We are still learning to cope over here with whatever blooms this time of year. We are slowly returning to normal, and thankfully this week has been less demanding than most. After being down for the count Friday, we were up for going to Hadassah's 2nd birthday party Saturday morning and then a much needed trip to Sam's club for food. William, Robert and Hannah had donuts at the party (donut "cake"-super cute), then had real cake and enough samples that they didn't have lunch (neither did Francis and I, so many yummy samples!). Not the most nutritional meal, but sometimes you just go with the hand you are dealt. We had a delicious cookout dinner and family movie night, so it was an all around fun day.
Sunday we were healthy enough for church (yay!), and Robert was eager to tell me all he learned about Joseph when we picked him up. It was awesome to hear! The boys both made to AWANAS that evening and William got 4 sections signed that he had memorized (the most in his class) and Robert did his verse with no problem. I cannot tell you how happy it makes me that we are able to be part of this program that helps children memorize and use scripture.
After grocery store Monday, we had the week off from CC on Tuesday. We ended up at the Bryan library to play in their children's area. Well, we got there and a worker there asked if we were there for "play to learn" group. I answered honestly, "I don't know, are we?" She explained what it was (the name says it all) and then said although there are signups the week before she happened to have three extra spots for my kids if I was interested. The kids had a blast. They opened up this big conference room full of centers and toys. They even had the old school wooden rocking boat that turns over and is stairs. I'm glad we went!
Today was field trip day for CC. They plan them for the weeks we don't have class. This month was Franklin Drive Thru Safari. We all showed up at 9:30. We went to pay and apparently a baby otter had gotten loose in the gift shop and decided Robert was the perfect totem pole. He climbed up on Robert, much to Robert's delight. William and Hannah squealed with joy until a worker came and got the otter. It was too cute for words. Then we took a bus tour around the bigger animals. They had buckets of food that the kids were able to feed an and all the animals. Some came up and stuck their heads int he bus while other hung back and played it cool. There were deer, hariku, buffalo, llamas, emus, ostrich, lemurs, pigs, zebras, giraffes...over 120 different kids of animals. Our guide was amazing, giving us information on most of the animals and answering any question we or the kids had. Hannah kept trying to climb out of the bus windows to get a closer look, but I managed to keep her in. The second part of the tour was a walking tour to see all sorts of moneys, warthogs, flamingos, pigs and lizards... and some other animals I've forgotten. The boys got to feed the giraffes special green leaves and give the monkey's grapes. The monkeys would catch the grapes in their hands. Amazing! Over all it was a great day that will not be soon forgotten.
I'm writing a day early because this weekend is going to get busy. The kids and I are heading to Dallas for the State Fair of Texas. Hopefully we will have a safe an uneventful journey there.
Till next time!
Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Thursday, September 22, 2016
September 22, 2016
Well, fall has hit this house hard. On Saturday we went to the Living History event in Independence Texas. The kids saw a black smith, a carpenter, and learned about what life was like when Texas declared it's independence from Mexico. We even got to see a period musket being shot. It was cool. We then went down to Barrington Family farm and learned about how this wealthy doctor and his family lived in the mid 1800s. It was fascinating and William admitted life would have been hard because they didn't have phones. Priorities. I was missing the air conditioning and so we walked up to the Museum near Independence hall and learned about how and why Texas declared independence and what life was like on the frontier. The kids were able to dress up like pioneers, build a "log cabin", make rope, "cook", milk a pretend cow and practice loading up their wagon. Our afternoon was spent at the birthday event at Toys R Us. It was a little different than our morning to be sure. They all got to meet Geoffrey, her a story about him, dance around the store, get snack and get a book and stuffed animal for free. Saturday was a full day. William and Hannah started coughing by the end of it and my Sunday morning, they were both down for the count. I finally broke down and took them to the doctor on Monday. They both have (fall) allergy induced asthma like their momma. Robert was not far behind. He had it last year but not nearly as severely as William. So if you see my kids they are not contagious, but the sound horrible and are tired from coughing at night. I'm praying we find a way to get this under control soon. Or that the first freeze comes sooner than anticipated to kill off whatever causes our allergies/asthma.
