Home Sweet Home

You never really know how much you miss it till your home again. We got back Saturday night around 9 and we were so happy! I was just happy to be back in a place where the signs are in English and the menu's are in english. I think the biggest joke while we were there were the stop signs....which I still argue are not stop signs....at least not if I had been driving. They are red but they don't say stop. They say, "ARRET." Thank goodness I wasn't driving...of course nobody there stops for them either....they have so many that most everybody does a rolling stop. It was very different. Anyway, It is nice to be home. I tried to post our pictures again but it still would not let me so I don't know what the deal is there but I will try again in a little bit. We really did have a wonderful time. The only snow we got to see were the HUGE piles that had been scraped in the parking lots and they were covered with dirt and salt and who knows what. But I still got to taste snow that was covered in fresh and hot maple syrup. That is probably the highlight of our trip. We went to the Sugar House (don't ask me the french name...I couldn't tell you) and it is there country style restaurant. The food was wonderful and for dessert they bring you sugar pie with a side of ice cream or crepes with maple syrup...so you get good and sugared up inside the restaurant and then you head out to this other building where they make home made maple syrup and they have these truff set up that have snow packed into them and this guy gets a pot with maple syrup and pours you a line on the snow and then you take a popsicle stick and start and one end and just start rolling and you make a lollipop from it and it is sooooooooooo good. Needless to say I was in sugar shock by the time we left!

And we will continue to be in sugar shock. We brought back with us 2 and 1/2 boxes FULL of chocolate. I know...we have chocolate here but not like this. They have different kinds that we don't have and it is GOOD! The suitcase we had them in when we got to the airport was the heaviest one and I had to take 7 pounds of stuff out of it so that it met the weight limit. Never realized how heavy chocolate was. But we and the chocolate made it back safe and sound. I can't believe that our trip has come and gone and I am now sitting at work. How many days till Summer vacation?

Day 3-Ryan’s Birthday!

Today is Ryan’s 3rd Birthday! When I woke up this morning I just could not believe it had been 3 years since I woke up at 1 o’clock in the morning the day I was scheduled to be induced in labor. It just seems like yesterday! Where has time gone? Everyday he gets bigger and bigger. I wish time would slow down but I know that won’t happen. I will blink my eyes and he will be grown and getting married and having kids of his own.

Anyway, it is day 3 of our trip and we have continued to have fun. We went shopping at their mall. It was so different than Westgate mall. Each store’s outside is elaborate. There are no words to describe it. They have spots for husbands to wait while they wives shop. It is beautifully decorated. The architecture inside is out of this world. It really is a beautiful mall. Sam and Ryan went with us. I think his favorite part was all the fountains that were all around the mall. And the cart that you rent for kids. He liked it. They have so many different stores that we don’t have and their style is so different than ours as well. But we had a good time. I think Sophie and I are going to go back later this week.

We came back from the mall and stopped at PFC, their version of KFC, for lunch. Surprising they are very Americanized here. It was good. They don’t have the potato wedges like ours back home but it was still good. Of course their 3 piece meal is more like a 1 piece meal.

Day 4

Today we went to the old Montreal. It was amazing. I felt like I was in New York with all the tall buildings and beautiful churches. We took the Metro to get their which is their version of the subway. That was different but fun! Ryan loved it. He liked that it went fast!

That night we went over to Sam’s childhood friends house, Gustavo or Gus for short. We had a blast. I don’t know who was happier to see who. The whole time Gus was trying his hardest to talk us into moving back up here. He also showed off some of Sam’s school pictures. Yes…he busted out the old yearbooks! I don’t think I have laughed so hard in a long time. It was great!

We are in Canada!!!

