Winter in Quebec City

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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!