To do list

Not long after we arrived we made a "to do" list of places we'd like to visit and things we'd like to do while we're here.  We've ticked off a couple and have plans to tick off a couple more by the end of summer.

From time to time we add a couple more and the latest to be added is for Fanta Pants to go and watch the Spurs play, location TBA.  Most of you would be saying who?  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the basket ball, the Spurs play out of San Antonio Texas and are currently hot favourites to take the title this year.  Fanta Pants is super keen on basket ball but I only follow it via Hollywood gossip mags.  Eg Spurs star player Tony Parker used to be married to Eva Longoria....

Always on my everyday to do list is knitting and I've finally finished two cardigans for Baby A.  One was a total disaster and will only be worn in the house!  (I blame the pattern!).  Fortunately the other was a great success and now Action Boy wants a matching one!

xx

Sunday

We're well and truly settled in and feeling pretty comfortable in our new surrounds and that means we can all enjoy some quiet time over the weekend doing a few jobs with a bit of fun stuff too.  This weekend's project was painting an old chest of drawers.

Everyone knows I'm not a fan of wood and I'm super fond of painting over it and this little piece was not going to be spared!  Fanta Pants has had this a long time and it survived due to its super cute shape however the orange stained wood had to go!  I'm even branching out from painting everything white and have chosen a lovely faded denim blue.

The chest will have a very special job to do once it's finished.  Hopefully I'll be able to show the second part of this project by the end of the week...

These beauties are from our garden.  Not sure who or when the bulbs were planted but they are amazing.  They are much paler than I've seen before and they smell amazing.

There are bulbs popping up all over the place and it is really beginning to look like spring despite it being so cold this week.  There is an amazing patch of tulips I'm dying to photograph and I think they've opened up just enough for a lovely photo...

xx

cookies or biscuits

We have a playdate this afternoon so we decided to make some Anzac biscuits to take with us.  There was much talk this morning of these not cookies but biscuits!  It got me thinking about vocab - but before we get to that a little side bar to say that maple syrup while similar in colour is not a good substitute for golden syrup...

That evil little look means "I'm going to eat all the mixture!!"

While super delicious, maple syrup doesn't react properly with bicarb soda and so the taste and texture are all wrong.  Good thing little kids don't care about any of that.  They're just happy they get a biscuit or cookie!!

You would think there would be language issues around French and English (and believe me there are) but there are also issues between Australian English and Canadian English.  I'm wondering if I should give in and use Canadian terminology in an effort to be understood or just use the words I always have.  Only problem with that is sometimes it causes misunderstandings and occasionally it can be perceived as rude.  Par exemple, 


Australian      Canadian
biscuit             cookie - may seem interchangeable but a biscuit here is actually
                      a savoury scone
lollies              candies - the kids use this one!
nappy             dipper - I really don't like this word...
dummy           pacifier
boot                trunk
bonnet            hood
sidewalk          pavement
thongs             flip flops - we all know what "thong" means in North America!
toilet               washroom - I don't know what the problem with toilet is? The French
                      say toilette
torch              flash light - when asking for a torch at Home Depot we were shown welding torches!

The list is endless - even in knitting yarn weights are called different things.  In Australia it's 4 ply, 8 ply, 10 ply etc so it's pretty logical.  Here it's fingering, DK, worsted... confusing.

Accent and pronunciation are a whole other story...

xx

ps - it's snowing!  Crazy I know!  It's about 4 degrees now so it hasn't stuck but it's still wacky!  It's hard to take pictures of falling snow from inside but those little white flecks are snow flakes.  Snow falling is really pretty and light - magical even!

Mum's taxi

You know those silly car stickers that say "mum's taxi"?  Well that was me today.  Kids activities plus Action Boy's school concert had me sitting in the car pretty much all day.  It was worth it though - the concert was so cute and I melted with pride!  Poor little guy was so nervous but did an excellent job and tried so hard.  They even sang in French!  So amazing...

In all that driving and waiting I listen attentively to my best Canadian friend - the CBC!  While nothing can top Aunty, the CBC is pretty good and is a great way to stay connected to what's happening.  At the moment though it really is all about the student strike impasse.  It seems nothing else is happening in Montreal at the moment.  The protests happen constantly through out the city - day and night.  The politicians are of course blaming each other.  The Education Minister is refusing to negotiate with one of the student unions because they are blamed for the violence.  Universities and colleges are cancelling the academic year so some students will have to repeat.  The Mayor has had enough but it seems that both sides are more stubborn than a three year old having a melt down.

