Well the first new development in our lives is that Evelyn has learned how to throw a tantrum. Every time she doesn’t get her way she has a meltdown, throws herself on the ground and cries angrily. Like just now when Dan wouldn’t let Evelyn hold the camera. It’s hard not to laugh, actually, because she’s so dramatic.

We have also started Evelyn on pacifier detox. Evelyn has already shown signs that she is outgrowing the pacifier and was able to go the whole day without using it. She needs the pacifier to sleep at night so we are trying to get her to sleep without it. I have to say it was my fault … I started her using it to go to sleep when I was terribly sleep deprived (Evelyn was 4 months old and still not sleeping through the night) and Evelyn had Jet Lag. Three nights ago I tried to put her to bed without it and she cried for about an hour. I finally gave in and gave it to her. Last night I tried again and she eventually did sleep without it, although she cried for about 45 minutes. When she get really angry and threw her carrot on the ground I came and read her 4 stories and then left her with one of the books and that seemed to have helped. Tonight she went to bed with only a short-lived whimper. I think it helped that she didn’t nap much during the day (only half an hour in the sling). It’s true what I read on web forums … the first night of pacifier detox is the hardest, then they pretty much forget about it.

We have also started very gradually the potty training process. So far we have started doing two things: 1) when Evelyn looks like she wants to poo we take her to the potty so she associates the two. 2) We encourage her to sit on the potty and give her a special toy that’s only for the potty to play with. So far it’s working well except for the fact that when she’s in the process of doing the deed she doesn’t want to sit down. I think it will come with time.

We have been very busy lately. Dan’s parents came to visit in early May and we visited Quebec city with them. Then my Dad came for a visit and we went Vermont with him and right after he left we went to Ontario for the long weekend. We visited Waterloo, Toronto and Ottawa. It was a lot of driving for Evelyn but we managed it. In the hotel in Ottawa we had a beautiful crib for Evelyn (not a playpen, a real, miniature crib) but Evelyn didn’t sleep in it because she was too scared. We turned on the GPS to get directions to the Parliament building and the voice said “Turn around when possible” quite loudly and scared the daylights out of her. So she spent the night with hear head near our knees jammed against our legs and preventing us from pulling up the sheets.

Feeding Evelyn on the trip was tricky, of course, but we made an interesting discovery. Evelyn likes hummus! More surprising still: the hummus we gave her was Jalapeno flavoured! Probably the highlight of the trip was visiting the Farmer’s market in St Jacob’s although it was far, far too busy! Anyway, I think we’re done with road trips for a while.

Also when Dan’s parents were here Dan had an intensive training course in handymanning. Dan unclogged the bathroom sink and installed the gate in front of our exterior stairs.

Evelyn is talking quite well now and says “story” very nicely as well as “up”. She says “doggie” every time she sees a dog (or a picture of a dog), which is about 30 times a day given how many people in NDG have dogs.

We decided to use part of our tax refund to buy a bike trailer for Evelyn. We have gone on several short excursions nearby and then used the newly completed downtown bike path to Park Lafontaine a few weeks ago.

Dan got food poisoning yesterday (from something he ate at a pub) so I came home early yesterday and stayed home today. Fortunately he’s over it how and based on the time it took him to get sick I think it must have been Staph. And this only 6 months after getting Norwalk at Christmas!

It snowed the week before we left Montreal and the snow still wasn’t cleared from our street the night we left. There was a “no man’s land” of snow in the parking lane (with a buried car in it) and the traffic was a mess. We booked a taxi earlier in the day and it didn’t show up at the time we requested it. I called the company and the line was *busy*. Ok, so much for that. Fortunately, living on Sherbrooke street a lot of taxis pass by so I flagged one down. He had to park on the corner due to the aforementioned sea of snow and we ran back and forth with our stuff. The poor guy didn’t know what he was getting himself into. Yes, we wanted to go to the airport and yes, we had to strap in that baby car seat. Poor Dan struggled for about 10 minutes to get it hooked in. I think part of the problem was that the bars were stuck under the cushions and we just couldn’t get the clips to go in far enough. He had actually started driving when we got one clip in place but he offered to stop before we got onto the highway so that we could get the other one in place. The 20 was really backed up with cars and it took about 35 minutes to get to the airport. The taxi driver played a Leonard Cohen tape on the way and unfortunately Dan just can’t stand his style of singing so he was talking about it the whole trip.

