It's a little chilly, n'est-ce pas?

"My feet are cold," I whined. Hubby gave my feet a disdainful glare. "What were you thinking?" He asked. "Did you not check the weather for Montreal this weekend?" "I was thinking," I sniffed, "that it wouldn't be nearly this cold." "What's the temperature anyhow?" Asked my older son. "Minus 17 Celsius, without the windchill." "And you decided to wear running shoes?" My son raised an eyebrow. "Did you at least bring a pair of boots?" I hunched my shoulders. "No. My feet are cold." No kidding. Duh.

On est obligé de manger ici?

Le taxi nous avait pris dès l'hôtel et déposé devant un des restaurants que mon père avait recommandé. Malheureusement, le restaurant était plein à craquer. "Si vous patientez pendant une dizaine de minutes, je peux vous offrir une table," me dis un des serveurs. Moi, j'étais d'accord - il faut dire que ça sentait bon là-dedans! Le mari? Moins d'accord. "Mais il y a des restaurants PLEIN Montréal! Pourquoi il a fallut que tu choisisses celui-ci?" Il rouspétait mais accepta néanmoins de rester sur place. Nous ne fûmes pas déçus - sauf par la bière. "Mais qu'est-ce c'est que ce verre?" Ronchonna mon mari. "Un tout petit verre de vin pour une bière? Et puis quoi encore? Apportez-moi la bouteille." Ce qui fut fait et, par la suite, la nourriture arriva. Ouf! Ça va mieux!

Woah! Look at that... elevator???

"Look!" I pointed to the elevators as they closed. Together, the closed doors bore a picture of the heated hotel pool, steam rising from the water as people swam in the depths of winter. "Wow!" B breathed, staring at the doors. I smiled, happy to be sharing this moment with him. That pool looked kind of magical... B grinned as well - but for a different reason. "When the two doors close, they get together and form a picture - it's like puzzle!"

C'est ça l'hôtel?

Il y avait une convention à l'hôtel où nous avions réservé deux chambres. Une convention d'ingénieur. C'est gentil, les ingénieurs. "Les ingénieurs aiment faire la fête," mon grand fils remarqua alors qu'un groupe d'ingénieurs nous croisèrent. Nous étions en train de rentrer dans l'hôtel et, bouteilles d'alcool en main, les ingénieurs rentraient aussi. "Ça risque d'être bruyant ce soir," je notais, pas très joyeusement, moi. Chaque ingénieur portait un minimum de trois bouteilles, ce qui faisait... Beaucoup d'alcool... (Le mari, qui n'était déjà pas très heureux lors de notre arrivée grâce aux routes qui n'étaient pas déblayées "comme il faut", ne risquait pas d'être content...)

I do NOT like this place

Hubby was not pleased. We'd flown to Montreal. That was fine. We'd landed in Montreal. That was fine. We'd gotten our rental car. That too was fine. We'd started driving toward downtown Montreal in the rental car. Yeah, no. That was NOT fine. "There are potholes everywhere!" Griped hubby. "And did you see the way they cleared the snow? They've left piles everywhere. This is terrible!" "At least the GPS is programmed to the right hotel address," I said brightly, sticking said GPS onto the inside of the windshield. "You don't know that yet," hubby said glumly. Ah. True...

Je ne m'assoie pas avec toi, maman?

Dans l'avion, il y avait des sièges deux par deux. "Je m'assoie où, maman?" "Là." Je montre le siège à B. "Tout seul?" "Non. Ton grand frère va s'asseoir avec toi." "Et toi? Tu vas faire quoi?" "Moi? Je vais m'asseoir tranquillement avec ton papa." Pour une fois, ce sera quelqu'un d'autre qui s'occupera de B pendant le vol...

