National Capital Race Weekend

So, one of Gilles' favourite weekends was finally here, and for the first time in two years, he was ready to race! We've run in the races for the past four years together, but the past two were fairly tame as Gilles was injured, I was pregnant, and then in last years, we were pushing a stroller through the crowds. Our friends Andrew and Lena came up with their baby, Steve, and my parents also arrived on the last part of their Ontario tour. We had a full house, a dog and a baby and we were ready to rock. So was my Mom based on the fact that she had inadvertently scheduled their trip to coincide with the biggest and best annual garage sale in the Glebe.

The weekend was great. Weather, stellar! We shopped all morning on Saturday and all managed to find some good deals; the Glebe is a rather large area in Ottawa and everyone participates in this sale, so it's of a magnitude that's hard to imagine until you see it. Mom would still be walking around right now if we had let her take off as I know she wanted to! We all made out with some good buys and capped it off with some Starbuck's breakfast sandwiches, frosty beverages and the purchase of a new trike for Isabelle. It's the first one that we've found that has everything we wanted and thankfully, Isabelle deemed it road worthy and was happy to ride it all the way from Bank Street down the canal home. Unbelievable since it took about 35-40 minutes and I don't think she's ever sat still that long!

Mommy and Belle - Ready to Rock!



Later that afternoon, we took off for the race start and Isabelle enjoyed the kids zone. I ran the 5km race and both Gilles and Andrew did the 10km. This was the first time I had run in a year since the last race with Isabelle in the stroller. I work out, but I was worried about how the run was going to go - cardio at the gym is not the same as a race with 8000 other people! Meg and I talked via e-mail the week before and she told me I could always feign injury should I be a complete disgrace! Turns out I didn't need to. About a kilometre and a half into the race, a young 12-14 year old completely cut me off and I flew over his feet and into the curb. Tore both knees out of my running tights and bruised my ribs. I finished the race anyway. 7th woman in out of 400 in my age category. Mom, Dad, Lena and Isabelle and I took off so that we could watch the boys race across the bottom of our street, and the over the Bronson bridge. It was amazing - and it was really special to have some of our closest friends and Mom and Dad share in it. We cheered the boys on and they raced their hearts out. Gilles made it in right around his target time, and another one of us hit the medical tent! Lena got a call on her BB from a weird number while we waited for them to come home, and when she called it back, it turned out it was the medical staff calling to tell her that Andrew had "hit the wall", so to speak and was going to be all right, just a bit longer than we thought. A big celebration dinner ensued with lots of pizza for everyone. It was great!

Auntie Lena takes Isabelle to swim class....



Sunday was a little calmer! We watched the Marathoner's and cheered them on, went to Isabelle's swimming class (she definitely had a big fan base on the sides) and then went to brunch. When we got home, we blew up Isabelle's new "obstacle bouncy course" and Renee and Shawn brought over Logan to have some fun. Pretty soon there were neighbourhood kids coming to check it out and the party was on again. All in all, a really low key weekend for everyone!

Isabelle's Mom has seriously underestimated the size of her new toy!



Isabelle spies the new toy :)














C'mon in and play guys!















Mom and Dad left, but we let them go without any emotional break downs because in just a few days, Isabelle and I were going to follow them to Halifax to celebrate Meg's birthday!

Bedtime reading with Gran.......

May = Tulip Fest Princess

May is always an exciting month for the Ottawa Constant family. With it comes the Tulip Fest, Mother's Day, our Anniversary, the National Capital Race Weekend and Meg's birthday.

Isabelle has gotten quite used to the crowds of people in what she considers her backyard, but seems quite happy to share it all, especially since it includes buskers, trampoline demonstrations, art exhibits, food stands and balloon makers! She's out and about amongst the flowers several times a day - we're so lucky with a non existent back yard to be able to get out and have such a great space for kicking around the soccer ball, touring around on the new trike etc.

Isabelle and her special "baby" tulip - red in a sea of yellow.



The balloon weiner dog, complete with leash!



What do you mean these are too big!?



See! They fit!



Balloons, balloons and more balloons!



Weekend visit to the Fair - Riding the "Berry Whirl"



Checking out the fun house with Daddy!



Isabelle, thinking she has been left alone in the kitchen, manages to open the snack cupboard and takes out Mom's bag of popcorn. When she knows she's been spied, she becomes VERY proprietary about the fact that it is now HER snack bag. Can you tell she has told us in no uncertain terms to STAY AWAY so as to let her enjoy it!?

All alone!?



I've been spied - don't come too close!!!!



No one is approaching; it's back to business!

Still the month of April...............

Gilles and I decided that after Florida excitement (and yes, this is still the month of April!), we had to step it
up for the first weekend after the work/Nanny schedule started again.
We decided we'd check out the Bio Dome in Montréal, and were happy that
we did. There are several areas to check out and the wildlife is
mainly contained, but much more open than you would find in a zoo. The
Tropical Forest area contained tamarins, diverse birds and huge aquariums
of fish. The birds flew around above you, and some walked amongst
us......and Isabelle could get right up to the fish tank. Her hair was
completely ringlets in a matter of seconds with the humidity and we felt
like we were back in Florida again. There was an arctic area and we got
to check out penguins and puffins, Canadian wildlife that included
seagulls, beavers, otters, and huge muskie, bass, catfish and the like. We
also got to visit Auntie Mer's old stomping ground and had lunch and
took out dinner from Première Moisson, our favourite deli. We visited
Farfelu (this is only for Mer's benefit), got Isabelle some balloons
(quickest and cheapest way to always keep this child happy), and looked
longingly at the ALDO outlet. After Florida, I couldn't even go in. But
Mer, they had the big 50% off the last sale price sale that we loved
SO much, and benefitted from more than once. Ah well! In any case, we
did have to stop and check out the H & M children before we headed back
to Ottawa so that cured the consumerism wave that had overtaken me.
Gilles also checked out the HABS official store and got a t-shirt for
himself. He continued to wear it for the rest of the games, but
unfortunately, it didn't do the trick. I'm a LEAFS fan, and always will be,
but I am unhappy to see all of the Canadian teams out of the running.

