Amie and Steve in Montreal

A Composer and a Super Male Model at the Salon

2008-06-28T10:35:00.000-07:00

Dom and Steve went to get their hair styled together a couple of weeks ago. Their styalist Guy works right by our house so I snuck over and took some shots of their hair date.

Last Trip Out West

2008-06-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Jenn and Dom working for their room and board in the Grove and the Roomies posing with some other super models...

Jenn's Old!

2008-04-27T08:35:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jenn's 25th Birthday on April 11. Yes I know I am so far behind.
Actually, we had the celebration on the 9th because she was in the middle of exams on the 11th. Dom was out of town but his parents subbed in for him and joined us for dinner.

Song of the Great Khan

2008-04-13T11:12:00.000-07:00

Steve's piece, Song of the Great Khan, premiered on April 3, 2008. The piece was written for the McGill Percussion Ensemble and incorporated over 40 different percussion instruments!

He's been working on this song since October last year and it was super cool to actually hear it after watching him toil over the score for 6 months. The piece was amazing and as our friend Jo aptly said "it was the best piece there and would have been my favorite even with my eyes closed so that I didn't know it was his"!

Steve spent months muttered that it was super weird and no one was going to like it so he just about fell over when I told him that I had mass emailed everyone that we knew within a 500 km radius and invited them to the show. Fortunately/ unfortunately (?) he's actually not as weird as he thinks he is and everyone in "Steve's section" loved it. He was the only composer that got hoots and hollers from the audience when the song ended! Dom even yelled out "that's my roommate!". I think Steve sort of wanted to die a little at that point. (He was also the only student composer and the rest were all faculty or composers from Europe and the US)

There was a problem with the recording and it has to be re-recorded. Once that happens I will try to figure out how to put the song on the blog. Here are a couple of pictures that I managed to catch before the show started and I was forced to put the camera away.

PS. Steve's looking a lot less haggard as of late in case anyone is worried.

More Ottawa

2008-04-13T10:51:00.000-07:00

We took our new camera to Ottawa and had so much fun taking pictures of Parliament. And by "we" I mean Steve because he doesn't let me anywhere near "his" new Christmas present. That being said, the day was perfect for taking pictures and while his finger actually snapped the shots, you had better believe that I was chirping in his ear about what shots to take.

Week of the Moms

2008-04-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

It sounds like the title to a horror movie but alas, it was great fun having my mom and Lois in town. They came out to see Steve's performance but we managed to pack in tons of wandering around Montreal, dinners and and dinners out, shopping and a quick trip to Ottawa to hang with Jenny.

More Massif

2008-04-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Here are some more pictures from our weekend at Le Massif that Jean-Luc took. Seriously, have you ever seen a ski lodge party so hard?

Team Ski vs. Team Study

2008-03-30T18:21:00.000-07:00

Dom and I left Dr. Funk and Ms. Spazz-Attack in Montreal this weekend to work on their schooling while we partied it up in Quebec. Team Ski definitely had more fun~

On Friday night we had dinner with Dom's parents, Carole and Cajetan at their home in Mont Ste. Anne. Dom's mom is an amazing chef and she made shrimp cocktail, Chinese fondue with MOOSE, cheese, asparagus and mushrooms, followed by strawberry salad and chocolate fondue!!! Super yum!

On Saturday Dom's dad dropped us on the side of the road to be picked up by the ski bus filled with Dom's friends!!! The boys competed in the Le Massif Open, until the race was cancelled due to too many injuries, and then we partied in the lodge until the bus took us home later that night. The Quebecois really know how to do things right. The Apres Ski event saw the lodge turn into a bar with a live band!!

After we left the hill the ski van dropped us off at the poutine shop in Mont Ste. Anne and we ordered poutine and roast beef sandwiches in an effort to neutralize some of the beers in our belly. (You will note that the sandwich is mixed in with the fries and also covered in gravy) After dinner Dom's dad came and picked us up and after a quick chat with his parents we were in bed at 10 pm!

Carole and Cajetan treated us to lattes and a wonderful breakfast and then it was back to Montreal to hang with Team Study. I don't think they realized that we were gone...

Carole, more pictures of the Massif to follow, I promise! Thanks for the wonderful hospitality!

Easter

2008-03-30T18:15:00.001-07:00

Jenn was in Edmonton for Easter weekend, Dom at Nationals and Steve in a horrible nasty funk (fitting out about his piece of music that is being performed later this week)..so to keep myself busy and feeling closer to home I spent the weekend cooking and preparing an Easter dinner for some friends that joined us on Sunday night. Did the full meal deal right down to the cabbage rolls and biscuits but I have to admit that my Grannie's cabbage rolls and Steve's Grandma's biscuits are way better. But, I did outdo myself with my easter cookies and table decorations, if I do say so myself.

Dom's Night Out

2008-03-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Dom and his boys went to see the Foo Fighters a couple of weeks ago. It was priceless. Dom was so excited he downloaded the words, e-mailed them to his friends and then spent the day practicing so that he could rock out, hard. Unfortunately, he missed his cue during the actual song. Maybe next time...

The Cleaning Staff

2008-03-30T18:07:00.000-07:00

My mom tries to keep her cleaning staff a secret...however, last time I was home I managed to get a couple of photos. Notice the concentration? I hear they only get paid if they get all the crumbs off the floor.

Surviving the Storm

2008-03-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

We'll call this GUEST BLOG NO.2 or STEVE'S WEEK OF "FREEDOM" PART DEUX (take note that the last so-called week of freedom was approximately one year ago ... I'm not drawing any conclusions from this but you can feel free to do so...). While the last time I posted a blog-entry my tongue was firmly planted in my cheek this time my intetion is to be dead-serious.

For those of you who may not know much of Eastern Canada got, (let's say) pistol-whipped (for the benefit of some of our more sensitive readership) by a nasty winter storm over the past weekend. Earlier in the week, the younger sister, our resident champion athlete, due to her physical superiority (for discussions of inferiority see a future blog entitled THE LIFE AND TIMES OF STEPHEN R ... I mean, seriously, I'd challenge any of you to live with a gold-medallist and a frickin' male model and not encounter feelings of crippling inferiority) felt no fear in proclaiming not once, not twice but three times "I think winter is over." Hubris of this sort seldom goes unpunished ...

So, the snow started on Friday night, really soggy bigs flakes (at least here in Montreal). By Saturday morning the wind had picked up and was basically blowing the snow sideways, replete with little icy pelletes (grappelle) that blow into your eyes like grains of sand and slap you across the face like thousands of tiny scorned maidens. Check out the views of Ste. Curmudgeon Avenue, first looking west toward the Market and then east towards Robin Hood (Prince of Neiges?).

In a normal city this type of storm might hinder the everyday lives of the citizens but in Montreal things continued almost as if nothing out of the ordinary had taken place. Check out our neighbour with his pets (its easy to keep the canine motif running through my blogposts with people like this around), I think their names are (from left to right) Monsiuer Pouf, Herr Gammers, Sloppy Joe, Mademoiselle Paris, Throw Pillow and Head-Smashed-In-Buffalo Dog.

