November

Well, there went my favorite month!  It was a good, though speedy, one.  We started out with a long weekend since the girls were off the 3rd and 4th for teacher conferences.  Both got good reports for the most part.  We got to visit with our friends the Mannings on the 3rd since they were tracked out, and Anna had her friend Natalie come over on the 4th.  We had Liz and David over on the 6th to catch up, which was nice as well.  It was a friend-filled weekend!

The following week, we had Erin's friend Olivia over for their late start to school on Election Day.  Otherwise, it was a busy week with the usual things.  I was able to meet Bob downtown for lunch on Friday the 11th, and we tried a new Cajun place that was good.  Anna went to her friend John's birthday party on Saturday the 12th, AND to Will's party on the 13th.  Her social calendar is always very full.  We also had Little Flowers for November on the 13th, which was lots of fun as well!

We have been trying something new with Bella - a mobile vet.  He used to work for the practice we had been going to in Apex, and then decided to work for himself and make house calls.  It is great!  He first came to see Bella in October when she had that injury of some kind, and he came back on the 15th to do Bella's yearly vaccinations since she is still with us.  Anyway, she seemed ok with it, and it was great for me to not have to haul her (and Sawyer) to the vet and then clean the car out after from all of her nervous shedding and panting.

We also tried something new (actually 2 new things) for us on Saturday the 19th.  First, we went to St. Andrew's and helped pack lunches for Brown Bag Ministry.  There were lots of volunteers there, and we packed over a thousand lunches for distribution that day in downtown Raleigh.  It is a great, easy way to volunteer and they don't require advance registration.  Erin's gymnastics was canceled that morning, so we were able to go.

The kids were good helpers.  Then, we went to see Anna's friend's sister dance in the Nutcracker that afternoon.  She is at the same dance school as Anna, so we recognized a few other girls and teachers as well!

Sunday the 20th was calmer - we girls just attended a pottery open house for neighbor friend Megan.  She makes beautiful pottery!  The girls just had school on Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving week.  Anna's grade had a Thanksgiving feast on Tuesday the 22nd, which was very cute.  The kids sang a few songs and we feasted!  They were supposed to wear Michigan colors and the other class wore Ohio State colors in honor of the big game that weekend.  Sadly, Anna's teacher's team lost.



Wednesday, Sawyer was still here and we got ready for our trip to Concord!  We had lots of fun with everyone over Thanksgiving, including a fun taco dinner at Cole and Cooper's house!  We headed back on Saturday the 26th and started the week-long process of getting Christmas decorations going.  The girls are very serious about their decorating and were big helpers with the tree!  So, that was about it for November.  We enjoyed some beautiful weather, and now we are full on in Christmas mode!

October!

October was fun and busy as it usually is with the big #8 birthday and Halloween, plus lots more!  We started out the month with a pretty quiet weekend, then had a mostly normal week, complete with my monthly book club meeting, new blinds upstairs, and lots of volunteering at school since Sawyer's mom was tracked out and he wasn't with us.  Saturday the 8th, Daddy left for a tour of Europe for work (Munich, London, and Paris!).  The trip went well, and he was able to do a little sightseeing - mostly in Paris.  We ladies held down the fort, and had a nice week following with more of the usual.

We had a super fun time at Sawyer's 3rd birthday party at Hill Ridge Farms on the 15th.  We had never been there before and it was really crowded, but we had a great time on a beautiful day!  It was nice to knock out our "pumpkin patch outing" for the fall at the same time as Sawyer's birthday!  We also enjoyed an apple cider-making party at neighbor friend Ms. Karen's house after we got home, and then Daddy got home from his trip.  It was a great day.  Sunday the 16th, we had our second Little Flowers meeting for the year, which was fun, and got neighbors Karen and Megan to do some family pictures on the cheap instead of going all out this year.

The kids and Bob didn't make it to the State Fair this year, but I was able to go with a few moms from school on Tuesday the 18th.  We had a blast!  The kids were off on Friday the 21st for a teacher inservice, and we used the opportunity to take Anna to the pediatrician for irritated earlobes.  Only 14 karat gold for this girl!  Saturday the 22nd, we participated in the neighborhood yard sale, made about $250, and got rid of lots of junk (another person's treasure).  Later that afternoon, Erin's birthday celebrations began with friends Olivia and Beau from school coming over for a fun playdate and dinner!  Olivia spent the night, and the girls enjoyed a fun sleepover in the playroom.  Sunday was, of course, Erin's big day, which she spent playing at home as she likes most.



Daddy jetted to NYC the following week, which was a much easier trip than Europe!  We enjoyed some pre-Halloween fun with costume day at ballet on Thursday.  We also had a mobile vet come to the house on Friday because Bella was just not herself that whole week.  We think it was some kind of back injury, because she has bounced back and is nearly back to herself.  Bella lives on!



We went to Concord/Charlotte on the weekend of the 29th-30th and had lots of fun celebrating the big #2 for Cooper!  He's just so sweet.  Then we did Erin's birthday/trick-or-treating at Grandma and Grandpa's/applesauce making on Sunday.  What a fun weekend!  Monday was Halloween, of course, and the girls got to wear their costumes to school.  We carved pumpkins after school, freshened up, had pizza at the pool with the neighborhood, then hit the streets.  They went strong for about an hour and got lots of candy!  It was a great day and Halloween was a success.









So, that was October, and now we are already hearing about Christmas.  Erin's class is preparing for the Christmas pageant, and commercials are starting.  I, however (and Bob) refuse to start with all of that until Thanksgiving is over.  After all, Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday and November is my favorite month!  We can't let those slip by without proper celebration!

Erin is 8!

Our first baby Erin is 8 years old now!  She was happy that her birthday fell on a Sunday this year, so she could really have the whole day to do whatever she wanted.  Her birthday weekend started out with gymnastics class on Saturday morning, which she loves, and then some playtime at home the rest of the day.  She and I took Bella on a walk and got ready for her 2 friends, Olivia and Beau, to come over.  They came over around 5pm and the girls (including Anna, of course) had a super fun playdate!  They painted on little canvases, played school, ate chicken tacos with rice for dinner, had birthday cupcakes, then more playing school before Beau went home.







Then Erin, Anna, and Olivia camped out in the bonus room with a temporary TV setup thanks to Daddy and watched Frozen before bed.  They slept well, woke up at 6am (a sleepover Erin-style), and had Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.



We then met Olivia's family at church and all sat together.  The rest of Sunday, we offered Erin lots of ideas for outings, but this homebody just wanted to be at home with us.  She opened presents from us, and we had more chicken tacos for lunch and spaghetti for dinner, so she was happy.



We enjoyed the beautiful weather with lots of backyard and trampoline time, and neighbor friends Caitlin and Laney came over to play for awhile too.  I think it was all-around a great day for our Erin.  She is easy to please.

What's new with Erin?  Let's see.  She still loves playing school - that is her favorite pastime by far.  She still says that she wants to be a first grade teacher when she grows up, even though she's in second grade now.  This is the first year that her declared profession does not match the grade she's in.  Her teacher this year is very sweet, patient, and is much less of a dictator than her teacher last year was...which took some getting used to for Erin, but I think she is benefiting from her personality.  Perhaps by still playing first grade, she is subtly hinting that she liked her teacher last year more.  Either way, Erin has mellowed out slightly in the past couple of months, and I think some of that is due to this more "gentle" teacher.

Aside from playing school, Erin likes to draw, paint, color, play games, swing, jump on the trampoline, ride on her scooter, dance, play the piano, and do gymnastics.  She is our active girl, and her strength and coordination have improved a great deal this year.  She LOVES piano, and it warms our hearts to listen to her play.  We usually don't have to ask her to practice (unlike Anna).  She works so hard at school and at home, and we really could not be more proud of where she is today when we think back on how much progress she has made.  She has some good friends at school, and while I like to joke that they are the "nerdy girls", these girls are so very sweet to her and it is just adorable to volunteer in the cafeteria and see them all quietly sitting together at the end of one table while the more boisterous kids are causing a ruckus at the other end.  I cannot express how happy it makes me to see her have true friends who accept and love her despite her social awkwardness at times...because, really, aren't we all a little awkward when it comes down to it?!

She had her heart scare last month and is now taking a beta blocker - atenolol - once a day (she started out at 25mg nightly, then that was too much so we split it into 12.5mg in the morning and again at night, but based on the Holter monitor results in late September, she is now down to 12.5mg in the morning only).  She is doing well on that, and we don't see any signs of SVT at this time.  She will have another 24-hour monitor in early December to see how she's doing with the lower dosage.  I am hopeful that this condition and medication are temporary, but the cardiologists want to stick with this for now.  She will have her checkup at the pediatrician in early December as well, so we will get the stats at that time.  I fully expect another glowing report from a developmental standpoint...because Erin is such a star!  We also have her parent-teacher conference at school next Monday, so I am eager to hear what her teacher has to say about her so far this year.

