Wednesday

Wednesday morning we went to the botanical gardens, which includes an insectarium. They had a lot of live bugs too, which I mostly tried to ignore. Brian watched the bees for a long time before we went out to the bug-themed playground. I thought there was a butterfly exhibit, so I was a little sad to find the museum was mostly icky things like tarantulas and scorpions.

Papa, you would be so proud, Brian wanted to know the names of EACH and EVERY little tree in the bonsai exhibit.

Calvin and Eli with the aquatic plants.

After the botanical gardens we drove around for the afternoon nap time and visited this historic mill, called the Fleming Mill. Apparently it has great historical significance, but all the signs were in French so I didn't figure out what it was all about.

Thursday

Eli on Thursday morning, all dressed up and ready to go!

We went to a world-famous bagel shop, St. Viateur, to see how they stack up against New York bagels. Personally, I would take a NY bagel any day, but they weren't bad. The baker gave Brian some dough to play with, and we got to see them baking the bagels in a huge, open oven, using an enormous paddle-like thing to take them in and out probably a dozen at a time. For some reason, we didn't take a picture of that. From there we went to Mount Royal Park and hiked to one overlook, and drove to another.

This is the one we walked to. Eli is so good about looking at the camera!

It was kind of rainy that day so we went to the underground mall complex downtown, where there were some great toy shops that provided a lot of free entertainment. This one had a nice Thomas set out!

We had lunch at the mall too, and after exploring for a while, both kids were tired so we drove to Ikea while they napped. Unfortunately, Brian missed the drive over the enormous bridge downtown!

Friday morning

On Friday we headed out of the city to Parc National du Mont Tremblant. There were two short hikes recommended in our guide book that we thought we could manage. The forest was beautiful, and a nice change of pace from the city. Brian and Eli both enjoyed seeing the mossy rocks.

Brian and Calvin at the Chute du Diable (Brian with his "walking stick").

After that hike we went to another trailhead and had lunch, then hiked on to les Chutes-Croches. Both kids got excited about all the waterfalls!

All in all, it was a great way to spend a day.

Friday afternoon

We drove through a dirt road in Mont Tremblant National Park while the kids took a nice long nap. Then when they woke up, we stopped for a snack and a break in Saint Donat. There was a nice little park on the shore of Lake Archambault where we played in the sand and water for a little while. Eli was all perky after his nap:

He really liked the sand!

Brian, of course, had a blast, mostly throwing sand into the water.

Eli rolled up his cute little pants and dipped his toes in too. :) Of course, both kids ultimately ended up with wet pants anyway!

Saturday

In the morning, on our last full day:

It was drizzling but we decided to go and check out old town. It was not designed to navigate using a double stroller.

We had crepes at Place Jacques Cartier...

...and walked around a bit before heading out. It was pretty to see, but there was not much for kids, especially tired, cranky ones (not that our angels would ever be tired and cranky.).

Memorial Day Parade

Sunday was the Henrietta Memorial Day Parade. The parade people gave Brian a lot of candy! We're saving it for later of course...

Eli had lots of fun but had to go back early because he was getting tired.

This is about as good as we can get with Brian posing for pictures these days... one of the local high schools' marching bands in the background.

Grandpa's or bust!

Eli's thinking of you grandpa! Hope you feel well soon!