Anyway, I was headed up to the school/the North Pole to meet my friend Rob for beer (you see when guys get together without their wives they don't bother with food ... as John Lennon sang, "all you need is beer"). After nearly being knocked to the ground by a gust of wind which pushed me into a knee-deep snowdrift and then subsequently avoiding the horrible scenario of wiping out on ice more polished than the hairless skin on a male-model's chest, I managed to make my way to the metro. As I approached I began to become confused, like Zoolander in a way ... "who am I", I thought, Stephen Rogers, Drrr. or Roald Amundsen, explorer of the earth's polar regions and first man to reach both the North and South Poles. The fur-lined coat and beard may have had something to do with my identity crisis. [see photo]

Once in the metro, the reprieve helped me sort out the issue, until I arrived at the school and saw this scene where a group of students had gathered after a concert at the music building.

Imagine my surprise when one of them that I knew, lets call him Pete for the sake of anonymity, stopped me to ask what I thought about the ramifications of the aggregate harmonic columns in the Fifth Movement of Pulcininini's Opera No.1, Opus 34. I quickly chirped something back to him and went inside. I met Rob in the lobby and even though he was just visiting from the states where they hardly ever get snow, he was better prepared for the storm than even I was. As they say: "you can rob the Canada from under a man's feet but never from his heart" ... or something like that.

We went out and had a great night indoors. And, just to prove that I didn't make this all up, here's a photo of the day after from the doors that lead out to our balcony. The snow bank was literally taller than me and my (tall) tale.

Guest-blogger, out!!!

NYC

2008-02-24T19:02:00.000-08:00

Steve and I took a bite out of the Big Apple this past weekend and wow, was it UNBELIEVABE!! NYC is a place that you just have to see to be able to believe it: the lights, the people, the energy, the noise...

You'll note that I went a little blog crazy here but that's only because we went totally NYC photo crazy when we were there putting our new camera to work! I think the most unbelievable part of this city is just that you cannot comprehend what it is like until you are there. There are huge buildings everywhere.

We drove into NYC Wednesday afternoon thinking that we were prepared for the driving thanks to all of the crazy Montreal drivers - ha! After a quick pit stops in the Bronx - for a cash machine to pay the bridge tolls (I turtled in the car while Steve made a very very quick stop into a very very sketchy corner mart) - we managed to navigate our way to Erin's place after which we immediately parked the car vowing not to drive again until we had to navigate our way out of the City on Sunday! We spent the first couple hours wandering Astoria which is where Erin lives and then caught up with her for the evening.

We got our first real glimpse of Manhatten Thursday morning when we followed Erin to her office which is located about two steps from Time Sqaure. After pointing us in the right direction, she went to work and we spent the first couple of hours just wandering around trying to get our bearings. We managed to hit a number of must see sights on Day One: Grand Central Station, Time Square, Central Park, the UN, Rockerfeller Centre, and the Empire State Building, to name a few.

While we woke up to the first major snowfall that Manhatten had this winter on Day Two it didn't slow us down and we spent the dayexploring lower Manhatten: specifically the World Trade Centre Site, the Stock Exchange, the Federal Hall, the Court House, City Hall and many more. We hit the Moma right before dinner thinking that we would be the only tourists taking advantage of its free admission and instead enjoyed the museum with us and our closest 10,000 other NYC tourists. That night we hit Tribeca with Erin for drinks and dinner.

On Day Three we took the Staten Island Ferry for a ride, hit a 7 story designer clothing store (well Erin and I did, Steve sat on the stairs taking pictures of the chaos and crying) and then wandered Soho for a couple of hours before wrapping up the night with a new music concernt and a Susan Sarandon sighting.

Sunday was a bit of a quite day as we spent the morning hanging in Astoria with Erin until we had worked up the courage to brave the traffic and head out of town. I never thought I would say this but driving home through the Montreal traffic seemed almost like driving in Spruce Grove!

As our sampling of pictures show, it was a great trip and so fun to catch up with Erin. Thanks for being such a host E-Ro, we love you.

Val David

2008-02-17T08:08:00.000-08:00

Jenny came to hang with us this weekend - so fun, especially since it's our second weekend in a row hanging out as I went to Ottawa last weekend.
Yesterday the three of us - Steve, Jenny and I - went into the Laurentian Mountains and did some snow shoing in Val David. Val David is a really cute little town absolutely overflowing with cross country skiers and snow shoers. After our snow shoe we went and relaxed at the Polar Spa which is a Eurpoean type spa where you rotate between really hot, really cold and then relaxation. The really hot was a choice of either a sauna or steam room and the really cold was a dip in the river running beside the spa!!! Seriously, there is a whole in the ice where you can lay down for about 0.15 seconds before gasping for breath and racing out. Suprisingly, it feels wonderful when you remember to breathe again and then you finish the rotation with a time out period in a warmish room before you start all over again.
Today we are leaving Steve at home and heading up to the Plateau for some Montreal shopping!!!!!
PS. we miss you Glenno

More Avi

2008-01-14T16:00:00.000-08:00

Since Jods has been way too tired to write on her blog but not too tired to send me some more photos of the new babe; and since I have done NOTHING since returning to Montreal except sit at my computer and bang out memo's on medical malpractice, I decided to update the blog with more pictures of Avi. Kate, Jessica...if you get over to see her make sure you take your cameras!

Aviana Violet

2008-01-12T12:09:00.001-08:00

Jods sent me the first pictures of Avi. Of course she is gorgeous. We cannot wait to come home and snuggle with her!

Rudolpha Wynne

2008-01-10T17:25:00.000-08:00

Rudolpha Wynne arrived this morning at 6 am. She weighed in at 6 lbs 8 ounces. Mom and baby are doing great. Despite the fact that I was the only one to believe from the get go that she was a girl, her actual given name is Aviana Violet. Also a very pretty name~
Osh and Ry were going up to take pictures this afternoon so I will post them when they arrive in my in box.
Congrats and lots of love to the whole Audenart family from the Heil/ Rogers/ Gauthier family out east.

Christmas Break

2008-01-10T16:53:00.001-08:00

It's surprising that we have pictures of anything other than eating or drinking because it feels (and unfortunately looks) like all we did this past Christmas break. Our time at home was super busy but as always super fun! I worked for most of the time we were home and Steve spent a bunch of the break writing a paper: that being said we managed to pack in a million and one different activities: an early Christmas with Steve's family before the left for Mexico; a party at the cabin with our friends; a ski trip with the regular crew; the regular Christmas stuff with my family; boxing day with Steve's cousins and Aunt and then Vancouver for Jenny and Glenn's wedding , a couple of days with Kristen and Bill after the wedding, dinner with Trav and Jihye who just arrived in Vancouver from Korea, a night with Dave and Nicole and then Mark's wedding before we flew home. Oh yah, I threw in a root canal and physical on Steve's birthday just so I wasn't too cheery. He hates cheery people on his birthday! Anyways, here are some pictures from the differing events.

Jenny's wedding - what can I say other than she was the most beautiful bride and we all had such a wonderful time celebrating with her and Glenn.

Also, as the pictures show this holiday was dominated by a lot of different babies as well as a lot of guitar hero. Even my Gran played!

And finally, the picture of me and Aimes with the same outfit ... seriously that happened even an entire Continent apart. It really didn't help our single identify as "the Aimes" at the wedding!

The Whip Cream Incident

2007-11-26T19:39:00.001-08:00

We escaped the city this weekend when two of our friends invited us out to their cabin for some country time. We sipped red wine all night and made a delicious dinner followed by an apple pie. Steve and Joe were in charge of whipping the cream...Can you believe that the two of them have somewhere around 18 to 20 years of university schooling between them? Ha!

Thanks Joe and Marie-Noelle!