When we arrived we had planned to buy a nice sandwich at MBCo only to find out that they had no more food. So we went through security but then found out there was only one restaurant! Fortunately we were able to get a table and hand just enough time to eat before we had to go to the gate. Before that we tried to buy a book at the bookstore but had out typical Montreal lack of customer service problems so left without the book.

The flight itself was fine although it’s a very long 4 1/2 hours when you’re holding a sleeping baby (it was an evening flight). Dan’s parents picked us up at the airport and we got to their place really, really late. Our visit at their place was good for the most part, save the puking. Yes, there was puking and I will get back to that in a moment. We roasted chestnuts on the fire, cooked and ate some nice meals and generally had a good time. To make a long story short our niece picked up some gastrointestinal virus from a family that babysat her (they thought it was food poisoning when they got sick) and she passed it on to almost everyone except Evelyn. First Zoe got sick herself, then Dan’s sisters. We didn’t stand much of a chance of avoiding the illness since it started out with us overhearing the phrase “Oh no it’s all over their stuff” on the baby monitor when Zoe threw up on our toiletries bag. We were still feeling fine 2 days later when we left for my aunt and uncle’s place but at Christmas dinner it became increasingly obvious that something was amiss by Dan’s trepidacious table manners. After supper Dan spent most of the evening trying (or trying not to) throw up in the downstairs bathroom. Finally my cousin took him to the hotel and Evelyn and I joined a few hours later. Not too far into the night we experienced what could be caleld a spectacular show. I will skip the details but let’s say it wasn’t pleasant. Fortunately my microbiological training kicked in and I knew that bleach is the best way to kill viruses so I called my aunt and she sent some bleach based cleaners and cleaning cloths over so we could disinfect the bathroom as needed. The night followed a predictable routine of “throw up, wash hands, disinfect, wash hands, repeat” for both of us. Somehow Evelyn didn’t get sick, and I’m tempted to chalk it up to our disinfection protocol although I am sure part of it was due to breastfeeding.

We spent boxing day recovering and sleeping in the hotel. Unfortunately we had requested a playpen for her and first there were none available and then they brought it to the wrong room so we didn’t have any way to contain her most of the day we were sick. We did our best to keep her safely on the bed, mostly thanks to Treehouse kids TV. By the afternoon of the 27th we started to feel better although we were not really able to eat until the 30th. My aunt suggested we go out and shop for boxing week deals so we went out with our cousins and a momentous event happened. My aunt offered to babysit Evelyn and I warned her about Evelyn’s fear of being away from mom and dad. She said she would give it a try and would call if there were any problems. Well we were gone for 4 hours and Evelyn really only got upset during the last 10 minutes or so, so it was a great success! In general she became more socialized during the trip although it was pretty hard on her at the beginning. She also took a great liking to my cousin Anna, perhaps because she kept showing Evelyn shiny silver coasters. We also learned Evelyn likes to “head bonk”. Basically you make eye contact with her and tilt your forehead toward hers and she does the same until the heads are touching. It’s pretty cute.

On the morning of the 28th Dan’s parents came to pick us up for the trip to Kananaskis. We were very happy that Evelyn still was healthy although a bit concerned when we found out Dan’s mom was still sick from the virus that morning. We all decided to take a chance on it and went to the hotel. We arrived just before check in and total chaos was happening in the lobby. I guess everyone else decided to take a weekend vacation in the hotel too so it was packed and our room wasn’t ready until half and hour after the “guaranteed” check in time. Worse, the kettle in the room wasn’t functioning (I needed to boil water for Evelyn) but when Dan’s parents got their keys we swapped and all was well. Ok, yes I know that Kananaskis is a bit of a mountain wilderness cop-out, but with an 8 month old baby we wanted something that was family friendly. And boy were there ever a lot of babies there!

