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!?