Hakuna Matata (That's vaguely Hawaiian sounding, right?)

After sifting through our staggering collection of vacation photos, this one rises to the top as my favourite of my child. Why? Because Princess Liliane deigned to smile at US. HER PARENTS. WHO MADE HER. There were no Princesses in sight, she just smiled.

We were actually waiting to have our very first character breakfast (Ohana at the Polynesian - hence the lei) when this was taken. I wasn't sure how she would take to the whole experience.

Suffice it say, she, um, enjoyed it.

Pluto, her very first character.

I totally confess to tearing up mainly because she was just so amazed by it all.

Hi Mickey! You're my favourite but I managed to keep the waterworks under control.

I have a profound appreciation for the people in those costumes, man.

Thank you for being so cute!

Posting this one again because a) L and I are both smiling and b) the light makes my arms look kinda toned.

So if all this emotional happy Disney magic is not enough, we actually ate really well too:

It was a family-style "all-you-care-to-eat" meal. They brought us this platter of breakfast goodies and that was enough for us but we could have asked for as many as we wanted!

Is that not the best euphemism? "All you care to eat"? Such a subtle difference from "All you CAN eat." Just because you CAN eat three plates of Mickey head waffles, doesn't mean you should, tubby!

I didn't photograph the plate of fruit and deeeelicious pineapple coconut bread they put on the table literally as we sat down. You'd think they had some experience with hungry kids... (and parents, let's be honest. I was starving.)

So I seriously did not plan to do an entire post right now but there you go. I'm actually trying to make a PLAN for how to post some of our trip experiences without overdoing the photos that only a parent could love (sorry, guilty!) but sharing some of our favourite moments.

I think it's safe to say that I'm a little intimidated by it all so bear with me as I try to get organized.

In other news...

My Grandmother is out of the hospital! And thanks to my Mom's persistence and lots of prayer from lots of people, she is in the same facility as my grandfather. Hallelujah! They can't actually LIVE together because she still needs more care, but at least he can walk over and visit anytime he wants. It sounds like the transition is taking time, but I think that's normal. I feel better knowing that at least they are in the same (beautiful) place and that they are being well taken care of. So that's that.

Fall kinda took over while we were away so coming back to real life was a little rough. We're getting into a new routine that includes a gymnastics class for L on Saturday mornings plus Sunday school. I had my first pumpkin spice latte today so that's helping me transition. (Double tall, half syrup, no whip. In case anyone wants to drop one off. :)

I have finally put away my flip flops (sigh) and while I haven't unpacked my warm clothes just yet, I have been sort of planning a few fall-type fashion purchases. Also the battle to get L to wear PANTS seems to have calmed down. I get it kid, but people tend to look at us funny when you wear short and sandals to daycare IN THE RAIN.

Sadly I have failed to go to one single cardio class thus far this fall but for this, I blame the craptastic weather. I'm all for being fit and healthy (blah, blah, blah) but I am a weather wienie. It's OK, I've accepted that about myself but I am hoping, so hoping that we get a little Indian summer happening around here so I didn't spend all that money IN VAIN. I won't think about that right now. Sigh.

Coming up: family coming into town for Thanksgiving! Liliane's 3rd birthday! Road trip to Boston with my Mama! And hopefully some positive exercise updates.

ALSO - Happy Birthday Matthew! My little brother turns 33 today. My SIL posted some great pictures on her blog today of my handsome sibling. Looking forward to seeing them next week.

Have a great weekend! Celebrate fall!

A Wish Your Heart Makes

We may be back home now, but my heart is still here:

Can you blame me?

Where else in the world do you have a 4-story Buzz Lightyear outside your hotel room?

Which happens to be 10 minutes away from a park full of wildlife?

Not to mention the wildlife we encountered at the character meals...

Meeting the characters was Liliane's favourite part. Whenever we could, we jumped in line to have a moment with whoever we came across.

Don't get me started on the Princesses. That is a post unto itself.

I got to relive some of my childhood memories:

And just when it couldn't get any better, the Magic Kingdom was decorated for Halloween.