Even the students from the Conservatory were at it this morning and there is a massive march planned tonight.  This is all so crazy and I can't believe it has gone on for so long!

cyberpresse.ca

xx

Still raining...

It's still raining here which is making things a bit tricky.  I kind of think super cold temperatures and lots of snow is easier to deal with than rain.  Snowy weather outerwear is excellent so you don't get cold or wet but heavy rain makes everything sloppy and wet and feel colder than the 9 degrees it's supposed to be....

The students are still on strike too.  10 weeks now and sadly it doesn't look like things are going to get sorted out any time soon.  Some of the demonstrations are getting quite violent with lots of arrests.  The public seem to be less behind the students.  It is totally dominating the press here...

On the home front, Fanta Pants is making his lunch for tomorrow and telling me he has never eaten so many berries in his life!  They are so good and so cheap!  He's also saying that we've never recycled so much either.  It's fantastic - pretty much anything that isn't compostable is recyclable.  Good work Canada!

Also around the house we're beginning to prepare for some important visitors!  We've never had a guest room before so I'm trying to put some things together and fingers crossed the "look" comes off!  I'm going for a vintage look and found some treasures at our local op shop yesterday.  Total bargain - $27.50 for the lot but no taxes!  Yippee!

Coming out of the shop I ran into someone I know.  Another yippee!!  I actually know enough people to randomly run into them!

xx

Puddles

We've had a lot of rain here over the last few days and our backyard is full of puddles and the swimming pool is close to over flowing!  The grass looks like an English rugby pitch...

Note our excellent view into our neighbour's house??!

All that means lots of indoor activities.  Little Miss D even said that it isn't spring any more!  So we did some baking for Action Boy's playdate this afternoon although cooking to Little Miss D means eating the raw ingredients!  Isn't this outfit a ripper!?  She proudly laid it all out last night and I know when to pick my battles and an "op shop chic" outfit isn't worth it!

I've said it before but the berries here are fantastic and so cheap.  I still get pangs of guilt about the air miles - these raspberries are from Mexico but there are so good!  People keep telling me that in the summer we can buy local fruit but for the other 9 months of the year fruit and veg come from very far away...

Another Bill Granger winning recipe - raspberry and peach slice.  Delish!

xx

Outside

It's official - we have acclimatised to the weather.  It may have rained and only got to 7 degrees this weekend but it stop us going outside and preparing for spring.  Fanta Pants and Action Boy even went fishing!

But the real highlight of the weekend was putting together the new trampoline.  Massive yard means we can have massive trampoline!!

I can see hours of fun happening here as the weather gets better!  

Also outside this weekend were our friends the squirrels.  There were some turf wars with some recently arrived birds but it appears the squirrels have won that battle.  It must be because they are so well fed!  This little furry creature has some bread... I have a feeling that the neighbour leaves bread out for them...

Crazy eyes!  I tried to fix it but red eye correction doesn't work on squirrels...

Ooops!  All these photos frightened the poor little thing!  He better get used to noise and little people in the back yard...

xx

NDG

I had a lovely morning off this morning and ventured away from my usual stomping ground to get a much needed haircut.  I don't know about you, but I'm funny about my hair and have only had two hairdressers in the last 15 years so finding a good salon was important to me.  A friend of a friend with very nice hair recommended a place and I wasn't disappointed!

It's a very large, vibrant salon and they offer head and neck massages before your cut!  Nice...  I was super pleased with the cut and style and will definitely be going back.  Maybe someone there will be able to handle Fanta Pants's hair?!?

Salon services in Canada are a bit cheaper than at home but then you are presented with the awkward notion of tipping.  It's such a weird concept to me outside of a fancy restaurant.  When paying with credit card there is always a section for tip but I always wonder if the person providing the service gets the actual tip or does it get sucked up in general takings?  Luckily, this salon has a nifty solution.  You can either tip the stylist directly in cash or they provide little envelopes you can write the stylist's name on and put the tip in then pop the envelope in a locked box for later.  I understand it's the done thing here but I felt weird about giving money directly to the hair dresser so I used the locked box.  Maybe next time I'll work up the courage to slip her some cash! 