Erin is wonderful, happy, more easygoing than she used to be, creative, silly, and is a true delight.  I love that she is usually in a good mood and that she likes to make us laugh.  She is an all-around great kid, and we could not be more proud of her.

September!

We had an exciting month of September at the beginning, and thankfully it calmed down by the end!  On Friday night the 2nd, Anna and Mommy went back to our roots to a Bass Lake concert like we used to do a few years ago.  It was a rainy night, and Anna ended up being the only kid there!  She got two fancy balloon animals, facepaint, and a private concert!  Saturday morning, Erin had gymnastics and we girls went to see Inside Out that evening at Anna's old preschool.



Erin got sick that night, and thus began our excitement.  We noticed her heart beating quickly like what had happened in March, so Bob monitored her for awhile at home while I took Anna to her friend Gerald's pool party.  Erin kept it up, so we called the cardiologist on call and they suggested that we take her in to either the Apex ED or to Wake Med Children's ED in Raleigh.  The Children's ED had a shorter wait time, and we figured it would be better to go there, even though it's further away, since they have more pediatric staff.  So, Bob took her over there and Anna and I met them there shortly after.  After Bob got Erin checked in, they noticed the rapid heart rate still going on (Erin was stable during all of this) around 200-220, so a big group of doctors and nurses rushed her back to a room, got her hooked up to the monitor, IV, and gave her some adenosine IV.  The first dose, 0.1mg/kg, didn't stop the SVT, but the second dose of 0.2mg/kg did.  Then she was ok for an hour or so, but then they tried to give her a beta blocker med orally and she threw it up, which put her back into SVT.  Repeat the crash cart/rapid response/adenosine drill, and they resolved it.  That happened around 6:00pm, and bought us a night in the PICU.  Had she only had the first episode, we would have been able to go home that evening, but since it happened again, they wanted to keep her and monitor her.  They put her in the PICU in case it happened again and the adenosine push didn't work and they needed to start her on a drip.  So, Bob and Anna went home for the night and Erin got moved up to the deluxe room.  She had gotten some IV Zofran which helped her feel better.  I think we were by far the easiest patient that night based on my being nosy.  It was also really empty in the PICU and on the peds floor.  She slept well and did not have any more episodes, but was still not feeling much better due to the virus.  So, Monday morning, we waited around for her to cooperate with eating and drinking, and we finally got the green light to go home around 4pm with an order for daily atenolol until we saw the cardiologist (who we did not see in the hospital; the ED and ICU doctors spoke to them on the phone).



So, we went home, only to have Erin miss the next 3 days of school due to being wiped out from the sickness, plus the beta blocker was slowing her down.  We saw the pediatrician on Tuesday morning, just to get them all caught up on the events of the weekend, and he gave me some more info on the beta blocker.  Wednesday was more of the same - she tried a piano lesson and did ok, but threw up in the car on the way home - maybe just from being dizzy, because the virus had run its course, and Thursday I called the cardiologist complaining about her not being able to sit or stand due to the atenolol.  They suggested splitting the dose and giving her half in the morning and half at night, and that's worked much better (either that, or her body adjusted to it).  So, whew!  We were all happy for her to go back to school that Friday and I was able to enjoy a moms lunch at Lucky 32.  As if Erin hadn't been tortured enough that week, I thought it would be a great idea to get the kids flu shots that Friday afternoon.  Hey, at least we're done now!

That weekend, Erin had gymnastics (a mere hospital stay won't keep her away from that!) and Bob was busy lots of the weekend with the ministry fair at church, which went well.  Sunday was our first Little Flowers meeting of the year, and it is going to be a great year!  We have 6 girls returning from last year, plus 3 new ones.  I think they all had a fun time!  Thankfully, the following week was much more calm.  Bob had a trip to Vegas and Atlanta, and we ladies held down the fort.  Neighbor friend Caitlin and her mom came over for dinner on Wednesday since their dad was out of town that week too.  Friday, Anna was invited to a sleepover at a friend's house, but I got The Call at 9pm to come get her.  She doesn't know that family very well, so I wasn't surprised.  I think she had fun before that point.  Saturday was more gymnastics and Bob worked a music festival in Apex.  We girls had a great time at neighbor friend Ella's gymnastics party!



The girls were off on Monday the 19th for a teacher inservice, so it worked out great to make a trek to Chapel Hill to see the cardiologist.  The electrocardiologist was unexpectedly out of town, so we saw a general pediatric cardiologist.  She recommended sticking with the atenolol for now and having Erin wear a portable Holter monitor for 24 hours to make sure that the medicine is controlling her heart rate properly.  We are still waiting to hear the results of that.  Before the appointment, we had a fun playdate at Anna's school friend Natalie's house and then got washed away in the heavy rain when we left!



The rest of the week was the usual busy schedule with Sawyer, school, piano, ballet, volunteering at school, working out, and I have rejoined the moms Bible study now that Sawyer has preschool on Friday mornings, which I am enjoying.  I also got to go eat lunch with the girls on Wednesday and go to neighborhood Bunco that week.  Bob and I went out for a yummy dinner on Saturday the 24th to Gonza Tacos and Tequila and had an awesome view of the NC State Belltower!  We also had a great time visiting friends Amy, Erik, Bellamy, Dalton, and the two kids they are fostering on Sunday.  In between those things, "we" (Bob) built and painted a dollhouse/bookshelf that has become quite a hit around here.



The last week of the month was more of the same, and now Sawyer is tracked out for almost 3 weeks.  I have big plans to get ready for the yard sale this Saturday, plant flowers, and maybe even paint the guest room and bathroom (that never happens).  We had a great month, but are hoping the medical excitement is over for awhile!

August!

We had a great month of August!  We started the month in lazy summer mode, but by the end of the month, the girls were back to school and we were all adjusting to the new routine.  We started the month out with Sawyer coming back to be with us 3 days a week after his mom was tracked out in July.  We spent some time at the pool, playing outside, and trying to stay cool, which included trying ice skating for the first time.  Anna loved it and Erin gave it a good try.





We also saw Jimmy and Danny at their pool on Thursday.  We went to Concord that weekend (after gymnastics, of course) and Bob and I got to enjoy a yummy dinner at the Melting Pot in Charlotte for our anniversary!  Happy 11 years!

The next week was the girls' last full week of summer.  We made the most of it with lots of fun at home, the pool, piano, speech, back to Jimmy and Danny's pool, and we tried kids Zumba at the Y a couple of times with neighbor friend Ella and cousin Jimmy.  Shockingly, Erin loved it and Anna didn't.  Perhaps Anna is more of the ballerina type than Zumba.



We also visited Mrs. Lacy's Tea Room in Sanford for lunch.



That Saturday, we had gymnastics and Erin had a super fun playdate at her friend Olivia's house.  On the 14th, we went to Back to School Mass, picnic, and met the teachers!  Erin's teacher seems to be really sweet and fun.  Anna got Erin's wonderful teacher from last year, who Bob, Erin, and I love for her toughness.  Anna is learning to love her.

Anna had her annual cardiology checkup on the 15th, and all looks good!  She even got the go-ahead to come back in 3 years.  The device is in place, there are no leaks, and all looks great.  The 17th was their first day of school, and it seemed to go great!  The classes were mixed up a good bit from last year, so there are lots of kids in their classes who they don't know as well.  I think that is a good thing, so they can make more friends.



Anna's ballet class for the school year started on the 18th - it's been a rough first couple of classes.  I'm hoping that the teacher is just trying to "scare them straight" and will loosen up soon.  She is much more strict than she was in the summer or in years past.  I got out for a movie night with some moms from Anna's class on the 20th, which I enjoyed very much!

School was in full swing the following week, and I was also able to help in both kids' art classes because Sawyer was home with his grandma who was visiting from Virginia that week.  Bob was gone part of the week for work and for part of the week on a neighbor guys' fishing trip to Key West!  They seemed to have a great time, though they didn't catch too much.  Bella gave us a good scare on the night of the 24th - she must have had some kind of illness or got into something, because she was not herself for several days.  Thankfully, she has recovered with the help of a vet visit and some prescription canned food (read: $$$).

We moms and little girls took advantage of the dads being gone and took a little trip of our own to North Myrtle Beach/Cherry Grove for the weekend of the 26th-28th.  Our friend Angie's parents have Wyndham timeshares and generously let us use some of their points.  We had a blast at the resort's lazy river, water slide, pools, and hot tubs, as well as on the beach!  We also had a delicious dinner and the girls' first putt-putt experience.

It was a really fun weekend.

This week has started out well too.  Bob is busy with parish council obligations, and we ladies are busy with school, activities, and Sawyer.  I am excited for the Wolfpack football opener tonight, and for the onset of FALL (whenever it decides to cool down)!

July!

July was our big month of summer fun - and we had fun!  We had a pretty low-key weekend of the 4th, with some pool time and playing at home.  We missed the Cary fireworks because of cranky kids, and the Holly Springs ones due to rain.  Maybe next year!





