Trip to Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Joseph's medical conference this year was in Montreal, QC, Canada.  Joseph's parents were able to come stay with the kids so I could tag along with Joseph.  It was a fun 4 days for us.  I had been to Canada when I was a toddler, but I didn't remember any of it so this was my first "real" experience.  We drove and it was a nice drive with pretty fall colors. 

At the border.  It wasn't as intense as I thought it might be.  Joseph and I are pretty harmless though.

The first welcome sign we saw.

We took this picture for Rebecah.  She loves the movie Tangled,
so we told her that this was Rapunzel's tower.

The St. Lawrence River is so beautiful, but it was hard to get good pictures of it
because of the high railings on the bridges.  I guess it's better to
be safe than have great pictures!

I LOVED our little hotel.  Joseph found this quaint little hotel and it was perfect.  It was a made over Row House and it had such character.  There were only 19 rooms, but the people at the hotel were so nice.  The room didn't have carpet and it made it feel so much cleaner than your normal hotel room with carpet because housekeeping mopped the floor every day.  Breakfast was fun because the server would take my order and bring it back.  I actually like being able to serve myself so I can control my portions, but it was fun to be waited on as well.  The server was always so nice to me, especially since I didn't speak French.  We would recommend this hotel and definitely stay again on our next visit to Montreal.

Our room.  Small, but clean with a private bathroom.

Narrow little hallway.

Our Hotel: The Chateau de L'Argoat.  The bright sign is the hotel.  Our windows were just to
the right of the sign as you look at the picture.

In the middle of Montreal is a large park called Mont Royal.  It is similar to Central Park in NYC.  It had a great overlook and view of downtown. 

At the overlook.

There was a really cool building at Mont Royal.  We aren't sure what it is used for, but
this was a picture of the ballroom.  I'm actually just guessing it is a ballroom, but it looked like one.  

We were able to attend the Montreal Temple and it was nice to visit a temple we hadn't been to before.  Our session was in French so we wore headphones so we could listen in English.  The language spoke by the majority of the people determined the language of the session.  In our session only 4 of us had English as our native tongue but there were 10 French speakers.

I was surprised how "French" everything was.  I knew we were going to the French part of Canada, but I figured everything would be written in French and English.  Not the case.  The Province of Quebec prides itself on being French so French it was.  All of the signs were in French and everyone spoke to us in French.  People would only use English if we didn't understand or respond to their French.  We did run into a few people that didn't speak English so we used gestures to communicate and I would just turn over my credit card.  I admit it was difficult for me to not be able to walk down the streets and read the signs or understand what people were saying.  I would get excited when I heard people speaking English.

Many parts of the city looked very "French" so the following pictures are just pictures we took of the city.

This was a pretty little park just 100 yards from the St. Lawrence River.

There were a lot of small parks around the city that were fun to walk through.

This was the Notre Dame Cathedral in Montreal

This was a Catholic Basilica that we were able to visit.  It was very pretty inside.  It was amazing how the loud sounds of the city were shut out while we were walking in this church.  

I know this will make me sound like a glutton, but my favorite part of our trip was going to the little bakeries and buying pastries.  It felt very European to walk into a little bakery and order a pastry.  We did this just about every day.  We would eat a big meal mid-afternoon and then just get a pastry mid-evening for a snack/dessert.  The pastries were good.  We tried 4 or 5 different kinds.  The last pastry I had was my favorite and it was probably a good thing I ate it last or I wouldn't have been willing to try any other kinds!  It was an almond flavored croissant and it was heavenly!  The little bakeries are what I miss the most about our trip.  Little shops like that just aren't something we have in the States.  

I'm not a "big city" person at all.  I found the chaos of the city very overwhelming.  I'm just more of a suburban girl.  I wouldn't have even made this trip if Joseph hadn't been along.  I would have been terribly lost!  I would never want to live in the city and deal with the traffic and people on a daily basis.  I know this is very odd to most people, but I have no desire to visit New York City even though it is only 4 hours from our house.  It is just to chaotic for me.  We will probably visit eventually, and at least I'll have English signs to help me find my way.  I enjoyed our Montreal trip, but I was glad it was only 4 days.

The drive home was nice.  We went a different route so we could drive along the St. Lawrence River more.  we also stopped at some parks along the way.  The rest of the pictures are in New York.