William and Robert are loving school and enjoying memorizing and learning. They especially are enjoying Sparks and cubbies where they get to learn Bible verses. William caught me memorizing my verse for MOMs the other day and was amazed and excited that I try to learn scripture too. He has been listening almost non stop to his Sparks CD so he can learn ALL of his verses for the whole year right now. It's cute and I love his motivation. Hannah is a climbing fool and still loves cuddling momma. She is using more words and is calling anything on 4 legs either "dog" or "bear". She is using short two word sentences when it suits her, but she makes sure you understand when she wants something. I love these kiddos!
If you keep us in your prayers, please pray for healing. We are all tired of Fall allergens and today if the first official day of Fall. Hopefully the entire season won't bring us this much trouble.
Till next time!
William and Robert are loving school and enjoying memorizing and learning. They especially are enjoying Sparks and cubbies where they get to learn Bible verses. William caught me memorizing my verse for MOMs the other day and was amazed and excited that I try to learn scripture too. He has been listening almost non stop to his Sparks CD so he can learn ALL of his verses for the whole year right now. It's cute and I love his motivation. Hannah is a climbing fool and still loves cuddling momma. She is using more words and is calling anything on 4 legs either "dog" or "bear". She is using short two word sentences when it suits her, but she makes sure you understand when she wants something. I love these kiddos!
If you keep us in your prayers, please pray for healing. We are all tired of Fall allergens and today if the first official day of Fall. Hopefully the entire season won't bring us this much trouble.
Till next time!
Thursday, September 15, 2016
September 15, 2016
Another wonderful week in the history books.
Last Friday we had playgroup. I tried to savor every moment of that day. Because after playgroup we went to Kroger and picked up some Batman cupcakes with green icing. It was Robert's last day of being 2. My big boy! We played extra hard that day and I showered him with as many smiles as I could. I even kissed him goodnight after he'd fallen asleep so I could see him one last time as a two year old.
He woke up chipper on his third birthday. Robert chose donuts for breakfast and then all of us were able to head to his activity of choice: Chuck E Chesse. I had $10 of coins left from the last time we went, so we spent an hour using them. Since it was an early Aggie game, we had the place to ourselves. I actually had to ask if Chuck E Cheese was going to come out, and "he" appeared a short time later to a very excited Robert and William for pictures. Hannah was less enthusiastic and more wary. Prize picking did not take too long (thank goodness!), and we were able to have lunch in the mall attached to Chuck E Cheese. Robert and Hannah fell asleep on the way home, which meant we had a short while of quiet rest in the afternoon (a rare thing these days). Shortly after everyone was awake, Nana and Grandad showed up with more gifts! Francis and I had given Robert a green light saber (something he's been asking for to go with his red one). Nana and Grandad brought shirts for the boys and two hockey nets and balls to play hockey in the street. It wasn't long before Francis, Grandad, William and Robert were playing in the street. It was fun to see them, to say the least. After an afternoon of playing, we all met up with Cyndy, Chris and Abby at Mooyah for dinner. Abby brought the boys each new thermos (R2D2 and Batman) which have been a huge hit ever since. We all came back to the house for cupcakes and singing and just a little bit of playing before bedtime. Overall, it was absolutely perfect. Happy Birthday, Robert!
Monday after the grocery store, the boys had their 3 and 5 year check ups respectively. William is nearly 47 lbs and 44.5 inches tall. He's proportional and tall for his age. He's a healthy and happy kid. Robert is nearly 29 lbs and 36 1/2 inches tall, moving him up the growth chart on both since his 2 year check up. He's now in the 27th percentile for height!! I'm so glad to see him grow. He's happy and healthy too. I thank God for these kids and seeing them flourish just makes my heart overflow.
Tuesday was our 3rd Classical Conversations week. William is doing great! I can't believe how much he is learning. Robert and Hannah are enjoying the nursery. I was able to not wear my knee brace on Tuesday also which made for a much easier day for me. My knee is doing much better and I'm so happy.
Wednesday we started going to the preschool story-time at the library. This is for ages 3-5 year olds, but many moms had a younger sibling with them also so it was perfect. I'm excited to how this is going to work for us!
Today we went to Toys R Us to use the birthday money Nana Phillips gave the kids. We did Robert's Toys R Us birthday celebration (aka a balloon and hat), and Robert smiled so big when they said his name over the loud speaker. The kids got a lot of good loot (Thanks Nana Phillips!) and happily came home to play with it.