Pumpkin heaven!


I just downloaded 805 photos into the computer, at least 500 of those are of Liliane with a character or a Princess. I promise to show you only the highlights.

To sum up: we had a GREAT time. Everything was magical: the weather, our hotel, the people, the food, everything.

Sigh.

Vacation rocks.

I Know What You Did This Summer

August. Wow. We got to do some of this:

And some of this:






And now we're off to do a whole lotta THIS:

I apologize in advance for the amount of photos I will have to share with you when we get back.

Happiest Place On Earth - here we come!

Sweaty, Happy

I did my last summer session of Cardio Plein Air tonight and I just wanted to share that with you three all. Out of a possible 20 classes, I made it to 11. In my defense, I missed at least 5 due to either insane heatwave or thunder/lightning storms. And last week I skipped one because I wiped out in the middle of the crosswalk and actually hurt myself. Like "limp all the way to the closest taxi with tears and everything" kind of hurt myself. I think it was mostly my pride, but it was a no-brainer to skip the sweat and head for the bath.

Speaking of pride, there was only one other hardy soul working out with me tonight (it's like 30-something degrees here right now with 1500% humidity - ugh) so it hit me with painful clarity that what we do looks a lot like something out of Monty Python's silly walks. When there is a group of 10 of us, it looks a little more official. Cool, even. With just two, well, let's just say that the people of Jarry Park had a good chuckle tonight.

My favourite, favourite part of doing the class? Being outside. Being outside in a PARK where it's green and fresh and full of people doing fun, outdoorsy stuff. I love focusing on the soccer game in the distance as my triceps wobble. I love doing push ups on the bleachers. I love brushing grass off my legs and swatting bugs. I really love lying under a tree while stretching and looking up into the leaves. When was the last time you did that? It's not something that happens a lot in my everyday life (we lack a backyard, le sigh) so I soaked it up.

In fact, I haven't exercised outside like that since PE class in high school. So maybe there is some nostalgia thrown in there? And man, on a related tangent, why the heck did we complain so much about gym class? What's not to love about an entire hour of school devoted to MOVING YER BUTT, essentially playing outside?

Suspicious symptom #39 of aging - ranting about how the young kids don't appreciate PE class.

The good news is, I already signed up for the fall. Also, adorable, peppy Ralph will again be my instructor. The bad news is, IT WILL BE THE FALL. Eventually cold, wet, rainy, snowy, windy FALL. We'll see how poetic I'm feeling in November.

Anyway, all this to say that I'm so happy to have exercise back in my life. My hormones are happy, too. As happy as evil soul-munching goblins can be of course.

So, here's something wacky about Quebec: kids are already back in school! In August! As a born and raised B.C. girl, I just can't get my brain wrapped around that. Yes, they finish earlier, but STILL. Isn't that the whole point of Labour Day? One last long weekend before routine sets in? I'm telling you, this whole distinct society thing isn't always as fancy as it sounds.

ANYWAY, this back-to-school time is knowns as "la rentrée" which literally means to come back inside. People take time off work to get their kids organized for "la rentrée," pools close because now it's "la rentrée", newspapers carry articles about first day of school, lunch box recipes, etc. I bring all of this up not just to ramble (although that may be Suspicious Sign of Aging #40), but to say that what I LOVE LOVE LOVE about this time of year is that... I don't have to go back to school! Oh, and we're going on vacation... in September! Somewhere hot and summery! So suck it FALL, I'm not done with summer yet.

Not My Usual Monday Afternoon

I took a little break from the Monday routine today to help out a friend.

I got to be in a demo for a new series called Kitchen Mobile!

The idea is that hot shot chef Mathieu Cloutier (of Kitchen Galerie) helps unsuspecting shoppers cook something that they have never tried before.

Basically I got to spend my afternoon at the Jean-Talon Market hanging out with cool people and learning how to cook.

The shopper reveals their special challenge ingredient to the crew beforehand and then you present it to Mathieu on the show. He asks questions about allergies and preferences, then comes up with a meal that you can make.

(I had some time to kill before my segment started to I lurked in the herb garden and took photos.)

