Little Things

Bali

Oh wow - I have been waaaaay too absent from these pages lately! Terrible. But I have a good excuse: apart from that life thing that always seems to get in the way of my blog, Max and I went to Bali for 10 days to visit Pete and company! Yes, Bali - you know, the Indonesian one.

It was a fabulous trip for both of us.

Max loved it because he got to hang out with his cousins for seven days straight; and because he got to do all "big boy" things like zip lining and snorkeling and water-parking (and no "baby" things like we do at home...it's hard to be the oldest, don't forget.)

I loved it because I got to spend ten full days with my incredible boy; and because I got to see the world through his beautiful eyes for those ten days. I was blown away by how calm and self-assured he was, even when he didn't speak the language or see anything really "familiar" to him. I loved how excited he was by everything, like when we were on our final plane, about to land in Bali, and he leaned over to me and whispered, "Oh Mama, I'm so excited I could just SCREAM!" It was just such a dream to travel with him, and I hope to do this with all of our boys individually in the future. Hopefully many times.

It was great to see Pete and Janet and spend some time with them. They have a pretty amazing life over there, and it was wonderful to see. It's amazing how easily one slips back into the traveling way of life...within hours on being there, Janet and I were walking around the streets and it felt like I was back in my pre-children days of wandering through markets and exploring dusty cities. I'd been to Bali twelve years ago, and I as struck by how much it had grown: it was like it had been a child when I was there, and now, all of a sudden, it had turned into a full-blown adult. But underneath it all, it was still Bali, you know? And I was still very happy to be back.  

If you want to read Max's impressions of our trip, check out Pete's blog- here

or see more pictures of our trip - here!

 

 

Une Visite à Hudson!

We had a lovely trip to Hudson in July, complete with lots of Grandparent and cousin time; lots of swimming, golf, tennis, and badminton; lots of visiting with dear friends and family; lots of hunting for frogs; lots of hot tubs; lots of trips for ice cream and popsicles for dessert; a "George Wall Tour of Montreal" for Max which involved a visit to Schwartz's smoked meat  (where Ben ate the better part of a sandwich), AND St. Viateur Bagels, (where Max proclaimed loudly, "This is the best bagel I've EVER HAD"!); two trips to the Eco-museum, and the sighting of a "moose-on-the-loose" (it was really a cariboo), two silly river otters, and a duck with a broken wing which Sammy swooned over; one yummy lunch at the Willow; and - of course- lots of running around (or sort-of crawling, for Ben) on the lawn.

The kids seem to do a LOT of running around on the lawn at my parent's place. It's like they just know that they are not in the city anymore, and they don't have to worry about cars or strangers or their mother screaming at them to watch out! (OK, maybe there was still a little of that...but when there is a hose in the vicinity, and Sammy anywhere near by - well, let's just say that all creatures, big and small, certainly need to WATCH OUT! Grampsie found out the hard way. And let's not talk about the words that came out of HIS mouth when the hose nailed him in the face on the "soaker" setting). Anyway. It was a lovely visit, and the kids had a wonderful time. Here are my favourite pics from the trip: