Signing off..

I've been thinking about it for a while so now it's time to say that I'll be signing off from blogging.  It has been super fun updating friends and family about our adventures in Canada but I'm finding that now we're pretty settled into our life here we're having fewer big adventures and daily life is getting busier.

Like everyone our daily life is busy and I find I'm running out of time to do everything I need to do and a little of what I'd like to do.  Writing blog posts takes a significant amount of time each day or so and then some days there really isn't anything new/interesting happening.  I think I better way to update everyone will be a quarterly group email with some of the best of what we've been up to, starting with Fall and Halloween!

Thanks for reading and I'll be in touch!

xx

Hello!

Wow it's been a few days - sorry!  I've got a couple of good excuses though....  I went to NYC for a long weekend by myself!  Wow wee!  (Well I don't think you can ever be by yourself in New York.)  It was actually an amazing girls weekend.  It was such a whirlwind but every moment was fantastic.

A view into the cockpit on the dinky little plane

I didn't take a lot of photos (my hands were usually occupied with shopping bags....) but we did see  and do an awful lot.

Multi story stackable car park!  

We did all those things you can't do with small children - for example brunch at groovy restaurants, shopping non stop until you can't carry any more bags and a night time Broadway show (Book of Mormon) followed by a secret bar for celebrity spotting (Jake Gyllenhaal, Minka Kelly and Lea Michelle!!!).

The High Line

We were so lucky with excellent weather and a phenomenal tour guide and host (thank you!!!).  It was so great to spend such an amazing few days with amazing friends.  While it was exhausting it was rejuvenating and I was very happy to come home to my little family.  Big thanks to Fanta Pants for doing such a great job on the home front! xxx

For those of you planning a trip to NYC in the future, here are a few links of some of the things we did and totally recommend.

www.thehighline.org
www.ilovebuvette.com
www.fiveleavesny.com
www.chelseamarket.com
www.bookofmormonbroadway.com

xx

Update

There's a lot going on at our place and in Montreal so here's a little update...

Firstly, the new provincial government has just been sworn in but due to the fact they don't have a majority some of their crazier policies probably won't get up.  For example, banning French speaking students from attending English speaking junior colleges (they're already banned from English primary and secondary schools...).  

Another major topic of conversation is the NHL lockout.  The professional hockey players and the administrators are squabbling over how to divvy up the $3.3 billion revenue cheque.  The players have been locked out from training and all events and the season is in limbo until they come to an agreement. The two parties haven't sat down together in over a week so it's not looking good.  The lockout is already having an impact with some clubs having to lay off staff and cut back on others.  Restaurants, bars and souvenir shops which rely on the business that comes with the season are also feeling the pinch.

Canada without ice hockey is like Canada without maple syrup.  Hockey is a religion here - there really is no other sport and they play several times a week.  I wonder how people will fill the void?

On the home front here's a little of what Baby A has been up to.

While he's not walking yet, he can stand unassisted and does try to take a step from time to time.  He has gone from eating whatever you put in front of him to only eating yellow food!  Very frustrating!  He also thinks he's at least three years old and so doesn't play with baby toys but wants anything that belongs to someone else.  Finally, not only is Baby A confused about his age, he also thinks he's a koala and should be attached to my hip for 95% of the day (maybe this has something to do with the not walking...).

Luckily for him, he's super cute and keeps us all entertained!

xx

Vieux Port

We headed down to the Old Port with some friends yesterday afternoon to check out some tall ships that come in annually.  Unfortunately it was hard to get a good look at the ships unless you paid to visit them (a bit too tricky with two prams).

Luckily there were lots of other fun things to do along the quay in the sunshine...

xx

Firsts

When you have small children there are lots of firsts and with the start of a new school year we've had lots of "firsts" lately.

First visit to the dentist (which is partly covered by Medicare here).  This smile is deceptive - it quickly turned to tears and refusing to open her mouth!

First ballet class!  Little Miss D was so excited about starting ballet and was pleased to find a friend from preschool in her class.  The girls looked so cute in their leotards and tights but I don't know who were more excited - the girls or their mums!

Little Miss D's home life is dominated by Lego, Star Wars and super heroes so it's nice for her to have something really girlie!

xx

Time to put the cover on...

Much to Action Boy's dismay it's time to close the pool down for this year.  With over night temperatures going down to 8 degrees and dead leaves falling constantly* there's not much point in keeping it open any longer.  I can't believe summer is really over and the cold won't be too far away!

