Happy first day of school!!

I can't believe that the new school year is here! Summer went by extremely quickly! Ironically, Mother Nature decided that summer was starting on the first day of school... 30 degree weather every day !!



Maelie was actually excited to go this morning. She took the bus and I drove to school. She finally let me go for the first day this year but just because my friends were going too! So I could hang out with them... and not with her! She is SO independant!

I did manage to sneak a picture of her at her desk! She looked so quiet and bored! But from what I understand, she just ended up happy once everyone was settled.



I can't believe my baby is in grade 3!! This year is going to be really fun!! ... until homework starts...!!

Happy school year to all!!

ooh la la Calypso!

I had the day off work on Friday, but since it was the last Friday of the month, I still had to get up to go stand in mine for my monthly parking voucher. Since the lot at my work is full, I have to get a spot at a naighboring business and this is how they proceed. So needless to say, I was a bit crabby having to drive out at 6:15 am to stand in line til 8. On my way there, on the radio, they were giving out 4 day passes to Calypso, the new water park in Limoges. I just pushed my luck dialing in as I was at a red light anyway. SURPRISE SURPRISE!! I was the 10th caller!! I get SOOOOOO excited when I win something on the radio, you would think it was a million dollars!



Here are Maelie and Naomie ready to start the day at the water park!



The first thing the kids wanted to do was the wave pool.



It took a LONG time to muster up the guts to go down the smallest slides for Maelie... I was worried that we would not do much! Thankfully, with the support of Naomie, she braved the wild of the little kid slides!!



We sat and ate lunch for a bit to get some energy... not sure how much energy we will get from fries and onion rings though! LOL



Sonia and Ingvild braved this slide!! I can't even imagine ! They had to go down on their tummy.



Maelie enjoyed this lazy river. The current just pushes you around and I guess your job is to watch not to get kicked or pushed by passer bys.



Here is a view of it through the trees. It was quite a long ride back!



The girls must have done it about 8 or 9 times! I lost count...



This is a view of one side of Calypso from the wave pool.



Maelie braved some bigger kid slides during the afternoon! She was SOOOO proud of herself!



Actually she was so wild and brave at this point that she wanted to join Sonia, Ingvild and Naomie in this ride!



When they came down, my pic ended up blurry! But we get the idea....



We exchanged picture taking with another small group of people. They took pics of all of us and we took pics of them. How touristy!



The girls did a bit of posing before we left! Here with the zebras...



and the butterfly :) We did see a few real monarch butterflies during the day!



On the ropes on the way out...



Maelie didn't want to smile for this picture! I think it's because we were leaving... poor thing wanted to stay some more!! This place gave her a big adrenaline rush I guess!!



Thanks Sonia, Ingvild and Naomie for such a fun day!! I am glad Maelie had a friend to have so much fun with!

The weather could not have been more perfect! Upper 20's and perfectly sunny... lots of beautiful tans! It wasn't too hot and humid either so that was wonderful!

Back to school party!

Natalie decided to have a back to school party at her place on Friday! What better way to send the kids off to school after a party! Myran is starting kingergarten so it was also a celebration for his first year at school!

The kids patiently waited for the last guests to arrive.



Myran, of course, was dressed up as Woody! :)



Natalie started the games off with a back to school game. It was an obstacle race and everyone had to get ready for school. They had to pick clothing items out of a bag, then have breakfast, pack their school bag... and then the next person had to do it. It was all in good fun! Maelie somehow ended up with two underwears on her head! LOL



After that the kids had to hunt for their name in the backyard. There were enough letters for all the names!



Natalie made these amazing pencils from an idea she saw online. It is made with ROLO chocolate, a kiss, and lots of love!!



They had a water balloon game ...



and then hopped in the pool to cool down!



We had a balloon dart popping game (i had added a needle to a pencil to stay in the school theme). Of course this was all under supervision as it was a bit dangerous!!



We all ate a delicious supper! All of us had brought a little something and Natalie made us some yummy burgers and hot dogs!



Once done, the kids did another water balloon game (my pics were blurry). After that, it was time for a science experiment hosted by Sonia.



We followed this with a pinata! Ryan was brave enough to hold the pinata on a stick! He risked his life for the kids to have a good time! LOL



and last but not least.... cake! This awesome Buzz Lightyear cake that Natalie made, mainly in honor of the new kindergartener since he loves Toy Story so much!



Thanks for hosting this wonderful party for all of us Natalie !! Thanks for participating Sonia, Andrea and the kids!!

entertained

Maelie has been entertained the past couple of days. We are dog sitting Peluche for our friends.



He was very tired this morning. I guess we are up earlier in our house than in his house!!



Bill thinks the dog is a bit spoiled. LOL Maelie pushed him around in the stroller for a while and he did not complain one bit!!



He has already met a few dogs in the neighborhood, since there are basically small dogs everywhere around us on our street. He loves going for walks and pees about every 2 seconds. I guess there is a lot of territory that he thinks should be his!!