The Men of Ste Cunegonde

2007-11-26T19:28:00.001-08:00

Dr. Steve working away on his thesis... (instead of saying Doctor we've taken to calling Steve-o Drrr. Rogers, cause he's not really a doctor yet!)

Our super male model taking a time out. Dom, where's your Mac?

Taking the bottom of the blender apart with the ever present kitchen utensil called the pipe wrench!

Dom re-tiling a lose tile in our kitchen... in ski goggles.

Sometimes all you can do is laugh and walk away without asking...

Tom & Kathleen

2007-11-26T19:02:00.000-08:00

Tom and Kathleen Shearer came for a visit a couple of weeks ago! Steve and I love when people come visit because it gives us an excuse to get out and explore the City too, hint hint to all of you out there that have not come to visit yet! These are a couple of pictures from the day.

The Ultimate Defeat

2007-11-21T19:34:00.001-08:00

We played ultimate frisbee this fall in an outdoor fall league. It was tons of fun and a bit different than the summer game. The field is smaller, only 5 players are on the field at the time there is no stop time and no pull except for the initial pull in each half. This means that every time a team scores a point they immediately put the disk down in their end zone and then the other team starts trying to move it up the field from that end zone. It's this little difference in the game which can either work in your favour or not and in our last game - not. We suffered possibly the worst defeat in ultimate history losing 55 to 9 which means that for every 1 point that we got, they got 8! Ouch!! Here's a picture of our sad faces right after the defeat. We didn't let it bother us for long...

Happy Halloween!!!

2007-10-31T19:17:00.000-07:00

Well my roomies attempted to ignore that today is HALLOWEEN but did I let them - not a chance. While I was the only one to dress up...Steve thinks he might sleep on the couch tonight because my outfit was so good...I did manage to get Steve and Dom to carve pumpkins with me tonight! Joyeux Halloween!!!!

PS. Dom did offer to put on a skirt if I wore the beard out to dinner but Jennifer refused. Bah Humbug!

The Punkin Patch

2007-10-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

Because fall is a season out here, and I mean a real season, not just two days in between summer and winter when all of the leaves blow away, well, anyways, as I was saying, because fall is a real season out here, the Quebecois really celebrate fall by decorating with a harvest theme - lots of pumpkins and hay bales, gourds and corn still on the husk. It looks just great! I of course bought a bunch of pumpkins to fill the house with but did stop short at buying a hay bale due to the fact that we live in a condo. This tradition is one tradition I am bringing back to Edmonton even if it means that I have to dust the snow off of my pumpkins and hay bales set out on my front step each fall!

Ste. Cunegonde's Super Male Model

2007-10-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

Motorists, especially female motorists, proceed with caution as you head towards the Pont Champlain because here he is...Ste. Cunegonde's very own, very sexy, super male model...and he's larger than life...seriously, how big are you on this sign Dom? Anyways, your blue steel rules.

Dr. Steve!!

2007-09-27T15:21:00.000-07:00

Steve timidly let me into the Music Library a couple of weeks ago to show me his Masters Thesis. How cool is this - when you type "Stephen Rogers" into the library catalogue, his name appears with a call number to lead all the eager little music students to his thesis, Zansippar which is a hardcover bound book in the stacks!!!

Anyways, he almost died when I hauled out the camera and made him pose with it, quietly mouthing the whole time, "hurry up I know people in here! Not that I cared...my husband is an academic superstar.

PS. funniest part - we went to the library to get this "shoot" twice - first time Aimes had to distract him with her wily charm and second time Jenny with hers!

PPS. It's not the thickness of the thesis but what's inside that counts.

Paper

2007-09-23T14:59:00.001-07:00

Steve and I celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend. We were advised by a friend that we play frisbee with that this is the paper anniversary however, we skipped gift giving and treated ourselves to weekend in the Adirondack mountains which are about 1.5 hours from Montreal in New York State. The plan was to hike and then cozy up in our two man pup tent - which to date has only been cuddled in by Steve and my dad on their backpacking trips. The hike was fantastic for so many reasons: the peak we hiked was the second highest in the Adirondack mountain range so we could see for miles at the top; there was a thunderstorm rolling in and the sky was awesome; the ecosysten at the top of the mountain was artic alpine and something we just don't see that often; and we arrived on the perfect fall weekend as all of the leaves were bursting with fall colours - reds, oranges and yellows. The mountains looked like they were on fire they were so bright. We took about 2,000,000 pictures.

After the hike our plan was to find a camp site, check out Lake Placid for dinner and then curl up all cozy in our little pup tent however it turned out that Steve had actually forgotten the tent in Montreal. Seriously, who forgets the tent on a camping trip? After some deliberations we voted to not sleep in the back of the Buo and spent the night in a hotel in Placid. We took about 2,000,000 more pictures on the drive home yesterday and then spent the rest of the day playing a game of frisbee with our fall team and then making a curry dish (from scratch) from the cook book Tommy gave us last year.

Girls Week

2007-09-23T14:45:00.000-07:00

Jenny and I spent 4 days together this past week in Ottawa. We had such a fun time - we decorated and painted her house, ate way too much food, and spent a bunch of time sightseeing around Ottawa.
I drove down myself and was petrified that I was going to end up in Toronto or something but I pulled it off and only needed to phone Steve for directions when I was about 5 minutes from her house. Would have phoned Jenny but wasn't sure that she knew where she lived exactly either!
Anyways, their home is amazing, their neighbourhood super cool and Ottawa such a great place to visit!
Steve and I are heading back there in 2 weeks and then the 4 of us are heading to Glenno's cabin for Thanksgiving.

PS. The fancy blue bathroom is our handiwork - we painted that while treating ourselves to a bottle of red wine!

Ultimat Finals

2007-09-23T14:32:00.000-07:00

We joined the Montreal Ultimate Association this summer and played frisbee with the Lawn Deers. It was tons of fun and we met a group of really awesome people. Actually we had so much fun that we are playing in a fall league out here that plays with "on the fly rules". It's kinda like indoor soccer or hockey...tons of running! And... since this summer my one major flip out occured in Edmonton when a dude on the other team started jeering me about my chest...all Montreal ultimate players still think I'm a really calm level headed player! Yes.

First Day of School

2007-09-23T14:26:00.000-07:00

Well my little "kidlets" went back for another year of classes this fall and what is back to school without a back to school photo! After putting on their new back to school outfits, okay, that's not true - after Jenn put on her back to school outfit and Steve shaved his face and Dom, well he's doing a correspondence class and didn't need to look good (and besides, he's a male model, idiot and always looks good - I cornered them for a quick picture to immortalize Fall 2007.

PS. The first picture kills me and it comes from a series of about 6 - hard to believe Steve is working on a PhD instead of learning how to cut and play nicely in the sandbox -seriously, why does he make this face when a camera pops up?

Granby Zoo

2007-09-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

I don't think that I have been to a zoo since I was about 6 - neither had Steve or Jenn - so the three of us packed a picnic lunch and headed off to the Granby Zoo.

The Zoo is amazing and the thousands of pictures that we raced around taking speak for themselves - BEST ZOO EVER!!!!!

Jenny and Glenn - Part Deux

2007-09-10T19:55:00.000-07:00

Montabello is only about 80 kilometres outside of Ottawa. After giving Jenny at least 26 hours to unpack and spend some time with her hubby-to-be after her move from Vancouver, Steve and I "crashed" their party of two.

Here is a picture of the two of them sitting on their new front porch.

