Day 75 Quebec City Part 3

Most of the time in Quebec City we just walked the streets. Around every corner was something interesting. 

Day 74 - Quebec City Part 2

 These pictures are from the grounds surrounding the citadel in Quebec City. This fort was built on a cliff above the Saint Lawrence River...It was amazing the way the engineers designed it into the land with grass on many of the roofs so that you can not see it when looking up from below - like on these paths...On the other side of those short walls was often a very significant drop off.

Day 73 - Quebec City

This past weekend we spent with Oma and Grumps in Quebec City - a lovely town 3 hours northeast of Montreal. The city has a definite European feel to it. The town was very clean and very easy to walk around...no public transportation was needed accept the occasional stroller ride for the girls. These next few pictures are from the inside of Notre Dame du Quebec. Look close in the bottom right picture and you will see several flat screen televisions.

Day 71, 72

Please say a prayer for my friend Mindee and her baby Blake today. Blake is having open heart surgery this morning at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital.

It's been snowing all morning in Montreal!!! What crazy weather. Yesterday was 60 degrees!

Day 68, 69, 70

Carly willingly agreed to pose for a photo-shoot to let me practice with my new camera. It's rare that I have to twist her arm to let me take a picture. These were taken outside parliament building in Ottawa.

Day 67

Happy Birthday to Charleigh!!! Mark and Nikki had a baby girl on Tuesday, April 20th....Charleigh Olivia Freeman. We can not wait to meet her!

Day 66 - More Ottawa

Our Ottawa trip began at a parking garage that came out at this enormous sculpture of a spider. It was outside the art museum that we hope to go back and see the inside of one day.

We crossed this long bridge to get over the river to the children's museum. We didn't plan to park on the wrong side of the river - but it ended up giving us a great view of some of the government buildings in ottawa - and it would have been a nice walk if it had not been so cold and windy.

The view of Canada's parliament building from the river and from the front. We attempted to take the free tour of the building with both girls...and our huge double stroller...the security was quite the process. We had tons and tons of gear since we were traveling with the girls - all had to be searched ... the stroller was extensively searched by hand. Maggie and Carly had to walk individually through the metal detector. I guess we looked like a suspicous crew...They also confiscated Carly's clay art work and her paper hat that she had created at the children's museum - for some reason they were not buying my description of her masterpiece - I actually appreciate her art a little more now - luckily, Carly was unaware of the discussion I was having with the security guard - Otherwise, they might have really needed to call in reinforcements for the meltdown she would have had. Luckily, they agreed to return her valuable artwork at the end of the tour...which was another funny encounter w/security. Mike and I sneakily went over to the guards at the end of the tour to try to retrieve the bag with the confiscated goods without being seen by Carly -They gladly returned the clay project and then told us to immediately leave the building with our supposed "clay project"...I was smiling/laughing inside - the guards were totally serious and did not waver when I said that my daughters were still on the tour. In our attempt to be discreet, we were totally separated from Carly and Maggie - luckily Oma and Grumps were around to finish the tour with the girls and meet back up with us without Carly ever knowing about the incident.

Day 65 - Ottawa Chidren's Museum

On Sunday, we spent most of the day at Ottawa's Children's Museum. It was very different than the children's museums we have been to in the past...most the exhibits were based on a certain culture or location (e.g., India, desert, market) - no science experiments - but lots of creativity and pretend play. My favorite was when Carly dressed for the desert...Maggie spent a lot of her time riding and driving in the various vehicles - bus, bikes, camels, motorcycles, etc.

Day 64 - Museum Des Beaux Arts

Carly visited her first art museum on Saturday. She had a scavenger hunt of 12 items to locate within paintings or statues - For example, she had to find a painting with fruit, a painting with Mary, a horse, etc. She took the challenge very seriously. Oma bought her two postcards of art work that Carly particularly noticed. When we got home, Carly attempted to recreate one of the pieces by a Canadian modern artist - Jean-Paul Riopelle. She started out with the intention of copying his work and then decided to create her own piece inspired by his use of only 2 colors - black and white. I'm not sure if you can see it in the pictures, but her whole face and hands had black smudges all over them. She was a true artist at work!

Day 62 and 63

Market Day!

Lately, we have been spending Friday mornings at the local farmers market. Right now it is all inside...but we keep being told that it will eventually expand outside once the warmer weather arrives (which we are anxiously awaiting). It's amazing how many dogs are in this city - and they are everywhere! Cafes, upscale boutiques, restaurants, and the market...Maggie especially likes a little dog at one of the flower vendors. She visits him several times each trip we make. The produce is local and in season...so fresh and yummy...but expensive - as is everything in this town. We always visit the boulangerie. The breads are delicious and the almond crescents are the best in town. The market is a great place to buy cheese curds, too.

Day 61

We have had a lot of fun taking Oma and Grumps around Westmount (our Montreal neighborhood) the last few days.

Day 58, 59, 60

Carly has been perfecting her dance moves these last few weeks.

Day 53, 54, 55, 56, 57

Fun With Aunt Megan

We have had a lot of fun hanging out with Aunt Megan this past week and getting to know her boyfriend (John) a little better. Poor John has become a jungle gym, bear, and a fish. I don't think quite what he expected when agreeing to accompany Megan to Montreal.

Day 51 and Day 52

I really like this picture - two of my favorite people!

Day 50

On Saturday we drove to a suburb of Montreal to visit a large park - la nature centre - It was a great place for kids. A nice lake with a black swan and a white swan, big fish, ducks, geese, and sea gulls. Carly really enjoyed feeding the sea gulls and ducks. Maggie liked chasing them. It had an animal farm with goats, pigs, horses, cows, chickens, rabbits, mice, and deer. The girls liked playing with the baby goats. The park also had a fabulous playground with a climbing wall perfect for a 5 year old. Our $6 entry fee to the park was well worth it! It also helped that it was a beautiful day in the 70's!