I survived.

Nevertheless, this Winter the kids are learning how to close the security bar.

I already miss yesterday's spa.

SPA and Paint

Suzanne and I escaped the real world this morning for a massage and a few hours of relaxation at the Spa Mont St-Hilaire. There's no better way to clear the mind. This spa is really nice, far from the sounds of the city. During winter we can clearly see the mountains through the trees conveying some sense of zen to the whole thing. And today I feel I had the best massage ever. Ask for Marie-Soleil.

Afterwards, we came back home to start work on our bedroom -- mostly paint, but with a few mouldings. We crashed totally exhausted.

December 25th Mexican Night

Ok so we miss Mexico. In Tulum in the World Cafe I got to see how they made their burritos so tonight we've decided to make some. From scratch. Everything, from the tortillas to the salsa, the spice mix to the meat. It was actually delicious. A weird Christmas dinner I know, but so good.

Of course Santa dropped some xmas gifts under the trees last night and everyone got to unwrap something...

Christmas Eve Dinner

Today was a day of cooking and Christmas cheers. We hosted Pierro, Thelma, Nick, Amy and Zach, Sophie, Chris and Alex. We had such a great time with family. The food was great, the wine (one and a half bottle) delicious and the company fun. It's really enjoyable to have the family over and I hope we get to do it for many years to come. Love you all.

Great Halloween Party

This was one of the best Halloween party we've had. We were so glad to have Kim and Pascal, Donna and Sylvain, Annick and Thierry, and all the kids over for a few glasses of wine and a lot of trick or treating. Everyone had a lot of fun and the loots were huge.

In other news today was a day I participated in the school's bake sale, watched the school's glee club perform and thriller, and see a mini rainbow in the sky. And you know, Friday the 31st is always the opposite to Friday the 13th :)

New-York 2014: The way back

Driving back from New-York was bittersweet. On the one hand we can't wait to be home. On the other we're really sad to leave New-York. We did do some great shopping in Woodbury though. In Lake George we had a horrible lupper (lunch/supper).

One thing is sure it's really really really fun to travel in a convertible.