I'm so happy to hear that one of the couples (Leslie & Shaune) that are with the same agency finally got their little girl. I've been following their blog for some time now and happy to see photos of them in Vietnam with little baby Meg in the arms of her new parents. She's a stunning baby and just so photogenic. Aaah...another happy ending.
Portia had a great fun-filled day playing with Kolby on Saturday. He's just so great with kids and she obviously had a blast. It was great for me since I got a thousand things done. She came back all giggly. She just loves Kolby. While we were in Montreal she kept drawing Kolby pictures and every time she spotted a mailbox she would put one in (no stamp or address of course). I'm sure there are mailmen all over Montreal having a good laugh. Too cute.
Day 1 - We left Ottawa for Montreal mid-afternoon, but only after getting a good cup of java at Second Cup. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE coffee? In my dream world I would work with Juan Valdez riding around on a poor little donkey all day in search of the best cup of Joe. Anyways, back to reality. Denis, Alex's co-worker rode up to Montreal with us. He's a very nice man, with a great sense of humour so the time flew. When we arrived, Alex met up with his friend Dave, for...you guessed it, hockey. And little Miss Portia and I went for a nice walk which led us to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. She loved it there. Then on our way back, we stopped at Ben & Jerry's. She loved her icecream and so did my thighs. We headed straight to the pool on arrival. The pool was a bit cold, but the hot tub sure made up for it. We ended the night by watching Portia's Family Day video (the day we got her.) I was so emotional that day and Alex got it all on video. I was crying one moment, and smiling in disbelief the next. My dream had finally come true!
Day 2 - Portia and I headed to Old Montreal. Our first stop was the World Trade Center. It's probably one of the most beautiful builidings (inside) that I have ever seen. They had a piece of the Berlin Wall on display. For the younger ones, the Berlin Wall was a physical barrier completely encircling West Berlin. Since it was erected so quickly, it literally split family members from one another. This was one of the borders that came to symbolize the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc. It was built in 1961 and came down in 1989. During this period, many died trying to cross the wall. This link gives you an insight of what happened with a chance reunion at the end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_eCVhCGYwE&feature=related
We also visited the oldest Bank of Montreal Museum where they had iron chests that were used before vaults came into existence. Portia enjoyed looking at the old money (which looked like a child printed it off an old printer) and the old money boxes.
To mark our special mother/daughter's day, we stopped at Univers Toutou. This is where Portia got to make her own doll, including stuffing it and picking out clothing. BTW, her doll's name is Daisy Molly Dipietro. Here's a link if anyone is interested:
http://www.plushfactory.com/index.php
We walked down Rue Saint-Paul with it's old traditional streets, stores and horse drawn carriages. We came to Place Jacques-Cartier where Portia had a characature picture done by one of the local artists. We moved on to the Marche Bonsecours with it's beautiful shops showing the talents of many. We stopped for an ice-cream cone on Rue de la Commune while gazing at the old port and it's old oceanliners. We then made our way back to the hotel where we napped, did our foot spa treatment, went out to dinner at Basha's (Lebanese) and finished the night with a good game of Go Fish.
Day 3 - We took our time getting up. We had plans to go shopping however it was raining cats & dogs. Instead we walked over to a nearby cafe (Cafe & Cucina) and enjoyed a leisurely European breakfast. We then managed to walk over to Access and took advantage of a great sale. We bought our luggage for Vietnam so now we are set. The rain finally died down so we went to La Belle Province for lunch and then shopping down Saint-Catherine. Portia got 2 pairs of shoes but I wasn't much in the mood to try anything on. We went back to the hotel late afternoon and took it easy. Then we got up and headed for the Eaton Centre for more shopping. Alex and Denis were able to meet us for a very late dinner, so we headed to Reuben's (how appropriate) for a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich.
Day 4 - Got up and met Dave for breakfast at Cora's then headed home. Looking forward to the next get away, hopefully that will be Vietnam.
Day 1 - We left Ottawa for Montreal mid-afternoon, but only after getting a good cup of java at Second Cup. Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE coffee? In my dream world I would work with Juan Valdez riding around on a poor little donkey all day in search of the best cup of Joe. Anyways, back to reality. Denis, Alex's co-worker rode up to Montreal with us. He's a very nice man, with a great sense of humour so the time flew. When we arrived, Alex met up with his friend Dave, for...you guessed it, hockey. And little Miss Portia and I went for a nice walk which led us to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. She loved it there. Then on our way back, we stopped at Ben & Jerry's. She loved her icecream and so did my thighs. We headed straight to the pool on arrival. The pool was a bit cold, but the hot tub sure made up for it. We ended the night by watching Portia's Family Day video (the day we got her.) I was so emotional that day and Alex got it all on video. I was crying one moment, and smiling in disbelief the next. My dream had finally come true!
Day 2 - Portia and I headed to Old Montreal. Our first stop was the World Trade Center. It's probably one of the most beautiful builidings (inside) that I have ever seen. They had a piece of the Berlin Wall on display. For the younger ones, the Berlin Wall was a physical barrier completely encircling West Berlin. Since it was erected so quickly, it literally split family members from one another. This was one of the borders that came to symbolize the Iron Curtain between Western Europe and the Eastern Bloc. It was built in 1961 and came down in 1989. During this period, many died trying to cross the wall. This link gives you an insight of what happened with a chance reunion at the end:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_eCVhCGYwE&feature=related
We also visited the oldest Bank of Montreal Museum where they had iron chests that were used before vaults came into existence. Portia enjoyed looking at the old money (which looked like a child printed it off an old printer) and the old money boxes.
To mark our special mother/daughter's day, we stopped at Univers Toutou. This is where Portia got to make her own doll, including stuffing it and picking out clothing. BTW, her doll's name is Daisy Molly Dipietro. Here's a link if anyone is interested:
http://www.plushfactory.com/index.php
We walked down Rue Saint-Paul with it's old traditional streets, stores and horse drawn carriages. We came to Place Jacques-Cartier where Portia had a characature picture done by one of the local artists. We moved on to the Marche Bonsecours with it's beautiful shops showing the talents of many. We stopped for an ice-cream cone on Rue de la Commune while gazing at the old port and it's old oceanliners. We then made our way back to the hotel where we napped, did our foot spa treatment, went out to dinner at Basha's (Lebanese) and finished the night with a good game of Go Fish.
Day 3 - We took our time getting up. We had plans to go shopping however it was raining cats & dogs. Instead we walked over to a nearby cafe (Cafe & Cucina) and enjoyed a leisurely European breakfast. We then managed to walk over to Access and took advantage of a great sale. We bought our luggage for Vietnam so now we are set. The rain finally died down so we went to La Belle Province for lunch and then shopping down Saint-Catherine. Portia got 2 pairs of shoes but I wasn't much in the mood to try anything on. We went back to the hotel late afternoon and took it easy. Then we got up and headed for the Eaton Centre for more shopping. Alex and Denis were able to meet us for a very late dinner, so we headed to Reuben's (how appropriate) for a Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich.
Day 4 - Got up and met Dave for breakfast at Cora's then headed home. Looking forward to the next get away, hopefully that will be Vietnam.
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