After my haircut I had a little wander down the street called Monkland Ave in lovely neighbourhood called Notre Dame de Grace or NDG.  I think this area will become a favourite for me when I get a moment sans enfants - hair salon, amazing knitting shop, cute sewing shop and excellent bagel bakery.  

These things are seriously amazing!!  Extraordinary!!  The kids were super excited to see I'd brought a bag full home.  Lucky they freeze quite well too...

This part of NDG is quite lovely and I wonder why our relocation agent didn't show us any homes in this area?  It's not as suburban as where we are now but still really well set up for families with free standing homes as well as duplexes with small yards.  Actually, we recently found out what motivated our relocation agent.  Kickbacks!  I must admit that I was a bit shocked to find out they get a commissions for viewings, when the lease is signed and for various other introductions...

xx

Bed love

Don't worry this isn't going to be rude!  I'm actually just in love with our new bed!!

We've been talking about a new bed for about three years but with visitors arriving soon we needed a guest bed so it was definitely time for us to get this much talked about bed.  There seem to be a lot of monopolies in Quebec so we went to the monopoly mattress shop and found a good deal on a locally made memory foam mattress.  We didn't really know a lot about memory foam but as soon as it was tested it was sold!  Totes amazeballs!

So incredibly comfortable and of course we went for king size or très grand as they say here.  Only problem with très grand is that my decorative pillows look très petit.  Will have to figure out what to do about that and we definitely need something lovely for above the bed.  Will start my search on Saturday when I get the morning off for a hair cut and a snoop around a funky part of the city!

A king size bed seems like such an "adult" thing to have however I really don't feel like an adult (despite having three children and a minivan!).  Maybe it's my juvenile choice of book?  If you look very closely you'll see Fanta Pants is reading another Salmon Rushdie.  But what am I reading?  "Hunger Games"!?!  I'll have to find a friend here to go and see the movie with...

Très grand is très nécessaire with trois enfants and Baby A thought he'd try it out too after an early morning feed.

Then it was time for some sibling love...

xx

too heavy...

For those of you who have, have had or will have 3 year old girls - this one is for you!  I'm so glad to see that this sort of thing doesn't just happen in our house!

xx

Green

Slowly, slowly the nature fairies have been bringing spring to Montreal and today it seems that it is now the turn of the trees.  The tips of some of the trees have just sprouted and I'm eager to see them covered in green!

I'm not used to seeing springtime unfold in this way.  A heavy blanket of snow certainly changes what plants can do and it really is beautiful to see everything come to life again.

We had some overlooking issues in our old house as it was a compact house on a small block but I didn't anticipate having worse overlooking issues here.  I thought a big house on a massive block would mean complete privacy but I was completely mistaken!

We have trees everywhere on our property and the surrounding ones and for around six months of the year they are naked and through all these bare branches we can see a lot of what our neighbours get up to!  For example we can see right through our backyard into the kitchen and living room of the house behind.  We can see when they're on the computer and when they open the fridge!  Thankfully our windows aren't as big as theirs but I'm guessing they can see a fair bit of what goes on in here.  (On a sunny day in the winter they would put their feet up against the glass doors to soak up the sun!)  From upstairs we can see into our immediate neighbours on both sides but we can also see through two gardens and across a street into another house!  Fortunately our windows are quite well placed so I don't feel spied on.

Having said that, I and I'm sure all the neighbours are looking forward to thick, bushy trees to give everyone around six months worth of privacy!!

xx

Garden

It's unseasonably warm 25 degrees today - about 10 above average and although it's supposed to rain later, I'm really enjoying having the windows open.  The fresh air is beautiful and the birds are singing!

In this beautiful weather Baby A and I took a tour of the garden.  Yes, it really is big enough to tour!

Fanta Pants has done a great job raking up countless bags of leaves that weren't picked up last Fall but we've realised we need some help with the spring clean up which is called "opening the garden"!  Since the snow has melted, we have been amazed by what has popped up in the garden.  In the last few days these beauties have appeared!

Green is appearing everywhere and it's just gorgeous.  I think this cute purple flower is a weed as I've seen whole lawns covered in it.  There are many plants that looked seriously dead but are now turning green and budding.  I can't wait for the trees to get their leaves.

Our friends the squirrels have been "active" in the garden opening too...

Apparently they bury hundreds of food titbits where ever they can and then when the snow melts they go and dig them up.  This is what it looks like when they've finished digging!

They've pretty much dug up the entire back lawn!  I'm not sure how they're going to like the trampoline that's arriving at the end of the week...

xx

Agent of change

Dear Canada

You have a really lovely country.  Maple syrup is delicious, the scenery is beautiful, the people are friendly and polite and the wildlife is fantastic.  Who wouldn't love to have the polar bear as their national emblem.  You also have excellent natural resources, especially water.

The rest of the world, Australia in particular, has some amazing products and technical facilities that would really benefit your people.  I know I've written to you before about the family doctor situation and I feel that even I am unable to help you in that area.  However, we could start small and I could be your agent of change representing Australia and some of the useful things it has to offer.

For example we have this amazing product called pre rolled puff pastry.  It comes in frozen sheets but defrosts quickly to be used pretty much instantly.  Slabs of puff pastry that require at least five hours of thawing then need to be rolled aren't that user friendly...

Secondly, what's with the one cent coin?  Also why is the five cent coin bigger than the 10 cent coin?  Speaking of money and banking, what's with cheques?!?!  There are modern banking methods that are less cumbersome and less open to fraud...  for example BPAY and "pay anyone"...

Next on my list, is the round about.  In three months here I haven't seen one here and have been told there may only be two in the whole of Quebec.  Four way stop signs really rely on the Canadian driver being courteous and observant.  So far, so good...

Some other oddities that could use improving include cable TV services, mobile phone coverage and associated costs.  Finally who thought scheduling 6 year old soccer at 7pm on a Thursday night was a good idea?

Oh Canada, I'm ready, I'm willing - you could be great.  Relax and modernize!  You really could be the country the rest of the world already thinks you are!!

Lots of love
Mama Bear
xx

50 bucks

We went adventuring today.  All the way to the western most point of the Montreal island.  We found a cute little village to have lunch in overlooking the water and had a stroll along the board walk.  I bet this place gets busy in the warmer months.

"I'll chase you to the end of the island!"

  

I had been told that this little village also had a fantastic thrift shop and it certainly didn't disappoint.  For $50 I picked up some little gems!

I've been looking for some pink to go with my very blue colour scheme and this vase was only $5!

Little Miss D has far too many soft toys and they generally all sleep with her and I've been trying to find a solution to get them out of her bed but still be accessible for playing with and for $30 I found it.

All this cute little swinging bassinette needs now is a lick of pink paint and it'll be perfect!  Thankfully Little Miss D was very enthusiastic about showing her babies their new home...

My last purchase was this cute sparkly little knitting bag to transport my knitting projects to class.  Shopping bags just weren't cutting it any more...

Little Miss D is very fond of this bag but isn't it interesting how a 3 year chooses to model a bag?

We made a quick dash to the local kids shop to pick up some super cute shoes this morning.  Little Miss D had to wear her slippers to the shop because her boots were still wet!

We took the long way home around the top of the island and discovered some massive, Celine Dion type houses looking over the water.  It was a lovely drive and I think we'll do it again once the leaves appear and I'm sure it'll look entirely different.

xx

"Summerize"

It's definitely getting warmer here and the post winter clean up is under way.  Our snow removal man has taken his snow markers, the councils are sweeping the streets and attempting to repair roads.  We've taken the cover off our pool and it quickly became obvious that a lot of work will be needed to "open" this pool!

The water is the colour of tea and the squirrels use it as a giant water bowl.  We have discovered some gorgeous retro tiles too.  I'm really looking forward to cleaning up this area and enjoying some warmer weather outside.

There is some weird Photoshop going on with that baby...

The kids are super excited about getting some fun pool toys and I couldn't resist getting this for Baby A. We're also looking at getting some "patio" furniture too.  We weren't sure how our outdoor furniture would survive a Canadian winter so we left it in storage but it turns out we could have stored it in the garage...

The sun was shining this afternoon so we headed down to the river after school to feed some ducks.  Luckily there were some obliging ducks and seagulls who enjoyed some bread but only some.  You see Action Boy's hollow legs needed filling so he ate the rest of the stale bread!

The duck's iridescent green head turns blue as the light catches it.  Just stunning! 