Day 1
WE MADE IT!!! We have arrived! And so far WE are loving it. We woke up Saturday morning at 3:30a.m. and got ready. Raynald, Sam’s father, got to our house at 4:30a.m. and we loaded up and headed for the airport. Poor Ryan didn’t know what was going on. He was not happy being woke up so early but we figured he would go back to sleep on the way to the airport. Boy were we wrong. He stayed awake the entire time. So, once we got to the airport, we pulled up to the door and Sam and Raynald started on loading or 4 LARGE suitcases while I changed Ryan into his clothes. Since we thought he was going back to sleep we left him in his PJ’s. Once that was done, we headed inside to get checked in. I must say 5 o’clock in the morning is the best time to travel. There wasn’t hardly anybody there and it was fast. Which is nice when you are holding a 30+ pound baby. So, we got checked in and our bags were off, we went and told Raynald good bye and we headed for upstairs to go through security. WE MADE IT THROUGH! Normally, Sam is the one who gets pulled aside from everybody and practically stripped searched. But we had NO problems what so ever so it was nice. So, we went to wait at our gate and we kept showing Ryan all the planes and he was loving it. He just kept looking at the saying, “Look, the plane!” It was precious! Finally, we got to start loading the plane and it was a first for me. We actually had to go down a set of stairs and WALK to the plane outside. It didn’t have a ramp like all the other planes! I have never! I thought they only did that stuff in the movies and for the president! Anyway, we loaded the plane, had to do some seat switching b/c this was the one flight we couldn’t pick out seats and of course we didn’t have seats together. But, we got settled and we were off. Ryan did so well on the plane. Sam and I were so proud. He LOVED it! He kept saying, “GO FAST!” I guess he liked the take off. Then, when we were landing he kept saying, “We going down!” It was funny! So, we arrived in Detroit ahead of schedule. We had about a hour and a half to kill. We got off the plane and found the screen that has all the flights listed to find our next gate. WE GOT LUCKY! Our next flight was only one gate down. We were expecting a 10 mile hike with Ryan in tow. We were so happy. So, we stopped and got Ryan some chocolate milk and just went walking to get him some exercise. They had those moving sidewalks (I think that is what you call them) and Ryan loved those. He would get on and for the first half he would run and then about mid way through it he would stop and let it take him to the end. So, after we burned some energy we went to our gate and waited. We went ahead and filled out the declaration form you have to fill out for customs and we were ready to go. They started loading our flight shortly after and we were off again. We like this flight b/c we were in the very back and we had 3 empty seats behind us which was great. We moved back a seat so Ryan could play and hit the seat in front of us if he wanted too. We arrived in Montreal WAY ahead of schedule. I think it was about 45 minutes early. We unloaded and headed for customs which in this airport is another 10 mile hike from the gate. We got lucky AGAIN!!! At the top of the steps there was a golf cart that is supposed to be for handicapped people BUT they gave us a ride which was nice b/c Ryan was tired at this point and we would have had to carry him the entire time. They dropped us off right in front of customs. It was nice. We went through the line and got to by pass the big line b/c we already had the form filled out and ready. We got our passports stamped and it was on to the baggage claim. As we got downstairs to it our flight’s luggage was just starting to come out we grabbed a cart, found our bags and we were heading out to meet Patrice. Well, we came out of the doors to the pick up area and there was NO Pat! No Sophie! Nobody was there. We looked around and they were not there yet. So we waited! About 20 minutes later here they come. They had all the kids wit them and they had balloons to welcome us! So we headed to the car, loaded up and headed for their house. The weather was great. It felt like we were in Spartanburg. We played all afternoon outside! Ryan never took a nap and finally crashed at 6 and slept all night. It really turned out to be a great day. Sam and both crashed about 9 that night.

