Do you think she likes it?

Last night, in bed early, the sun was setting.
Maelie said "look mom , the sun is coming up! I want to go to school now!"

Poor Maelie... she will think a long weekend is not fun at all. 3 days away from school! I was like that once...!

Kath... I have to tell you, she will be just like us in school... a KEENER! :)
let's hope it lasts!

I am up early again, unable to sleep. Will I sleep one good night during the whole school year? Is this what my mom had to go through? ahha

Today will be a complete routine day. Maelie will be dropped off at school by Bill right on time for the bell and I will pick her up after work at daycare.

Starting School

Well, it's done! First day of school is over... and I survived. It was so easy for Maelie, I am not at all concerned !! She was not happy that I arrived to pick her up.

I am really relieved that Maelie's first impression of school is great. Kindergarten is really the beginning of it all and it is what gets you excited about school and learning. I am glad I always emphasized how important and fun learning was. I told Maelie that we are constantly learning, even in your 80's.

In that last picture at the top, Maelie was telling me to leave! So while many kids cry for their parents, Maelie cries for independance. I think Bill and I did our job as parents... prepare her to fly on her own! I'm not saying that this is the end of our parenting.. I am saying that even if I do have to say so myself, we are doing a good job as parents.

Maelie informed me in the car on the way home that one boy in her class, Theo, is stylish. Stylish? I asked her what she meant. She told me "you know mom, stylish, cute, you know?" She uses her words very well! When I told her that the other half of the class would join her tomorrow, she added "oooh! Maybe there will be another stylish boy!" I see where my daughters priorities are. First kindergarten crush.

The teacher is Mrs. Bush. I don't know her very much as of yet, but my first impressions were great. She seems very kind and patient. I am sure she will have a lot to offer Maelie.

Perhaps tonight I can sleep... tomorrow the routine sets in :) I wish I could be a fly on the kindergarten wall... :)

recap of the past week or so

Ok, as I was up at 4:30 this morning, I thought I would catch up on the past week of activities.

We met up with my sister in Montreal last Friday as she was just back from France. My mom and Lucas also met up with us. We were supposed to go to La Ronde, however, with impending thunderstorms, we chose to go to the Biodome, Insectarium and Jardins Botanique instead. The kids were a bit disappointed at first but the other activities were to be fun as well!




At the Biodome, we saw some penguins. I gotta say, theye were the best exhibit. The way they were standing watching the window, you would think WE were the exhibit. It was just way too cute. (i am trying to retrieve the pics but they are on Maelie's camera and somehow I cannot upload them. I will have to wait for Bill to get up!)

The insectarium was interesting, but I still think that Little Ray's reptile zoo was better because it was much more hands on and kid friendly. But there were some very interesting exhibits. I guess I had just expected us to be able to touch a tarantula or something. :)

The Botantical Gardens were gorgeous. The chinese gardens were being decorated with lanterns and it was really beautiful. AT that point in the day, there was plenty of sun, humidity and heat. So much for the storm that we expected!

Back at my moms that night, the kids were happy to feed the racoons.



My mom and Gilles had planned a Native party. So Maelie made sure she had make up and feathers galore. She also has the idea that my moms cat Ti-Moir is in LOVE with
her. Technically, he is in love with anyone who will pet him.



We visited my dad & Lucie, Gram & Gerry also. It was a nice weekend.

Yesterday Maelie had a goodbye party at the sitter's. Most of my pics came out blurry! Maelie took some too so I will see about posting one of hers. She spent time with her old daycare friends and they had a really good time. She will miss going to Danie's house every day!

Well almost 6:00 am now... time for me to get ready to wake Maelie up to go to school!

tomorrow is the big day

One little girl is going to kindergarten tomorrow! I will post pics and let you know how it goes. She is very excited and happy about it! I don't think Mama is gonna be welcome to hang around too long...! :)

Adapting to changes!

Well in the past week I think plans have changed about 30 times. And they continue to change daily! Even at work, tomorrow I have to deal with a lot of unplanned changes. So i think i am getting the hang of it.

This morning we drove Lucas to Lachute to meet up with my mom. She took him back to her house and he will be spending this week at my dad and grandma's houses. We are back to our quiet, no kids arguing house. LOL

Yesterday we did manage to go to the Agriculture Museum. We had a great time. The kids made pig noses, and hand made ice cream (even if it was chilly!). We also got to go on a wagon ride with the horses! These horses were HUGE as you can see on the picture.





Today after dropping off Lucas, we headed off to Perroquets en Folie. That's a kind of parrot zoo in St-Placide. It was very interesting. I always have had a love for birds, parrots in particular. We got to look at a big variety of them, hear them talk, whistle, sing... it was great! The owner did a one hour show with the birds. He taught us a lot about his parrots. You can tell he has a passion for his babies.





This picture above is a Quaker. When I was about 13-14, we had one of those. His name was Bilou. Every time I see one, I remember him... and how he enjoyed saying "Maudit Bilou".





They also had chickens and pheasants and a toucan. A wide variety of birds to say the least. They were all in pretty good sized cages, which is great.

Here is a pic of our chins. One where they are grooming each other and the other on the new rock we got at Grand-maman's. they love it!