From what I gather closing a pool down involves taking the stairs out, cleaning out the pumps and filters then plugging them off and then empting a third of the water out so when it freezes it won't expand too much and crack the sides.  We'll put a cover over to try and stop the water getting too gross over winter!

 xx

*It has been a very hot and dry (by Quebec standards) summer and so the lush grass, plants and trees are looking somewhat parched!  The dead leaves are dropping early and people are starting to wonder if the beautiful show of autumnal colours will actually happen this year!  Fingers crossed because I've heard it's amazing...

Piano

I have wanted a piano for a long time and for one reason or another it never happened.  So while Aunty Red was visiting we asked her expert opinion and found ourselves a lovely second hand piano!  (Thanks - you did a great job!).

While I'm not in love with it's wood furniture, I do like it's deco styling and the fact it's Canadian made.  (I had a white piano as a child and I would love to have that now!!).

Scary low notes!

Action Boy will start lessons next month and the little ones will follow when they're older.  I might even dig very deep into my long term memory and practice a little!  

Action Boy thinks that learning piano is the first step in becoming a rock star...

xx

flying visit

We were very lucky this week to have a flying visit from our very special Aunty Red.  A short visit was made even shorter by some bad weather delaying her arrival but she was very well received once she got here!

We all adore our Aunty Red!  We tried to show her some of the best bits of where we live which of course included an ice cream, Canadian salmon and fresh produce from our local farmer's market.

We also headed into town to check out some of the main attractions including Mount Royal and the Old City.  It's actually quite weird trying to show someone around where you live when you don't actually know a whole lot about it!  I must study up a bit before more visitors come next month!

xx

Crazy town

Wow there have been some crazy happenings in Montreal and Quebec lately - the theft of millions of dollars of maple syrup, a bride drowning in her own wedding dress and most recently the attempted assassination of the new Premier which ended in an innocent bystander being killed!

We live in a very sedate, sleepy part of the island but it's very strange knowing that not too far away so many crazy things are going on!  With the provincial election now over, it's pretty certain that the crazy notion of Quebec going it alone won't happen and will remain part of Canada for the foreseeable future.

The separatist Parti Quebecois did win the most of the seats but were nine short from being able to form a majority government so they will need the support of the other parties to get anything through parliament.  Also they only received 32% of the popular vote which is no where near the mandate you would need to make such a massive change happen.  Phew, eh?

xx

Equipment

While Action Boy couldn't sign up for his first season of AusKick he is able to sign up for his first season of Ice Hockey.  What could be more Canadian than that, eh?

Before you can get on the ice you need A LOT of equipment!  Our landlord very kindly gave us a couple of pieces but today we went out and picked up the rest of the kit.  There are many layers and it really felt like I was suiting up a samurai for battle!

To be precise Action Boys is wearing:

• full body undersuit (kind of like a baby wondersuit!)
• neckguard
• elbow pads
• chest and shoulder pads
• jock strap shorts
• shin guards
• helmet
• mouth guard
• shorts
• socks
• stick
• jersey
• ice skates (not pictured - didn't think freshly sharpened skates on wooden floors was a good idea!)

Let's hope he likes hockey!  Pre-season starts Saturday...

xx

Beaver Tails

We were told a little while ago about a typically Canadian food called Beaver Tails and today we got to try one.

It's pretty simple - fried pastry in the shape of a beaver's tail with a variety of toppings and of course we chose nutella!  Of course it was yummy but definitely not something you'd want to be eating often.  This delicacy was on offer at the Brome County Fair, an agricultural show about 1.5 hours drive east of Montreal.

It really was a great day.  The drive out there was picturesque and we saw more trees changing colour. It seems the first tree out there to change was turning the most amazing raspberry colour!  Unfortunately it was a little hard to stop along the highway to take a photo.

The Fair was a very casual and low key event but lots of fun.  We were able to get close up to the animals and all the rides were included in the $12 per person entrance fee.  I was really impressed by that!  Unlimited free rides with a very short line up was fantastic!  Action Boy and I even went on his first "big kid" ride - the rocking pirate ship.  I haven't been on that since I was about 12 years old at Adventure World but it was so much fun and Action Boy had a blast even if he did scream like a girl.

What's a day at the fair without fairy floss? (or barbe a papa - grandpa's beard as they call it here!).

xx

It's starting

School went back on Wednesday and since then I've noticed a dramatic change in the weather.  While the days are still warm (in the 20s) there's no longer much heat in the sun and the light is softer.  It's been pretty breezy and dead leaves have started to fall.  I've even heard the geese doing "practice flights" (I think they're practising because they weren't flying south)...

This morning while lying on the floor playing with the baby I saw out the window that the leaves on a couple of trees have started to change colour.  I must admit that I'm surprised at how early it is but I don't really know how long the whole "Fall" process takes.