Thanks for the visit you two~

Montebello

2007-09-10T19:45:00.000-07:00

After Chambly we ventured out to Montebello. Located on the Ottawa River, Montebello is famous for the Papineau Villa and the Chateau Montebello. Papineau was a famous French Canadian involved in pre-Confederation politics and his villa, which was built in 1850, is a National Heritage Site. Located next to the Villa is the Chateau Montebello which the largest log structure in North America and is the Farmont Hotel where Harper, Bush and the Mexican President met for a summit last month.

The hotel and its grounds are beautiful - located right on the bank of the Ottawa River with its very own harbour full of ritsy boats.

Montreal in August

2007-09-10T19:31:00.000-07:00

We arrived back in Montreal on August 22 and since then we've been trying to sightsee as much as we can before school, papers, work and bad weather keep us condo bound. Actually, we've started joking with Jenn and Dom that we are going to take them around for a tour of the Quebec countryside!

These pictures are of Chambly. It's a really pretty town about 1/2 an hour from Montreal where the Richelieu River opens up into a lake. The French built a fort there in the 1600s and its now a National Heritage Site. There is also a lock system there which takes boats into the Chambly cannal so that they can avoid a set of rapids.

Amy & Ry - 30.06, 2007

2007-07-27T07:13:00.000-07:00

Aimes - I should have gotten these to you sooner. We had such a wonderful time at your wedding and you looked so absolutely beautiful!

Route de Dump

2007-06-17T12:29:00.000-07:00

After our visit to MacDonald Campus (see blog below) we next went exploring in Hudson Quebec, a cute little town very UNfitting of the title to this post, Route de Dump - I will explain in a minute. Hudson stretches out long and skinny along the banks of the St. Lawrence and has the the most amazing houses and yards, many of which look out onto the water. We would have been content to live in just about every single one if we could!

The purpose of our trip to Hudson was to visit this antique market called Finnigan's Market. Steve - with all of his "crowd issues" - was a bit apprehensive about wandering around looking a "junk" for hours in the 33 degree heat of yesterday but, with a bit of persuasion and lots of food in his stomach, even he was charmed despite that he referred to it as Finnigan's Wake for the rest of the day. Finnigan's was located in the middle of a farmer's field and antique sellers were set up both in the old barn buildings and all across the field. There were so many different things - old knobs, furniture, trunks, bikes, skates, jars, china...you name it, Finnigan's has it! We are so going back in the fall!

Our plan after Finnigan's was to check out Hudson, head to the beach and then have dinner before going home. Unfortunately, we were finished cruising Hudson in about 3.5 seconds (turns out that there are more houses than downtown area and the beach was non-existent). So, like all good adventurers we consulted the map and continued on our way, this time to Cornwall, Ontario to check their famous fort which Steve believed was there.

Turns out that Cornwall is more aptly referred to as Cornhole and that their famous fort, is really a living museum (very cool) located 30 minutes further from the Hole. Anyways, by the time we realized this we did not have enough time to make it to the Fort. In an effort to salvage the situation we went knocking on the Hole's tourist information centre but even they couldn't think of something fun to do there.

Again like the good adventurer's we are, we consulted the map and decided to drive home along the road that ran by the river to check out all the cute little towns. This time we even consulted the Cornhole guidebook to make sure that we were headed somewhere worthwhile. While somewhat nicer than the Hole, our adventure turned out to be a succession of little towns along a route we nostalgically refer to as "Route de Dump". (Turns out that Alberta does not have a monopoly on rednecks either.) By the time the lights of Montreal greeted us we decided to scrap plans for dinner out and went home for stir fry. We finished the day with the movie Bon Cop/Bad Cop - super funny rent it if you can and or need a complete lesson in how to properly use the words tabernacle and chalice...hosties [sp?] - and went to bed with renewed optimism for our next excursion.

Hence, all photos in this blog are of Finnigan's market and Hudson except for the one of the gas sign which was taken in the Hole and represents the first time that we have paid under $1 for gas in months because, yes, we spent about $20 bucks driving to the Hole and back.

For My Gran

2007-06-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Steve and I went exploring and stumbled across MacDonald Campus. MacDonald campus is a part of McGill located outside of the downtown in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue.

The campus was born in 1906, when Sir William Christopher Macdonald gave 300 acres of farmland and a $2-million endowment to McGill University with the idea of creating a revolutionary school that would "improve the lives of rural people in Quebec." Modeling the school after McGill, he established a farm laboratory where scientific farming could be tested and taught, the School of Household Science and the School for Teachers, because Sir William had the vision of schools becoming not only training centres, but the centres of the social life of the community as well.

When the doors first opened in 1907, 115 students were enrolled in the School for Teachers, 62 in the School for Household Science and 38 in the School of Agriculture.

Why this short lesson in history is exciting (besides the fact that I have a very useful degree in Canadian History) is because my Great Grandmother, my Grannie's mom, came over from England to Montreal to attended school here before the First World War broke out. I'm pretty sure that she was a student in Household Science.

I'm not sure where she stayed when she was here but I thought it was neat when we stumbled across the building Brittain Hall - maybe this is where she lived when she was here!

The St. Lawrence

2007-06-15T18:59:00.000-07:00

We were down by the mighty St.Lawrence river a couple of nights ago enjoying the warm weather. I still cannot believe how big it is - every time we are down by the river or crossing over it we try to guess how many North Saskatchewans would fit into it. Last count we were at 50! Any guesses?

ps. the green on the far bank of the first picture isn't the other side - it's an island!

I know I Shouldn't Brag...

2007-05-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

But, we've had hot weather out here now for quite some time and Montreal is simply beautiful in the summer.

May Super Long

2007-05-20T16:16:00.000-07:00

We decided to celebrate May Super-Long the weekend before the May Long Weekend. The weather was hot hot hot, Steve was done marking exams and had a small reprive from thesis writing, I was not especially busy and Jenn and Dom had a couple of days of freedom. So...we started our weekend on Wednesday! We barbequed, ate in the sun, hiked (as evidenced in the blog below), drank summer drinks on our patio and then went to Quebec City for the weekend! YAH MAY SUPER-LONG!

Hiking

2007-05-20T15:54:00.000-07:00

We ventured out to Mount St. Hilaire for a hike. In and around Montreal there are a number of "mountains" that were formed when magma hardened the landscape and then the surrounding landscape eroded away leaving the "mountains" behind. Mount Royal, the mountain on the island, is one of these formations.

We also went out to Oka for a different hike (yes the Oka made famous for the stand-off in the 1990s, also famous for its cheese) and hiked in the provincial park up to a lookout over the St. Lawrence River. The trail wound its way through the trees past a number of small chapels all the way to the top. We ate Oka cheese and bagette at the top.

Amy and Jenny's Stagette (hereafter the "Stagette) - Part One - The Brides

2007-05-09T09:30:00.000-07:00

We celebrated two upcoming weddings last weekend - Amy and Ryland June 30, 2007 in Regina and Jenny and Glenn December 31, 2007 in Vancouver. They are going to be such beautiful brides as you can see by the stagette apparel (which I should also point out is now owned and worn by the beautiful Amalie Snowdon).

Our night consisted of bowling and ringpops, cooking classes with great food and drinks, games great conversation and a surprise visit from the beautiful Maxwell Joseph Wiart.

Happy weddings ladies.

The Stagette - Part Two - More Bowling

2007-05-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

While some of us really rocked the bowling others, not so much (Jody). Nonetheless, we still love all those that threw more gutter balls than strikes as it's not about who wins the event but who has fun at the event!

The ring pops were also one of the best ideas ever - yah Jess!

