Snow Day

When the subject of Montreal parks comes up, iconic Parc Mont-Royal (a.k.a. the Mountain - ha) is always at the top of the list. Then probably fancy Parc Lafontaine deep in the Plateau. But our neighbourhood happens to have one of the greatest parks in the city and it's only about a 15 minute walk from our house.

Parc Jarry is the original home of the Expos, it's where the Rogers Tennis Tournament happens, it's where I do my Cardio-Poussette workouts and it's where they have recently constructed a perfect-for-big-and-little-kids toboggan slope.  It was perfect outdoor winter weather yesterday, so we bundled up the kiddos, loaded up the stroller, grabbed the sled and strolled on over to my favourite place to sweat.  

The intrepid mountaineers

OK it's hard to see but the hill was really slippery.  Liliane's enthusiasm was not dampened. 

Surprise surprise.

I jumped out of the way of the speeding sled after snapping this. 

Not pictured: Gales and gales of laughter immediately followed by "AGAIN!"

It looks like it's crazy cold outside but it was maybe minus 3 or so. Stunning winter day. 

The tandem slide. Husband later admitted to me that he had his hands on the brakes the whole time.  I'm telling you, it was icy man. 

The future's so bright, etc, etc.

After the sliding was done we wandered over to the frozen pond where Alice and I watched the skaters while Stéphane and Liliane hiked the peaks of piled up snow.  It was pretty much a perfect outing. We all got fresh air and exercise, cabin fever was banished and I got a blog post out of it.

Awesome.

I do have one more thing on my mind that I will share. Due to my newfound addiction to Oprah's Behind the Scenes show (and subsequent addition of the Oprah Network to our cable lineup) I am paying more attention to The Mighty Opes (as Lainey would say). Hello, welcome to the party 25 years later! 

I watched her interview with Whitney Houston and I have to say they both inspired me. Not with their success or ambition or lovely outfits, but with their spirituality. Yep, Whitney and Oprah talking about prayer really made an impression. Mainly it made me think, why am I not spending more time in prayer? I haven't found the answer yet but I'm working on it. 

In the meantime, I will take a page from Oprah's book (or magazine or whatever other empire she currently runs) and tell the people I love that I appreciate them now and not save it for their eulogy.  Example: if I had actually met Whitney Houston, I would have thanked her for being the soundtrack of the year I got a bra. For articulating so perfectly that adolescent longing to be With Somebody Who Loves Me. For being a part of that time in my life.  Voilà.

Now I have to go do something nice for my husband because he's next on my list.