Hannah is becoming more of a toddler each day. She picks out her own clothes, tells you what she does and does not want to eat, lets you know where she wants to go, and LOVES to dress up. Anything she finds (be it superhero costumes, mommy's shoes or Daddy's clean undershirts) is suddenly something she must be wearing. And she will wear it around until you make her take it off. She has a couple of dress up dresses now, but I foresee a few more in the future to be sure. She loved playing with an outfit I got for Abby years ago in Korea last week and today I got her an Aviva (Wild Kratts) creature power suit so she can play right along side with her brothers as they wear theirs. This afternoon is going to be epic.
William is busting out reading like he was born doing it. He can read nearly any 3 letter word and is growing his vocabulary and sight words daily. Last night he said (after Francis shot off a lego storm troopers gun and it didn't do much), "I was hoping for something more dramatic". I laughed so hard I nearly cried.
Robert is doing great at his school also. I went ahead and got the preK star wars stuff for him even though it's for older kids and he is breezing through it with joy. He LOVES school and bugs me about it until we do it. He is learning to recognize his letters and number and even write them. I'm going to blink and he'll be reading too!
In the evenings lately we've been going on walks with Francis around the neighborhood and over to a nearby park. I love that we are able to do this, and especially love how the kids come home tired and happy. I'm hoping the weather and sunlight let us keep doing this as long as possible because it is such a precious time. A couple of nights ago we found a new playgounf park that we didn't know existed and last night we took out the remote control car for a spin near the elementary school. There are so many things to do outside when the weather is nice and the sun isn't beating down. I can't wait to see what else we discover!
Till next time!
Last Friday we had playgroup. I tried to savor every moment of that day. Because after playgroup we went to Kroger and picked up some Batman cupcakes with green icing. It was Robert's last day of being 2. My big boy! We played extra hard that day and I showered him with as many smiles as I could. I even kissed him goodnight after he'd fallen asleep so I could see him one last time as a two year old.
He woke up chipper on his third birthday. Robert chose donuts for breakfast and then all of us were able to head to his activity of choice: Chuck E Chesse. I had $10 of coins left from the last time we went, so we spent an hour using them. Since it was an early Aggie game, we had the place to ourselves. I actually had to ask if Chuck E Cheese was going to come out, and "he" appeared a short time later to a very excited Robert and William for pictures. Hannah was less enthusiastic and more wary. Prize picking did not take too long (thank goodness!), and we were able to have lunch in the mall attached to Chuck E Cheese. Robert and Hannah fell asleep on the way home, which meant we had a short while of quiet rest in the afternoon (a rare thing these days). Shortly after everyone was awake, Nana and Grandad showed up with more gifts! Francis and I had given Robert a green light saber (something he's been asking for to go with his red one). Nana and Grandad brought shirts for the boys and two hockey nets and balls to play hockey in the street. It wasn't long before Francis, Grandad, William and Robert were playing in the street. It was fun to see them, to say the least. After an afternoon of playing, we all met up with Cyndy, Chris and Abby at Mooyah for dinner. Abby brought the boys each new thermos (R2D2 and Batman) which have been a huge hit ever since. We all came back to the house for cupcakes and singing and just a little bit of playing before bedtime. Overall, it was absolutely perfect. Happy Birthday, Robert!
Monday after the grocery store, the boys had their 3 and 5 year check ups respectively. William is nearly 47 lbs and 44.5 inches tall. He's proportional and tall for his age. He's a healthy and happy kid. Robert is nearly 29 lbs and 36 1/2 inches tall, moving him up the growth chart on both since his 2 year check up. He's now in the 27th percentile for height!! I'm so glad to see him grow. He's happy and healthy too. I thank God for these kids and seeing them flourish just makes my heart overflow.
Tuesday was our 3rd Classical Conversations week. William is doing great! I can't believe how much he is learning. Robert and Hannah are enjoying the nursery. I was able to not wear my knee brace on Tuesday also which made for a much easier day for me. My knee is doing much better and I'm so happy.
Wednesday we started going to the preschool story-time at the library. This is for ages 3-5 year olds, but many moms had a younger sibling with them also so it was perfect. I'm excited to how this is going to work for us!
Today we went to Toys R Us to use the birthday money Nana Phillips gave the kids. We did Robert's Toys R Us birthday celebration (aka a balloon and hat), and Robert smiled so big when they said his name over the loud speaker. The kids got a lot of good loot (Thanks Nana Phillips!) and happily came home to play with it.