We're excited to see the trees turn yellow and orange and Action Boy is very excited about the snow returning but we will be sad to close the pool down.  There are so many things to look forward to over the next coming months (visitors, trips, Halloween, birthdays, Christmas, snow etc) but I'm really not looking forward to dressing two small children to go outside.  It has been so great just walking out the door.  Maybe it'll be easier this time around as we'll go into it gradually rather than land in minus 20 degrees!

xx

Tastes like home

I've been quite lucky so far not to feel homesick.  Of course I really miss being with friends and family but overall we're coping pretty well.

However Fanta Pants craves certain foods like vegemite, meat pies and lamb.  Lamb is hard to come by here but we'd had a tip off that Australian lamb was available at CostCo and so I went off and joined up.  (CostCo is a huge, warehouse like supermarket that sells things in bulk at very good prices but you have to be a member to shop there).

Our tip off was spot on and I found cryovac Australian lamb!  Yippee!

We picked up some Quebec multi coloured carrots and green beans from the farmer's market in the village and voilà!  A beautiful mix of Quebecois and Australian produce!  Biting into the lamb was like tasting home.  I haven't had lamb the entire time we've been here and it was delicious!!!

xx

Sovereignty

Over the summer it's been hard to keep up with current affairs but there is a provincial election next week.  I try to check in daily to see what is happening and each day I am amused and baffled.  It seems very likely that the incumbent Liberal government will be booted in favour of the centre left Parti Quebecois.  The Parti Quebecois (PQ) is also a separatist party.  That's right, the PQ doesn't want to be part of Canada any more...

There is so much history behind this that I couldn't possibly hope to understand but I'm seriously baffled that despite the many problems this province has, the majority of this election campaign has revolved around who is a federalist and who's in favour of sovereignty and when the referendum would take place.  Besides the obvious French language benefits no one talks about the advantages to Quebec of going it alone.  There is one question no one needs to ask - "Does the rest of Canada really care?".  Probably not from what I've read.

The PQ also have some seriously questionable policies.  The following is from the national newspaper "The Globe and Mail".  

Although she’s basically a socialist, some of her rhetoric smacks of Europe’s anti-immigrant right wing. “Let us not yield to the intimidation of those who want to impose values that are not ours,” she declared in a campaign ad. She wants immigrants to pass a French test before they run for public office. (Originally this restriction was going to apply to people born in Quebec too, until aboriginal groups exploded in protest.) She wants to ban the display of all religious dress or symbols (except the crucifix) by anyone who works for the government. She wants to take away the right of francophone and allophone students to attend English-language junior colleges.

Wow!  I can't believe these people will probably win...  I'll let you know what happens and which "country" we'll be living in!!

xx

Pets in shops

I don't think I've ever seen a pet in a shop in Australia but here there are lots!  It seems that many shop keepers bring their dogs and cats to work to keep them company!  At one of the local shopping centres there is a cat is supposed to live at the garden centre but wanders the halls and spends a lot of his time on top of the cosmetics counter at the pharmacy!  Little Miss D just loves it!

There is a gorgeous little homewares store in our village and today I met their cat.  Not surprisingly he suits the neutral decor beautifully!  It was nice to pat a cat!

xx

Halloween

Yes I know Halloween is over two months away but we've been talking about it since we got here and Action Boy is very excited about the whole thing.  The thought of that much "candy" for a small boy is almost too much to bare!  His choice of costume changes weekly but generally revolves around a star wars or ninja theme.

The reason I've started thinking about it because the paraphernalia has already hit the shops!  At the moment it's only a couple of home ware shops that have started stocking Fall and Halloween inspired decorations but I'm pretty sure that as soon as school goes back next week, all the other shops will move straight into Halloween.

At the moment, our main concern is learning the seasonal etiquette and deciding on costumes for trick or treating and the choice is amazing!  As would be expected, costumes for kids generally revolve around the latest movie or toy but there are some pretty funny ones for adults available too.  Some of the costumes for women are very "adult" and probably a bit cold for here!  The costumes seem pretty reasonably priced too - most around $35.  Here are a couple of the ones I really like.  The "Plug and Socket" one is a bit rude but so funny!

www.buycostumes.com

xx

Hello?!

Wow it's nearly been a week but unfortunately my absence from the bloggosphere isn't due to an exciting trip.  In fact it's quite the opposite.  We've spent the week pretty close to home!  With three little ones to entertain all day (and one who's just moved to one nap) there isn't much time for much else.

