Montreal Part II

If I am being honest, the second half of our Montreal trip is kind of a blur. We got together with grandma Rachelle, Steve, Stephanie, and Dave, and went out for delicious pizza in Old Montreal, in an amazing outdoor stone road setting that reminded me so much of Prague. It was deliciously warm out, the kind of August weather where the day's warmth doesn't disappear with the sun. I wish I had more pictures but this is it. 

Alex doing her "cheese" face

Josie eating noonoos.

And pizza. 

The next day was Stephanie's bachelorette party. The girls were up early that morning and knowing I would be leaving James with them during nap, I let him have the morning free, and took them out to the square across the street from the hotel and let them run around. They loved it. We then found an adorable coffee place and had muffins, chocolate milk, and coffee. I seriously miss the Montreal coffee, it was all delicious. 

The square was part of the reason I chose this hotel!

It was great having somewhere I could walk to with the girls that 

was semi enclosed for them to run around in!

Her "Mischief" look

At 2 pm. Stephanie, Becky, Heather and I made our way to Bota Bota - a spa on a boat, for some pampering. The most fun thing about this boat spa, other than it being on a boat, were the "water pools" - some super cold, some warm, and others hot. You are encouraged to dip between the pools, which I will admit is invigorating. After witnessing some much older women dip into the freezing pool, Becky and I did the same, then dunked back into the warm pool and felt our whole bodies tingle. 

This spa is great - rose and champagne cocktails.

A "fake" selfie so I could get a picture of the pools.

The boat from land.

We met up with a bunch of Stephanie's friends and Dave's family at the hotel, then headed out to part 1 of our night out - a cooking class! We followed that up with some karaoke, and I made my way back to the hotel. 

The lady of honor - the GORGEOUS bride!

Chef Gabby explaining everything to us. Sort of.

Heather's perfect appetizer execution.

Getting dirty!

For many of us not knowing each other, we all worked 

really well together, and seamlessly stepped into a rhythm. 

Nothing was awkward and everything flowed so well!

My new BFF Val.

Enjoying our delicious appetizers!

Our creations

Serenading the bride with some Katy Perry

We had to check out the next morning, which was quite the task - I had to pack us all up, run and get our rental car, and fit everyone and everything into it, then make our way out to Bromont without the use of a GPS system (I had pre-printed directions, having learned my lesson during our Ottawa visit last year).  All of this after a fun party night was not fun. I may have announced my plan to never drink again (spoiler alert: I had wine later that evening).  

We rewarded ourselves for making it to Bromont by stopping and eating some A&W burgers. MMM!!!  We finally made it to the wedding location, got to do some exploring, said hello to all of the family and friends making their way in, and relax.  The whole weekend was such a whirlwind, and went by so fast! I really wish I could have made time slow down just a tad. 

A&W

Bromont

Not sure what this was about - was the country too quiet? ;)

We left Bromont Sunday evening and headed to an airport hotel for the evening. I was glad Stephanie, Grandma Rachelle and Steve were able to hang out with us and have dinner before we left, it was nice to do a little debriefing on the weekend and say some long goodbyes. 

Aunti Steffi reading to our sleepy girls

Alexandra decided to chair a family meeting.

Many important agenda items were discussed.

Montreal! Part 1

We had a fantastic trip to Montreal! Our trip was for the purpose of attending my sister's wedding, but we wanted to make the most of the cost of getting there by staying an extra few days and touristing Montreal. I had been a few times, as had James, but neither of us had stayed in the historic district, and we love old cities. Probably more so because of living in Los Angeles - seeing those old stone buildings and city plans laid before cards reminds us that humans didn't just land on earth 100 years ago lol. 

unconstrained children checking out the airplanes

So excited - this was really their first time being excited about getting on a plane

However, this was their 13th flight. Professionals!

We flew in Monday, which was fairly uneventful.* The girls were awesome on the flight, and lucky for us, this was our first trip with the munchkins that did not have a connection! Dear Family - can you all move to a city near a major hub airport? Thanks! *Alex did throw up when we were landing, but to her defense, it was a very bumpy landing with a lot of turns. She also said "I am going to throw up" which gave me time to find a barf bag. And while I didn't catch the entire mess, caught enough of it to make a difference, had a million wipes at my easy disposal, a ton of ziplock bags, and a change of clothes for her handy. 

Jumping on the bed in our hotel suite.

The amazing view from our hotel!

Tuesday we went sight seeing and checked out the Notre Dame Basilica. I was curious whether the girls would be interested in this at all - we don't attend church so I didn't know if they would have a point of reference for this. Well in typical fashion they surprised me and were super excited to be in a "castle"! Oh yeah, of course, the stain glass and tall stone walls and big wooden doors totally looked like a castle! We walked around the city a bit and got some lunch in a cool old square a learned a little bit about why there is so much British history in Montreal, and not just French. (Short version - the French surrendered Montreal to the Brits after seeing what the Brits did to take Quebec.)  

A very old monestary

trying to get a cute photo...

And...the moment is GONE

3000 people took this exact photo that day.

Alex takes a picture with her "cell phone" lol!

A nice location, but terrible food - 

my one complaint about Lonely Planet's Montreal guide 

was a lack of suggestions for lower cost eateries. 

Lonely Planet has really gotten it right in Buenos Aires

 and Prague, but very lacking in Montreal.

After a good nap, the girls took their first subway ride and we visited aunt Stephanie and uncle Dave's apartment. This went well except we headed out kind of at rush hour so we were a lot of "person" and stuff to get on the train at that time (as a former subway commuter, I knew exactly the eye roll mess that we were to those people just trying to get home). Otherwise, it was good. We had a lot of fun having a picnic in the park, saying hi to grandma Rachelle and uncle Steve, eating delicious barbecue and some mini pies from a bakery nearby. 

Lemon Meringue Mini Pie!

Playing in Aunt Steffi's bed

The next morning, Grandpa Gordon came to visit with us and we all went to this weird archeology museum nearby that had a pirate exhibit that was supposedly good for kids. It was fun but I think we spent most of our time in the museum lost than actually seeing anything fun. The girls really liked pretending to be monsters over the glass covered dioramas of old Montreal. Also fun was going into the basement (while lost) and seeing the stone remnants of the city. We went for delicious Indian food with Grandpa and uncle Steve where the girls ate their weight in rice and colored on the restaurant walls (but were forgiven thanks to being cute, thank goodness). 

Piano outside of the museum entrance

Telescopes at the Pirate Ship

Being Monsters

Lunch with Grandpa

Guy gives my dad a lick!

Alex and Uncle Steve