Hannah is becoming more of a toddler each day. She picks out her own clothes, tells you what she does and does not want to eat, lets you know where she wants to go, and LOVES to dress up. Anything she finds (be it superhero costumes, mommy's shoes or Daddy's clean undershirts) is suddenly something she must be wearing. And she will wear it around until you make her take it off. She has a couple of dress up dresses now, but I foresee a few more in the future to be sure. She loved playing with an outfit I got for Abby years ago in Korea last week and today I got her an Aviva (Wild Kratts) creature power suit so she can play right along side with her brothers as they wear theirs. This afternoon is going to be epic.
William is busting out reading like he was born doing it. He can read nearly any 3 letter word and is growing his vocabulary and sight words daily. Last night he said (after Francis shot off a lego storm troopers gun and it didn't do much), "I was hoping for something more dramatic". I laughed so hard I nearly cried.
Robert is doing great at his school also. I went ahead and got the preK star wars stuff for him even though it's for older kids and he is breezing through it with joy. He LOVES school and bugs me about it until we do it. He is learning to recognize his letters and number and even write them. I'm going to blink and he'll be reading too!
In the evenings lately we've been going on walks with Francis around the neighborhood and over to a nearby park. I love that we are able to do this, and especially love how the kids come home tired and happy. I'm hoping the weather and sunlight let us keep doing this as long as possible because it is such a precious time. A couple of nights ago we found a new playgounf park that we didn't know existed and last night we took out the remote control car for a spin near the elementary school. There are so many things to do outside when the weather is nice and the sun isn't beating down. I can't wait to see what else we discover!
Till next time!
Thursday, September 8, 2016
September 8, 2016
I'm so behind! I'm going to have to speed through a bit in order to catch up a little. Bear with me!
Three weeks ago after getting back from Canda, we spent the rest of the week in Dallas mostly with my parents before my dad had his first hip replacement surgery. It was fun with a ton of swimming, Pokemon walks around the neighborhood and playing outside. Friday my mother-in-law took off work and she, my mom, my sister Christian, her kids, her mother-in-law (Pam), my kids and I all went to Legoland in Grapevine Mills Mall. As it was a school day, it was not crowded and we were able to do everything in just a couple of hours. No lines equals happy kiddos. It was fun! Hannah walked everywhere and all three kids played with their cousins with great eagerness in turn. Grandmas were happy to have grand-kid time and moms were grateful for the extra hands. We all went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch afterward and every kid more or less cleaned their plate. They had been busy and now they were hungry. Such a great day! That Saturday was Danielle and Kevin's engagement party. The maid of honor (Sierra) threw a shindig at a park with refreshments and games. my parents, Christian and her family and the kids and I all enjoyed meeting Danielle and Kevin's friends. The boys especially liked that there were "pokestops" at the park where they could get items and that they were able to catch pokemon. They spent their time discussing Pokemon with the guests (a topic which was of great interest to all, thank goodness!) and taking each person's phone in turn to get items for that person. A few girls even took the kids on a walk to search for Pokemon, much to their delight. The party was a raving success! Francis got home in the middle of the night that night and Sunday morning we headed back to College Station as Francis and the boys had an AWANA meeting around 4. After unpacking and around bedtime, Hannah was not ready to sleep. I decided to take her for a walk outside as it had just finished raining and the temperature was nice. Well, the rain washed something invisible (algea?) across the sidewalk and I slipped and fell spectacularly. I managed to save all of Hannah but her head (she had a bruise), but I was very scraped up and my left knee had gone the entirely wrong way. I barely limped up to the door and then was unable to walk the rest of the evening. It hurt....so bad. Even now I'm wearing a brace to get around, but I do think I'm improving (thank goodness!).
We spent last week getting back into the swing of things. Tuesday was a big day for us. William had his first day of Kindergarten and it also happened to be Francis's first day of school too. I got pictures of both of them with cute signs and then we parted ways. the kids and I went up to church and I got the Hannah and Robert in the nursery and William and I made it to assembly just in time. William was shy at first, clinging to me when someone spoke to him, but he warmed up quickly and by the time we made it to his classroom, he ran over to his carpet square for circle time with great enthusiasm. I am so glad I get to be in class with him and I took a ton of photos for Francis. William loved the science experiments the most (they were about temperature in the shade and how satellites orbit the earth), and also like counting in math. Art involved learning about different lines used in paintings. He also learned the continents and major oceans, something about Charlemagne, skip counting by twos, verb tenses in latin, the seven types of biomes, the eight parts of speech, and the first seven events of our history timeline. What a first day, right?! I am liking Classical Conversations though. We will see where God leads us on this journey! The rest of the week we worked on school and got other things done (like an oil change for the car), and started back with playgroup on Fridays! It rained during playgroup, but the playground was covered so the kids didn't care. Robert's friend Emerson was there and they held hands and had the sweetest conversations about life and what they like. Robert is so articulate when he wants to be. It's fun to hear his thoughts on things.