 It was a beautiful afternoon outside until Little Miss D's high tech gumboot fell into the water.  Luckily Action Boy was able to rescue it but it's still kind of a problem because it's the only pair of shoes she's got!  We just haven't had time to catch her wardrobe up with the weather!!  I sense a shopping trip coming on...

xx

A New York minute

Everything in NYC moves fast - the people, the cabs, the runners up the hill in Central Park and our four nights disappeared in an instant.  We've already pencilled in a return trip when Baby A is a bit bigger.  There were so many things we didn't get to see and a few we'd like to revisit.

Amazing jazz band in Central Park

Next time we'll drive though - apparently it's around six hours which is exactly how long it took us to go door to door even though the flight was only 55 minutes...  Driving will be much more comfortable, cheaper and border security is a lot less onerous when you drive.

We didn't get all that much shopping done but I did make it to Mecca, otherwise known as Anthropologie!!!  That was fun and wondering around such a beautiful store was almost as fun as buying lovely things... (gorgeous skirt and kitchen things).

Handles and hardware... if only I had somewhere to put them...
Look at that floor!!

In a stroke of pure shopping planning genius, the Lego store is across the road from Anthro!  Action Boy was getting tired and had had enough of walking but when he saw the red and yellow he jumped about a foot in the air and ran straight in.  A lady passing by thought it was hilarious!

xx

New York, New York

Pretty much everything about NYC is amazing but a real highlight for us was seeing a show on Broadway.  With children around of course the obvious choice was "The Lion King" and wow!  Amazing!

Aunty Red #1 used her connections to get us excellent seats and we were captivated for the entire show.*  

Simba
www.playbill.com

Everything about it was amazing - costumes, puppetry, music, singing, staging... This show has been running for nearly 15 years and has just passed "The Phantom of the Opera" as the highest grossing musical on Broadway.  They have made $853,846,062!!!  (I can see how they've done that - no discounts for kids and four tickets cost more than one full priced airfare!!!).

The Aunties Red kindly offered to look after Baby A while we enjoyed the show - Thank you!!!

On the subway

 Then they let him loose in Time Square!!

xx

* Captivated until I realised who was sitting behind us!  The show started and at least 5 minutes later a family with lots of kids was seated.  I was surprised they would be let in and thought they must be well connected to come in once the show had begun.

After intermission I did a double take and then counted all the kids and concluded it was Lauren Hill from the Fugees!  She is beautiful - such fine features and so tiny.  I'm up on my showbiz goss, so I knew she had five kids because the last one was born around the same time as Baby A.  I was excited to see some one famous but I wanted to keep cool so I sent Fanta Pants a text message to tell him who was sitting behind us!

We're baaack!

Very sorry for not posting for a few days.  You see we've been super busy - in NYC!!!  OMG!  Totes amazeballs!  We all had such an incredible time and we definitely can't wait to go back while we're still in Canada.

The kids are becoming seasoned travellers and are quite used to the process of airports and hotel rooms which means things happen quite smoothly.  Having a 55 minute flight on the tiniest plane I've ever been on is quite a novelty too.

There were only 39 seats and no in flight entertainment...

Travelling with three little people means that you lug around a lot of stuff (eg double prams and travel cots), you move slowly and stop a lot.  However we still managed to see and do so many amazing things - celebrate Fanta Pants' birthday, Central Park, Time Square, American Museum of Natural History, Bryant Park, Staten Island Ferry, a Broadway show and of course a spot of shopping...

We were so lucky with fantastic spring weather.  Every day was warmer than expected and full of sunshine - Fanta Pants even got sun burnt!  (Luckily it was quite a mild northern hemisphere sun burn rather than a scorching Australian burn!).  I'm sure New York is beautiful in any weather but spring time in New York was stunning.  There were colourful bulbs everywhere and the trees were blossoming.

Bryant Park

Bowling Green

Poor Baby A's routine was totally turned on its head but he got into the swing of it and began sleeping quite well on the go in the pram or baby bijorn.  The big kids quickly tuned into the New York's energy and had an absolute blast.  This city suits Little Miss D to a tee - she has come home a new girl!

Many of you will have heard me speak of my amazing friend who lives in New York (we'll call her Aunty Red #1).  Well it was an absolute treat to have her show us her adopted city and spend lots of time with her and her gorgeous fiancée (we'll call her Aunty Red #2).

Central Park

I'll be back tomorrow with more of our amazing trip!

xx