A view of Canada.

It was great to have a little get-a-way as a couple.  It is always nice to regroup as a couple away from the kids.  I'm grateful the Joseph's parents were able to watch the kids.  The kids had fun with them so it was a win-win situation for everyone.

Purplicious

To help Rebecah adjust to Kimball's absence the first week of school we distracted her by painting her room.  We promised the kids when we moved to our house that they could pick the color of their rooms.  Rebecah, of course, chose purple.  I wasn't too keen on the lavender/pastel purple color so I gently swayed her to a darker purple color.  

Rebecah was SO excited to have her room painted.  We worked on her room the first 3 days of school and it really helped keep her occupied.  She was so happy to go buy the paint with Joseph and to sit on her bed and watch the transformation.

The following pictures don't do the color justice, but with the lighting it was hard to get the true color.  The curtains were a little more difficult.  We needed darkening curtains for the summer since it is fully light at 5:30  in the morning.  The curtains weren't my favorite, but they were pink, which Rebecah wanted and they provided the darkening that I wanted.  

We still don't have all of the pictures up on the walls, but Rebecah and I made a name banner for her room that we will hang up once we get some matching ribbon.  

 We thought the room would be too dark if we painted all four walls dark purple, so we did two purple and two light gray.  I love the way purple and gray look together.

You can see Rebecah dutifully picking up her toys while I'm taking pictures.

First Day of Preschool

It is hard to believe that this cute girl is old enough for preschool!  We signed Rebecah up for preschool 5 months ago and she has been excited ever since.  To help give her a time line I would just tell her that preschool would start after Kimball's birthday.  Once Kimball's birthday passed, Rebecah kept asking when school would start.  Her big day came this week!

She was so excited until we walked into the lobby and then she clammed up and stuck to my side.  Good thing the first day of school was a 30 minute orientation/meet the teacher and classroom.  While the other kids played with toys and had fun, Rebecah sat right next to me.  It wasn't until another little girl brought Rebecah a little doll that she actually played.  I think preschool will be good for Rebecah because she does tend to stick to Mom a little more than Kimball did at this age.  The good news is that Rebecah is excited to go back tomorrow.

Rebecah will go to preschool 2 mornings a week.  Her class tomorrow will be another abbreviated class for an hour where I will be in a meeting at her school and she will be in her class to help ease the transition.

Double Window

Kimball just turned six, but that hasn't stopped him from loosing a lot of teeth over the last 10  months.  He lost his first tooth 3 days after we arrived in Syracuse, we didn't even know it was loose.  Since that time Kimball has lost 6 teeth.

He lost his 5th tooth while we were on vacation.  It seemed to hang on by one corner for days.  Kimball finally pulled it and was surprised it didn't hurt.





On Monday he lost his 6th tooth creating a double window because he lost his top center teeth.  I'm not a fan of tooth windows, let alone a double window, but I will admit that the 6th tooth was hanging on by a corner and it was crooked and looked ridiculous.  It came out with a lot of fan fair and the tooth fairy remembered to visit.

Here is Kimball on Monday after he pulled his tooth.

Let's hope new ones grow quickly!

First Day of School

I can't believe Kimball is old enough to start school.  Techinically, here in the state of New York, he could have started last year, but with our move we didn't start him in school.  Kimball has been excited to start school for YEARS!  For the last three years he kept asking me when he could start school and I always told him when he was 6 and the day finally came!

Kimball was very excited this morning to get ready for his big day.  I made him chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast.  I found a new shirt I had bought him months ago and had forgotten about so he wore that today. Most kids here ride the bus and Kimball said he wanted to do so as well.  I walked him to the bus and when the doors opened he climbed on and didn't even look back. I must confess that it made me a little sad that I didn't get one last goodbye hug or look or wave.  He was just gone. 

Kimball had a great day at school.  He came home so excited.  I really thought he would come home a little tired, but he was SO FULL of energy as always.  He can't wait to go back again tomorrow.  That is a good thing since he doesn't really have a say in the matter!

The happy kindergartner.  I couldn't get a great expression from him.

He looks so grown up!

We decided to all wear green today in honor of Kimball's first day of school since he had his new green polo shirt.  We had to take a few group shots to commemorate the clothing.

My two favorite kids.

With my 3 favorite people.