At supper Evelyn was especially grouchy and we all debated about the reason (“maybe she’s getting sick?”). For about the millionth time since Evelyn was 4 months old I wondered if she might be teething so I stuck my finger in her mouth … and sure enough, there was a sharp bump on the bottom gums! Oh boy! The following night was very long, likely a combination of her teething, her congestion (apparently that comes with teething) and my inability to produce milk (since I had hardly eaten since the 25th).

The following Day we wanted to take it easy and try something fun, so Dan signed us up for a sleigh ride. Nice and simple, a good thing for people recovering from being ill. We were in a red wooden sleigh pulled by two white and brown horses which were humongous. We followed a path in the trees with a cross country ski trail on one side. We pulled up to a gorge with a river in the bottom. It was beautiful. On the way back we encountered a few cross country skiers on the track. Unfortunately some of the skiers didn’t stop when they encountered the sleigh and the sound frightened the horses. The first time wasn’t too bad and the driver was able to get them calmed down quickly but the second time it happened they broke into a gallop. Dan thinks it lasted about a minute but it felt like forever. Yes, Evelyn was on the sleigh ride with us and I was really frightened that she would get hurt. Fortunately the horses calmed down and we finished the ride without incident. Well I don’t know who had the bright idea of putting the sleigh ride and ski trail on the same path but it clearly seems dangerous to both the skiers and the passengers!

After our adventure filled sleigh ride we went for a dip in the pool. Evelyn came along for this part and I have to say she did much better than our first swimming pool adventure. I’m sure it helped that the water wasn’t as cold. She didn’t cry although she was quite nervous and clung to me like a monkey. I have never been hugged like that by her before! She wasn’t even secure enough in Dan’s arms – he was holding her and when she saw me she practically climbed over him to get to me!

Supper that night was more teething drama and another sleepless night followed. We checked out and headed up to my Dad’s place. My Dad bought a Wii so Dan burned his mind playing Mario Galaxy. We had lots of good food and a great time. We cooked a small ham and had a nice salad with lots of avocados. We stayed up for New Year’s eve and Evelyn did too. She was totally wired all night and it was pretty tiring.

The following day turned out to be “beat up the baby” day. We met with my master’s thesis supervisor in Red Deer and had a great chat. Unfortunately Evelyn was sitting in the high chair and decided to hit her head on the table. Then I was unclipping the pacifier from her clothing and by freak chance I managed to let my grip slip on clip (say that fast 20 times) and the clip caught her on the lip. Well everyone in the restaurant watched as I took my screaming, bleeding baby to the bathroom to clean up her lip. Fortunately the damage wasn’t too bad but we decided to throw out the clips and buy something with a weaker hinge to prevent that from happening again. Afterward we met up with my high school friend and her family and had a nice time. Again, Evelyn manged to find new and exciting ways to hurt herself – on the rocking horse toy and by catching her fingers in a spinning wood block alphabet thing. We had a great visit and returned to Dan’s parents place later in the evening.

We spent the next day trying to pack and last minute shopping at the Superstore in Airdrie (which as really nice super cheap baby clothes) and watching a Bollywood movie. The next morning we were off for our flight home. It was even longer than the flight out since Evelyn was awake for most of it and holding a bouncing, squirmy baby that drops her toys every 2 minutes is even more tiring than holding a sleeping baby.

When we arrived I waited for a very long time for the stroller and car seat to come through the oversize luggage belt because apparently everyone decided to go skiing in Calgary and there were about 50 pairs of skis to be sorted out before our stuff came out. Then we got in line for the taxi and discovered that there was a line of hundreds of people! Even with about 10 taxis coming in every few minutes it still took about 30 minutes before we got into one. And the roads were not even bad, it was just because there were so many people coming back from Christmas trips. But we made it home in one piece and the only thing we lost were a pair of mittens and a pair of earmuffs. Not bad considering all things.

A strange thing happened this weekend. For the first time since I returned to Montreal on Oct 28th, I actually feel like I caught up with some of the things I needed to get done. It has been and will be be a busy weekend still, but I have been doing things as they come, not catching up on things I should have done three weeks ago.

