A Roller Coaster Summer!

This summer we used our season's passes to Canada's Wonderland a couple of times. We enjoyed our days with friends from Toronto and had a great time introducing CW to Isabel, Jane and Miguel when they were in town.

What have I gotten myself into? (the Leviathan)

Conquering the Behemoth!

March Break 2014 La semaine de relâche

March break 2014 is quietly coming to a close. We spent the holiday week in Laurentians at GPPL's skiing, relaxing at a spa, visiting Montreal's new planetarium and getting our fill of "la tire" and all things "cabane à sucre".

Friday was an unpaid PA day for me, the girls had no school and Eric took the day off. We drove to GPPL's. Made our usual stop in Kingston for lunch and survived Montreal 3:30 p.m. cottage country traffic!

Samedi, nous sommes allés à la cabane à sucre dans le coin de Mirabel. GPPL, Sophie, David, Miguel et Chico étaient présents. Cabane très charmante et une journée parfaite.

Dimanche, nous sommes allés faire du ski à Mont Avalanche à St-Adolphe-d'Howard. GPPL and Nana Carol-Ann sont venus avec nous pour une partie de la journée.

Lundi était notre journée de spa! Nous avons rencontré GMM Diane à Manoir St-Sauveur pour un après-midi de spa! Les filles (et les adultes) ont beaucoup aimé ce temps de relaxation. Un bon souper italien dans un restaurant à St-Sauveur et un café Starbucks pour compléter la journée.

Tuesday, we headed to Ski Morin Heights. The girls continued to impress us with their skiing. Alia loves hitting the jumps! Kyra likes working on her technique. Both girls have improved in their skiing ability this year and even managed to tackle Mister Joe (a black diamond run at MH)!

Wednesday, we headed to Tremblant to ski with friends from school. We were 13 all together. It was cold but we had a great time. Once again Alia and Kyra surprised us with their ability to tackle the black diamond runs at Tremblant and keep up with the pack! Eric treated himself to a ski lesson to learn the new techniques in skiing with the new skis. Today's skiing is a whole new way of skiing.

Thursday, we spent the day with Mana and Gi-chan. We visited the new Planetarium next door to the Biodome and Olympic Stadium. The exhibit seemed interesting and interactive for the girls but very limited. The entry ticket included two movies. The first one was awful! We were all dizzy and we all ended up with our eyes closed during some or most of the presentation. The second presentation was much more interesting and more what I was expecting from a planetarium. We enjoyed a family pizza/pasta supper before heading back up north.

Friday, we returned to Tremblant for more skiing. It started snowing during the day and so the conditions were fantastic. We were almost skiing in new powder every time we hit the slopes. Fact: Tremblant is very cold and windy at the top! You could stretch our your arms and let the wind push you! Once again, the girls amazed us with their skiing. This week, they really improved in technique, confidence and speed! We pretty much skied the entire mountain (with the exception of double black diamond moguls and glades and any ungroomed run)!

Last run of the day!

Saturday and Sunday were reserved for travel back to Toronto, unpacking, laundry and preparing for the return to work and school on Monday.

I'm grateful for holidays and this past week!

Kids translate the cutest things!

Sometimes direct translation from French to English doesn't work but it's still cute coming from a 9 yr old.

(A linguistic gem overheard during a phone call to Mana....)

9yr old: 'We had cake for Daddy's birthday. Mommy said it was an 'anniversary' cake because Mommy likes 'leafy' cakes and Daddy likes caramel.'

Hold the branches!

Mommy likes 'milles-feuilles' (called napoleons in Toronto). I had bought a caramel Napoleon cake. La pâte feuilletée is 'flaky' not 'leafy'!

Family Ski Day

It has been over 11 years since Eric and I hit the slopes and are happy to report that the next generation is up and skiing! 

This year we decided to hit the slopes again. The girls had their first lesson yesterday at Lakeridge and enjoyed it so much that the whole family hit the slopes after lunch. The ski boots were hard to get on but, once on, they never came off! 

Lakeridge is a cute ski hill, perfect for learning. There were no line ups at the lifts so we were able to get quite a few runs in. 

Decorating the House for Christmas

Our house is now decorated for Christmas. Our tree is lit and decorated.

Definitely no room in the inn! Standing room only!!

La Tire Ste. Catherine

November 25th is La Fête de Ste. Catherine. Time for la tire!

We've only made la tire once before and thought it would be fun to make some this year. I pulled out a recipe from Ricardo. Kyra pulled out the saucepan and the girls measured all the ingredients. They were allowed to stir the mixture initially but maman took over as the temperature of the candy mixture rose.

As I was surveying the thermometer, I suddenly noticed something wrong. The candy thermometer was cracked! Luckily it is just the outside glass tube that was cracked. But that means the first batch is no good! Off to the store for a new thermometer and back to the beginning. 

Take 2 

After visiting 7 stores to find a new thermometer, we restarted the recipe. It took a lot longer than expected to cool so the girls couldn't help with the pulling. The did get to pull small pieces. Hope they have fun distributing the candies at school.

Joyeuse Fête de la Ste Catherine!

Taiko

Last weekend was a taiko weekend. The girls and their friend Kai posed with Taiwanese character before performing their taiko song.