This week has gone by in a flash. Hannah has started to pick out her own clothes and talk more than the boys did at this age. She is pretty easy going most of the time, but she does have an opinion. Monday was the first day that William had to walk through the grocery store (instead of ride). It worked pretty well, but I think it will get easier as time goes on. We made it to school on Tuesday with more time to spare and so I didn't feel so frazzled. The kids like having lunch with everyone after school and I am liking it too. We also got a schedule of our field trips. That made me even more excited. It's going to be a great year! Yesterday the boy had their dentist appointments. William had a full cleaning and x-rays for the first time. He did great and his teeth look awesome. His permanent molars are poised to come in any time now, so we'll be on the lookout for them soon. Robert also had no cavities and everything looked good. He was a trooper and held completely still to be examined. they are getting so big!
Today was the fist day of MOMs this year. William is too old to go now that he's in Kindergarten, so Francis has volunteered to watch him. They have decided they are going to build a new dog house for the dogs. Today they took the measurements and bought the supplies. Robert and Hannah went with me and met their teachers for the year. They came out happy and tired. I like my group and look forward to getting to know them better. All in all a successful first meeting.
Whew! That was much more of an overview than I would like to right, but there it is. Till next time!
Three weeks ago after getting back from Canda, we spent the rest of the week in Dallas mostly with my parents before my dad had his first hip replacement surgery. It was fun with a ton of swimming, Pokemon walks around the neighborhood and playing outside. Friday my mother-in-law took off work and she, my mom, my sister Christian, her kids, her mother-in-law (Pam), my kids and I all went to Legoland in Grapevine Mills Mall. As it was a school day, it was not crowded and we were able to do everything in just a couple of hours. No lines equals happy kiddos. It was fun! Hannah walked everywhere and all three kids played with their cousins with great eagerness in turn. Grandmas were happy to have grand-kid time and moms were grateful for the extra hands. We all went to Rainforest Cafe for lunch afterward and every kid more or less cleaned their plate. They had been busy and now they were hungry. Such a great day! That Saturday was Danielle and Kevin's engagement party. The maid of honor (Sierra) threw a shindig at a park with refreshments and games. my parents, Christian and her family and the kids and I all enjoyed meeting Danielle and Kevin's friends. The boys especially liked that there were "pokestops" at the park where they could get items and that they were able to catch pokemon. They spent their time discussing Pokemon with the guests (a topic which was of great interest to all, thank goodness!) and taking each person's phone in turn to get items for that person. A few girls even took the kids on a walk to search for Pokemon, much to their delight. The party was a raving success! Francis got home in the middle of the night that night and Sunday morning we headed back to College Station as Francis and the boys had an AWANA meeting around 4. After unpacking and around bedtime, Hannah was not ready to sleep. I decided to take her for a walk outside as it had just finished raining and the temperature was nice. Well, the rain washed something invisible (algea?) across the sidewalk and I slipped and fell spectacularly. I managed to save all of Hannah but her head (she had a bruise), but I was very scraped up and my left knee had gone the entirely wrong way. I barely limped up to the door and then was unable to walk the rest of the evening. It hurt....so bad. Even now I'm wearing a brace to get around, but I do think I'm improving (thank goodness!).
We spent last week getting back into the swing of things. Tuesday was a big day for us. William had his first day of Kindergarten and it also happened to be Francis's first day of school too. I got pictures of both of them with cute signs and then we parted ways. the kids and I went up to church and I got the Hannah and Robert in the nursery and William and I made it to assembly just in time. William was shy at first, clinging to me when someone spoke to him, but he warmed up quickly and by the time we made it to his classroom, he ran over to his carpet square for circle time with great enthusiasm. I am so glad I get to be in class with him and I took a ton of photos for Francis. William loved the science experiments the most (they were about temperature in the shade and how satellites orbit the earth), and also like counting in math. Art involved learning about different lines used in paintings. He also learned the continents and major oceans, something about Charlemagne, skip counting by twos, verb tenses in latin, the seven types of biomes, the eight parts of speech, and the first seven events of our history timeline. What a first day, right?! I am liking Classical Conversations though. We will see where God leads us on this journey! The rest of the week we worked on school and got other things done (like an oil change for the car), and started back with playgroup on Fridays! It rained during playgroup, but the playground was covered so the kids didn't care. Robert's friend Emerson was there and they held hands and had the sweetest conversations about life and what they like. Robert is so articulate when he wants to be. It's fun to hear his thoughts on things.
