The Kids – Page 9 – a hippie with a minivan

Vacation…

Simon has been on Vacation since Xavier’s birthday and we have been having a lot of fun…

Last was filled with birthdays, seeing friends, hanging out, the trip to the Fort and then on Sat we hung out at home and Simon asked me to help him make my birthday cake… he did pretty good but needed me on his side to explain a few things (grease and flour a pan? sour milk? etc) and also make sure that he didn’t miss any steps…

We had a great supper and had cake later that night 🙂

On Sunday it was my birthday (32!) and it was stormy in the morning and really not a nice day to go out… but I really wanted Sushi for my birthday supper and made plans to get sushi and eat at friends house… we left in the early afternoon and we caught a bit of rain on the way but it soon cleared up… we took the scenic routes from our place along the St-Laurent to the Island of Montreal and then when on the Island took the scenic route until the western tip of the island where my favourite sushi place is… then we headed to Gen’s and hung out with her until it was time to go home…

On Monday we hung out at home again and it rained some more… and my mom came and picked me up at about 4pm and we headed out to Montreal for another birthday supper… We got to Montreal and the weather had cleared up and the atmosphere of old Montreal was booming and full of life… we headed to “The Keg” and had an amazing (and quiet) supper… It is really hard at times to slow down and enjoy a meal.. For 7 years now meals have been a bit rushed and there has always been a kid around asking something… so quiet suppers where we take all our time was a bit weird but I forced myself to slow down and it was great…

Yesterday was the first day in a while that it hasn’t rained and it has been warm… we headed out to the beach at “Parc de la Yamaska” near Granby which about 1h15min away… we were supposed to meet Simon’s mom at about 11am and we would have been there about 15min after 11 but we unexpectedly got stuck in the traffic for the Granby Zoo… being the first day in a long time with great temps and no rain everyone seemed to be heading for the Zoo/waterpark for the day… It took us more than an hour to get about 4 km… and then finally we were able to go another route and we got to the beach at about 12:30…

We had a picnic and then hit the sand soon after, choosing the beach with less people (no lifeguard)…

A lot of people arrived after us but it was still a lot less crowded than the main beach and the boys had a blast with the beach toys that MIL brought for them…

The boys Love the water…

And MIL had a blast with them also…

The day was just gorgeous and we stayed until supper time when the boys were starting to get tired and hungry…

Simon will be going back to work next Monday but the vacation time was not wasted at all… It has been a blast and we still have a few days to go 🙂

Fort de Chambly

Yesterday we met up with some old friends that were on vacation here from France. We spent the day with them on Wednesday also but they are leaving tonight so we were really happy to be able to see them and their kids again.

We decided to head to the “Fort de Chambly” which is about 50 min away…

The first Fort was built in 1665 as one of the French outposts to protect New France against raids of the Iroquois. It was burned down by the Iroquois in 1703 and then reconstructed soon after. After the war against the Iroquois was over, it was ordered rebuilt in stone to protect again the English. In 1711 it was finished and though it was restored in the 1980’s this is the fort that stands today.

We walked around and watched the Rapids a bit… The fort stands on the Richelieu River which was know at the time as the Iroquois River.

The kids had fun looking for squirrels…

In the courtyard, stones in the ground show where the original buildings were from the earlier structures and wood stump outline the old walls that were made of wood…

Here you see the line in the wall that shows the old wall before the restoration.

The site has been excavated and here we see the original building and the Latrines. These latrines were actually quite luxurious as all the waste went right into the underground natural channels that led to the river. Quite a few artifacts were found in the latrines when they excavated the grounds. The theory is that when the English conquered the fort they threw many of the French items “out with the waste.”

This room was very dungeon like. It was where the gunpowder was kept.

A painting in the Museum shows Montreal in the 1700’s

We went through the museum and at the end there was a place for the kids to try on Costumes and become Soldiers… they got dressed up and played out stories and headed up to the the turret… they would have stayed there for hours if they could…

Xavier said that he was not a soldier but was a captain. He here is looking out on the courtyard…

Walking the halls…

Soldier Colin coming down from the turret…. he saved the fort from the Indians… see how proud he is 🙂

It turned out to be a beautiful day and we had a great time with friends and learning about Quebec history…

(here is the turret they played in… )

He's 7!!!