The Stagette - Part Three - The Cooking Class and Meal

2007-05-09T09:05:00.000-07:00

After returning from a very intensive bowling match we were treated to a cooking class from two NAIT graduates who showed us how to prepare warm goat cheese salad with wild boar bacon mushrooms and pine nuts, fresh pasta with two sauces - roasted tomato and bechamel, herbed chicken skewers, vegetable skewers, and chocolate fondue with fruit for dessert. The food was absolutely amazing and we learned some cook kitchen tricks.

The Stagette - Part Four - The Evening Entertainment

2007-05-09T08:55:00.000-07:00

The evening ended with a couple of different games and prizes as well as a visit from the darling Maxwell Joseph Wiart, who was accompanied by his proud mama and papa. Julie - next time a bit more effort with the sculpting if you want to get a prize.

He's One!

2007-05-08T15:47:00.000-07:00

Well, almost. Osh turns one on May 23 but Jody and Ryan celebrated his birthday last Friday so that both her parents and I could be there to celebrate with them. Hard to believe that the tiny little baby of last May is motering around the house steps away from taking independent steps on his own. Could he be any cuter? Pictures of Osh make even Uncle Steve think babies may not be that bad of an idea!

Traffic Jam

2007-04-23T10:01:00.000-07:00

We went to St. Sauveur on Saturday night to see our friend Mark who was in town at a ski course. Can you imagine a traffic jam in Edmonton on a Saturday night at 12:30 in the morning!!!!! Good thing Steve is so calm and never losses his cool when driving...

Frank and Jo

2007-04-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

We went for a Japanese Fondue at our friends' house on Friday. I met Frank when I was working at the Davis office out here. Frank is an associate there and his girlfriend Jo is a lawyer with the Human Rights Commission. Poor Steve -surrounded by lawyers wherever he goes! The food was amazing and we eventually stumbled home in our saki induced state at about 2 am! Too much saki seems to be becoming a habit when we hang out with these guys...

Medalling Around

2007-04-16T16:42:00.000-07:00

Who knew Jenn's medals and trophies had so many different uses -from bling to beer bong we enjoyed them immensely this weekend!

She's 24...

2007-04-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Jenn turned 24 on April 11. Usually it's just me who freaks out about birthdays but this year she too is wallowing in her own misery about getting another year older. Seriously, I just turned 24 - how can she be that age already?
We celebrated her birthday on the 10th because she had to be in Ottawa on the 11th - we started the night with champagne at our condo and then met some friends and headed to a trendy restaurant right in our neighborhood for dinner. (The picture of the sad cupcake is from the dinner that I made for her on her actual birthday. I cook a lot better than I bake - who new olive oil is not the best substitute for butter or vegetable oil?)

The restaurant that we celebrated at is called Joe Beef. Despite its name, its specialty is actually seafood. The food is amazing and the restaurant is one of Montreal's "it" restaurants. It's about 3 minutes from our house so of course we had to check it out - we booked the dinner 2 weeks in advance! As you can see, Joe Beef is also a hangout for male models...check out Derek Zoolander, Hansel and Fabio!

Easter with the Cowan-Ropers!

2007-04-10T08:14:00.000-07:00

Jenny and Glenn invited us to spend Easter weekend with them in Ottawa - can I just say how excited I am that Ottawa and Montreal are less than two hours apart!!!!! Hurry up and get out here Jenny.

Glenn's brother and wife joined us with their amazing puppy Indi and we spent the weekend feasting on turkey, lamb and all the fixins! We also squeezed in a bit of time from all the food and drinks for a walk around the area where Glenn's house is as well as a trip to the National Art Gallery. If you have time check out the artist Ron Muek - seriously some of the most amazing art I have ever seen. http://www.national.gallery.ca/mueck/. Anyways, here are some of the pictures from the trip.

PS. all hopes of every having a puppy have been dashed by the allergic reaction that Steve had to Indi on the way home Sunday night - the only puppy ever to enter our house I'm afraid will be battery operated. He does look good with one though -non?

Le Madrid

2007-04-02T18:54:00.000-07:00

Dinosours and monster cars...need I say more?

Maple Trees and Sugar Shacks

2007-04-02T18:23:00.000-07:00

Jenn and Steve and I visited a maple farm (do they call it that?) and a sugar shack on Sunday. Here's how it all goes down ...

In the spring when the night temperature falls below zero and the day temperatures rise above zero the pressure in the maple trees change and the maple water starts to flow. Maple farmers drill holes in trees that are older than 50 years and then attach little metal taps that drip into little metal buckets that hang from the trees. (A tree usually lives until it's 200 years old and up to three taps can be placed in the bigger trees)

Maple farmers then tromp through the snow to collect the maple water and take the water back to the sugar shack to be turned into maple syrup. The maple water is clear and tastes slightly sweet and mapley, mmmm good. The maple water is then stirred and boiled until it turns into syrup. Maple syrup comes in different colours depending upon whether it is collected - at the beginning or the end of the season. (the season lasts about a month each year). Real maple syrup connoisseurs can tell the difference between these differently aged syrups.

To make maple toffee the maple syrup is boiled even longer until it is thick then poured in the snow! Delicious!

Finally, maple butter is made by whipping the maple toffee until it turns white and creamy!

Who ever knew there were so many steps to making maple syrup or so many yummy ways to enjoy it!

La Mere et Le Pere de Dom

2007-04-02T18:12:00.000-07:00

Dom's parents live between Le Massif and Quebec City in Mont St. Anne which is another little ski town on the St. Lawrence river. We stayed at their chalet with them last weekend and had a great time. They are both sensational cooks and so much fun! Dom's dad loves to take pictures too so we had a great time sharing great food, great wine, great conversations and lots of great pictures! Thanks so much for your hospitality and we cannot wait to come back for the next visit!

Le Massif Open

2007-04-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Jenn, Dom, Steve and I took a road trip to Quebec City so that we could compete in the Le Massif open. The Le Massif open is a skier cross which entails screaming down a hill for approximately 2.5 minutes all the while navigating drops and rollers which are strategically placed in the skiers path. Oh yah, and then they threw in a table top at the bottom of the course just in case anyone could still feel their legs.

I was the first female skier to the bottom (as the first girl ended up in the net) and finished my run by exploding off the newly shaved table top and landing completely on my back! (Who rebuilds a jump after a course closes at the end of training!)

Next down in our group was Steve-O...I resisted the urge to radio up and say that it was too dangerous for him to compete and he eventually cruised to the bottom in just over three minutes! Not the fastest of the day but he did it with style!

Finally, last roomie down was Dom, who competed despite having the stomach flu - he finished fourth after being outdone by the racers with their long sharp waxed skis! Dom's friends also competed and Jenn fore ran the afternoon finals. At the end of the day everyone went to the lodge for a massive party with drinks and food and bands. We had such a fun day!

I should also add that Le Massif is one of the most spectacular ski hills that I have ever skied at.

Sneak Preview...

2007-04-02T17:30:00.000-07:00

Jenn and I spent two days filming a ski movie in Jasper last week. It was tons of fun and the weather was awesome. Blue bird skies and fresh powder! What more could anyone ask for...well... maybe the chance to ski in a Warren Miller ski movie in the fall!!!!!!! Yup, everyone needs to check us out in the upcoming Warren Miller. We filmed a ski movie for Travel Alberta that is going to be shown at the start of each Warren Miller movie next year!! SO COOL! My dad was pretty impressed too!

