Turkey time
Happy Thanksgiving! We’ve had a gorgeous, summer-like long weekend here in Montreal, and we spent a few hours today enjoying the sunshine up on Mont Royal. Here are the kids posing in front of the city’s skyline:
We walked the path around the mountain, stopping for a picnic (turkey sandwiches, naturally) and to admire the views of the city. The boys and Charlotte ran most of the way along the shallow stone ditch beside the main path, which at least prevented them from being knocked down by some of the more negligent bikers. They also found a perfect climbing tree, so we stopped while they tried it out:
After we’d circumnavigated the mountaintop, we made our way to Beaver Lake, where the kids threw bits of leftover sandwich bread to some of the thousands of minnows and goldfish swimming in the little lake:
Here’s my lovely daughter, relaxing briefly in the sun:
Once we’d tired out the kids, we came home and rewarded ourselves with the leftovers of my homemade pumpkin pie and some ice cream. The pie was delicious, and I only wish I’d taken a picture BEFORE Elijah sampled it with his finger:
Overall, it was a lovely weekend, although as is often the case, I had to spend a few hours planning and marking for school. September was an absolute blur as we all readapted to our school-year routines. One major exception to the norm was Eric running the Montreal half-marathon a couple of weeks ago, with an impressive time of 2 hours, 18 minutes. Here’s a shot of him just after he’d completed the race:
The kids are all doing well, with Charlotte continuing her obsession with Harry Potter (she’s now read all 7 books, but she hasn’t yet seen the last 3 movies). Elijah and William are turning FIVE in less than two weeks, and they’re making major tactical decisions as to the birthday cake they’ll bring to daycare on Oct. 21st. We’re also into full-on Hallowe’en costume planning – I’ve accepted that making 3 creative costumes from scratch is not happening this year, but Charlie’s “Hermione Granger” costume still needs some finishing touches, and Eli (aka Spiderman) and Will (aka Batman) need to be kept away from their outfits so they don’t lose or tear any parts of the costumes before Hallowe’en even arrives.
Eric has worked out a new incentive for the boys to keep their room clean; as long as the floor is clear, they get to camp out on their bedroom floor in their Ikea play tent every weekend. As you can imagine, this is highly sought after:
