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| Ice crystals everywhere! |
This year during the school March break Amy and William stayed with us for a week. Fernanda drove them to the shopping centre in Sherbrooke where we have met up before and after waiting around for almost an hour and starting to worry they finally showed up. After transferring the kid's car seats to our SUV we loaded up with a weeks worth of toys, skates, snowsuits and other clothes then had lunch at the mall before the ride home discussing with the kids what they would like to do while with Grandma and Grandpapa. The past month we had had very little snow but the driveway was icy and would be fun for sledding plus we had a surprise for them later in the week. I needed a break from working on the house so was looking forward to being Grandpapa again. The first full day I took the two over to Aaron's house on the other side of the Domaine to visit with his chickens, ducks, rabbits and lamb, later walking down to the frozen river through his woods. It was a beautiful day and warm enough to enjoy the outdoors.
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| lunch in the mall, Sherbrooke |
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| favourite place for wash time at our house! |
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| out of the bath and in front of the fireplace |
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| Marie reading a bedtime story |
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| Watching Aaron chip a hole in the ice |
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| standing on the ice of the frozen river |
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| Amy in the woods |
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| enjoying supper |
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| sledding on our driveway |
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| decorating gingerbread cookies |
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| Amy doing her one of her favourite things - painting |
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| William at the NDDB rink getting ready to go on the ice |
The kids went skating at our local rink one day, Amy very confident on her skates. William...well maybe next year. Later in the week we drove over to Ste-Cécile-de-Whitton for a surprise lunch at the Bellavance sugar shack. Marie and I had gone a few years ago and loved the food so were hoping the two kids would find it fun. After the tasting of the maple taffy on snow (not William's thing) we waited in the crowded hall before being ushered to our table. The food kept on coming - all you could eat boiled and fried potatoes, ham, salted pork cracklings (Amy's favourite), meat pie, eggs sunny side up, omelettes, homemade bread, green salad and coleslaw, homemade ketchup and pickles, baked beans, maple dumplings, maple pie, pancakes...ooo it was all so good! We patted the work horse before leaving, barely able to move. Then off to the Lac-Mégantic sports centre to spend the next hour in the pool.
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| William at the Bellevance cabane a sucre in front of the buckets to collect sap |
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| Amy and the work horse taking a break from hauling sap |
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| Amy digging into maple syrup on snow |
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| At the Lac-Mégantic sports centre, getting ready to go swimming |
The week went by fast and it was soon time to pack up and head back to Montreal to celebrate Phil's 33rd birthday. Thankfully the weather was great and the roads perfect. We went out to the 5 Saisons sushi restaurant on Sherbrooke St where we have been before and thoroughly enjoyed it, then home to blow out the 33 candles on Phil's birthday muffins. Marie stayed for a few more days to attend court with Phil (they were taking an unscrupulous person Phil had hired to do some work on the duplex who had run off with the money paid up front) and I returned to start laying tile in the basement. I drove back to the city a few days later to pick Marie up, this time in a snowstorm that made the roads absolutely atrocious, especially this side of Sherbrooke. I was driving our big truck so felt relatively safe. We eventually got about three feet by the following day and I had to hire a local boy and his brother to clear the stairs and deck. March is the snowiest month here and again this year we were not to be disappointed. Thankfully though we missed most of the nor'easters that have been hammering the eastern seaboard this past month and we are currently enjoying an unheard of run of nine straight sunny days! But we are all looking forward to April, warmer temperatures and an end to this long cold Canadian winter. And because it has been a few years since we have spent the whole winter here it just seems to go on and on and on and on.... Maybe next year we'll head south...
gws
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| William relaxing with his tablet and Ben |
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| it finally snowed and we all went tobogganing! |
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| William, my sweet grandson |
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| going home! |
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| Happy Birthday papa! |
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| Marie at a local Sushi restaurant where we took Phil for his birthday |
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| Phil's birthday muffins |
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| heading back home by myself near Magog |
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| Xavier et William |