She Laughs in the Face of Danger...

2007-04-02T17:25:00.000-07:00

You would never know from these photos that Jess thinks that freestyle skiing is sickeningly dangerous and as such her children's skis will never be able to scream down a mogul run or soar through the air.

Common Jess, you are a tough chick...can your kids please please please learn how to ski with mine one day?

There's No Place Like Home

2007-04-02T17:07:00.000-07:00

I love Montreal - the moist air, the French culture, the architecture, the food, and most importantly my roomies. That being said there is no place like home! It was so great to spend some time in Alberta and I managed to stop in Calgary, Jasper and Edmonton. I started my trip in Calgary at the Freestyle Nationals.

Here are a couple of pictures from the event which took place at Canada Olympic Park. The moguls course is brand new and one of the best on tour. Jenn destroyed the moguls one more time this year to let everyone know that she is Ms. Moguls and it was so much fun so many friends and family there!

Winter in Quebec City

2007-03-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

We took a trip to Quebec City and we lucky enough to stay at Chez Dom as well as get a tour of the city from a bona fide local! I love to visit Quebec City. Here are some pictures from Old Quebec and the St. Lawrence.

Alex and Ariana in Montreal

2007-03-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Fruit stand at Atwater Market by out house

St. Sauveur
Fog on the St. Lawrence
Spring Fashions - Look out Edmonton...
Steak and Frites

Well we went from a quiet little existence of just Steve and I to having a full house last week. Jenn and Dom arrived home Monday afternoon and Alex and Ariana arrived later that night.

We had such a great with Alex and Ariana - touring the sites, eating and most importantly hitting the stores for the latest Montreal fashions! We had one shopping issue when Steve and Alex both tried on the same outfit and insisted that each be the one to buy it. Ariana settled the argument by refusing to let either of them get the outfit which was a great loss for both of us because they looked so stinkin hot in them. Yah to hot tight yellow pants!

We also toured St. Sauveur, Quebec City and the countryside around Baie St Paul. Plus, Alex and Ariana crammed in a trip to Ottawa for a couple of days amongst all of this. Here are the first chunck of pictures from the trip, in no particular order.

Hopefully they are not to tired from their very busy vacation!
PS. we are taking reservations for the next set of visitors that want to come our way. We promise to keep you entertained!

Ottawa with the Burns

2007-03-04T19:27:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Steve and I took a mini-break to visit family friends in Ottawa. Once of my dad's oldest and best friends lives there and they invited down for the weekend to show us some of Ottawa's sites.

Because any form of cold is a big deal in my family - a cold around Christmas is liable to result in expulsion from Christmas events -we initially called and cancelled the trip. However, the Burns do not share the same paranoia for germs and as such welcomed us and our germs into their home.

On Saturday we skating on the Rideau Canal with Bruce and Andrew, ate beaver tails, toured the major architectural sites and then enjoyed a great dinner at their house.

On Sunday we ate pancakes covered in hot maple syrup and then wandered the National Art Gallery. These are a couple of pictures from our trip.

Happy Birthday to Me

2007-03-04T18:17:00.000-08:00

Last week I celebrated my 27th birthday. While my darling husband did unfortunately pass along his germs and give me a nasty headcold, he made it up to me by cooking me a wonderful roasted chicken dinner and then later using the leftovers to make chicken soup for our colds. What a sweet guy. Also, this year, since we are in the land of the French we passed on birthday cake and instead had birthday creme brule.

PS. Thanks so much for all the birthday cards, calls and e-mails, its was great to hear from everyone!

My Love Affair With Ochiel

2007-03-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

From the second that I guessed she was pregnant (she wasn't going to tell me that night because she was there to celebrate something with Steve and I) I feel in love with this kid. When her belly started to swell, I wanted to call the bump Gus but she was scared that if it turned out to be a girl, the baby would arrive with a beard - so we, Jody, Ryan and I - settled on Flip because of all the spinning and twisting it did in her belly. When she finally got big, I would push on her belly and Flip would kick back, sometimes an arm, sometimes a leg.

She tracked me down at work to let me know that she couldn't make our plans for that night. I asked if she was okay and she replied "fine, its just that I had a baby this morning".

I arrived at the hospital within hours and she and Ryan and I walked to the NICU to see Baby Audenart. She is the opposite of me and never pre-plans so there was no name yet. He was tiny, he was wonderful, he was perfect. I visited as often as I could arriving with Jennifer, Steve and Amy excited to show off Ochiel Madden Audenart.

When he finally came home from the hospital our nights of girl chatter switched to simply staring at all the funny and wonderful things that he could do - like kick a leg or blow a spit bubble. We went for walks and she let me carry him. People would stop us and say what a beautiful baby I had - I just smiled and agreed with them, she didn't mind.

When we realized we were moving to Montreal I scheduled Jody and Ochiel time in an attempt to make up for all of the times that I was going to miss.

And each time I see him he is more beautiful than the last and I love him a little bit more.

Jods - thanks for letting me be Auntie Amie.

Wow Wow Wee Ahh!!!

2007-03-02T08:54:00.000-08:00

After navigating 42 time zones over the last 8 weeks my little sister was brilliant again!!! Today Jenn won her 4th World Cup Mogul event in a row to clinch the Crystal Globe (overall World Title again this year!) We are so proud of her that I just had to share!

Here is the link to todays score if you want to check it out! http://db.fisski.com/live/ When you get here then click, moguls, women, finals.

Way to go Jenn!

Steve's Week of Freedom

2007-02-18T16:20:00.000-08:00

Well, after a over a week of the crazy 'bachelor' lifestyle, it's time to settle back down into married life. But before I go to pick Amie up at the airport tomorrow, I thought I'd use the blog as a forum for reminiscing about the last nine CRAZY days. The first thing I did was start growing a beard. Just like in the playoffs, it's very bad luck to shave when you are on a freedom week. Check it out . . . not too bad for a little white guy. Second on the list was my double-date (or maybe I should say simultaneous date) with the couch and the TV. The three of us were joined later on (and by later on, I mean a day or two later) by some pizza and beer (see photo 2).

All of that left me quite tired so I decided to get out and get some fresh air . . . but since the wind was blowing snow outside so hard that it looked like Everest during the 1996 disaster, I decided to stay in. So, I felt it was time to have some friends come over. It was Wednesday night, a good night for some cards: I invited the girls from Condo #403 to come down to play some poker (the 'strip' variety, of course (see photo 3). We had fun but the girls wouldn't put-out even after they split the 40 of rum I had bought for exactly that purpose. I think the pictures of Amie and I all over the house might have made them slightly uncomfortable (next time I'll get some brunettes, they have less developed morals).

My bender was over and so was the storm, so I thought I'd go out and do what all men do when they are left to their own devices . . . visit the pet store to look at puppies!!! Amie NEVER lets me go to the pet store. I'm always like, 'Amie, come on, let's just go look . . . we don't have to get one.' Secretly I'm hoping that one day we'll meet a really cute one that she can't say 'no' to. Anyway, this guy (see photo 4) was the cutest little puppy you ever did see, with a little wet nose and a perpetually wagging tail. Can we bring him home honey, PLEASE??? Finally, by the time Sunday rolled around (that's today) I only had one more day of freedom. Instead of going down to church, like I usually do on the Sabbath, I stayed home and did some much needed studying. I have a huge amount of reading to do, and in the name of the 'go-getter' attitude I've always possessed, I started with the most difficult book first (see photo 5). Anyway, that was my week. Boy am I glad that Amie's coming home tomorrow. Life's pretty boring without her!