Tonight is the work Christmas party so in a few minutes I will have to go and try to find something that fits me without looking really bad. Speaking of work, the big changes that were planned are still happening, but my boss has done his best to keep as much in our budget as possible. In the best case it wouldn’t affect what I am working on at all. We will have to wait and see.

I and one of my co-workers will be travelling to France for a week in January to get a hands-on training session with some quantitative PCR people. It will be in Clermont-Ferrand which I visited in 2004. I am really looking forward to meeting with the people there.

Dan is writing a children’s story for his English class and it sounds quite good. It’s about a duck called Isaac. I can’t wait to read the final version!

We went to a concert Thursday night that featured music written by one of his teachers. It was cool stuff. Beforehand we ate at a nearby bar/restaurant which was quite disappointing. After having carbonara sauce in Rome I like to order it when it’s on the menu, but alas, every other time I have had it the cook has no idea how to make it properly. What I had was basically milk thickened with flour and bits of fresh parsley added in. What about the egg and parmesan??? Sheesh. Anyway, during our conversation we started talking about TV shows we watched when we were kids and I told Dan about Reading Rainbow, which he had never seen. The awesome intro is available here for your viewing pleasure.

I have the week off between Christmas and New Year’s day, so there are a few things that we have planned:

• Relax
• Cook Christmas dinner and make anise cookies (half the recipe this year)
• Clean behind / under the stove
• Go to Ikea and get a few things including a changing table / dresser
• Re-arrange living room for crib and dresser
• Organize closet in Dan’s office to store things which are currently sitting in the living room
• Do the filing (which hasn’t been done since August)
• Look through my baby book, albums and photos with Dan (we brought them back from my mom’s place)
• Reverse the doors of the fridge and freezer on our new fridge so they open without hitting my chair
• Scan my mom’s drawings and take photos of her paintings, post on Flickr account
• Fill out and mail forms for cord blood banking for Kicky

Dan’s sister Susy and his brother Joe were able to come from Alberta and he (and possibly them too) were able to see their grandmother at the funeral home last night. The funeral was today and so was the burial. Dan was a pall bearer. So within 24 hours Dan’s experienced a viewing, funeral, being a pall bearer and seeing a burial – quite an experience to have it all happen so fast, I am sure. He will be taking the train back tomorrow and I look forward to having him back (after all, he has the mailbox key and is the only one who knows how to make espresso…).

Have two buyers interested in mom’s condo, so I am in the process of negotiating with them. Also someone is interested in the car; it would be great to sell it now rather than next spring.

“Kicky” just woke up.

For photos of the trip to Jasper, see here.

Since moving to Montreal, we hadn’t been back to Alberta except for a short time in the summer of 2004 for Dan’s sister’s wedding. It was very strange to be back, especially on such short notice. On Monday Oct 10th we were video conferencing with Dan’s family and by the next morning I was meeting them in the Calgary Airport.

The three weeks while I was there were quite full. I was able to drive my mom’s car around Red Deer to do all the errands. It’s a Pontiac Firefly with 54000 km racked up in 9 years, which I think was taken on the highway once. Because it’s such an inexpensive car the manufacturers skipped on things like power steering, power windows, power lock doors and the like. It was fun to drive a standard again but after two weeks all the clutching was starting to hurt my lower back quite a bit. It’s now sitting in my Aunt and Uncle’s backyard waiting to be sold and it’s parked next to the family GTO, which from what I hear is the subject of some hearty debate as to who gets it among my cousins.

Almost the entire time we were there we stayed with my Aunt and Uncle, who were incredibly kind and helpful. My Aunt did her best to make sure I ate and fed me terrible things like avodacos, Rolo ice cream and tiramasu, not to mention homemade soup! They also adopted Mom’s teacup poodle (actually the second poodle of ours they adopted, long story) and it was fun to have her around. Also as a strange co-incidence, my Aunt, Uncle and cousins used to live in Carstairs and Dan’s parents live there now.

When we left Alberta it wasn’t easy to find a job. Few places were hiring and there was stiff competition to get a minimum-wage job at a restaurant or grocery store. Now, however, things are quite different and everywhere we went we saw “now hiring” signs. It was really strange. We were also on the hunt for some Gray Monk pinot blanc wine and visited a number of stores in all three cities looking for it. Unfortunately it would appear all the pinot blanc was sold or not stocked in Alberta, but we did find some pinot gris and a rosé which look quite nice.

Red Deer itself had changed quite a bit since I lived there. There’s something strange about that city since half the businesses seem to move or shut down every few years. It seemed like half the places we knew or visited were gone. Dan wanted to have a Big Rock beer on tap, but we were a bit leery of visiting any of the bars in Red Deer and decided not to chance it. We thought about watching a movie but nothing worth watching was playing. There were also drive-thru Starbucks there which was quite odd.

We decided we needed to get away so we planned a quick weekend trip to Jasper. Within a few hours we had everything planned – a hotel room booked and a car rented. There was no way I was taking the Firefly on the highway and I needed a break from driving. We left Saturday Oct 21st at 9 AM and picked up the rental car, grabbed some coffees at the nearby Starbucks, and headed out on Highway 11A which went past the acerage that Dan’s family used to live on. We didn’t have any CDs with us so we listened to the “classic rock” station Z99 on the way. Highway 11A eventually joined up with highway 11 and we stopped to buy some lunch at the grocery store in Rocky Mountain House (which always reminds me of “Rocky Mountain High” by John Denver – first time I heard the word “high” used in that way and my mom had an interesting time explaining it to me). We had been warned not to eat at the Crossing, which is essentially the only place to stop for food and gas once one enters the mountains. So when we did get to the crossing, we sat on the bench outside and enjoyed our salads and snacks and then turned north on highway 93 toward Jasper. The scenery is incredible along the highway and we stopped by Abraham lake to take a few photos. We met a herd of mountain sheep on the way but none jumped in front of the car.

When we arrived at Jasper we checked in to our hotel and visited the Bearspaw bakery, which was always closed during our November visits in 2002 and 2003. The next priority was to find a place to eat, since we have always found eating our in Jasper to be an enjoyable experience (except for the time we went to that awful pasta place). After at least an hour’s debate and indecision, we finally decided on Andy’s Bistro, which is the poshest and probably most expensive place to eat in Jasper aside from the Edith Cavell dining room at the Jasper Park Lodge. Dan enjoyed a starter of smoked duck while I had a (pasteurized) goat cheese salad with red pepper dressing and for the main dish Dan had veal in mushroom sauce and spaetzle while I ate an entire steak. We thought about going for a quick walk after supper but it was getting cold and we went back to the hotel and watched the Charlie Brown haloween special on TV instead.

The next morning we had breakfast at the Emerald loungs in the Jasper Park lodge (if you’re going to have a hotel brunch, why not have the best?) with a table overlooking Lac Beauvert. We then went for our typical Sunday morning hike except this time it was more like a walk due to a certain someone needing special attention growing inside me. We chose a very simple, paved path around Lake Annette (yes, it was even wheelchair accessible) and it was a very nice walk. Dan took way too many pictures but it was fun. It was quite cold out and the pine trees smelled wonderful. I kept some pine cones and brought them back home. On the way to the lodge we also met some elk grazing near the road and I took a few photos and a video.

We stopped at the bakery again and took a tea and a coffee to go. We took highway 16 to Edmonton. During the first bit there was only one lane each way and we were stuck in a convoy of stupid drivers but once the highway widened near Hinton we were ok. Dan did a very good job driving. We stopped in Edmonton at about 5 PM and drove past the University. The construction of the south LRT was coming along and had reached Belgravia already. We hung out on Whyte Ave. We visited the used record/CD shop we liked to visit and I bought our first Tragically Hip album. It was surprising how different Whyte ave was even though almost all the stores were the same. There were a lot more homeless people and some of the payphones had been smashed to bits. I guess it’s a side-effect of the economic boom. We met up with Dan’s sister and went out for supper. Unfortunately the King and I was closed on Sundays and the Blue Iguana was out of business, so we decided to go to Brewsters. Greg drew a giant squid attacking a submarine on the receipt and Dan left it for the waitress. We stopped for gas on the edge of the city and drove back to Red Deer while listening to the new CD.

