The 2011 Year in Review

2011 has proven to have had a theme and that is Travel. Wanderlust or itchy feet, we needed to get out and see places and visit this year. We rang in 2011 with a visit to Upper Canada Village’s illuminations.

January not being cold enough in Montreal, we decided to let these guys blow a hole in our dining room wall and install a patio door instead, with eventual plans to add a deck off the back of the house (more later).

March saw Nicolas contributing to the advancement of science in a sleep study conducted by McGill University. This didn’t hurt, honest. April was a tad traumatic for Nicolas as he underwent minor surgery but he got to ride in a wheelchair and a week off school!

June marks a child’s favourite time of the year – end of school! Sophie marked the end of her first year of Sparks by attending her first-ever sleep-away camp. This being girls, of course, they got to bring their Mummies along. Camp was lots of fun, even swimming in the frigid lake.

July brought the first vacation of the summer – a trip to visit Aunty Leslie and Uncle Charles on Grand Manan, this time taking Grandma Daigle along for her first visit to the island. The kids enjoyed playing tour guide.

In August we traveled to Connecticut to visit with Aunty Suzanne & Uncle Chris. On the way home we made a pilgrimage to historic Deerfield, Massachussetts where, in 1704 Daddy, Nick & Sophie’s (note, Karen is deliberately staying out of this one) ancestor Hertel de Rouville raided and burned down the village, hence the “historic” Deerfield. Read all about it!

Hertel de Rouville descendants at the marker recounting the tale

The illustrious Hertel de Rouville

August also found us back at our favourite rustic cabin in Mont Tremblant. We crave the peace and tranquility of the mountains and lakes where we can spend a few days swimming, hiking, boating or just catching up on our reading.

Sophie turned 6 in September and Nicolas turned 10 in November. They are bright, funny, outgoing with us, but shy with others, and smart. Both can hold their own in French conversations and bring home great report cards. Nick is still a Cub Scout and Sophie a Spark, having lots of fun but also doing lots of volunteer work in the community. Karen is still involved with the Dorval Elementary Governing Board and the Dorval Day Camp Parent Committee, so perhaps those acorns are falling not far from the tree at all.

Our travels resumed in October when we decided to cash in some Aeroplan points and take the kids to Florida over Canadian Thanksgiving. We spent four days at Disney, one day at the newly-opened LegoLand Florida and a few days back “home” in Tampa, visiting Aunty Tracy, Uncle Lloyd and cousins Will and Lleyton. Sophie thoroughly enjoyed her first plane rides, both she and Nicolas love air travel now. We all enjoyed Disney but Nick’s subsequent French oral presentation about La Meilleure Journée de Ma Vie was all about LegoLand!

Florida kids know to bring ponchos. Before long, we were all soaked to the bone.

So, back to that deck. Here are the before and after pictures of our backyard. Karen is thrilled that she can finally stop traipsing food back and forth through the family room every time we want to BBQ or eat outdoors, and the kids have already found a very good alternative use for the deck – a stage. Worth every penny.

December is a busy month for everyone. This December we had to acknowledge a very special birthday this year as Grandma Daigle celebrated her 80th birthday on December 16th. Happy Birthday!

The rest of December was business as usual. Sophie sang, with her school, at the annual Dorval Tree Lighting Ceremony on December 5th. We attended both the CAE and PwC Kids' Christmas parties this year and they kids actually visited both Santa's... and the Dorval Gardens mall Santa!  Have we turned a corner???

Christmas Eve means reading both The Nightmare before Christmas and The Night before Christmas.

We had Christmas dinner at Grandma Daigle's with Aunty Leslie & Uncle Charles.

So, in the dawn of 2012, we are all in good health & good spirits and hope the same is true of all our family & friends!