Day 2
We woke up Sunday morning and it was raining. So, we just relaxed around the house and spent time with Sebastien (Sam’s brother) and his family. They had come down from Quebec City (about 3 hours north of Montreal) to spend some time with us. They left about lunch time. Sam and I went and to grab some lunch and I ate at my first Canadian fast food restaurant, Harvey’s. It was pretty good. Then, we headed back to the house watched some TV for a few minutes and then Sam took Ryan and I for a ride to show us some of where he grew up. I got to see the house he was raised in, and some of his old friends houses and where he used to hand out. He showed me the rich part of town. Obviously you have money here if you have two things….1-a lot of land and 2-a two car garage. It is the weirdest thing I have ever seen. Everybody has 1 car garages which is not that common in Spartanburg and they don’t use them. I told Sam yesterday, “The best way I can describe what it looks like here to me is a scene from a Brady Bunch movie. I feel like I am stuck in the 70’s in a Brady Bunch movie.” Just the architecture is so different here. But, like I said land is expensive so instead of building out, you build up. Most everybody has at least a two story house….and if you count the basement a 3 story house. So, it is nothing like back home. Anyway, for dinner we went to “Old Duluth.” Not sure I a spelling it right but oh well. It was good! We had Chicken skewers (the call them something different in French but I don’t remember what it was) and shrimp with rice and salad and potato wedges and soup. And that is not to mention the bread they bring out as an appetizer. I was stuffed! But it was so worth it. We came back home and put Ryan to bed and not too long after we to bed ourselves. Tomorrow is Ryan’s 3rd Birthday!

24 hours and counting...

In less than 24 hours we will be in the air on our way to Canada! I still can not believe it is here! We got just about everything packed last night! I think I have just about everything packed except the kitchen sink! Just kidding. I am really proud of myself right now. I have not overpacked like I normally do. I am still have room in my suitcase for my make up and dryer and straightener. I am so proud of myself. HOWEVER.....we did have to call Sam's parents and borrow their 2 BIG suitcases b/c my one big, one medium and 2 small just were NOT cutting it last night! So, I have a BIG one with all my stuff, Sam has one with all his stuff and Ryan has a Medium one with all his stuff. Then, the last suitcase is a BIG one with all our coats and shoes in it. I have never traveled anywhere before where you had to pack so many WARM clothes. They take up so much more room that your normal summery clothes! But we will manage. We are allowed afterall 2 checked bags per person! The fun part will be when we get to Canada..... We will have 4 rolling suitcases.....a laptop bag, Ryan's toy bag, my purse, the toiletry bad, and another carry one bag/Ryan's diaper bag to carry....plus Ryan and it is going to be just me and Sam. Won't we be a sight. I am hoping we can get Ryan to ride on one of the suitcases or find a luggage cart! We shall see!

Ready for Canada...

Well, Ryan is ready to go! As you can see below:

Ryan packing his toys in his suitcase!


Trying to get his suitcase zipped

All packed
Get Ready
Let's GO! I wonder if he will actually do this when we get to the airport!

Mommy's Papa and Grandma Dianne's BD Present

Papa and Grandma Dianne's present came Monday and Ryan was supper excited he had another present to open. When he opened it up and saw it what it was he just kept saying, "It's a dinosaur! It's a dinosaur!" And of course it is like any other toy and hard as a rock to get into. Sam was trying to get it out for him and Ryan was trying to help. It was too cute for words. Grandma Dianne...you did good! He LOVES it! Evertime he sees it he say, "Want turn on dinosaur!" Anyway, here are the pictures of him opening it and playing with it.

Ryan's 3rd Birthday Party!!!

We had Ryan's 3rd Birthday party this weekend at our house! It was a blast....well for the most....let me clarify....It was fun until I fell on my rollerblades straight on my tail bone. Very painful! Anyway, we had the whole family over....including my ex, his new girl, and the ex father-in-law. We grilled out hamburgers and hot dogs and ate cake. This was the first year that we didn't get him a Car's cake....we got him a Madagascar cake and it turned out beautiful! I was really excited! Anyway, here are the pictures from it. Sorry, but I don't have any of me busting my booty in our driveway!

I have to tell you about this one...once the candles were lite he did not like it. He clung to me for dear life and made me blow out the candles.

Besides the falling incident it went really well. We all had a good time! Can't wait till next year!