We went to St. Zotique beach and met up with some dear friends. I stayed at her mom and dad’s house in Ottawa during those crazy days just before we went to get Jay-Jay. Another friend was also there. One of the other families with a boy.

We were even lucky enough to spend an hour with Anmei (a.k.a. Kaitlynn). She was one of Jay-Jay’s good friends when he lived in the orphanage in Danyang. Like Jay-Jay, Kaitlynn also now has a sibling that is the same age as her. All the kiddies are 4 years old and they really enjoyed playing together even though their primary languages are different (mine prefer to speak English while Anmei and her brother prefer to speak French)

Finally, we got together with some other families from the same adoption agency as us.

All in all, a good weekend in Montreal.

Why Snakes Hiss and Other Things I Learned on Vacation

We're back from La Belle province where we spend 2 1/2 weeks. The weather was truly mostly yucky, but I managed to get a royal burn on my shoulders. It happened on one of the two beautiful/hot days of the trip. We were at a wave pool, I had on what I thought was waterproof sunscreen and I got fried. My babies were spared due to the fact that they genetic heritage is -thankfully - more adapted to the sun than mine is. The burn happened just over a week ago and my skin is starting to peel. I have now learned why snakes are grumpy and hiss a lot. Molting is damn itchy and extremely annoying. I wish I could rub against a tree like a snake does to get this skin off!

On this trip I learned that travelling with four year olds is much easier than travelling with almost-three-year olds. These kids can travel. Between planes, long car rides and traffic jams (in Montreal of course) these kids did it all in style. They can now be thrown completely out of their routines with very little side effects for us. Yippee. Late breakfast/lunch/supper/bedtimes made them a little grumpy, but we didn’t have many drag-out, knock-em-down tantrums like we’ve had in the past.

Being 'bored', on the other hand, is deadly. Lots of trouble when we just hung-out for an entire day. We've traded the need for a strict schedule for the need to have something to do.

On this trip I remembered how I love Old Quebec. It helped a lot that we had a gorgeous day to enjoy ourselves (the other beautiful day of the trip).

On this trip I learned that two years of not seeing people in person doesn’t mean they aren’t special friends anymore. We got to catch up with lots of friends both in Quebec City and Montreal. Those pictures to come in the next post because I'm tired of fighting with the formatting when I add new pictures.