Some People are Just Plain Lucky!

I am very lucky to still see my childhood BFF on a very regular basis, LC. We have been through so much together: childhood play, puberty, boyfriends etc. When LC got married and had a child, her priorities changed (rightfully so) and I was single and childless. So enter my now BFF, LG. We met when we were in our early twenties and she has been there through cegep, boyfriends and many adult like problems. Needless to say, I consider myself extremely lucky to have two BFFs!

So a few weeks ago, my now BFF, LG, announces that she has won a trip to Hawaii! Lucky her. And everyone assumes that, she being single and I being her BFF, that I would be the lucky recepient of that second ticket to Hawaii. Also, LG is the one I went to Paris with last year and we decided that we would travel together once every 2 years. A shoe in, you all think. But she did the honorable thing and took the time to think about.

Last night, at my 25th High School Reunion, which I attended with LC, my childhood BFF, one of the door prizes was a 7-day cruise in the Caribean. I was feeling somewhat lucky and having won nothing of the 120 door prizes, I just assumed that my number, 126, was in that box to win the trip. And with every number being pulled out, my odds were getting greater. The MC draws the number and (enter drumroll here), the winning number was......................................................................................................................




127!!!!



My BFF is the winner! Great for her. Not so great for me as she just announced to me that after 6 years of being single (she's divorced), she now has a boyfriend. Guess who'll be going on the trip....

Fast forward to this morning, I call LG to tell her the funny outcome. That my 2 BFFs has both won trips and I was flat out on my ass! LG then proceeds to beat around the bush and finally announces that




I AM GOING TO HAWAII!!!!!!



YAHOO! So, in fact, having not actually won anything myself, I've got one trip to Hawaii in the bag and if I play my cards right and lobby quietly, LC may come to her senses and see that I am much more important that some new found boyfriend and take me instead! Heehee!

Hi There!

It has been so long since my last post. Summer sort of got in the way!

Let's see... what have we been up to this month of August.

Well, Cara-Li finished her day camp the first week of August although she did continue on with her swimming lessons (which end today). What a difference 9 weeks of daily lessons will make! She can really swim now and is super confident in the water, not like her dear old Mom that can't float if her life depended on it :)

Alexia also finished her day camp (one morning a week) last week. She, too, spent almost everyday at the pool though not in actual lessons. Alexia we must worry about. She has no qualms about jumping into the pool ...

We took the 2nd week of August off for our yearly summer vacay at the cottage. But with the weather we were having, we were less than thrilled. Turns out we had the best weather ever and we accomplished nothing as we were too busy lying on the dock or swimming in the lake. Best summer cottage vacation in many, many years!

Gord and I did split up for the first weekend of our vacation. Our niece, K, was getting married in Guelph, Ontario so Gord attended the wedding. We, the girls, were unable to make it as it also fell on Alexia's Chinese group reunion and since I was the organiser, felt that I should have been there. K's wedding was held in the evening and since we could not have the girls babysat, I would have ended up spending the evening in a hotel room. Too bad... would have loved to see our oldest niece get married. Congrats K and A and to their boys C and C!

The reunion... well, that went well. Auntie Loula joined us for this trip seeing that she did travel with us to China. It is the second time that we go to this little place near Trois-Rivières. Each family has their own little condo facing a beautiful lake. It is really a pleasant family-run place that are there to please. We decided to leave right after lunch on Friday seeing that t was a nice day and although check-in was at 4PM, we lounged around on the property. Families began to arrive and we soon began our usual 'Wine and Cheese' fest which carried on until the wee hours of the night. Much wine was consumed (and cheese too!). A couple of families were unable to attend but hey, everyone makes a huge effort to be there. It is so great to see all the little ones again! Each condo is equipped with a complete kitchen (though tiny!) but we opted for the meal plan which included Saturday night dinner and Sunday brunch. As usual, the weekend always comes to an end far too quickly but these wonderful moments spent together watching our little ones interact will keep us till we meet again next year!

Once our weekends were over, we all met back at the house to unload and reload the cars for our week at the cottage. I had strategically packed separate suitcases for each part of our vacation (Gord was on his own) but it was such a fabulous week (did I mention this yet?) that we never cracked open the second, larger suitcase. Which means we managed with the clothes that I had packed for the weekend. Which means we must have worn bathsuits the entire time :) Poor us! Here are some pics from our vacation though there aren't many as I didn't pick up the camera much. Signs of a good holiday...

So here we are on the eve of back-to-school. Cara-Li begins 2nd grade tomorrow while Alexia still has a couple of weeks to go before she begins 2 mornings a week at nursery school. All school supplies are purchased, books have been covered, uniforms and shoes checked. All that needs to be done now... Mom needs to come to terms that her baby will be in 2nd grade in less than 12 hours!

Photos

Well, here you go. After being back for 2 weeks, I finally sat down early this AM to look at our Cuban vacation photos. Must say I am somewhat disappointed in my lack of photo taking and the quality of the photos I did manage to take. I am presently in a no photo mood. Oh well. All has been recorded in my little brain and the memories are there for me, for always. Anyway, here are some of the photos that I did manage to pluck out of the mess for your viewing.

Bye Bye!

We bid you farewell as we begin our journey to Cayo Coco, Cuba! As of tonight, we will spending 7 glorious days at the Tryp Cayo Coco:

and as tomorrow morning, we will be swimming in this:

Talk to you all when we get back. Bye Bye!

Broke and Broken

OK. Before I explain this, let me first describe our day yesterday. It began with a return trip to Sainte Chapelle only to find out that it is connected to the Court House and the line up to get in due to security was super long. Decided to skip this church and moved on to Notre Dame. We returned to climb the 387 steps up the towers to see the view of Paris. This was tough. That is alot of steps in a tiny spiraling staircase. We are worn out and tired... visiting Paris is tough!

View from Notre Dame tower

Next, we headed to Place de la Concorde and began our walk down Les Champs Elysees. But we needed a little lunch break. If you ever find yourself on les Champs Elysees, keep in mind that a little lunch break consisting of a croque monsieur, a glass of wine and a coffee will cost you app. $70 for two! Anyways... we continued on to L'Arc de Triomphe where we watched the traffic zoom through and around it. Next stop... Laduree. Where can you spend app. $5 for 2 tiny little macarons? At Laduree! But this pastry shop is something else, something that I have never seen before and definitely worth $5 for the 2 most exquisite little bites of sweetness. I would have taken a picture but it not permitted! For the love of God! They let you take pictures of works of arts such as the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo but a counter full of pastry is a big no-no. Go figure the French!

Next stop, the Eiffel Tower. No visit to Paris would be complete without a stop here. Laure decided not to go up but I opted to. Once again, I've come all this distance! But as I always feel about any structure, they are much more impressive to look at them from below than it is to look out from above. We had a quick drink while we waited for nightfall so that we could see it lit up. What we didn't know what that 10 minutes evry hour, they turn on these glittering lights so that the tower appears to be shimmering. Then it turns into a solid blue. Quite spectacular to say the least!

Eiffel Tower's shadow from the top

We has promised ourselves one very fancy meal so this was the night. We picked this one restaurant, Les Bookinistes, owned by a renowned Parisian chef. We found it just fine but upon entering, the maitre d', without getting off his cell phone, motioned to us that it was full and basically escorted us out! The nerve! Anyway, we dined next door at Laperouse, dropped a hefty amount for a 5 course meal which included 6 different wines. By the time we left at 1AM, we were full and drunk! Funny part was, that after such a expensive and extravagant meal, we still took the Metro home!

Needless to say, it was not easy to get up this AM. We started our journey with a stop to Sacre Coeur. It was a beautiful, sunny day and we strolled though the streets of Montmatre. There was a wine festival going on but we didn't dare try any as we were still a little woozy from the night before. Anyway, our wonderful day took a turn for the worse when I noticed that my backpack was open. And, of course, all my money was gone. Yup, I was smart enough to clip my wallet inside the pack not stopping to think that a professional pickpocketer would just empty the wallet, leaving it empty for me. Big bummer as I still had quite a bit of cash. We ended up going to a police station to make a report as I know that I could make a insurance claim for such a thing. Anyways... these things happen!




We continued our journey with a quick stop at the Moulin Rouge for some pics and then it was back into the metro towards the Opera, Galerie Lafayette, Le Printemps and Fauchon. After some shopping in this area, we stopped for our ritual beer before heading off to meet Laure's cousin and wife for dinner.

Inside Galerie Lafayette

Madeleine

We are now back in our and have gathered our stuff. We leave tomorrow after breakfast. This journey is over. We must say goodbye to Paris but I am thrilled at the thought of seeing my 2 little precious daughters when we get home. Nothing is more exciting than that!

Vive la France!

Mommy in all her glory!

Ah Paris!

Once again, we were off to a slow start today. All this touring is getting the better part of us. We started off our day at the Pere Lachaise Cemetary. This is where Jim Morrison of The Doors is buried along with a bunch of other very famous people. We had a very nice quiet stroll jumping from tombstone to tombstone.

