More on Montreal

Bonjour!

Now that I have a chance to sit down and write more, I will update you readers on the first few days of our trip.  Yesterday we spent most of the day at a place that is basically my personal paradise: the Jean Drapeau Aquatic Complex.  Despite the fact that Julia put on an especially pouty face as we made our way, via subway, to the pool complex, and Madeleine complained that we weren't going to the water park 45 minutes outside of Montreal, as both girls had wanted, the kids had an ABSOLUTE blast.

Granted, it was no water park, but instead of waiting in line for rides, the kids got to spend three whole hours submerged in the most perfect temperature of pool water, keeping cool in the near 90-degree day.  Julia was quick to admit she had been wrong in her assertion that the pool wouldn't be as good as the water park.  Not two minutes into our visit did she come running out of the pool to announce to me, "Mommy, you were RIGHT.  This pool IS really fun!"

Success!

Less successful, however, was an impromptu stroll through unknown streets of Montreal last night, looking for a grocery store that Ethan had located with his phone's gps.  We wound up on a street full of pubs, bars, and a very large strip club with neon lighting and brightly lit pictures of dancing women.

MADELEINE: Look!  The girls are FLYING!
ME: Yeah, let's not look at that.
JULIA: (guiltily) Uh, is it bad to see it, because I already looked at it by accident.
ME: It's not a big deal.  Let's just not look anymore.  It's kind of...
JULIA: Inappropriate?
ME: Right.

We decided to detour down a different road once we figured out we were going the wrong way and had to double back.

Today we visited the Botanical Gardens and the Insectarium, and we had plans to go through the adjacent Biodome as well, but the kids were so interested in the gardens that we wound up spending nearly the entire day there.  One of the highlights of the trip was playing in the Chinese Shadow Puppet Theatre, part of the Chinese gardens, and making their own shadow puppets.  As the girls sat coloring their puppets at a table next to the theatre, (whereat a Chinese-American family took a turn with the shadow puppetry), Madeleine decided we simply weren't in Canada anymore.

MADELEINE: Mama, it really feels like we're in CHINA now.  I think we MUST be in China!
JULIA: (teasingly) We are in China, Madeleine.  We moved there.  We live in China now.
MADELEINE: No we DON'T!
JULIA: Yes we do.  We just moved there.
MADELEINE: No, Julia, we DON'T live in China.  Besides, we don't even have BROWN SKIN!
ETHAN AND I: Okay.  Okay.  Shh.  That's enough.
JULIA: Madeleine, you don't have to have BROWN SKIN to live in China!
MADELEINE: And we don't even have BLACK HAIR!
ETHAN AND I: No more.  Shh.  Enough.  Inappropriate.

Our kids are always so classy.  We can really take them anywhere.

Julia was especially excited by the forest dedicated to the First Nations of Canada, given her obsession with Native American culture and history.  We made sure to get some pictures to remember our visit by:

And outside of the First Nations forest, here are some other pics from our day at the gardens:

A bientot!