Alberta is a great place but here’s what needs fixing. 1. It’s way too dry. The whole time we were there it felt like our skin and lips were cracking and drying up. 2. The water (at least in Red Deer) is really hard. 3. The food in Montreal is definitely better. 4. Aluminum siding. Enough said. On the other hand, I forgot how incredibly friendly everyone is, even total strangers.

I recently returned from a work related trip to Toulouse. We had some very good work meetings (discussing current results and future plans) and I was able to take two days off at the end of the week to do some shopping and sightseeing. Too bad those were the days it rained (did I mention I forgot my umbrella?). But I did have a great time visiting downtown Toulouse. The best thing was that I was able to do tourist things (like visiting Saint Sernin cathedral) without having to a) pay or b) fight my way through crowds of other stupid tourists. It’s a very lovely city and I wish I had even more time to explore it. Oh yes and I almost didn’t make a connecting flight on the way back again, thanks to the travel agent who decided an hour and a half was enough time to switch terminals and airlines in Charles de Gaulle. Thankfully the staff working at the Air Canada desk were nice and rushed us through the booking and security (or at least they thought it was easier than trying to book us on another flight) so we were only just getting our final calls when we walked up to the gate. Unfortunately because the check-in had already closed we lost our upgraded seats (my supervisor got a book of upgrade tickets after flying to India twice, South Africa once, Europe at least twice and Indonesia once in the past 12 months). The food in Toulouse was also great except for the one night we ate in the hotel restaurant.

We’ve been having some very cool fall weather here and I have already started wearing my winter jacket. Have to find the scarves and mittens, though. I think they’re in the closet and hopefully not lost among other things during the move. Dan’s found some very good things at the library lately. We watched Whale Rider and the 1938 mega-blockbuster Robin Hood as well as Life Aquatic. He also got out the Modern French Cookbook and so far we have tried an interesting glazed beet recipe which turned out well. Vegetable pancakes and onion soup are next on the list. He also found a very nice full-o-pictures book on houseplants, how to pot them and how to care for them. I saw the faces of many, many houseplants who are no longer with us – and learned exactly why they died. But in good news, the plants in our planter made a huge come-back (I think it was too hot for them in the summer) and our other plants are still doing very well. The mint and basil plants are still around. In fact the mint plant has so many shoots it’s starting to look a bit Davey-Jones-ish. I might give it a larger pot.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks. Last weekend we had a curry party at our place. We cooked three vegetarian curries, rice and a cucumber yogurt dip as well as partaking in chai and yummy desserts from Pushap. It was a really fun time.

Yesterday Dan and I joined some others at the Oka Abbey for a day of silence, meditation, appreciation of nature and stocking up on goodies from Oka. The weather was perfect – not a cloud in the sky and warm without being hot. The Abbey itself had very nice grounds but by far the best part was the little path off the grounds that led to a small river and a path leading to some fields. We were there quite early in the morning and there were hundreds of frogs hiding out under the grass in the path as we walked to the field. There were also all kinds of wild berries including some raspberries which looked awfully tempting. On the way back we saw some small chipmunks playing in the drain by the path – oh my were they ever cute! We had lunch beside the stream next to a few frogs and with a chipmunk watching us from the other side. Dan just about sat in a pool of tadpoles! In the afternoon we visited the Abbey store, which features products the monks from this and other abbies harvest/make. Of course there was Oka cheese, but also a large variety of chocolates, honey and bread. On the way to the abbey store was an impromptu farmer’s market in the parking lot where we got a very nice loaf of sourdough bread. But here is the best part – in Montreal we have been buying this wonderful homemade jam from a lady in Oka (some of you have received it as Christmas or birthday presents) – and the husband was selling jam at the market!! It was like meeting a rockstar – of jam. I bought a jar of strawberry rhubarb jam (a flavour I haven’t seen in Montreal) but decided against saying anything, as “I’m a big fan of you wife’s jam” would probably sound really lame in French.

It’s “harvest week” in Quebec so we took a trip with Sanan to Marché Jean-Talon to stock up on fruit for the winter. We bought big flats of blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, two baskets of grapes and a basket of kiwis (which only cost a dollar!) and hung out with Dave and Sanan while we prepared them for freezing. They’re in Sanan’s deep freezer right now, so now we just have to go and buy a freezer for ourselves. The little one in our refrigerator just doesn’t do the trick.