Don't Drink the Water

2007-01-28T09:07:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of pictures from along the canal. Wouldn't drink the water but it sure is beautiful.

Decrepit Beauty

2007-01-28T08:15:00.000-08:00

We live a block off the Lachine Canal in Montreal's old industrial area. Now a Canadian Heritage Site, the Lachine Canal, in its heyday was one an engineering feat. The Lachine Rapids, in the St. Lawrence were too strong for freight boats, so the Canal was built as a detour into the port. With the Canal came industry and brick factories sprung up all along the banks of the canal. Today the freighters are powerful enough to make it through the rapids and the Canal is a historical site and a playground for small pleasure crafts. Also, the re-gentrification process is occurring all along the Canal as old factories are turned into upscale condos and lofts.

The pictures here are of an old factory which hasn't been re-gentrified but for some reason Steve and I both find its decrepit graffitied shell beautiful. Every time we run past it we always remark that we should come back and take pictures so yesterday, when the sun was shining and the sky crisp and blue, we did just that.

Winter in Montreal

2007-01-16T14:11:00.000-08:00

We woke up yesterday to our first winter storm of the year. Not too bad considering its January 16th today and last week was +7!

All in all we received about a foot of snow which brought the entire city to a standstill... seriously, they drive like maniacs when the roads are dry and not even cars sliding backwards or sideways down the hilly streets slow them down. As JP would say, good times, good times!

Mont Gabriel World Cup

2007-01-12T08:15:00.000-08:00

Well, the 2006-2007 World Cup season has started more with a fizzle than a bang as contest after contest gets cancelled due to the lack of snow. Seriously, no snow in Eastern Canada, the Eastern US and Europe!

Despite the lack of snow in Quebec and in spite of the abundance of rain that fell all weekend, the Mont Gabriel World Cup ran last weekend so Steve and I went up to the hill to watch it. (Mont Gabriel is about an hours drive from Montreal in the Laurentians.)

Dom's possy of friends from Montreal and Quebec City also came out to party and cheer on Jenn and the B210 Team and I have to admit, they do it a lot better than we do at home. Seriously, I wish I didn't have to say this, I wish it could be different, but the pictures speak for themselves...Check out the tents, the propane fuelled cheese fondue and the crowds of 30-somethings ripping it up in the pouring rain on the side of the ski hill.

And finally...

A big shout out to Dom because he got all of his skiers on the B210 team into the finals. Way to go Dom and all the B210 team!

Also, Congrats to Alex on your third place finish in men's moguls!

And Jenn...she finished first in the semi's only to be attacked by the slush gods after the first air who ate her ski and refused to let her ski past. However, she showed everyone who is boss in the women's bosse yesterday bouncing back with a second place finish in Deer Valley. Way to go Jenn!

New Years 2007

2007-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

We celebrated New Years at the lake and the night included skating, hockey, lake rock curling, dinner, games and as always, great conversation!

Jasper

2007-01-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

We went skiing in Jasper from the 27th to the 29th. The snow was amazing and the company even better. Such a good time and a great place to celebrate Steve's 26th birthday.

Our Baby Fix

2007-01-07T14:48:00.000-08:00

Since it took me six year to twist Steve's arm on the matter of marriage, I'm guessing that it will entail another six years of arm twisting before he is ready for kids...but as Dave said at the wedding, Steve takes his time just because he's thorough!

Anyways, for now, we(me) fill our baby fixes by oogling our friends' cute babies and this Christmas we finally got to meet Dave and Nicole's new baby daughter Maddilon and of course, soaked up as much Osh time as we could. Osh didn't know what to make of Steve for the first little while!

We also got a night of Ami (no pictures though) and saw a picture of Lex's 5 month ultrasound! So many new little people to play with.

Winter at the Lake

2007-01-07T14:41:00.000-08:00

The lake is one of my favorite places on earth and with the new cabin its become a four season resort! This Christmas we cleared and flooded a skating rink which was great for hockey, tag and lake rock curling. Also, this year the ice heaved and as such there is a beautiful ridge of ice all along the shore of the lake. Here are some pictures from the cabin this winter.

Home for the Holidays

2007-01-07T14:25:00.000-08:00

Well, we flew home on the 9th and stayed until January 1st and every day was action packed! So much fun. I worked for a couple of weeks and then we had Steve's dad's birthday, the Roger's family dinner on the 23rd, the Gusa Annual Christmas party on the 23rd, Christmas Eve brunch with the Rogers on the 24th and a drop in at the Heil/Mark Christmas Eve Brunch, Christmas Eve dinner with the Henderson/ Heil crew, Christmas breakfast with my parents and grandparents at the lake, Christmas brunch with the Heil/ McSporran's at the lake, Christmas dinner with the Rogers, Boxing Day at the lake with Heil's, Roger's, Mark's and Wakals, then celebrated Steve's birthday on the 27th in Jasper and skied the 28th and 29th in Jasper...quickly drove back to Edmonton and saw a couple of other important people on the 30th followed by dinner at Steve's Grandma's before finally wrapping up the trip with a New Years event at the lake. We flew home on January 1st and have been unwinding from our Crazy Christmas trip home.

It was wonderful to see everyone and unfortunately not enough time to see everyone enough! More pictures of specific events to follow. Miss you all ...

Je me souviens

2006-12-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

Well, our car no longer screams "Alberta" which means that we have no excuse for bad parking jobs and weaving throughout traffic trying to find the right exit. We and the Boo are bona fide Quebekers, at least on the road that is! Alex and Steph will also find it really funny that our licence plate spells "PWD". Here are a couple of picutres of Steve giving the Boo her makeover. The background is our underground heated garage...NICE.
Two more sleeps till we come home. Cannot wait to see everyone!

Madeline Wilson

2006-12-01T10:32:00.000-08:00

Our good friends Dave and Nicole had a beautiful baby girl on October 29, 2006 and we finally got our hands on some pictures of her. She is just so beautiful and we are just so excited to come home and meet her at Christmas!

A Touch of Alberta

2006-12-01T10:21:00.000-08:00

Last weekend my parents visited us in Montreal. We had such a great time showing them around our condo and the city. They arrived Thursday night and we treated them to a Montreal special - steak and frits. Friday we went to a spa up by Mont Ste Gabrielle where we enjoyed the hot - cold - relaxation treatment followed by dinner with JD, Andy and their family. Saturday the ladies shopped and the men did art galleries and home renovations afterwhich we all regrouped for a night out at the Habs game. Sunday was a bit more sightseeing before we dropped them off at the airport. It was great to get a burst of home to prepare us for our return to Edmonton on December 9, 2006...only 8 days to go, I cannot wait! See you soon!

Jenny and Glenn

2006-11-21T16:38:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Steve and I took a roadtrip to Ottawa to visit our good friends Jenny and Glenn. We had such a fun time! After a delicious and body concious breakfast of eggs benny and hashbrowns at Glenn's house in Kanata (a suburb just outside of Ottawa) we were off to enjoy a day at the spa. Le Nordik is located just outside of Ottawa in the Gatineau hills. You rotate between hot-cold-rest stations which means that you start with either a steam or a sauna and then a freezing cold waterfall followed by resting in a calming room sipping tea. You do this three or four times and then relax in a hottub to finish off. It was wonderful!

Hanging the Hook - Part Trois

2006-11-14T20:03:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that we had a mascot?