This was the subject of the segment just before mine. I had to look up the name of her dish to be sure and yes indeed, it was sweetbreads. I definitely don't know how to cook sweetbreads but I'm not too sad about that fact.

Her daughter was getting excited by the sage-infused cream sauce. I was too actually, it smelled amazing. Unfortunately it was going over sweetbreads so that kinda killed it for me.

I went for a walk around the block to photograph the front of the restaurant. Don't ask me how I managed to cut the sign off, it's not like I was in a rush or anything... It's artistic.

The menu is based on whatever is fresh from the market so it's never the same.

I didn't really recognize anything on the wine list, which is a good sign.

Dad - we are so coming here when you visit. Jaime, you can come too.

Look! I got the yellow flip flops! Even better, I got them for $10. I LOVE the end of summer sales. Frankly, it's about the only good thing about the end of summer.

Still waiting so let's meet the crew!

This is Kathia (researcher) and Pascale (everything else):

David, the director:

Martin my pal the producer with David and the man himself, Chef Mathieu Cloutier. Yes, he is that young. And cute.

It was finally my turn and I got a quick sweep of powder to keep the shine off and away we went.

We're doing a quick run-through with an emtpy pot in place of the secret ingredient that I will reveal to Mathieu. (He said I could call him Mat. We're tight.)

Thank you for ignoring the extra thirty pounds the camera adds. Oh yes, thirty. The new HD cameras are really heavy. Not like the old ten-pounders.

The big reveal.... shrimp! I've always wanted to know how to cook fresh shrimp. And how to get off the shell and veins and everything. The twist here was that it has to be something I can cook quickly and that the whole family will enjoy.

He came up with a recipe on the spot (that he charmingly dubbed Crevettes à la Theresa) and his assistant ran off to buy all the ingredients: parsnips, baby spinach, yellow tomato, lemon, and orange. I think that was it.

He showed me how to take off the shells and the veins then threw together an amazing dish that I am afraid I didn't even have time to photograph because I ate it so fast. Pan seared shrimp, parsnip purée and a baby spinach salad with fennel and yellow tomato. SO GOOD.

My segment was the last one of the day so when we were done, they wrapped. I warned my new pal that I would be visiting his restaurant soon and bringing my family along with. He seemed cool with that.

Fun, right? How did you spend YOUR Monday afternoon?

New York, New Video

Stéphane took a lot of Flip video while we were in NYC last month and instead of posting a bunch of annoying adorable vacation clips, he cut this nifty little movie instead!

Hoping this buys back some affection from you my (three) loyal readers.

NYC in a beat from Stéphane Arbour on Vimeo.

MUSIC by A WEATHER - "Giant Stairs"

freemusicarchive.org/music/A_Weather/

Speaking about blog slackdom, I owe y'all a post just about Disney vacation planning. It could be a full time job my friends, a full time job. Luckily the all-important ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations in case you're not down with the mouse lingo) have been taken care of so now we're at the fun part of not freaking out about the NEVERENDING LIST OF CAN'T-MISS ALL IMPORTANT ACTIVITIES THAT MUST HAPPEN OR YOUR VACATION WILL BE NEITHER MAGIC NOR SPARKLY. *Breathe, breathe* Suffice it to say that we are eating at least one meal with Princesses. Ironically in the Norway pavillion. Which is good because I am half Norweigan so it's like cultural and stuff and yet, something tells me that Thor and his dirty band of pillaging Vikings and are not invited. Unless of course they bring their tiaras.

In the meantime I'll be slapping fruit flies and eating Ontario peaches, my two current favourite hobbies. People who know me are laughing because 1) I have really bad depth perception so killing a speck-like flying insect involves a LOT of spazzy clapping and 2) I used to have a hard time eating peaches due to their mouth feel resemblance to baby heads. Ironically, about the only mental improvement around here since actually HAVING a baby is that I can now sink my teeth into the fontanelle of that fruit with nary the blink of an eye. Let's not delve too deeply into what that really means, mmmkay?

Watch the video! Compliment the husband! Enjoy your summer!