Montreal

Last Saturday I took the National Certification Exam for PA school and the only place I could get in to take it was South Portland, Maine.  I know, random right? But we thought, "hey why not grab some Lobster and head up to Canada while we are up there". Lobster was eaten. The test was taken. And Canada welcomed the Johnson clan with open arms.

We got to Montreal Saturday night and fell in love right away.  The city was alive and hopping and the first language there is french, so naturally we felt like we were in a foreign country. We got to walk around the city and ate at a yummy little vietnamese place. Leon loved practicing his rusty french. I love traveling with him, he always makes adventures no matter where we are. Plus, he loves to learn as much as I do, so we are perfect traveling buddies. Ellie, on the other hand, just likes to make trouble and was especially hard this trip. She must be entering the dreaded terrible twos, Ah. Or she could just be a normal kid who isn't interested in sitting down at restaurants or sight seeing architecture or going to museums. Either way its safe to say that her traveling profile might be on hold until she is a little older.

One thing that Ellie loves to do is ride the subway. We ride the subway often here in Boston, but she loved getting her own seat and especially after riding rides at Disneyland this summer she felt like she was on a ride.

This might be one of those times Ellie just wanted to run and play, but Daddy didn't want her getting lost in the subway so she is giving us her angry eyes.

We decided to get breakfast the next morning at the outdoor market. Ellie loved all the fresh fruit, especially the baby strawberries. She might have gotten them all over her outfit, but messy is always more fun, right?

After the market, we headed to Old Montreal and the much anticipated Notre Dame Basilica. This is where Celine Dion was married and where little Rene Charles was christened. If you know anything about me, you know that I la la love Celine and was so excited to see where she was married. I secretly hoped that she would be vacationing there as well and we could run into each other. I know we would be best friends.

Then we headed down to the waterfront to let little Ellsie run around for a bit.

Finally, after lots of screaming and fit throwing, wanting her bean then not wanting her bean, Elle K.O.ed. Leon and I decided to do some sight seeing. We found a little crepe place and enjoyed some heavenly crepes. The carmel sauce they used was to die for. 

We headed down to a park to enjoy the scenery and a little alone time with each other. It was wonderful to get to cuddle my hubby on the grass while Ellie slept. I love being held in his warm arms, hearing all of his brilliant ideas, and laughing at all his stories .

But not too soon, the moment was over and our little princess arouse from her slumber. She couldn't wait to kiss all over Daddy. She loves to be thrown in the air and chased around, which is exactly what she got.

Of course we had to go to the Christmas store to see if we could find a little ornament for our travel tree. This was a dangerous venture with such a wild one on our hands. But she was enchanted with all things Christmas and especially the Nutcracker outside. She just wanted to hold his hand, so cute.

We stopped at a little French Bistro for dinner, where leon got the best French Onion soup. Ellie was so good and loved sitting in a big girl (booster) seat.

The next day we decided we needed to do some Ellie friendly sight seeing, so we headed up the mountain. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed some breathtaking views, hiking, and of course jumping off rocks. Did I mention the horses? Our camera died before we got to take pictures of these beauties, but Ellie loved them. And they loved Jet. They kept coming over and putting their noses on my belly it was way too funny.

Ellie is so funny she is way into playing pretend and she decided to look for flowers. She found a little flower and said "this is the baby flower" to herself and went on to talk to the flower saying, "baby flower why you sad? You miss a mommy flower? oh its ok don't cry baby flower." Then she found a bigger flower and with all the excitement she could muster she squealed, "Oh baby flower, here is a mommy flower. Look she misses you. She loves you so much baby flower." Haha, she cracks me up!

Jumping to Daddy!

30 weeks pregnant!!

The beautiful Montreal

She loves to climb.

We enjoyed some famous bagels for breakfast and headed on home. It was much needed time with the family and I'm so glad we were able to pull it off. 

We love and miss you all,

Love, Us