Then it was a quick lunch at a tiny little creperie on Boul. Mouffetard on our way to the Pantheon. I had never been there before and once again, it was impressive. Everything in Paris is soooo old and so impressive and so imposing.

We then shopped a little on Boul. St. Michel on our way to Notre Dame and Sainte Chapelle. Picked up some clothes for me, finally. However, once on the other side, both churches had closed. Oh well, we stopped for yet another well-deserved beer while we regrouped. We opted to go for an early dinner instead and for some reason, we ended up eating at 9PM once again! This city only gets lively at 8PM or so. Anyway, we got back to our room at 11:15PM and are dying to get to bed. Unfortunately, my camera batteries are dead so no downloading of pics tonight. Will post some tomorrow.

Just Like Royalty

For the first time in a long time, I forgot to wake up. It seems that my body is soooo tired and has completely shut down. I woke up at 8:30AM (which is extremely late for someone like me) in a complete panic, first thinking that Cara-Li missed her school bus when in fact we should have been getting an early start for Chateau Versailles. We finally did make it to Versailles by 12:30PM only to find a huge lineup. 30 minutes later we were strolling the hallways of the Chateau like Louis XIV. What a shack! To think this was his cottage! It is way, way over the top. We strolled through the gardens to visit the Grand Trianon and the Petit Trianon, a couple of other homes on the property that were given to Marie-Antoinette to do what she wanted with. Now the Petit Trianon, this is more like something you would find in Westmount. Way more reasonable!

We finally made our way out of this truly amazing place and decided to head out to rue St. Germain for dinner. Of course, no one in Paris has dinner at 5PM so we shopped for clothing for the girls and sipped Kir Royales at Les Deux Magots while watching people go by. We only later realized that we were sitting at Place du Quebec during this time. Funny!

We had a very lovely dinner around the corner at Le Petit Zinc. Once again, this meal did not disappoint. Did I mention that I must fit into a tiny, tiny dress 2 weeks after my return for my brother? Yeah.... good luck to me, right?

Super Dad

E-mail received this AM from Gordie

HELPPP!!!!!!! Note from school says Cara-Li is going to mountain tomorrow and to be sure to bring ''espadrilles''. What the hell is that? went to dictionary on internet and it is the same thing in English! Bloody Hell! Who are these freakin people. They also mention that they are to be in a bag as well, and no no no plastique SVP, what do they think, we have Lu Lu Citron bags coming out our ass! Not to mention it will be 2deg c tomorrow am, so I will send her with a tuque, mitts and a snowsuit just in case, my god, it all doesn't fit in the Lu Lu Citron bag. I just throw it all in my hockey bag just to be on the safe side, thank God it has wheels, at least Cara-Li will only have to drag it around. Tired now, Xia Xia just yak yaked up her ice cream, and I had to change her sheets and jammies. Going to bed now, only problem is Cara-Li's head is on your pillow and her feet are on mine! Where can I lay me down to sleep? Talk to you tomorrow. Love, Tired not feeling so Super Dad!

Art, Beer and Food

Day 2 in Paris began with your typical Parisian breakfast... bread, croissant and cafe au lait, of course! Our first stop was Le Louvre, not exactly a short visit. We planned to check out most of the important works of art and we believe we managed to see all of them in 4 hours. That is what is called speed Louvre visiting!

Here are some of the highlights from Le Louvre.

Venus de Milo

Eygptian Sarcophagus

The Mona Lisa

The Winged Victory

Amazing ceilings

More amazing ceilings

We walked down Rivoli street in search of a funky restaurant 'Le Rubis' that we found in the Food and Shopping guide my brother Michael gave me just before our departure. We walked into a tiny bistro like place and the woman behind the bar asked if it was to eat. We nodded yes and she opened this tiny little door and motioned us to go upstairs. We entered what was someone's bedroom, I think and we had this lovely lunch. Next to us was a couple from Cork, Ireland (C. they say hi to you!).

Next, we strolled down le Jardin des Tuilerie to Place de la Concorde and into le Musee de L'Orangerie. Wow! We saw lots of Monet's yesterday but nothing prepared us for what we saw here. Huge, huge waterlily paintings that went right around the 2 oval rooms that they were in. I mean, WOW! It was a short but extremely worth while visit!

A day would not be complete without a beer on a local terrasse watching the people go by. Along with a well-deserved rest! By this time, it was too late to go back to the hotel before dinner so we went straight away. We found the Brasserie Le Petit Bofinger (it's bigger brother was recommended by a friend and by a guide). It was delicious! So far, the food has been fabulous!

We are now in our hotel. I have just spoken to the girls for the first time since our departure. They are doing great. Cara-Li is sleeping in my bed so she is content. And Alexia thought it was the funniest thing to see mommy in the computer. She just kept saying 'Hi mamma' and grabbing the webcam. How I miss them!

We made it!

We made it to Paris! We arrived at 7AM to a rainy and chilly Paris. After a 30 minute cab ride, we arrived at our hotel. Of course, our room was not ready as it was only 8:30AM (people still in their beds) so we dumped our bags and headed for breakfast. After a cafe au lait and a croissant, we walked (and walked!) to Notre Dame Cathedral where there was a mass just beginning. We toured the church all the while warming up during the entire service. Very cool! We then stopped for yet another coffee (and bathroom break!) and then carried on to the Musee D'Orsay. It was free admission day at all the National Museums therefore millions of people everywhere! To bypass the lineups, we bought a Museum Pass which lets us in everywhere and therefore no waiting. However, our pass only starts tomorrow. We made it until 2PM at which point we stopped for lunch (crepes and croque monsieurs). We made our way back to the hotel for 4PM when we finally checked in. Room is cute but of course, tiny! After a 45 minute snooze, we are now back in business. I managed to get the heat on and the computer going. All is good! We went to a local brasserie for dinner and had a very tasty dinner and decadent dessert. Our waiter was fab with his Parisian charm. All in all, a fabulous first day. Despite the ocassional foggy moments due to lack of sleep and the moments of vertigo due to jetlag. Hopefully, all this will end by morning after an excellent night sleep. Night night!

Notre Dame Cathedral

Musee D'Orsay

My decadent dessert

The Day Has Come

Well, the countdown is on. In just a few hours I will be boarding a plane to Paris sans kids and sans husband but avec one friend! The bags are packed, the checklists has been checked and double-checked. I just have to wait for my lift to the airport. All is good!

Yesterday evening began extremely well with a friend dropping by to wish me a great trip. She came bearing champagne in honour of the upcoming trip. Nothing wrong with champagne! That was downed and then we had a lovely Chinese takeout dinner en famille. It is at this point that things started to go downhill. Alexia had the start of a cold and suddenly got worse which, of course, made her very cranky. Cara-Li then started a nose bleed. This happens very often with her but this time it just wouldn't stop. We basically had her hanging over the bathroom sink with a huge roll of scott towels. After what seemed like forever, it stopped. Next it was dealing with all the bloody clothes and getting everyone to bed.

This morning all was great. I went shopping to fill up the fridge for those being left behind and then proceeded to pack in peace.

My next post will be from Paris sometime tomorrow.

Au revoir!

3 More Dodos...

... and I am off to Paris for a week with my girlfriend!

No being awakened in the middle of night because one daughter is too hot.

No being awakened in the middle of the night due to the other daughter having a nightmare.

No having to get up at the crack of dawn to get first daughter off to school.

No homework to overlook.

No dinner to make.

Hello to:

A complete night sleep without interruption.

A warm, delicious café au lait in some little French café.

A cool and refreshing beer in some local French brasserie.

A most scrumptuous foie gras in some little French Bistro.

(I could go on here....)

Only one little glitch...

I noticed a funny rash on my back yesterday and after some research on the internet and confirmation from my doc, I have shingles. Yes, that is correct. Three days before my departure, I have shingles. I shouldn't be surprised though. I had 2 root canals done the week before each China trip! No biggy for the shingles though. It was caught within the first 72 hours. Which means heavy doses of Val*trex for 7 days and I will be as good as new. Should not have any long term effects or pain since this antiviral medication will stop the virus from attacking any nerves. Good thing! My nerves are already fried! Ha ha! oh... the one negative... the girls could come down with chickenpox. Well, Gord will be around should that happen. Good luck to ya, Gord!

Here are a few cute pictures of tonight's bedtime stories. Things are much quieter when I read stories to the girls!

It's a Tough Life....

But someone's gotta do it!



We had the MOST fabulous Labour Day weekend ever! The weather was more than stupendous and the lake was surprisingly warm. There was nothing to do and no where to be. Just a whole lotta of fun by the water!

Sunset at Lake Hughes

Sunrise at Lake Hughes

Big offensive-looking Sea-Doo teeter-tater that the kids absolutely loved! Thanks C and P for leaving it behind. We'll make sure it gets back to you for use in your hot tub!

And guess where I am off to the first week of October....

PARIS!!!! And with my very bestest girlfriend for an entire week of food, wine, touring and sleeping when I want to with no kids to wake me up!