We had our last two days with Sawyer on the 5th and 6th, and then he had a 3-week break while his mom was tracked out.  We had an awesome time at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham with Pam, Jimmy, and Danny on the 8th!  Anna especially liked the running brook for wading.  The treehouse area was awesome, but I think they were both a little afraid of it.  We thought Erin had gymnastics on the 9th, but for some reason the gym decided to be open on July 2nd but closed on the 9th.  Bad mommy for not reading the fine print.  She recovered though with a self-taught private lesson at home, and we had a nice Saturday of cleaning the house and then having friends from church over for dinner (Cameron and his parents and sisters).  Anna had fun at a pottery party for her friend Gabi on Sunday the 9th.

The week of the 10th was our girls' week at home and prep for the Canada trip the week after.  We enjoyed running errands, going to piano and ballet, tried a new trampoline place in Cary, hit the Y a few times, went to Peach Day at the NC State farmers market, and tried a fun craft class at Michael's with Erin's friend Alyssa that week.  I also got to go to book club on Monday evening and a fun and yummy dinner with my mom friends from school on Tuesday evening.  Bella went to the vet (AGAIN) on Friday for dog pinkeye, and I also visited a virtual doctor that day for an infected hangnail.  We are high-tech around here, you know.  My total cost including antibiotics:  $5.  Bella's:  $120.  Something is not right here!  

Saturday the 16th was full of gymnastics and final trip preparations, then the big trip started on Sunday!  You can read all about it and see a link to pictures HERE.  We had a wonderful time in Montreal and Quebec City, and the kids did so well.  I am itching to try another trip with them again soon!  The challenge now is working around school schedules.

We got back to reality on Saturday the 23rd with more gymnastics, and Anna and I went to movie night at her old preschool that evening.  They showed Zootopia, and I thought it was cute, but Anna was terrified.  This is the same kid who cried through The Polar Express and Mulan.  I am not in any hurry to watch any more movies with her!  Daddy went to California the week of the 25th, and the girls tried something new - Totus Tuus camp at St. Joseph's in Raleigh.  Their neighbor friends Nick and Laney went as well, and we were able to carpool with them.  I was proud of Erin and Anna for trying something new.  I'm not sure how much they liked it, but they claim that they had fun.  We also had a fun visit with Cole, Cooper, and their parents Monday and Tuesday!  I hosted neighborhood Bunco on Thursday and had a good turnout.  Bella was the hit of the night, naturally.

That was about it for July!  Last weekend, we mostly hung around the house and tried to stay cool.  Erin had her last gymnastics class for the year, only to start the new year this Saturday.



The last week or so of July were super hot, but this first week of August has been nicer.  Thank goodness!  Now, Sawyer is back, and we are starting to gear up for school starting on the 17th.  Erin can't wait and Anna is excited to see her friends.  It's been a fun summer, and I think we've had a good mix of down time at home, trips, and outings.  We haven't made it to the beach yet, but there is still time!

Canada Trip 2016!

We had a really great trip to our neighbor to the north last week!  We were so glad that Grandma A. was able to come with us, as it was a new place for her to see as well.  Grandma got here on Saturday afternoon, we all went to church at 5:00, and then out for Mexican only to have a torrential downpour on our way out!  We got ready for bed and tried to sleep before our exciting trip started!

Sunday (July 17th), we held off as long as we could and ended up leaving the house around 9:15am for our 12:05pm flight.  We got to the park and ride (we got 3 days of free parking thanks to Bob's frequent travel), rode the shuttle bus, got through security without problem, had lunch at Five Guys/Jason's Deli in the terminal, and waited for our flight!  The first plane was small, with 2 seats-aisle-2 seats.  The flight went well, took about 90 minutes, and we landed in Toronto, had a good long walk through the terminal to security/customs/immigration, and had some time to wait before boarding our much larger plane to Montreal (despite my messing up the customs form and having to redo it).  Toronto's Canada customs is pretty high-tech with lots of computer kiosks that really sped things up.  This flight had the infamous tv screens in the back of each headrest, which was super exciting and awesome entertainment for the girls (and Mommy).  That was a quick flight, less than an hour, and then we were in Montreal!

We got off the plane, walked down to the international arrivals area, and bought public transit tickets for everyone at a kiosk.  Then we walked right outside and waited a very short time for the 747 express bus to downtown!  The bus ride in to town took about 45 minutes, which was longer than we thought, but we since learned that the driver took "the long way".  We were dropped just a couple of blocks from our hotel, the Renaissance Montreal, and took our stuff up to the room.  This hotel was right in the middle of the newer downtown area and was busy with business travelers.  It has been recently redone on the inside and they are working on renovating the exterior.  It was full of modern art, and our favorite thing - swings in the lobby!

