Happy Labour Day!

Today is Labour Day here in Canada. Much like in the States, our weekends are filled with end of Summer rituals - BBQ's, pool time and being outside. Unfortunatley, our weather here today was rainy and gloomy so we tried to make the best of it. Arabella got creative with some painting and did a great job. She loves to paint so it was fun for her.


After spending much of the morning cooped up inside, Arabella needed to burn off some energy! She didn't let the light rain stop her. She giggled as she ran up and down the driveway while Jay and I took turns chasing her!


She also had fun making tracks with her wet footprints inside the garage. I just love her cute little footprints!

I hope that everyone enjoyed their Labour Day and the extra day off!
(And as I was getting ready to post...I noticed that I spelled Labor the Canadian way...Labour...guess living here is starting to wear off on me...although, I haven't started to say "Eh?")

Busy Weekend

This Labor Day Weekend was very busy!! On Friday, we had to say goodbye to Auntie Lori as she had to go back home. We had so much fun with her and we miss her already. Thanks for spending 2 great weeks with us and we can't wait to see you again soon. Thank you for taking over as soon as you got here when Jay and I went to the emergency room and while I was wiped out with bronchitis and Jay had to work...I don't know what we would have done with out you. You are the best!


We were also lucky to be able to spend time with our Jersey Girls this past weekend. Christa, Joe and Sofia were in town for a quick visit. We had a lot of fun with them even though our time spent together was brief. We enjoyed breakfast out one morning and Arabella had fun with Sofia. They colored together, it was so sweet.

And then on Friday, we joined Christa, Sofia & Carrie for a shopping date at Fairview after dropping Auntie Lori at the train station. Arabella was excited to see Sofia again and loved helping to push her stroller. She is getting so big and was so gentle and helpful with Sofia...wonder if she was hinting that she would like a little baby brother or sister...

Before leaving the mall, Christa and I hit the SAQ to pick up a few bottles of wine for the D&B at Carrie's house on Friday evening. I was shocked to see that they carried a few Coppola wines and even more shocked to see the price per bottle...$25.75 a bottle...what the heck!

We always have a great time and it was extra special since Christa was in town and she was able to join us. For the D&B, I decided to have another "Martha Moment" and made mini pretzels filled with peanut butter and dipped in chocolate...so easy and so yummy! Just the right amount of sweet and salty!


On Saturday, we headed to Mike & June's Annual Labour Day Corn Roast party! The weather held out for us and we had a great time. Arabella had a blast playing in the pool and with some new friends and even when it was way past her bedtime, she was still good to go..thanks for being such a good little partier, Arabella! One of the traditions at June & Mike's party is that everyone, and I mean, EVERYONE, goes in the pool! It doesn't matter if you are fully clothed or not, you go in. Jay warned me as he went to their Canada Day party while Arabella and I were in Boston and he told me to bring a change of clothes...did I listen, nope! So needless to say, as much as I screamed to be put down, in the pool I went - FULLY CLOTHED and in a white t-shirt no less! Arabella loved it and was happy I was in the pool. However, I didn't stay in long for a few reason - new tattoo and weighed down by my clothes, but I did laugh about it afterwards!

Yup, that is me...picked up before I knew it and I was in the pool!

One of the things that we were asked to bring was the ice luge made famous at Mike & Dori's 4th of July parties. Our Canadian friends had no idea what we were talking about and were skeptical at first, but once we showed them how it was done, they couldn't get enough of it! We have been put on notice, that for each party, we are requested to bring the ice luge instead of a salad or dessert! We had so much fun and can't wait for next year's party! Thanks June and Mike for hosting this great event! Everything was excellent - the food, the people and the location!! You guys sure do know how to throw a party!

Jay hard at work carving the ice luge!

At long last, June finally experienced the ice luge while I poured!

Arabella and her new friend, Marina.

Helping Dad

Last week, Jay and Arabella took advantage of the cooler weather and decided to wash the car. They had fun and Arabella is getting to be a pro at it!

Sleeping Beauty and the Superstar Princesses

One day last week, I went to check on Arabella while she was napping and I saw this...

I thought it was so sweet and when she woke up, she told me that she put Ted there to keep him warm. She sure does love Ted and they are inseparable.

And then she and Auntie Lori played dress up. When they came to show me their outfits, they told me they were the "Superstar Princesses"! Arabella has been having so much fun dressing up and she loved doing it with Auntie.

