Indoors and Outdoors

Another fun - and indoor!! - stop for the Sooy Babies in Montreal was the McCord Museum. It had two great exhibits for kids - the first was a theater featuring a series of animated short films. We watched a couple - Sean really liked a stop animation film featuring a boy and girl made of wood blocks being pursued by a dragon made of wood blocks. Then we moved up to another exhibit - Toys!

There were all sorts of things for the Babies to touch and get into:

There was a "campfire" where we pretended to roast marshmallows and read books:

We played a life-sized game of Chutes and Ladders (or Snakes and Ladders here):

Sean and Daddy set up a long train of oversized dominoes and knocked them over!

Since it was cold and snowy in Montreal, we took advantage of the RESO, which is a way to get through the City that takes people through metro stations, malls, hotels, and office buildings so there's no need to venture out into the cold.  While we appreciated the break in the weather, we noticed that there was a definite lack of elevators and escalators in the RESO - kind of a pain since we had to haul the double stroller up and down countless stairways, while Sean and Clare would either gleefully shout "Baby Wheelbarrow! Yay!" or would try their best to kick the arms of the parent who was holding the front of the stroller on the stairs.

Walking through the Palais du Congres, Sean thought these hot pink "trees" were pretty neat:

One morning in Montreal it snowed (again) and that made the weather feel a bit warmer.  We drove up to Le Mont Royal to see what we could see.  What we found was a neat path that took us around the top of the hill.

This lookout spot - the Kondiaronk Belevedere - provided sweeping views of the city:

Sean was delighted by the many squirrel bird feeding stations around the hill:

We hiked our way over to the Mount Royal Cross, which has been lit up at night by LED lights since 2009.  During the day, the Cross is not lit so we almost didn't see it until we were nearly under it!

Cheese!

Sean was a trooper on the hike - he loved tromping around in his snow boots and his snow pants!

Clare fell asleep a few minutes after we saw the Cross, so Daddy and Mommy took turns carrying her (all 29+ pounds of her!) for the 1.5 mile trek back to the car.

Clare actually napped a lot on our trip - I think it was her coping mechanism with the cold weather :-) 

"I Writing"

I was sitting at the kitchen table today, writing out our grocery list, when Clare walkes over to me, snatches the pen out of my hand and says "I do!" Then she grabbed a piece of paper and set herself down on the kitchen floor, all the while muttering, "I writing. I do. I writing."



A Walk in the Woods

Brrrr! It's cold this week! Luckily we had a warm-ish weekend so we could play outside and go for a walk in the woods behind our house...

The goal of our walk was to be brave and to find sticks, leaves, and bears:

We found the sticks and leaves easily - luckily the only bear we found was ClareBear.

And the only time we got scared was when we heard an odd squeaky/creaky sound from up above...

but we quickly realized that it was the sound of two piney trees rubbing together!

Sean was in awe of this fallen tree - he told me that a bear lives in its roots and he likes to sleep in the winter and the bear will only come out at lunchtime so he could get a peanut butter jelly sandwich and fruit - maybe peaches - and then go back to napping (it was getting close to lunchtime at this point)...

After our walk in the woods, we took a potty break and then headed back outside to go to the playground to play our new favorite game, superman!

Hopefully this cold, cold weather will clear out soon - or at least bring some snow!!

Old City Montreal

After visiting the Montreal Tower and Biodome, we took the Metro to Old Town (Vieux-Montreal).

 

We sought refuge from the cold in the Montreal Science Centre at the Old Port.  Since it was close to closing time, we just wandered around the free exhibits - like this invention that had lights, sounds, and buttons for the kids to push:

After getting toasty, we walked up to the Place D'Armes to see Notre Dame Basilica: 

Dedicated in 1829, the church was the largest in North America and remained so for almost fifty years.

We paused a minute to admire Montreal's awesome snow removal techniques - a giant tractor blowing snow into a series of dump trucks.  Where do the dump trucks take the snow? In a nutshell, all the snow is taken to quarries to pile up and melt. :-)

Then we went inside to admire the Basilica's interior - we were able to catch the sound and light show, which was really interesting. The show provided a comprehensive history of not only the Basilica, but of Canada and Montreal, as well - with beautiful music and snazzy lighting. Sean sat with Daddy through the whole show, but Clare needed to move around - so we hung near the back and looked at the nativity and the "nice Baby!" in the manger.

The Altar

The organ

The pretty ceiling

After the show, we hit the streets in search of dinner near our hotel. On our way back, we realized we were staying very close to the Bell Center - the home of the Montreal Canadiennes! We took a minute to admire Maurice "The Rocket" Richard's statue:

Then we went to go get dinner; we ended up at a great crepe place! The kids played a little "peeky-boo" while we waited for the crepes to come out of the kitchen:

Sean was delighted to have a "pancake with syrup!" for dinner and to nibble on Daddy's "pancake with chocolate!" dinner as well. Clare liked our crepe - apples, craisins, and yummy cheese!

Bon Appetit!

 



A Couple of Things

Clare's been talking up a storm lately. Her new favorite phrase is, "I do!" As in, "I can do it!" And this week, she's been asking, "tee-shoo? tee-shoo?"since she has a little cold right now.

Sean likes to tell us all the things he wants to do "when I grow up and get bigger and then I'm in charge of YOU!" He usually brings this up around bathtime, bedtime, or when it's time to go to school.

A couple of random snaps:

Batman and his pet bat got into the dress-up box this weekend

Sean "cheese-ing" in his Sonic hat - it makes him run really fast! :-)