After we dropped our stuff, we walked a few blocks to our pre-determined dinner spot, the original (not the imposter down the street) Reuben's Deli.  We had poutine (fries with brown gravy and cheese curds) with smoked meat, smoked meat sandwich, French dip (maybe?  I can't remember what Bob had), pizza, and pasta.   Erin finished half of Anna's pizza in addition to her pasta.  It was really good, and the waitress gave us some ideas on sights.  Then it was bedtime, so we blew up our air mattresses and crashed.

Monday was our "big" sightseeing day in Montreal.  We started out early with the hotel breakfast (free with Bob's status vouchers - it was a really good buffet with lots of variety and Cheerios for Erin), then hopped on the metro (a station was 2 blocks from the hotel) to the Notre Dame basilica, which was really beautiful.  The parish was founded in 1672, but this church was built when a bigger one was needed in the 1820s.  



That was on one end of the Old Port, so from the church, we walked toward the river and saw some sights along the way.  Montreal is proud of its festivals, and many places were either setting up or taking down from a festival at all times.  We saw the front of the Science Centre (closed due to strike), walked on a "quai" (pier), saw a flea market, saw the Cirque du Soleil training facility, hit a playground, saw the Clock Tower, the Bonsecours Market, and some other historic buildings.  It rained for a short time towards the end of this walk.  We had a nice walk past some more buildings and then rode the metro to the Les Cours Mont Royal mall for lunch at the food court and Barbie Expo!  Grandma and Bob had Greek gyros, I had a chicken caesar salad, and the girls had hot dogs.  From there, we checked out the Barbies.  It was really neat to see all the Barbies from different countries and those dressed like famous celebrities.  There was also a moving runway for the Barbie fashion show!  



Then, we headed back to the hotel for some swimming time, but only got maybe 30 minutes in between thunderstorms.  So, the kids got a shower and we had a short rest.  

We headed back out after the rain and saw Marie Reine du Monde cathedral, which right near our hotel.  It was built as a quarter scale replica of St. Peter's in Rome.  It was gorgeous!  Erin really enjoyed all the churches on the trip.  We then got on the metro and rode to Ille Ste. Helene and the Parc Jean Drapeau.  The park was mostly deserted between festivals, but we helped ourselves to a small play area and saw the exterior of the Biosphere, which had some neat ecological displays and a pretty reflecting pool.  





Then it was back to the subway to the Chateau Ramezay, which was a very old home that's been converted to a historical museum with gardens.  It was interesting!  



We walked from there to a pizza place for dinner, then back to the hotel via metro, stopping at what we thought was the stop closest to our hotel, but we must have gone out the wrong door because we had to go through a large underground mall (Place Ville Marie) and just HAD to get gelato on the way out!

Tuesday morning, we had hotel breakfast again and packed up our things and hit the metro again (we got a lot of use out of our 3-day passes!) to St. Joseph's Oratory on Mount Royal.  This is in a residential area of the city, so we enjoyed seeing that.  The church was built by now-Saint Brother Andre who had a special devotion to St. Joseph and performed many miracles on the site.  We rode a shuttle bus up the hill and took the self-guided tour of the Votive Room, basilica, crypt, original chapel, and view of the city from in front of the church. It was really neat.  



From there, our plan was to take a city bus (we walked to the closest bus stop which was a good distance from the church) to the top of Mount Royal and visit the park, but sadly the bus was out of service that day due to a bicycle race.  Thankfully, Bob's phone worked internationally, so he was able to figure out what was going on and establish a Plan B.  A helpful resident of the area said that the park was probably closed to cars as well.  So, instead, we waited 30 minutes or so for a different bus that took us towards our hotel and then hopped on the metro for a few stops back to the hotel.  After consulting with the hotel desk and considering visiting a family festival nearby, we opted for speed and had lunch across the street at Zibo, which was hopping with business people, but was also kid-friendly.  We had Greek chicken salad, French onion soup, (I can't remember what else) chicken tenders for Anna, and Erin had ordered macaroni and cheese but got chicken tenders instead.  After much anguish on her part, she got her macaroni and ate both lunches.  Only our Erin.  Bob left after lunch to bus it to the airport to get our rental car, a brand-new white Chevy Traverse, while we girls went to the rooftop pool, back for a quick shower, and packed our things to meet him downstairs.  