Hanging the Hook - Part Deux

2006-11-14T19:39:00.000-08:00

Did I mention that we had a mascot and a sponsor (tower of Base drink shown above), the music rocked so loud that the speakers blew and all of our neighbours still love us? Viewer discretion advised for the following photos!

Hanging of the Hook

2006-11-14T18:55:00.000-08:00

This past Saturday we celebrated the "Hanging of the Hook" which in Alberta terms translates into the "House Warming Party". The Hanging of the Hook used to occur when someone built a new home and then hung the hook for their pots over the hearth. While we didn't actually hang the hook a lot of us ended up hung over!

Our first house warming gift came from the Quebec government a couple of weeks ago when they issued us what is known as the "Welcome tax" (a tax equal to your property taxes that must be paid each time you purchase a new property). However, lessening the pain somwhat significantly were Dom and Jenn's friends along with our Edmonton celebrity, Zippy Zarzeczny, and Steve's friends from school who came over to help us celebrate our new home. Attached please find 4 of the 5 blog appropriate pictures.

Note, the following all take place prior to our guests arriving!

Let's go Oilers, Let's Go!!

2006-11-09T19:03:00.000-08:00

Steve, Jenn, Dom and I went to the Edmonton/ Montreal hockey game on Tuesday night! What fun and what bang for our buck - 4 goals, 40 fights, overtime, shootout, and to top it off we got to park where the players do! Throughout the game Steve and I loudly cheered for the Oilers, Jenn sat on the fence and Dom cursed, hissed and applauded with all the other Frenchies in the building that were cheering for the Habs. Here are a couple of pictures from the night. The Bently in the picture belongs to Saku Koivu and is worth +$350K. Just think, if we put our houses on wheels we all could compete!

I'm on a roll...

2006-11-05T19:08:00.000-08:00

We really do live in the best area of town. Everything is close to our house - grocery stores, market, parks, restaurants, movie store, movie theatre, Rona, car inspection shop, winshield repair shop, Costco, recyle centre, UNESCO World Heritage Site - basically, you name it and we got it. Today it didn't start raining until later in the day so Jenn, Dom, Steve and I headed out for breakfast. Check out the line-up for the restaurant - that's how cool our neighbourhood breakfast spot is!

Also, we have ginormous squirrels in this neighbourhood. We thought of marketing them as purse squirrels, kinda like the celebarity purse dogs...if this take off good-bye law!
Anways, here are a couple more pictures from our hood.

Our Beautiful Wedding Gifts

2006-11-05T18:59:00.000-08:00

This blog is mostly for my parents, my grandparents and for Steve's Grandma so that they can see the beautiful wedding gifts that they bought us. After scouring the city for furiture and lamps these were the pieces that we took home with us. Well, actually the Bay delivered a lot of it and the moving men we not impressed to find out that we live on the third floor and there is no elevator! They likely won't ever come back. Thanks again so much everyone, we love it all.

More of the Pad

2006-10-31T15:40:00.000-08:00

I've been a bad blogger as of late. It's really not my fault though - more, Montreal's. See, as I have mentioned before, all it does is rain here which puts quite a damper on exploring and wandering around the city. Steve was having coffee with one of his profs last week and commented that this fall has not been that nice. His prof's reply, "Not that nice - this weather is Sh*t!". Well, I second that! And, what makes things even tougher is that with the daylight savings out here, it's pitch black at 4:30!

But, Montreal is known for its shopping and this is one indoor activity that we have been taking advantage of lately. We have been shopping up a storm for our new condo and basically have everything up and running. Jennifer also now has the skill set to be one of the IKEA dudes that drives around an puts together the furniture for an extra $100 bucks after spending all of last week assembling a mammoth wardrobe!

So...here are a couple more pictures of the condo with some of our new acquisitions. We have a housewarming party next Friday and of course everyone is invited but so far the only on to RSVP is Amy. Appetizers start at 6pm, pre-party hosted by "Frank the Tank" at Chez Magnon starts at 4. We promise it will be a good one...

Old Montreal

2006-10-22T19:05:00.000-07:00

Today we cruised around town and checked out some of the historical elements of the city. We started at Old Montreal and saw some neat stuff there! The blue bus is an Amphibus (how cool) as it drives around town doing tours and then cruises into the water and turns into a boat! I wanted to go for a ride but it was 30 bucks.

After Old Montreal we cruised over to our neighboorhood and refuelled with some delicious poutine! (it was a good thing I got lost running yesterday and ended up running for 1.5 hours!). Finally, we stumbled accross the oldest building in Montreal. This house was owned by Marguerite Bourgeoys and she housed the Filles du Roi (the Kings Girls) who came over in the late 1600s to marry the French-Canadian men. The Kings Girls were poor or orphaned Frenchwomen that didn't have dowrys. So, when they came to Canada they learned how to run a homestead and the King paid their dowrys when they married. Apparently the ratio was 12 men to 1 woman (a ratio that even Tom might not have been successful with).

The Pad

2006-10-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

Here is our home sweet home. It's been really fun sharing a place with Jenn and Dom and we have been madly scrambling around these last couple of weeks to outfit our new digs. Since Jenn and Dom have been in Europe, Steve and I have taken the liberty to hang a couple of pictures without clearing it with the boss...Jenn we hope these meet with your approval! We miss you guys both and cannot wait to take you to dinner at this new little restaurant we found called Steve Beef! Also of note, Steve and I got our mattress this weekend and our new bedroom furniture comes next week so good-bye floor.

Out and About

2006-10-21T15:20:00.000-07:00

Well, it's almost been a month so as seasoned Montrealer's we feel qualified to make some generalizations about the city now: 1) they speak French here 2) it rains a lot 3) they drive faster than my dad 4) you don't have to pay a deposit on wine bottles 5) there are a lot more people here than at home. We are also offering tours to anyone interested! Just let us know when you are coming. The pictures here are from different places that we have been to throught the city. The "castle like" structure is Steve's music building, the skyline close to our house, the Robin Hood flour factory (seriously they are one of our neighbours!), a parkclose to our house and the St.Lawrence River at the start of the Lachine canal (looks more like a lake here!). We miss you all!

Charlevoix

2006-10-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

Jenn and Dom gave us a weekend away in the beautiful area of Charlevoix for our wedding present. Yah Jenn and Dom! Charlevoix is a district one hour past Quebec City (4 hours from Montreal) composed of tiny little town filled with farmers and artists. We stayed at the Fairmount Richelieu in La Malbaie. The hotel looked out over the St. Lawrence River which was so wide that you couldn't see accross it. (At this point the river has tides, smells like the ocean and is referred to as the St. Lawrence Shipping Way) We also went hiking in a provincial park called Hautes-Gorges where we hiked in an area that is a UNESCO World Heritage site. These are some of the pictures from our delayed but not forgotten honeymoon!

Welcome to Montreal

2006-10-16T19:48:00.000-07:00

Despite that Steve says I have entered new nerdiness with the upcoming blogging, here goes...

Its been three weeks and counting since we arrived. I can now, in French, ask where the toilet is, order food and ask for the water/ salt/ etc to be passed to me accross the table! Oh, and I can also say that I got married recently. Not so great at understanding the fast French though. Last weekend Steve (what was he thinking) asked me what the waitress asked (she said something that sounded like soup to me, so I said she had asked if he wanted soup with his panini. Actually, she had asked if he wanted to eat in or take it to go. Who new...anyways, didn't he look like an idiot when he replied, no soup thanks!

Here are some pictures of the area in Montreal where we live.