Waiting for B's brother

"When is my brother getting here?" B asked for the umpteenth time. "I'm not sure. He's taking the bus and subway here. He could get here any minute now." "And then we can play?" "Actually no." "Why not?" B whined. "Because we have to go to sleep shortly. We're taking a plane first thing tomorrow morning. That's why we're staying here at the hotel and that's why your brother is meeting us here." "I wanted to play." B pouted. "You'll get lots of opportunities to play in Montreal." "Is there a pool in Montreal?" "Yes." "Okay. I'm ready to go to bed then."

Ah. C'est ça l'hiver?

"T'as vu la neige, maman?" B n'arrivait pas à tenir en place. "Il n'y avait pas de neige en Nouvelle Zélande." "C'est vrai." "Il n'y avait pas de neige à Fiji." "Ça c'est vraiment vrai." "Il n'y avait pas de neige en France." "On a eu de la chance." "Et il n'y avait pas de neige à New York." "C'est vrai. Il a fait plutôt chaud cette fois-ci." "Mais chez nous, il y a de la neige." "Oui, en effet." "Et si on allait au parc avec ma luge?" "Excellente idée!"

Okay. No more trips for us...

In the last two months, we'd been around the world. We'd been to Europe. We'd been to New Zealand. We'd been to New York. We'd been to Fiji. I was looking forward to one thing and one thing only: no more packing for a loooooooong time to come. "Did I tell you we're going to Montreal in a couple of weeks?" Hubby asked. Sigh.

Et pour notre dernière journée à New York?

Il fallait choisir une activité pas trop dispendieuse à New York. Du coup, on ne savait pas trop quoi faire. Qu'est-ce qu'il y a de pas trop cher à faire? J'ai suggéré un musée mais cela n'enthousiasmait personne. Du coup, on a marché. Et on a marché. Et on a encore marché. En fait, il faisait beau et pas trop froid et au final, nous sommes allés au restaurant Dinosaur BBQ qui était bruyant, certes, mais où la nourriture était hyper bonne. Après, nous nous sommes tous retrouvés, ma famille et celle de mon frère, dans notre chambre d'hôtel où nous avons dégusté plein de bonnes choses achetées au marché de Grand Central Station, histoire de bien terminer notre visite... Et les enfants ont ouverts leurs cadeaux de Noël - dont un pistolet et des barils miniatures. C'était l'idée de QUI, ça???

Crisis Time!

B's jaw dropped open. "What do you mean, I can't have that stuffed animal like they used in the Lion King show?" I patiently tried to explain that his cousin, who is a few years younger than him, would feel left out. His parents would not have the money to offer him the toy and it would give rise to bad feelings. "But I have bad feelings now," B pointed out somewhat reasonably. "I would really like that toy." "I'm sorry. You can't have it." He stomped his boot into the theatre's carpet. "I want that toy. I want it now." "You definitely can't have it." He then proceeded to scream and yell that he HAD to have the toy. Hubby, my brother and his wife and B's cousins all left while B had a meltdown near the top of the theatre's stairs. So I sat down next to my distraught little boy and waited for the storm to blow over. And no. He did not get the toy he so wanted...

Le Roi Lion... sur Broadway

Pour couronner la soirée, mon mari avait prévu une belle sortie pour toute la famille: le spectacle du Roi Lion sur Broadway. Les enfants, bon, surtout les deux garçons, sautillaient d'impatience. Nous sommes rentrés dans le théâtre où nous avions des sièges au balcon, premier rang. Qui dit mieux? Et bien tout le monde pourrait vous dire que le spectacle a été excellent et qu'ils ont beaucoup apprécié... Mais pas moi. Moi, je me suis endormie à peine cinq minutes suite à la levée des rideaux. Je me suis réveillée à l'entracte et hop! Re-dodo après. J'avais déjà vu le Roi Lion à Toronto et j'avais adoré mais là... je ne me souviens de rien! Bon. On rentre se coucher à l'hôtel?

Are we there YET?