We left Montreal around 3:00pm or so, and drove 2-1/2 hours to Quebec City.  We took the "autoroute" (highway) and saw some pretty countryside and a gorgeous rainbow as we neared town.  We arrived at our Marriott hotel in Quebec City, parked the car at a public garage right next to the hotel, dropped our things in the room, and walked into the old town for dinner.  We had a yummy but very slow burger dinner, then walked back to the room to go to bed.  Quebec City old town is not very big, but is really beautiful with amazing restored buildings.  It's also easy and enjoyable to walk along the streets.  We were excited to be there and couldn't wait to see more!

Wednesday, we got up and had breakfast at the hotel - another free-with-voucher breakfast, but they only let us have the cold items for free and there were no Cheerios, so it was not as Erin-friendly as the Renaissance was.  However, Erin cooperated by eating a bagel and Anna discovered her new favorite breakfast:  rice krispies mixed with froot loops!  After breakfast, we got in the car and drove about 30 minutes to Sainte Anne du Beaupre town and shrine and visited the shrine for awhile.  



This is a miracle site dating back to the 1600s, but the current church was built in the early-mid 1900s.  It is a beautiful church with lots of side altars and a very large crypt church in the basement as well with pretty mosaics.  There was a separate chapel building and outdoor Stations of the Cross that Sister Erin insisted on walking.  



We got a blessing from a deacon in French and headed to Canyon Sainte Anne, the waterfall about 15 minutes from the shrine.  This was awesome - a very well-done park with paved trails, lots of signage and many lookout points very close to the falls.  It also has 3 suspension bridges at various points over the falls!  We walked across the top two but didn't make it to the bottom one.  I think we all thoroughly enjoyed this - until Erin's hunger alarm went off.  





We headed to St. Hubert's chicken (kind of like a Denny's or Applebee's-type place that is Canadian) back in the town and had a yummy chicken lunch - sadly, there was a big tourist group ahead of us, so our food took awhile and therefore we didn't have time to stop at Montmorency Falls on the way back to Quebec City.  We did get a nice view of those falls several times from the highway.  

The reason we had to rush back to Quebec City was our big tea appointment at 3:15 at the Chateau Frontenac!  We changed clothes quickly and walked through town to the Chateau.  It was very fancy and had lots of yummy sandwiches, plus an amazing dessert buffet.  We also enjoyed the view of the river from the windows of the restaurant.  





After tea, we headed out and walked through a park area near the Chateau and then down to Lower Town, the oldest area of Quebec City.  Many buildings dated back to the 1600s.  It was really neat to see so much history.  We rode the Funiculaire (outdoor cable car/elevator type thing) back up to Upper Town and wandered around for awhile, stopping in the Quebec City cathedral (very ornate, lots of gold, and Anna liked the sky paintings on the ceiling).  Quebec City has a very festive atmosphere, lots of tourists (probably not the case in February!), and was really European.  We all loved it.  We adults were stuffed from the tea, so we just watched Erin eat a big bowl of pasta for dinner at the hotel restaurant with our food voucher.  I had to get some French onion soup too, which was so good!  Then, it was bedtime.

Thursday, we got up and repeated breakfast, then walked toward/on the wall that was built to protect Quebec City.  



We stopped at a playground on our way to the changing of the guards at the Citadelle, which was quite the show!  



We also visited the museum on the grounds, then walked towards the Plains of Abraham, then back to the hotel to pick up our bags and car, then drove back into the Plains of Abraham park area which was under some construction.  From there, we left Old Town and found a sandwich shop in the residential area.  Again, I enjoyed seeing "where the people live".  We had a picnic in the car while driving to the Ille d' Orleans, and old-fashioned island with farms, orchards, etc.  It also has a world-famous chocolaterie, which we tried for ourselves.  Wow, was it good!  We all got ice cream dipped in different kinds of chocolate (except Erin with her vanilla) and sat on these rocking table/bench type things.  It was great!  

Then, back to the car for a short tour of the island and back to Montreal for our last night.  We checked in at our Residence Inn at the airport, let the kids swim in the indoor pool, and ordered pizza for dinner.  Bob and I went out and got Montreal bagels after the kids went to bed...they were more chewy and less salty (?) than the bagels we have here.  

Friday morning, we left the hotel early and had a quick breakfast there (a big continental breakfast, but alas, still no Cheerios), then dropped off our car, went through security, and had plenty of time before our flight.  Bob and Gina got to try the famous Tim Horton's coffee in the airport...it was really good!  The flight was on time and had the awesome tv's again.  We got to Toronto and had a much longer customs/immigration process, complete with computer malfunctions and only one security officer for a huge line of people.  I may say that our experience with Canadian customs was much better than with American!  We had plenty of time, unlike some of the other people around us in line.  We got panninis and pizza slices for lunch, then waited for our flight back to Raleigh.  This was the only flight of our trip that was delayed, by about 90 minutes, but at least we did not have a connection after that.  The excitement of that flight was Anna losing a tooth, followed by its next-door neighbor that night at home.  We landed around 5:30 and had a smooth trip to the shuttle bus and parking lot, and then to home!