This week has gone by in a flash. Hannah has started to pick out her own clothes and talk more than the boys did at this age. She is pretty easy going most of the time, but she does have an opinion. Monday was the first day that William had to walk through the grocery store (instead of ride). It worked pretty well, but I think it will get easier as time goes on. We made it to school on Tuesday with more time to spare and so I didn't feel so frazzled. The kids like having lunch with everyone after school and I am liking it too. We also got a schedule of our field trips. That made me even more excited. It's going to be a great year! Yesterday the boy had their dentist appointments. William had a full cleaning and x-rays for the first time. He did great and his teeth look awesome. His permanent molars are poised to come in any time now, so we'll be on the lookout for them soon. Robert also had no cavities and everything looked good. He was a trooper and held completely still to be examined. they are getting so big!
Today was the fist day of MOMs this year. William is too old to go now that he's in Kindergarten, so Francis has volunteered to watch him. They have decided they are going to build a new dog house for the dogs. Today they took the measurements and bought the supplies. Robert and Hannah went with me and met their teachers for the year. They came out happy and tired. I like my group and look forward to getting to know them better. All in all a successful first meeting.
Whew! That was much more of an overview than I would like to right, but there it is. Till next time!
Friday, September 2, 2016
September 2, 2016
Part 2 of our recent adventures...
So Friday we awoke and had breakfast with Nana Phillips. The kids enjoyed spending time with their great-grandmother. Nana gave all of the kids books and gave Hannah a full size quilt for when she gets a big girl bed. It's beautiful with pinks and purples. Mid-morning, the Texas crew drove over and rode on the OKA ferry toward downtown Montreal. The kids thought it was cool that we were able to drive the car onto the boat and ride across. It is pretty cool actually. We then made the journey up to Mont Royal. We played at a park and then drove up to a lookout and took pictures. We had lunch in old town Montreal on the pier. The air was a little warm, but seeing the people and scenery more than made up for it. We all decided to go do a maze on the pier called SOS Labyrinth. We split into two teams: Frankie's dad, Cyndy, Abby and William on one team and Francis, Robert, Hannah and me on the other. If you know how deficient my spatial abilities are, you can guess who won. They won by like 20 minutes. I had to front carry Hannah the whole time and by the end my left leg was hurting pretty bad. When we got done Cyndy wanted to do the bike powered trailers to o around town but I just wasn't up for it. So she, her dad, Abby, William and Robert took off on a biking adventure while Francis, Hannah and I wandered around, shopped and eventually found a nice cool place to sit. Montreal is one of the oldest cities s in North America and sitting in the walking streets feels like you are in Europe. It did my heart good to just sit and watch and take it all in. When we all reconvened, we went and bought souvenirs then had dinner at a local crepe restaurant. Then more beaver tail for dessert. Yum and double yum. We made it back to the house late, but that didn't stop the adults from talking into the night.
Saturday I woke up and left calf was bruised all along the back. That explained the hurt the day before. Thankfully we spent the day in St. Lazare with the family just swimming, laughing and having fun. We had smoked meat pizza and then did a cookout for dinner. Sarah and her husband Jeremy joined the gang (along with Aunt Melo, Uncle Vic, Nana Phillips and us). A happier group you will seldom find. Sunday morning early, Cyndy and Abby headed to the airport, but those of us left headed to church. Francis's grandfather helped to found a church in Montreal and so many people there still remember him as well as Francis and his father. We were introduced around and thanks to Nana Phillips, nearly everyone recognized my children. It was a sweet time in the body of Christ. Even though the lesson was in French, the boys wanted to go to class and came out knowing the lesson was about Noah. They told their teacher what a good time they had as they were leaving and everyone was so kind to them! I went with Hannah to the nursery where she played and I was able to speak to the other ladies in there. I am thankful that most of the people in the church speak good English because although I can understand what's going on, my production of French is very limited. We had lunch at St. Huberts per the kid's request for "clown ice cream" and then Francis, his dad, the kids and I all went to drop off Francis at his hotel so he could check in and check in for the conference the following week. All 6 of us then took a tour of underground Montreal as it was raining very hard outside. We saw some of my father-in-laws old haunts as he used to work there and then had dinner at the Old Spagehtti Warehouse (or something like that in French). At this point we said goodbye to Francis and the 5 of us left headed back to St Lazare. The next morning we packed up, spent the morning with Nana, Aunt Melo and Uncle Vic and then drove to the airport. I am so glad Francis's dad was with me, because by the time I made it to my bed in Dallas, I had been up 24 hours. When we arrived, our first flight was already delayed so we were rerouted to Miami. That flight was also delayed as was our connection. We did have a delightful time at the AmEx club in Miami, but in general it was just not my day. The kids were good and we finally made it back, but it was a crazy trip!