One thing we learned so far in the 2 days he has been here is that hypo allergenic dogs are not necessary hypo allergenic for all!! We seem to all have been affected with different breathing issues since he has been here! But it's only for 4 days... we can take his cuteness.

a welcome to Canada!

Our friend Sonia has been having exchange students come live with her for many years now! They arrive in August and leave in July after the school year. They come to Quebec to learn french. Basically they speak the language of their country, and english, and they go to a regular french high school out here for pure immersion!! How incredible!



This school year, Sonia has a young student named Ingvild from Norway. When Sonia went to pick her up at the airport, Natalie and I snuck out to her house in the country and decorated her front porch with a welcome home sign!



The kids were extremely happy to be part of this surprise! We told them that this girl would probably feel very welcomed if they participated in a group picture!! (anything to get the kids to pose together!!)

Why ....

Why is my tree shedding its leaves at almost 30 degrees??



One little girl is happy, that's for sure!

Back from vacation!

Maelie left to grand-maman's house last Sunday... all by herself! I missed her while she was away but I survived much better than I expected! I took Thursday and Friday off so I could go meet up with her and stay an extra few days out there. I left Wednesday after work. I was so happy that she was happy to see me! I didn't expect that since she SO loves to go to grand-maman's house by herself! I got BIG hugz and loved every minute of it!!

Thursday morning, we had to go check out the chickens.



Maelie checked for eggs every morning!



She managed to collect quite a pile of eggs this past week! She won't eat them though now that she sees where they come out from.



As I helped grand-maman with some paper cakes she is making, Maelie built a house for her famous alien whom she loves so much!



We spent more time outside... Maelie caught a grasshopper.



Grand-maman showed us a wasps nest she found in the hedges while trimming them. She apparently got stung 3 times while running away frantically !



Of course I had to try and get Maelie to pose in front of grand-maman's flowers but that is TORTURE for her!



We spent some time at my dad's that afternoon. Maelie asked if we could stop for a bit of bowling.... so I obliged. She was ECSTATIC!



Can you see the joy in her face after I told her we would go to the arcade for a bit?



She tried a few different games using her allowance to buy tokens.



I even tried this Shrek pinball machine.



Once we got back to grand-maman's house, it was almost getting dark. Maelie had the job of putting away the ducks! Off she went to the pond quacking all the way... she returned with the ducks following her to their house. I guess they know they could be eaten by wild animals, so they don't mind going inside all night long.



The next morning, Maelie went to let them out.



Grand-maman and Maelie walked them to the pond. Maelie insisted that they line up in a straight line. They listened pretty well!





We were invited to my dad's for supper. Of course the main attraction at his place is the dog! Meggie is SO demanding! She loves all the attention and is constantly after Maelie.



You gotta admit... she is darned cute!! My dad didn't want me to take pictures on his kitchen floor because he just ripped it out to put a new one... so right now what we see is the floor from at least 8 years ago or more! I am not sure anymore!



Here is another torturous pose! All I could hear was "mom! The Sun! it hurts my eyes!"...



I insisted we get a pic of my dad, Lucie and Maelie. I would have liked to get one of Gram and Gerry too but they had disappeared for their evening walk!! At 86 years old, they are pretty much set in their routine.



Saturday morning, we headed off to La Ronde.... a place where Maelie had been dying to go!!



It was SO hot and humid that we were sweating like crazy. Maelie ended up nauseous and crampy... so she was afraid to try any rides. If I had known ahead of time that she would feel sick, we would have postponed our visit, but she only started feeling that was once we had paid!

Here she is getting refreshed in the water games.



She did manage to try the little hot air balloons.



She was excited to try this game! We play it on the Wii and Maelie just realized that it is so much easier on the Wii than in real life!! That was the only money I let her waste on the games.



I couldn't help but post this profile pic.. She looks so sweet!



Here is Maelie being eaten by a shark.



Hmmm I guess he would need a visit to the dentist soon.



Maelie's favortie ride was the bumper car ride!! She waited in line patiently to go a couple times.



Maelie tried on the chicken hat that some people actually paid good money to buy! hmmm... interesting...!



We sat for a bit and watched a trampoline/diving show. They were amazing!!



Here she is on a cute little boat ride. We had to stick with the easy-on-the-stomach rides ... like this one... and the washrooms!!



Near the end, she forced herself to try the swings because she LOVES them. She enjoyed it three times, but then her nausea came back too much and we ended up leaving before they shut down everything for the fireworks.



Maelie slept all the way home. We made it by 9 pm and I was SOOOOO happy to meet up with my own bed again!!! It was so comfortable!!

Sunday was a VERY lazy day. I was up before 5 am and was unable to get going for the day! I took it very easy and just did a few basic chores around the house.

I am not looking forward to going to work even if I love my workplace! I wish I could just enjoy the last 2 weeks of Maelie's summer vacation WITH her. We only have a little bit of time left for summer adventures!! So much to do, so little time...!!