This weekend some of our favourite people came to Montreal to visit. I've mentioned them in previous posts (Billy Elliott and Wonderful friends). We always have such a great time together and this time was no different.

They arrived on Friday night and we were able to enjoy some of the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremonies together. I found them quite enjoyable, especially the Queen and James Bond part! Their 16-month-old girl LJ got acquainted with Taco. She was nervous and cautious at first, but they became good friends by the end of the visit.

On Saturday, we left the men in charge of the young toddler while we went out shopping. We got good teaching clothes and were able to catch up on much needed girl talk! In the afternoon, we went for a walk along the Lachine canal towards Atwater market. We then had veggie burritos for dinner and my sister came over, which made it special.

Oh I have to mention our weekend was interspersed with a LOT of Olympic watching. All four of us enjoy it tremendously, so it was always on in the background. We were able to watch Canada's first win live (synchronized diving)!

On Sunday, we took LJ to the park in front of our house and then to the wading pool. She loved both! In the afternoon, we went to the Old Port where my sister joined us once more. We walked around for a bit and then had drinks (delicious rose sangria and beer) on a terrace right on the Old Port quay. We then had dinner at Giorgio's and enjoyed the Italian food.

On Monday, we went to the Biodome, and LJ loved watching the penguins swim and waddle. We had a pretty relaxed afternoon and ordered Chinese for dinner.

Memories from this trip that we cannot forget:
- LJ getting into Taco's cage and finding it hilarious (my nephew really liked the cage too, I wonder what it is with toddlers and dog cages?)
- LJ's vocabulary: daddy = all adults she trusts, including (much to her dismay) her mom!; bus = almost any form of transportation from cars to trucks to bicycles to trains and even the metro (she experienced for the first time this weekend!)
- LJ greeting Taco with 'There he is!' in the morning = soooo cute!

Wonderful friends & nature & Help

Today's blog will be divided in three (or more) segments:

We love our 'Ontario friends' as we often refer to them. Shared McGill memories, shared values and similar dreams makes us grow closer each time we see each other. We enjoyed spending time with them around the pool in the backyard, playing Monopoly (though the baby didn't quite approve), eating Mexican food, getting a parking ticket and planning how to get out of it, walking around McGill and the Old Port and going shopping. Can't wait to see you again!

Aren't her sandals the cutest?

Nature: I think I've mentioned we have been going on bike rides, hiking, etc. This week we had a new outdoorsy adventure. We went canoeing around the Boucherville Islands (see it here on the map). My parents rented a kayak, and since Paul & I had once fought in a kayak during our honeymoon, we decided to go for the canoe. A beautiful hour and a half of singing, paddling, and looking at different kinds of birds and fish later and we were done. It was a very fun afternoon. Oh and in other news, on a bike ride the other day, we discovered a vineyard in St. Bruno and it's actually good! If you live in or around Montreal you should try it. Here is the website. 

Please ignore my over-sized bum and enjoy the view.

The Help: My good friend lent me the book the other day and I started reading it. I enjoyed hearing the words spring to life, so much so that on a rainy, dreary Sunday like today, I decided to go see the movie. It was my dad's suggestion, and though I know I should have read the book first, I couldn't help myself. I must say the critics aren't lying. It is seriously amazing. One of the best movies of the year, if I dare say so myself. Now I just have to finish reading the book. I don't think it will be too hard, because I'm expecting the book to have more details anyway. 

Now I am getting ready for the first day back to school. I won't have any students in my classroom yet, but I'm getting that nervous/excited feeling about starting a new school year. I don't even have my outfit picked out yet! I should probably get going on that!

I pronounce it 'ant' not 'aunt'

June has just rushed by me! It was full of concerts, end-of-year stuff (concert, graduation, report cards, water balloon fight, etc.) and BABIES!

One of my very best friends gave birth on June 18th to a beautiful baby girl. I got to see her when she was just three days old! This is my friend's second child and her delivery was super fast and easy, she said she wished it on any mother.