Man, time flies by… but then again, it feels like we have had him around for an eternity.

7 years ago yesterday I gave birth to my first son. A long labour, a transfer, a lot of fighting against the “professionals” and he was born quickly when he decided that he was ready…

Pretty much sums up our life with him now 🙂

Here he is at 22 hours old…

Xavier was born awake and alert he has always looked a bit older than he was. He was not a napper from day one and resisted sleep in the day but slept very well at night and hasn’t changed.

He was fast at physical things like sitting and crawling and was walking at 9 months but he was slow when it came to talking though he had no problem communicating. He has always been a bit different from other kids… he wouldn’t let us read stories to him and would cry when we sang songs…

~9 months~

At just over 2 he became a big brother for the first time and the first thing he did when we all got home was hit Colin over the head with a toy car… It was a foundation for their relationship 😉

Then, just over 2 years later, he became a big brother again…

It is amazing to see how much Xavier has grown and who he is becoming.

He has so much spirit and can be exhausting at times and the most amazing help at others. He is funny and is becoming a real joker and loves making his brothers laugh. He is a perfectionist and needs to know that he can do something before showing us that he can so there are many things that he can do that we are only discovering.

Xavier has an amazing memory for names and details, it surprises us each day the things he can remember. He remembers things from years ago and talks about them like they were yesterday, details and names of characters from movies and games etc.

He loves Star Wars and Dungeons & Dragons and has been really into computer games and starting to role play D&D games with Colin and Simon. At the moment he also loves to swim and is now starting to swim under the water and getting things on the floor of the pool. His abilities have progressed so quickly over a few weeks… at the beginning of the summer he didn’t even want to put his head under and now he is diving and swimming all the way down!

Xavier and Colin came back from the cabin on Wednesday evening and we had supper and then did his cake…

chocolate… his favourite!

Then yesterday we woke up early and went out for breakfast and then went on a shopping spree for a few toys… Star wars toys were the main choice along with a floating toy for the pool… Then we grabbed some lunch and headed home where we gave him the “big gift”… Actually, both Colin and Xavier got one because of the great deal I got on the a few months back….

Both of them were really happy 🙂

Wow…. 7 years old… Happy Birthday Kid!!!

been quiet….

I haven’t been writing lately…It is summer and that seems to happen on my blog…

we have been sick and making the most of the days that we can… The boys got sick about 3 weeks ago and it seems to have made its rounds a few times now… fevers, runny noses, coughs and headaches. Just the run of the mill cold that won’t go away…we have had car trouble and pool problems and things seem to be breaking all at the same time but we have been able to keep up and get things done…

We have been to the cabin to see my mom…. the boys love going there, especially the ferry ride over…

It is not a long ride on the ferry, but we go across the St-Laurent River and the view is nice…

and the cabin is beautiful….

the boys have so much fun exploring and walking around and going for rides on the four wheeler with my mom…

One thing that I love about our home is the fact that we have a pool… Quebec weather is so extreme, in the winter we get very cold temps and lots of snow and in the summer we get very hot weather and humidity that makes it unbearable at times…So on nice days we mostly stay at home and we hang out in the pool…

Colin loves to swim underwater and since having taken this pic he can swim without the aide of the balloon… he is such a little fish!

Xavier is a little more conservative in the water but just recently (after seeing his little brother can do it) he has been putting his head underwater… but he still hasn’t figured out how to keep the water out of his nose… he is really trying though!

Khéna loves being in the water… when we are not in the pool he hangs out on the stairs and watches his brothers…. When we are in the pool though he is always in our arms and loves to swim with us… he is just starting to wear his balloon and has been getting more comfortable letting us show his how to move in the water..

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The last two weeks have also felt a bit shorter because we had the Quebec “national” holiday last week on Wednesday so Simon was off in the middle of the week and the same thing is going to happen tomorrow for Canada day… I really wish it was like that more often! Now only two weeks left until he is on vacation for 2 weeks! I can’t wait!

I’ll try to update a little more often… 🙂