Yesterday Véronique invited us for a bike trip to the south shore. Dan had found a map of cyclotourisme for the south shore region and we picked out a relatively short route to do (60 km – the longest ones were over 100 km!). Véronique came and picked us up at Vendôme metro and we were able to fit all the bikes on her rack without dificulty. We got out of the city relatively easily but got horribly lost trying to find the bike route we had chosen. I don’t know what it is about this part of the country and useless maps, but we basically gave up and found a path in Boucherville which led to the south shore of the St. Laurent instead. We all agreed that it seemed a better route in the end, so it turned out well.

It was a lovely bike ride. We went through the town of Boucherville and then along the river. On the way the path went over an old bridge and we saw a pair of blue herons in the slough. I’ve never seen a large wild bird before so it was incredible. Dan was able to take some video of one of them walking through the water. It was really an amazing experience. After that the path continued along the river and went through a lovely park where people were flying the biggest, coolest kites we’ve ever seen. It was quite a breeze coming off the river so they had just tied the kites to a post and left them there while they had a picnic. After that we went through the town of Varennes which had a tiny chapel dedicated to one of the saints, so we took a look inside for a few minutes. Not long after we turned around and headed back. We hadn’t had lunch yet but had all agreed where we were going for lunch … Monseiur Patate!

We’ve been slacking off having fun rather than packing yesterday. Dan did an amazing job of fixing up our bikes this week so we would be ready for the mini bike trip this weekend. After being locked out on the “balcony” for 2 years in the snow and rain, I was amazed the locks even opened, nevermind actually being able to ride the bikes. Remember the depressed squirrel? I left a peanut out for him and Dan found it wedged under my bike seat!

Our friends Ron (and two of his children) and Véronique picked us up and Ron managed to fit 5 bikes on his bike rack after turning a few handlebars and taking off a few pedals. We drove to the North Shore (north of Laval, which is the other island) and stopped at the house of another friend who knew the area we were going to. We all drove past the St. Sauveur & Mount Gabriel ski resorts to an area that is part of le p’tit train du nord. From what I understand, this used to be a rail line leading to ski resorts in the Laurentians but the line was converted to a bike path. It goes quite far into the mountains but we just did a little section (18 k return). We went through several habited areas (most too small to call villages) including val Morin and stopped for lunch in val David before turning around. There was a river/lake on the south side of the trail which looked very beautiful (unfortunately nobody brought a camera!) and we rode through some rock walls created for the train. It’s really nice to visit the Laurentians, since these mountains, while small compared to the Rockies, are part of the oldest range on the planet.

It was so great to get out of the city. It was quiet, the air smelled like vegetation and wood fires, and everyone we met was friendly and nice. It was a wonderful afternoon!

When we got back to town, we knew the most important thing to do was to find a place to watch the Stanley cup game. We thought about going to the pub on Monkland, but I’ve always been a bit disappointed with it. Finally we decided to have supper at the Baton Roughe by my work. I’ve been to the restaurant twice and the first time I wasn’t too impressed, but the second time I had an incredible meal there. They had the hockey game on in the bar, so it was a done deal. We got there at 7:40, just in time to get a booth and order before the game started. Dan had a burger (all the burgers are cooked over wood – yum!) and I had the same meal as before – a chicken salad with avocado, palm hearts, artichoke hearts, mixed greens and ginger lime dressing. Afterward we watched the game at the bar.

What a game! I can’t believe how well they are doing. Ever since the you-know-who trade, hockey seemed to be on a decline in Edmonton and suddenly they’re one game away from winning the Stanley cup! In fact, if they win, it will be the first time since 1993 that a Canadian team has won the cup. The Oilers played so well and the fans were incredible. Dave and Ron were explaining to us how the hockey game rules had changed since the lock-out several years ago, and the changes have definately made for a more interesting and entertaining game. It’s incredible to see them flying down the ice.

So we have to find a place to watch the game on Monday night – the game we all hope the Oilers will win!