My sister-in-law just gave birth to my nephew two days ago in Florida. I'll have to wait a month until I meet him for real, but from what I can see in the pictures, he is just perfect!

I love being an auntie!!! I'm sure the fact that I love kids in general helps with this. Oh and a colleague of mine also had a baby a few days ago.

In other news, my husband and I are temporarily living in Laval (one of the suburbs of Montreal) and I keep singing Arcade Fire songs in my head. It is very different from anywhere else I've lived, which is weird because I have lived in many different cities. I'll definitely need to adjust and get used to having about ten malls and a bazillion stores everywhere I turn.

Other than that, I've been enjoying summer. Watching a lot (too much?) of TV... especially HGTV. I think I'm addicted. It's bad. And then husband and I went to Ikea and bought a bed. The summer sale was on (you know that commercial 'Start the car, start the caaaaar!'?) and it was a steal.

We're off to finish up cleaning my friend's apartment and walk around the Jazz Festival. I LOVE the Jazz Festival!!! I hope your summer is treating you just as well!

A visitor from Boston

After a busy week, it feels so good to have a three-day weekend to relax! We had a friend visit from Boston this weekend. She was our neighbour in Mexico and is originally from Washington state. On Friday after work we went for a picnic on Mount Royal with some friends. Actually, we only knew one girl there, but we met lots of her nursing friends and we had a great time. We sat right by Beaver Lake.

On Saturday morning, C came to work with me. I don't know if I've mentioned this before but I lead groups of small children (they are about 2 and 3 years old) in basic gymnastics skills in order to develop their sense of balance, hand-eye co-ordination, etc. It's called 'Le tour du monde de Karibou' and it's great fun!

We then went for lunch at a place called 'Kilo' in the Village. It was AMAZING!!! I have to say, it was a beautiful sunny day so the terraces were open and people-watching was fun! We had sangria and sandwiches and everything was delicious!

Afterwards, we walked to the Old Port to get some ice cream and walked and walked some more. We saw a street entertainer and watched him for a while, we walked to Notre Dame church and then back home. We rested for a while and then went out for dinner at La Banquise, which apparently has the best poutine in Montreal (there's a picture here if you don't remember what poutine is), but I was a bit disappointed this time. I've been before and liked the food, but this time it seemed like the fries were cold, the sauce wasn't salty enough and the cheese hadn't melted. Honestly, I prefer the poutine from the small pizza place that's just around the corner by my house!

Sunday morning we went to Chez Cora for breakfast, of course and I had the usual: a crepomelette with spinach and cheddar. We then walked along St. Catherine's street, went into various stores and visited the underground mall. I bought shoes. I think I have a little problem with summer shoes. They are just so pretty!!!

My friend C had to go back to Boston, but the fun didn't stop there! We went over to our friend's for a lobster dinner last night, which was amazing. I LOVE lobster! I had forgotten how good it was. It tastes like the ocean, and with the garlic butter dipping sauce he had made, it was perfect!

The plans for today are to help my siblings plant a garden. We'll see how that goes!

Easter with mexicanos, gringos and Frenchies

We had friends visit from Friday morning to Sunday night. First to arrive were P&Em; we went to the airport to pick them up at 8am and I only circled the pick-up area five times (the airport security men are very serious about the 'no-waiting' zone). We headed home to drop off their suitcases and to meet up with our friend H, who also lives in Montreal but is part of this crazy friend group because... OK maybe you need a bit of background info before I continue.

Where we all met in 2006

So Husband and I met in Mexico in 2006. We met through mutual friends at a rugby party because he is a rugby player. I spent the majority of my time in Mexico in my study abroad year (2006-07) learning Spanish with rugby players, so I have a foul potty mouth in Spanish, which is surprising to most because I almost never swear in French or English. The cast of characters of friends who came to visit are all related to rugby playing in Mexico. P studied with Husband and played on the team. Em is P's girlfriend, she is French and met P studying abroad in 2008. H is Spanish from Spain and was studying abroad the same year I was and also played on the team and now lives in Montreal. T is French and was also studying abroad and playing on the rugby team. J is American and lived and played in Mexico before any of us met, so he is kind of the founder of everything and the reason we all met (kind of). To summarize:

P-Mexican, lives in Monterrey
Em-French, P's gf, lives in Monterrey
H-Spanish, lives in Montreal
T-French, lives in NYC
J-American (aka gringo), lives in Boston
me & Husband, live in Montreal

The boys at Mount Royal look-out

Walking in the Old Port

Ok, back to the story. After dropping off the suitcases, we walked to the bus station to pick up T and then we all went out for breakfast right in front of Place des Arts (a must-see in Montreal). Then we walked home to drop off T's suitcase and walked up Mount Royal (another must-see). Em & I had great chats on the way up about Mexico, living abroad, and life in general. We were lucky to have a beautiful sunny day and a great view of downtown. We then walked down to the Eaton Center and the underground city toward the Old Port where we stopped to have beers and lunch. It was a great long lunch and we talked and laughed and reminisced about the good ol' days in Mexico. We then walked around the Old Port and walked along the St. Lawrence river. We walked back home and then went to H's house for dinner, where J met up with us. He prepared his famous paella (I may be biased but I do think it's the best in the world) and we had some wine and were merry.

H's paella

poutine

Saturday morning I had to work, but the rest of the crew woke up late and had a breakfast of champions (French toast) prepared by Husband. We met up at the Olympic Stadium, where they went up the elevator thingy that overlooks the city. H & I stayed behind and looked at the Olympic swimming installations. We were going to go to the Biodome as well, but the wait was 45 minutes and we decided it wasn't worth it. But if you are visiting Montreal with children, I highly recommend the Biodome, which is like a zoo but separated into different ecosystems. We went to the Eaton Center again, where P tried poutine for the first time. He said it was just OK. I say it's delicious, but it does look gross. Em wanted to buy shoes and they don't have Aldo in Monterrey, so we went and she bought awesome black heels. We then went to Peel Pub to watch the hockey game. The Montreal Canadians were playing the Boston Bruins so J was the odd man out in the pub, being from Boston and all, and the Bruins ended up winning so the hardcore Canadians fans were that much more hostile towards him. Thankfully nothing serious happened and thankfully I wasn't there to get stressed out about it, because Husband and I had tickets to a play that Santa had given us at Christmas, so we missed the game but caught up with our friends afterwards. After our play and after the game, we went to St. Laurent, which is a happening street in Montreal full of bars and clubs. We first went to a place called Upstairs (which is where we went last time we went out). It has pornographic art on the walls, OK music and a very young crowd: mostly university students. After a drink there we got sick of the pushing and shoving and debauchery and decided to go elsewhere. We went to Ballroom, which was a lot bigger and had great old school rap playing. I loved it! Oh and MM met up with us, another Montrealer who studied abroad with us in Mexico.

Walk around the lake by my parent's house

Sunday morning we all went out for breakfast at Chez Cora, which is the most amazing breakfast place ever. J had to leave us at this point, so we parted ways and after a delicious meal we decided to go ice skating at the Atrium (it's an indoor skating rink). An old 79-year-old man who does crazy figure skating there taught me how to skate backwards, but also told me that I wasn't that good at skating in the first place so I should probably just focus on going forwards. My parents had graciously invited the whole crew over for Easter dinner. We made it to the suburbs and I was amazed that the crazy animal rugby players I know were able to be civilized gentlemen around my parents. T even cut carrots (an amazing feat for someone who 4 years ago was unable to eat an orange properly). My siblings were there with their respective partners so all in all there were twelve of us. We had turkey, carrots, yams, turnips, potatoes, and colourful eggs (my dad always makes dyed eggs for Easter). We went for a walk around the lake and then had desert (hot crossed buns, obviously). We dropped T off at the bus station, then came home and watched The Hangover. H went home, and P & Em left at 4am to catch their flight.

It was an amazing weekend. They are truly great great friends and I can't wait to see them again! This weekend also made me realize how amazing Montreal is. I LOVE Montreal and I think more friends should come visit and discover how great it is! Hint hint...