Stay tuned for our week in Dallas!
So Friday we awoke and had breakfast with Nana Phillips. The kids enjoyed spending time with their great-grandmother. Nana gave all of the kids books and gave Hannah a full size quilt for when she gets a big girl bed. It's beautiful with pinks and purples. Mid-morning, the Texas crew drove over and rode on the OKA ferry toward downtown Montreal. The kids thought it was cool that we were able to drive the car onto the boat and ride across. It is pretty cool actually. We then made the journey up to Mont Royal. We played at a park and then drove up to a lookout and took pictures. We had lunch in old town Montreal on the pier. The air was a little warm, but seeing the people and scenery more than made up for it. We all decided to go do a maze on the pier called SOS Labyrinth. We split into two teams: Frankie's dad, Cyndy, Abby and William on one team and Francis, Robert, Hannah and me on the other. If you know how deficient my spatial abilities are, you can guess who won. They won by like 20 minutes. I had to front carry Hannah the whole time and by the end my left leg was hurting pretty bad. When we got done Cyndy wanted to do the bike powered trailers to o around town but I just wasn't up for it. So she, her dad, Abby, William and Robert took off on a biking adventure while Francis, Hannah and I wandered around, shopped and eventually found a nice cool place to sit. Montreal is one of the oldest cities s in North America and sitting in the walking streets feels like you are in Europe. It did my heart good to just sit and watch and take it all in. When we all reconvened, we went and bought souvenirs then had dinner at a local crepe restaurant. Then more beaver tail for dessert. Yum and double yum. We made it back to the house late, but that didn't stop the adults from talking into the night.
Saturday I woke up and left calf was bruised all along the back. That explained the hurt the day before. Thankfully we spent the day in St. Lazare with the family just swimming, laughing and having fun. We had smoked meat pizza and then did a cookout for dinner. Sarah and her husband Jeremy joined the gang (along with Aunt Melo, Uncle Vic, Nana Phillips and us). A happier group you will seldom find. Sunday morning early, Cyndy and Abby headed to the airport, but those of us left headed to church. Francis's grandfather helped to found a church in Montreal and so many people there still remember him as well as Francis and his father. We were introduced around and thanks to Nana Phillips, nearly everyone recognized my children. It was a sweet time in the body of Christ. Even though the lesson was in French, the boys wanted to go to class and came out knowing the lesson was about Noah. They told their teacher what a good time they had as they were leaving and everyone was so kind to them! I went with Hannah to the nursery where she played and I was able to speak to the other ladies in there. I am thankful that most of the people in the church speak good English because although I can understand what's going on, my production of French is very limited. We had lunch at St. Huberts per the kid's request for "clown ice cream" and then Francis, his dad, the kids and I all went to drop off Francis at his hotel so he could check in and check in for the conference the following week. All 6 of us then took a tour of underground Montreal as it was raining very hard outside. We saw some of my father-in-laws old haunts as he used to work there and then had dinner at the Old Spagehtti Warehouse (or something like that in French). At this point we said goodbye to Francis and the 5 of us left headed back to St Lazare. The next morning we packed up, spent the morning with Nana, Aunt Melo and Uncle Vic and then drove to the airport. I am so glad Francis's dad was with me, because by the time I made it to my bed in Dallas, I had been up 24 hours. When we arrived, our first flight was already delayed so we were rerouted to Miami. That flight was also delayed as was our connection. We did have a delightful time at the AmEx club in Miami, but in general it was just not my day. The kids were good and we finally made it back, but it was a crazy trip!
Stay tuned for our week in Dallas!
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