She Put Her Foot Down, Again

Out littlest one put her foot down last month. This is not an unusual occurrence, but this time she persisted. "No", she would not do ringette this season. She wanted to "figure skate" instead. And she was adamant. Didn't she understand that as the third child in ringette, her fees would be covered? Apparently not. In the end, the goal was for her to learn to skate well, and so we caved. She started her classes the day before yesterday. She fell a few times, but that was expected as it was her very first skate with "figure skates" as opposed to "hockey skates". She had a great time, spun a round a few times, moved up at least 1 level.  She even got the royal treatment at the end of her skate: Her sisters removed her skates. Here are a few photos:

September News

September has been a busy month, from homework, to school meetings for the parents, and now the after school activities have started. So far, ringette for the older two has started to form their teams, and swimming lessons have begun for the little one. Dance starts this weekend for our 6-year old, and next week, swim team starts up for the year. So, in fact, the first two weeks of September have been relatively calm. Piano also started yesterday, and our little one had her very first piano class. She hadn't been looking forward to it, but she absolutely nailed it. Here she is:

Day Trips With The Kids

Over Labour Day weekend, rather than going away, we made several day trips. Sometimes there are local gems that you suddenly realize you haven't taken your children to visit... And so it was that last Saturday we visited the Montreal Botanical Gardens. Not only did they get exercise by walking around the extensive gardens, but they also saw some beautiful blooms, played in a nature-inspired play area, and attended a beautiful concert by Caroline Planté, a flamenco guitarist from Quebec. Here are a few photos from the visit:

Finally, Vacation

Eight straight days; no rushing to and from soccer matches and swimteam practices. No preparing meals three times a day. In fact, the eight days were interrupted by the first day of school, on a Friday before a long week-end of all days! We didn't travel far, but it was relaxing! Here are some photos from our "rest and relaxation", in no particular order, in addition to the first day of school:

Right after the first day of school...