Our Summer- Part 1: Glacier

 Our BIG vacation this year was to head west and take in the sights and multiple hugs from the best grandparents in the world. We met up at the lake and kyacked and painted nails and used our binoculars and hugged and hugged and hugged.

 A Good GB will take a few silly shots with you and paint your toenails- she may not however offer you a chair to sit in to do it so you'll need to be flexible.

 Oh and did I mention we saw a few glaciers? cause we did- even had a snowball fight in the summertime. :)

But the best part of all was just being together.

From FL With Love

We've been gone- now we are back. 

I vowed to take more photos with my 'actual' camera this summer so that my kids will not think that everything in the years 2011-2012 was pixelated like a cell phone photo. I think I did ok on this trip.

We saw some wildlife.

Went to the beach.

With the added bonus of a jelly fish encounter. (She's fine- and a complete trooper.)

We went to the pool,

 

 

and perfected our swimming. (more to come on this later)

 

 We ate (everything- as the scale tells me now). We even made our our own donuts

 We went to the Children's Museum of Naples and HIGHLY recommend it to anyone with a day or two to kill. We drove daddy's car and tried out some careers.

And of course we picked up just a few oranges.

 

We celebrated Grandma's Birthday.

And played with all her toys.

 

After all that fun it was time to fly home... 

It would be a complete lie if I said I wished we were still there, but if I said I wished we hadn't gone that would be a lie too.

Where Have We Been?

At the beach, collecting seashells.

And building sand castles.

Coloring Easter eggs by the pool.

Meeting the Easter Bunny.

Helping Grandma furnish her new house.

Playing at the pool.

Enjoying a piece of paradise with Daddy.

Reprogramming

So I arrived home from my two week vacation (which I extended by two weeks) to a house full of mess. I couldn't even believe that I had left it like that just a month ago. And even more surprising, I didn't remember leaving it a mess. I was staying in my in-laws newly acquired, barely furnished house in Florida. It was refreshing. and I guess I sort of lost myself there, the way you imagine you will when you are on vacation but never actually do. I am in the process of 'getting back to reality' and deprogramming.

Getting used to my tiny bathroom that only has one sink and no special door to shut myself away when I'm on the toilet, or just need a moment.
It was cereal for lunch when we arrived home from the airport- I couldn't remember where the bowls were.
Sifting through 237 emails... mostly junk.
Dealing with a mountain of mail... also mostly junk (can I categorize bills as junk too?)

It feels like a wave has hit me and I'm still trying to figure out which way is up. But I'll get there. I am energized, motivated and ready to tackle this adventure that I call 'everyday life'.

Right after I'm done mourning the lack of pool or beach and the 72 degree weather.

Where Was I? OH Yes, Canada!

So we drove for a little bit before we crossed the St. Lawrence into Montreal. (yes that's the lovely picture above that I took of the lovely city on our approach) We arrived at our hotel and got settled after some overflow issues. (overbooking so we got one bed instead of two, and parking further away since the regular lot was full) The kids went right to bed and didn't wake up until 8am. (This was a GREAT vacation) We took some time getting ready and spent a lot of timelooking out our 25th floor window, who knew bendy buses and commuter trains could be so fun?!
After an overpriced buffet breakfast we set out. First stop the Biodome! (a very large greenhouse or similar structure with a controlled internal environment in which plants and animals from regions are kept in conditions similar to nature or much warmer or colder) The biodome in Montreal was a big hit. The animals were right there for the kids to look for and find and there was plenty of room to run around (surprisingly it was not very crowded).

The puffins were the cutest, they would come right up to the glass and follow the kids, Claire was making faces at one of them and every time she would make a face it would puff up it's feathers. :)
Also they had capibaras and I got to sound all informed (thanks Sara!). I was really surprised to see just how big they were. The kids had a blast seeing everything and 'using' the binoculars.

But our adventures weren't over yet. Montreal also boasts the tallest leaning structure in the world. Conveniently it is located right next door to the biodome. So UP we went, WAY up!

In that second picture is the botanical gardens, the second largest if I remember right. But we didn't do that this time, cold weather and all. Largest bonsai collection according to my friend Steph's research.

After this much activity we just wanted to sit down and eat, maybe a nap?

Baguettes for all!

After lunch we wandered around in what we think was the underground city. But everything seemed to be closed (it was a Sunday?).
Time to think about home. Claire really wanted to go back to the hotel and swim, too bad we had already checked out. :(
On our way out of the city we caught a bit of Old Montreal. Just enough to make us want to come back again when it is warm so we could wander the streets and explore the little shops and things.

Home again, Home again. So soon. Even though I was apprehensive in the beginning it turned out to be the perfect little weekend excursion.

French Road Trip

So I looked up brioche, I found a recipe- but also a review that said it was a gooey, messy and fattening bread. While delicious I decided to go a different direction to explore my French-ness. How about Canada! They speak French there.
OK so it happened like this. Jimmy woke up and said 'what should we do today' then he sat down at the computer and about 5 min. later he says 'let's go to Montreal'. Any other person might have discounted this as just a dream out loud. But with Jimmy I knew he was serious. I protested, worried about the long travel time, the not knowing what we would even do up there with two kids and so forth. He persisted and I started packing, because when he gets this way if you don't pack you'll end up in a foreign country with no underwear or toothbrush or worse, no diapers. After a quick google search for things to do in Montreal- and a check of some logistical things you need to do in order to leave the country.
We hit the road! For Canada!
On the way up the kids were wonderful, sleeping, playing together, just spectacular.
And when dinner time rolled around we were looking for a place to stop and I saw signs for Glen Falls, I thought to myself that my friend Steph lives there... oh wait that's Hudson Falls... oh well. The next sign said Hudson Falls! YAY. So we called them up and met them for dinner. It was so good to get to visit with friends and see their little girl, who is adorable. At that point I could have just turned around and gone home, my weekend was significantly full of good surprises. But onward we went.
When we crossed the border the crossing agent was surprised we were coming to Canada... in the middle of winter... when it is -4 with the windchill. But that's how we are.
I missed most of the entry into Canada because it was about 1am and I was fighting sleep; Jim was driving cause he loves me like that :)
This is getting really long. I'll continue our adventures later... I promise the next one will have pictures.