As soon as the cousins and their parents arrived, we had a bite to eat and then... We walked. We walked all over New York City, it seemed. We walked to the Rockefeller Centre. We walked to Central Park. We walked toward Broadway, trying to find a restaurant after discovering that the restaurant we wanted had a line up an hour long. Sigh... Finally, we stopped in front of an Asian fusion restaurant that, like all the other restaurants, seemed full. Except that they told us we'd have a ten minute wait tops! Yay! All that walking made us hungry. And cranky... (The picture is of the inside of the diner we wanted to go to but didn't get to go to...)

Il arrive quand, mon cousin?

B ne tenait plus en place. "Il arrive quand, N?" "Après le déjeuner. Nous irons les rencontrer, lui et ta tante et ton oncle et ta cousine, à leur hôtel." "Youpi!" S'exclama B, tout excité. "Il est loin leur hôtel?" "À dix minutes d'ici - ce n'est pas très loin, hein?" "Euh, dix minutes en taxi, pas à pied?" Voulu préciser B. En fait, il s'agissait de 10 minutes à pied mais je préférais de passer sous silence, vu que B n'aime pas les promenades...

Bryant Park

One of my very favourite things to do in New York City in December is to go to Bryant Park. This trip was no exception. We walked a few blocks from the hotel to the Park and lined up for hot chocolate. Not that I managed to finish the hot chocolate: for some reason, it was waaaaaayyyyy sweeter than I remembered it to be. We looked at the clothes and the jewelry and watched the skaters swing around the rink in the middle of the park. And then I saw it. A t-shirt that I just HAD to have. It said: "Normal people scare me". Oh. Yes.

Okay so we're in New York City and our room isn't ready...

We sat in the lobby of the hotel for a little while, waiting to speak to someone about leaving our luggage. "Where do you want to go?" I asked hubby. He shrugged. "Want to go check out the Top of the Rock?" I asked. "Whuzzat?" "The top of the Rockefeller Centre. Apparently the view is awesome from there." Unfortunately, it turned out that before getting to the top of the rock, one should probably book their ticket online first because the line-up is atrocious. Atrocious. Seriously. We ended up with a two hour wait before being allowed onto the elevator. "What about we go to the Lego store?" B suggested pointing at the store behind the giant Christmas tree. Ugh. Okay then...

Et on repart. De bonne heure.

"Il est à quelle heure notre avion?" Le mari, valise en main et le visage barbouillé de fatigue voulait savoir. "À 9 heures." Heureusement, la température était clémente et notre vol partit et arriva à l'heure donc pas d'attente interminable. Et entre Noël et le jour de l'an, on se retrouvait à... New York, New York!!!

Okay so who's coming for Christmas?

It turned out that neither grandmother wanted to come, each for their own set of reasons. Minus two. No girlfriend or boyfriend attended. Was there enough food? Yup. Were there enough presents? Are you kidding me? What was the big surprise of the day? Apparently, we are going to Peru for my 50th birthday - and everyone's invited!!!

Il reste combien de jours avant Noël?

Au final, il ne restait pas du tout assez de jours avant Noël. Je me suis retrouvée avec B à la maison sans voiture. Et il y avait des courses à faire. Évidemment, puisque Noël arrivait et que nous avions voyagé pendant la plus grande partie du mois de décembre. Heureusement, le supermarché est à quelques minutes de marche. Malheureusement, les courses pour une grande famille? C'est lourd...

Hey! I'm trying to say goodbye here!

B chased after R but she would have none of him. He stopped and stared at her as she raced toward the chicken coop. "Are you all packed up?" R's grandmother asked. B nodded. "I just want to say goodbye to R though," he said. "Well," R's grandmother waved her hand dismissively. "She's over there. Go tell her!" B followed the instructions obligingly, sidled up to R and tried to plant a kiss on her cheek. She turned around and stomped her foot, frowned and pointed at her grandmother who waved at them. "Aren't they too sweet," R's grandmother grinned. I looked over and you know what? Yes. They were very sweet indeed.