So, it was a really great trip.  The weather was beautiful except for some scattered rain on Monday.  The highs were around 80, lows 65-70.  It felt so nice compared to NC in July!  The kids really did great with all of the walking, sightseeing, flights, hotels, food, etc., and we are excited to try another trip with them soon.  (Did someone say Europe???)  I am so glad that we went and got to see an area that is so different from our own but yet is so close to us.  It is definitely very French, with French being the main language on all signs and heard spoken by most by people.  Montreal is a big city with 3 million people, and Quebec City is much smaller and has that big tourist area in Old Town.  Both were wonderful places to see.  I would love to go back again and see more!  Anna saw a ski resort near Ste. Anne and agreed to come skiing in the winter.  All of our pictures are posted HERE!

June!

We are full-swing into summer!  June was, as hoped, a more relaxing month.  It took all of us a little while to wind down from the school rush and all of the other events in May, but once we did, we were good to go.  We started out the month with a moms' dinner for me on the 2nd and then the end of the school year on June 3rd.  We were both happy and sad to be ending such a great year.  Mommy may have cried a little saying good-bye to Erin's fantastic teacher...but hopefully we will see her and her wonderful assistant next year for Anna.  Anna cried saying good-bye to her fantastic teachers too.



We spared no time for mourning, as I got to leave that afternoon for a super fun weekend in Nashville for my cousin Neal's wedding!  It was so much fun to spend a couple of days away and see lots of family.



Nashville was really neat too - I had never been there before!  We did some sightseeing before the wedding.  Daddy and the girls stayed busy that weekend with gymnastics, a birthday party, and church stuff.

The week of the 6th was our adjustment week to summer mode.  We still had Sawyer for all of June, as his mom is on a year-round schedule.  Having 3 kids is pretty busy, but we got used to it and the girls are very good sports (most of the time) about having him around.  Anna started her summer ballet class and has been enjoying it very much!  Erin also has had speech about once every 2 weeks with the therapist coming to our house.  She is tolerating the invasion of privacy pretty well.  We had a fun swimming playdate with Jimmy and Danny at their pool that week as well.

Monday the 13th, we met a few of Anna's school friends at Luke's awesome pool in Cary!  It was a blast and wiped all of us girls out!  The girls started piano lessons on the 13th, and that has been going well also.  Erin really seems to be taking to it well and enjoys practicing, etc.  Anna...the verdict is still out.  I had neighborhood bunco on the 16th, and we met some friends from my old bible study at a park on the 17th.  That was a fun and busy week.  Bob was out of town for part of the week too.  We went to Concord that weekend and had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa's water park (super awesome inflatable water slide/sprayer/pool) and cousins!

Happy Father's Day to Bob on the 19th!  I think he enjoyed his day.



Erin went to the dentist on the 19th to get sealants on her molars and did great.  We went to a Durham Bulls baseball game that night as well, and the adults enjoyed that (read between the lines here).



Bob traveled some that week, and we tried a school-aged program at the library on Tuesday.  It was fun except for Anna having an upset tummy.  We invited Anna's school friends to our pool on Thursday the 23rd and had a blast.  The girls tried their first-ever vacation bible school that Thursday and Friday evening at Anna's old preschool with a few neighbor friends.  Erin liked it and Anna tolerated it.  Anna also got her ears pierced (she asked out of the blue!) on the 24th.

 

We went to a Holly Springs Salamanders baseball game on the 25th with the Mannings and the Saulses.  This time, we brought coloring pages and the kids were much happier. Cotton candy and ice cream helped too.

We got a fun visit from Ansley and her family on the 26th-27th, and took them to our pool, as well as to Kids Together Park on Monday.  It was so much fun to have a cousin sleepover at our house!  Erin had friend Kasey over to play on the 28th, which was lots of fun too.  We also went to swim with Jimmy and Danny again on the 30th.  Bob was in California all of that week for an annual Red Hat conference.

That pretty much sums up June!  It was busy with the girls plus Sawyer, but he will have a break in July and I'll just have the ladies.  We are looking forward to a fun month with our super fun Canada trip in a couple of weeks, followed by Totus Tuus "church camp"!  The air is starting to heat up, so we are bracing ourselves for the heat of summer...it will be nice to escape to the north for a little while!