Hurricane Irene

Last Sunday, after Hurrican Irene did a number on New Jersey, New York and the Connecticut shoreline, she made her way to Montreal. The wind and rain started late morning and made our lights flicker more than once, but we never lost power. Since it was such a gloomy day, Arabella and Jay made yummy, blueberry pancakes for breakfast.


I then made the delicious chwey blueberry oatmeal cookies that don't last very long in our house!

It didn't take too long before Irene to pick up and before long we had to brave the elements to head out to along planned dinner. We did not let Irene dampen our spirits and we had a great time at Lucy & Pascale's house (one of Jay's co-workers who are also from the States). The rain was coming down pretty hard on the drive and we even saw a tree that fell on one of Lucy's neighbor's house. Yikes!


Dinner was delicious and the rain did not stop Arabella or Charlie from enjoying the pool!


We are very thankful that our friends and family back on the East Coast made it through Hurricane Irene safely. And we are thankful that she went easy on us as well.

Sorry Mom

Last Friday night, I went and did something that you do not approve of. You are not the only one...Jay doesn't really like them either. In fact, he tried to scare me out of it at dinner before we left. You didn't like it when I did it the first time around 15 plus years ago and I know when I told you last Saturday that I did it again, you were not happy. But I can't make you happy all of the time, right??? This is something that I have been wanting to do for over a year, so it wasn't a snap decision, I just needed to really make sure I wanted to do it again and that I was sure of what I wanted done and where. So I finally got up the guts to do it and Lori went with me to hold my hand...actually she didn't, she was too busy documenting it with pictures and asking "does it hurt, does it hurt"? And as you can see from the pictures, it hurt (and it should, after all it is a needle putting vegetable based ink under my skin for all eternity), but not as much as I remember my last one hurting, but I think I have a pretty high pain threshold. (Remember I did have Arabella without any pain meds.) Anyway, I did it and I am happy with it and love it. It has a special meaning to me and I am glad I did it. I just hope you are not to disappointed in me...I love you Mom and I hope that you can accept my decision, that is all I can ask. And hey, at least it is not on my bicep or a tramp stamp on my lower back...right? And maybe, just maybe, by me having tattoo's, Arabella won't want any because she won't want to be like Mom!

And so it began...it wasn't too bad...
Yup, I was grabbing the table for dear life...my knuckles are almost white.

I kept telling myself that it was almost over...

And it is done! I love it!

PS - Thanks to my dear friend, Ivonne, for designing the tattoo!

The Shrine Circus Comes To Town

Now before I get into the post, let me just say that I am not a huge fan of the circus, I feel bad for the animals who are made to perform day in and day out and I just don't like it. But I feel a little more comfortable with going to the Shrine Circus since when I was growing up (and still today) my Uncle was involved with the Shriners and I know what a huge amount of good they do for children. Arabella was very excited when she saw the tents going up and couldn't contain herself the day of the circus! It was so adorable when she would talk about the circus and tell us what she was going to see at it. It was not a big circus, but just the perfect size. We had great seats and an even better time. It was priceless to see the smile plastered on Arabella's face the whole time. She even asked if we could go again!

Let's Get Outside...

even if it is in a downpour! Last week we had good and bad weather...it would be sunny, then cool, then downpour and then the sun would come back out. So in between rain showers, we got outside! I thought it was so cute to see Arabella in one of her princess dresses playing in the mud.

And in when it did rain, it poured, and we played in it!

Parliament

I promised last week that I would post pictures of Parliament and, well, got side tracked with other things. Sorry...so now that I feel like I have a free minute to sit on the patio and enjoy the perfect warm weather while Arabella naps, I will try and catch up.

When we visited Parliament, it was not in session. I was really hoping that it would be but the Opposition Party's MP, Jack Layton , had just passed away. One bonus of Parliament not being in session was that we were able to see parts of the building that would not normally be open. It was an amazing tour and I still can't believe that the building is only a little bit over 100 years old and was ravaged by fire years ago. Until the tour, I thought that it was a much older building. The architecture is wonderful and it was very interesting to learn about the Canadian government system. Since we were getting so much information, it was a lot to process. And, I have always been interested in politics and have been wanted to learn about how it works here in Canada, so I picked up a book on how Parliament works. One thing that I do remember hearing over and over, is that the Canadian systems is modeled after Great Britain's system...and rightfully so since Canada is a principality of the UK and Queen Elizabeth is our Head-of-State.

I took a lot of pictures but won't share them all. Here are some of my favorites and when I finish the book on how Parliament works, I will let you all know!