One with the fish............



C'mon Mom, I want to take a swim..........



News from Isabelle? Can't even begin to keep track of all the words
she's picking up now. It seems like they all of a sudden have little, or
no trouble with pronouncing most words. It's the remembering part in
some cases.........Isabelle loves to say "Blue". More like "Balloo".
It's her favourite colour if you ask her. Of course, she will also say
the green, purple, yellow and red crayons are "balloo" too. Even when
you go over the colours, and she says them all, she reverts to
"balloo" right afterwards. She looks so serious about it all too, that you
begin to question whether the object really isn't a little "balloo".
Then the flipside to that memory, is the one that allows her to recall the
Bio Done two weeks later. When she talks about her favourite fish,
she always says "fish, boo boo". This is because we saw some of the blow
fish variety and I had to explain why there was a big bulbous bump on
top of the fish's head. I said they had a "boo boo", and obviously it
stuck. Two weeks later and she's saying "fish, boo boo" and I'm
completely at a loss as to what she's talking about until my husband reminds
me. Additonally, when she goes to bed, she always talks about the
Moon. This was the evening discussion she had with Grandpa three weeks ago
in which she saw the moon, and he explained what it was. There was
also some unrelated discussion about the birds going to sleep for the
night as well, and now it's all about "Moon, birds sleeping". Then we
have to go through the list: "Titi sleeping"? "Lolo sleeping"? "Meggie
sleeping"? And I wonder why it sometimes takes over an hour to get her
down!? After she's convinced that EVERYONE she knows (and that list is
getting longer) is down, she decides that she can probably sleep too.
Angel. How I am going to keep track of all of these completely
essential details is beyond me though. Thank Goodness for Gilles' memory.
Nothing, and I mean nothing (and Dad can testify to this!) gets by him.

Isabelle is mistaken for someone else!?

Florida finale - a couple of months later..........

This has been a crazy and fun period for all three of us. Pardon the
lack of blogs, but there has been little time for anything but work, and
keeping Isabelle occupied, and then blessed sleep at the end of the
day.

The rest of the Florida vacation was just as wonderful as the first
part. Meg and Olan arrived and the kids were hilarious, and had so much
fun together. I, of course, never made the return flight I was supposed
to, and Isabelle and I stayed a couple of extra days. This meant we
got to see Les, Liam and Sarah so it was well worth it. I also hit
another Gov't pay day and so was happy to keep shopping in the US!

Olan and Isabelle had a fabulous time together on the beach, in the
pool, or wherever they happened to find themsleves. Meg and I enjoyed a
full day at the outlets in Orlando and Gran and Grandpa were run off
their feet while they took care of the two kids at the Daytona Zoo. My
Dad, for the first time that I can ever remember, looked like he was dead
on his feet by the time we got back that evening. To be honest, we
were a little later than expected. We missed the cut off to New Smyrna
Beach on the way back and had to pull a Dukes of Hazzard, completely
illegal, across the grass on a highway median u-turn. I will remember it
for the rest of my days. I could not keep going down the highway that
seemed like it was never going to end, or exit, and we had to get back
to our babies! In any case, we, and our shopping, made it back safe
and sound. Once more, the outlet shopping was beyond belief, and in one
case, even had us semi-running for the store doors, certain that
someone was going to realize the deal we just got and tell us we had to
return the clothing.

Isabelle was in awe of her older cousins. She especially loved
following Sarah around, and Sarah was only too happy to teach Isabelle
everything she knew. Isabelle also really loved Liam's swim shorts (Sponge
Bob) and had a fun time poking at the characters on Liam's bottom! It
made for a fun day on the beach. They've both grown so much that I
hardly recognized them.

We did eventually leave though, but not before we knew with some
certainty that we'd be right back next year, now that Mom and Dad have
secured a three bedroom in the same building. No more worrying about
overlapping with Meg and Olan; now we can all plan on being there at the same
time. You do feel somewhat badly when you and your sister, and your
children are enjoying the big bedrooms, and your parents are on a fold
out couch in the family room. Dad woke up with the dawn pretty much
everyday (or with the children depending on how you want to approach that)!
Mom spent a night on the floor of the walk-in closet in their Master
bedroom (where Isabelle and I were enjoying th KING size bed) due to
Dad's snoring. All of that and no complaints from either one of them;
not even when they heard Isabelle and I were keeping their bed for
another two nights! I guess we can thank those adorable Grandchildren for
that!

Here are some more pictures from the rest of the trip:



Toute la gang at Chase's.......




Sarah floats down the beach..........





Mastering the chopstick with Auntie Meg, the PRO





First big catch! Look closely for the fish.........




A little tug o war!





Always cause for a quick hug and a pat on the back. Good sand castle building today man......






Mom and Dad try to escape for a quiet walk, but are stopped by two very cute little toddlers.............