Catching up

i must apologize! i have not posted in the longest time. I seldomly go this long without transferring my pics from my camera...! we have been rather busy in the past while. a few days off, time away, family sitting... too many things to do! too little time!

We went to visit family and my nephew Lucas was there. My sister Jo was in Montreal for work and was heading out to France today.





Maelie and Lucas only see each other once or twice a year, but they are always happy to see each other. They argue and compete like real siblings. They get along much better this year than last year.(hmmm as I speak they are bothering each other on purpose, i must have jinxed myself!)




At grand-maman's house, Maelie ate toasted marshmallows... and finally got the JOY of holding a real snake! Ok, its teeny tiny, but how many of you would hold it and kiss it?






Ok, ok, she got to touch the REAL stuff when we visited Little Ray's Reptile Zoo... now THATS a great place. If ever your kid is into reptiles, this is the most educational outing I have had in a while (for myself too!) It is well worth the entrance fee. A lot of demonstrations. I am definitely considering a yearly pass to that place. truly amazing. It helps that Maelie will touch just about anything. She would have loved to hold all the reptiles. Ideas for a next birthday party.. thats for sure!



Now THIS is the life... floating around in the lake in the sun. We couldn't ask for better holidays!


We went out to the mini karts at Amigo Karting and the kids got to drive around on small motor bikes, jump on big trampolines, climb and slide, and even get wet.


A few refreshments afterwards... Poor Lucas ended up with brain freeze!





We also went to a daycare event at the park. All home daycares gathered and played in bouncing tents. There were also fire fighters showing off their trucks. and themselves. :)



We now have a few more days before we get back to reality. We go to Maelie's s
chool for a visit and interview with the teachers on Thursday. I am so excited, maybe more than Maelie. She is very ready to go to school. She doesnt fit in now with little toddlers. She is ready for more. and I am ready to let her experience that! Mama is letting her baby go.... :)

Thanks for rescuing me

Please watch this video. Touches my heart so deeply everytime i watch it.

vacation finale

Today is my last day for this extra long vacation weekend. I was off from Thursday until tomorrow. It was so nice to be away from work for so long! I really got used to it pretty fast.

To recap the last few days, we went to a birthday party



We went to feed chickens and lambs.




Maelie gave herself a pedicure. It would be nice to be that flexible again!



Can you feel summer coming to an end...?

Last call for Storyland

Yesterday, we went on a long journey to Storyland. Sadly enough, after over 40 years, this is their last year. I am glad we were able to go at least once before it closed. We packed a pic nic lunch in the morning and went on the hour plus drive out west past Renfrew to Storyland with our friends Jacinthe, Marc Andre, Koryne and Raphael. The who place is based on story book characters. It is set up in a beautiful forest with an astounding view from some parts of it. I think that the reason it is not as popular a place as it once was is that it is based on a lot of older stories that out kids are not necessarily familiar with. For francophone children, a lot of the nursery rhymes would not be known or understood, such as :

Jack and Jill



There was an Old Lady Who Lived in a Shoe



But there were some familiar ones that some kids would probably know such as

Gingerbread House (forget the actual name of the story)



and the Three Little Pigs




They also had activities such as :

Paddleboats



Mini Golf - As you can see, Maelie may become as competitive in golf as her Grand-papa!





Water activities - much appreciated on a day like that!



Bouncing house



Alice in Wonderland's Tea party including a bit of group songs which Maelie loved! Incouding hugs from Kuddelz the bunny! I wouldn't have liked to be in his costume today, considering the weather was in the 30's!



All these activities are included in the entrance fee.
We had a great time, we stayed there for about 5 hours! Plus we had a great day with friends. That's always the best part!

Happy 100th blog post!

Sometimes things don't always work as planned.



But with practice, you end up getting it. Here is Maelie slip and sliding away!

adventures at yet another museum

Tuesday, we visited the Museum of Nature . Maelie really wanted to see the dinosaurs.





It was a really hot day and I figured a bit of indoor time would do us good as we have been soaking up a lot of sun in the past while! We were watching a brief clip on how dinosaurs became extinct in one of the little theatres and then a light started blinking constantly during the short clip. Not too quick on the button... All 5 of us in the little dark room got up and exited , only to find that the fire alarm was going and that's what the blinking light was. We exited the building in orderly fashion, and at the actual emergency exit, there was construction, so people just turned around. Um.... in my mind, if there is an alarm, just GET OUT... even if you end up right in the construction site. Especially because the door to go back in the museum was locked, hinting to us to get out. Maelie was very calm and collected during the whole thing. We ended up sitting at a pic nic table having our pic nic while we waited for them to give the ok to go back in.



We resumed our visit of the whole 4 stories. On the 4th floor, there was a fun place that I knew Maelie would enjoy! The Wild Bird Clinic. Maelie put on the vet coat and started taking care of the animals. Suddenly that small area became very populated with kids. One kid always attracts more.





After the Museum, we went out and purchased 2 new bathing suits for Maelie as she is just growing way too fast. She was quite happy with the purchase, and so as soon as we got home, we went for a swim to try the new bathing suit. Maelie spent the next day in the water all day. First off, the wading pool with her dad, then the pool at home with me, and then the water games with her friends. We are so lucky to be able to enjoy all these free activities !

Our summer is pretty wonderful.....