If I wrote everything I want to for the past three weeks, I'd be here all day. As I don't have the time I will try to hit as many highlights as I can. I may have to break it up into two posts.
August 13 we had William's 5th and Robert's 3rd birthday parties combined. The theme was star Wars. It was amazing. We had more then 50 people which was stretching the capacity of my house a bit, but the love that abounded more than made up for the lack of space. We even had a full size R2D2 balloon and a Darth Vader pinata, both of which were a big hit. The boys got so many wonderful toys, including superhero items, star wars items, legos, a bike (Robert), ice skates (William), battling robots, remote control cars and so much more. We have been opening them slowly since we got back from Dallas so the newness will last as long as possible! My heart was so full that day. I tear up thinking about how wonderful it was. One of the highlights was singing to the boys in front of their amazing two tier star wars cake with light up Millennium Falcon. Their faces were priceless. We have left up the decorations so that Robert can enjoy them on his actual birthday, so I feel like I've gotten my money's worth out of them. Win win!
That Sunday evening we had William's "Big Kid Celebration" where the celebrate all of the kids graduating from the preschool into the Children's ministry at church. They had it set up so cute and each kid got to say their name and where they are going to school next year. William said he will be homeschooled and took his little goodie bag with great interest. I cried happy tears and tried to soak in the moment. He's getting so big so fast!!!
Monday we left for Dallas in order to catch our extremely early flight Tuesday morning to Montreal. Tuesday morning at 3 am, we (Francis, his dad, the kids and I) piled into the van and headed to the airport. We had plenty of time to get to our plane and even played a little Pokemon Go while we waited. All in all our trip there was uneventful. We even got to skip the extra long customs line and go through a shorter one because we had small children with us. We made it to St Lazare before dinner and were welcomed by Nana Phillips (Francis's grandmother), Aunt Melo, Uncle Vic, Uncle Jim, cousin Sarah and her husband Jeremy and Cousin Matthew and his wife Laura. Cyndy and Abby joined us shortly having had a bigger adventure at the airport than us and we all had an enjoyble evening eating, laughing and catching up. The kids all loved the house and especially the Foosball, air hockey and ping pong tables in the basement. They wanted to play there whenever possible.
Wednesday after a good breakfast with Nana Phillips, Cyndy, Francis, his dad, the kids and I all headed to Ottawa. We visited the Air and Space Museum there. It was so cool to see all the old planes and the boys could not get enough information about space. the kids all got to participate in the "space program" there. They dressed up in space suits and "traveled" to a distant planet, were they camped out in tents, planted and "ate" food, encountered and collected aliens and conducted experiments in an amazing self contained unit. They had a blast! We also got to have a Star Trek experience. We got to try out each position in star trek and even complete the Kubiashi Maru (sp?). I failed miserable and wastold I'd make a great communications officer. I was not shocked. William liked beaming himself up and Robert like shooting the targets. Hannah loved being able to run around and touch everything. Fun was had by all. By this time it was getting late in the afternoon, so after a poutine snack break, we headed to the hotel in Ottawa. We planned on taking a short nap, but all fell asleep until 6:30 pm. This ended up being a good thing. We got up, had dinner at St. Huberts and then rushed to Parliament Hill to see the light show they were putting on. Were it not for the delay due to a fireworks show nearby, we wouldn't have made it on time, but we walked up just as it started. It was truly amazing! It would give Disney a run for it's money and was educational to boot. Cyndy and Abby got up really close and said the view was even more impressive. Such a fun night!
Thursday we headed back to Parliament Hill and again made it just in time to see the changing of the guards. Francis's father did this in his youth and his pleasure at all of us experience it was palpable, making the whole scene extra memorable. We got a picture with one of the guards afterward and the kids thought that was pretty cool too. We all then drove over to Mt. Tremblant for the afternoon after a Tim Horton's donut snack. Because out rental was a van and the kids were loving cousin time, all four kids were in our car (with Cyndy and her dad in the other car) the whole trip. They were so good! The whole trip the kids were amazing in fact. They made the trip more enjoyable for their great attitude and fortitude. On the mountain everyone but Hannah and me went luge-ing down. We all rode the gondola up to the top and looked out at the view. The kids couldn't wrap their mind around how high they were, but the lake below had shrunk considerably. We had dinner half way down the mountain and had "beaver tail" (a sweet dessert) before going back to St. Lazare.
I guess that's it for now. Kiddos need me!
Stay tuned for part two soon.
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