With school starting on Wednesday of next week we're trying to fit in as much summer as we can.  Lots of playdates, swimming and playing outside.  I must admit though, we're all looking forward to school going back....

xx

I need a weekend to

recover from the weekend!  Where did it go?  We're were busy little people but we had fun!    So what did we get up to?  Among other things - a show and shopping in the city, date night, brunch with friends and afternoon tea with Fanta Pants' colleagues.

I was really excited to take the two big kids to see the show "How to Train a Dragon".  It's a live performance with puppets based on the animated movie of the same name.

It was really fun and the kids had a blast.  The dragons were amazing and it must have been such a thrill for the actors to "fly" them.  The lighting and staging was impressive complete with fire breathing dragons!

The performance was at the Bell Centre which is home to the Montreal Canadiens ice hockey team and it's located smack bang in the middle of the city.  After the show we went for a spot of lunch and shopping at Zara Kids!  (I love that shop!).  It was the first time I've really wandered around that part of the city.  I've driven through heaps of times but on foot I realised just how compact the central city is.  I'm becoming much more familiar and comfortable with it and look forward to checking out a few more places.

xx

Dilemma part two

To feed or not to feed is no longer a question.  Completely by accident I came across an article in the local paper which was about feeding the local wildlife and it is of course prohibited with fines of up to $1000.

So there will be no intentional feeding of the wild life at our place.  Whether or not Elizabeth and her babies choose to vandalise our bin in order to find dinner is another story all together!

Note the scratch marks?  Elizabeth must have very sharp claws...

xx

Dilemma

I've written lots about our furry friends who live in our garden.  We've become quite fond of all of them and have even named a few.  We call the mama racoon Elizabeth as her facial markings remind me of Elizabeth Taylor's eye makeup when she played Cleopatra.  One of the squirrels also has very distinctive eyes which makes him easy to recognise so we call him Nutty.

Last night we managed to see Elizabeth's babies up close!  She wasn't around so I'm guessing she was off looking for food and they were waiting for her.

We had thought that our raccoon family lived across the street in the storm water drain and would cross the road but last night we found out that they probably cross under the street and come out this hole at the bottom of our driveway.  I had always wondered why the grate was always off, even when the ground was covered in snow and now I know!  These little critters keep the passage clear!

There seem to be two babies in this family!

Now here is our dilemma.  Considering the fact this family lives the the end of our driveway and by law they can't be moved, do we leave food for them at their home in the drain hoping that will stop them raiding our garbage bin and making a big mess?  Raccoons are amazingly dexterous and so even bin locks don't deter them for long.  I'm really in two minds about this...

xx

End of summer...

I know it's only the middle of August but it really feels like summer is coming to an end...  There are a few key pointers that are making me think "Fall" is just around the corner.  (Fanta Pants is already ruing the leaves that will soon need picking up!).

Firstly, the weather is a bit hit and miss but it has generally been less humid in the last week or so.  Then there are only two more days of swimming lessons left, school goes back in two weeks, we bought Little Miss D's "inside" school shoes and I've just started negotiations with Action Boy about a back-to-school haircut (he's pretty keen to let it grow!).  We've ordered the school supplies and I just got the email reminder about registration for Fall activities for the kids!  (We're going all out with skating and ice hockey this year!).

Before the summer started I thought I'd be tearing my hair out with all three kids home together for nine and a half weeks but I'm surprised and pleased to say I've actually really enjoyed it!  VIP visitors and our trip to France broke things up nicely but since we've been back we've all really enjoyed swimming lessons then lazing in and by the pool.  Playdates are at our place in the pool and we've thrown the routine out the window.  The kids have gone a bit "free range" with a fair bit of nudey swimming and nature pees going on.  It has been a truly great summer and we look forward to doing it all again next year...

In the meantime we're going to eek out every last bit of this season while looking forward to all the fun things Fall has to bring...

xx

Bears!

Canadians love camping and every time I ask if there are bears where they go camping, they laugh at me!  Apparently raccoons are far more dangerous in a camping ground!  If we lived on the other side of the country people wouldn't be laughing about the grizzly bears but around here no one seems to worry about the little black bears.

I've been wanting to see these guys since they woke up from their long naps in the early spring so today we headed back to the Ecomuseum.  (Fanta Pants took the kids not long after we arrived in Montreal see here).  It was pretty warm and steamy today so many of the animals were looking for a cool spot but this bear put on a lovely show for us.

We all felt very "secure" being this close behind an electrified fence!  I think I was the most excited to see the bears although Little Miss D announced at dinner she'd like to look after the baby bears when she grows up.

We also got to see a very fast little chipmunk and some very lazy looking raccoons.  They really do have the cutest creatures in Quebec!!

xx