Bienvenue!

Fall in Aylmer

Ok... so it's been a while... a few days... a few years.... since I last wrote on this blog... Looking back at those wonderfully kept memories... I can't help myself but to make an effort to keep up the blog...

So, where to start... there have been many changes in the recent year... including... one wonderful new addition to our family... our son William was born in February... and makes our life even more exciting everyday!!! We also moved to Aylmer Quebec and I undertook a new job! ;o) Life is good... to say the least... Actually, the best it's ever been in my life up to date... never have I been this happy! Wonderful family... wonderful children, amazing friends... and an incredible husband!

Here are a few fall pictures from last weekend... A truly beautiful fall day at the Marina Park in Aylmer... (Selena's favorite park...)

Enjoy!

Séléna à la ferme!

Séléna à maintenant 11 mois et adore les animaux! Nous avons décidé de prendre avantage de la belle température et de passer l'après-midi à la ferme expérimentale. Séléna à adoré regarder les vaches manger... Ci-dessous, vous trouverez quelques photos:

Séléna est sur une mission....

J'aimes quand 'daddy' me prends en photo...

Youpie!

Baby it's cold outside...

The sky is blue.... the ground is white... and the air is 'fresh'!

With temperatures reaching minus fourty degrees celcius with the windshield... no wonder we stayed inside the past couple of days! Winter in Ottawa is beautiful and cold! We can't help but think of our friends from Singapore who used to find plus ten degrees horribly cold in London.. Yes, Martin, we are thinking of you! Wouldn't you love to come and visit us in Ottawa!

The past couple of days have been cold to say the least. We have spent much of our time inside the house... drinking tea, hot chocolate and coffee by the fireplace! Séléna sure knows how to keep herself and us busy! With all this time inside the house... she is perfecting her walking skills! Séléna took her first three steps on January 3rd at the age of 9 months. She is still perfecting her 'walk'. Here is a video of her taking a few steps! She sure loves to entertain us!

Joyeux Noel!

Notre petite Séléna a passé son premier Noel à Petit-Rocher au Nouveau-Brunswick. Bien entendu les cousins et cousines ainsi que le père Noel étaient au rendez-vous. Séléna à eu énormément de plaisir avec ses petits cousins et cousines... Quoique la messe était un peu trop calme pour notre petite. Séléna a même réussi à faire une petite sieste durant la messe... comme le fait souvent son pépère.... Cependant, le petit bonheur de notre petite cocotte s'est vu de durée limité étant donnée que Grand-maman voulait absoluement que Séléna soit réveillée pour sa première messe de Noel. C'est donc à contre-coeur que Séléna s'est réveillé pour une grande partie de la messe. Ceci-étant dit, la soirée fut des plus agréable et le matin de Noel était des plus extraordinaire. Séléna était bien excitée de voir ses cadeaux ou devrais-je précisé... tout le papier... Ci-dessous, quelques photos....

Séléna chez Mémère à Petit-Rocher...

Séléna et les cousins et cousines...

OK... so... it's been a while...

Please let me apologize for not continuing the blog as promised. Do I have any excuse? Not really...

What happened since we returned to Ottawa?.... Where to start... Oh... wait let's see... we had our beautiful baby girl... Séléna... who changed our lives in the most wonderful ways... She is our little sunshine... always happy and ready to make us laugh...! We have never been happier.

In the new year, I now fully intend on continuing the blog...

We are back in Canada!

The work on our dissertations continues. The change in setting is definitely accelerating the process with fewer distractions (a.k.a. fun). We did set up camp at the Brock Library, the setting is definitely less fancy than Goodenough College or the LSE Library but there is a Tim Hortons in the lobby. It gets better… you are actually allowed to bring Tim Hortons coffee inside the library. Yes, Greg is truly a happy man.

Now, living at the in-laws definitely has its bonuses. We have been spoiled with great food! It’s been definitely nice to see family and friends!

We are looking forward to heading back to Ottawa on August 1. It will definitely be nice to return to our home!

Not to worry the blog will continue...

Our last week in London...

We simply can’t believe how quick time can go by. We nostalgically walked through our favourite areas of London reminiscing on how we have grown to love this city and the extraordinary people we have met this year. We had our official goodbye dinner in a nice quaint restaurant overlooking Tower Bridge. What an extraordinary week our last week has been - highlights of the week included Wimbledon and watching the Tour de France and having one final drink with our friends from all over the world. While keen on returning home to see family and friends, this year will definitely be remembered as the best year of our lives.

Youppiee for Amsterdam!!!

As promised here is our review of Amsterdam. This was an extra special trip as Greg felt like he was connecting with his Dutch roots. In fact, he wore wooden shoes all weekend...

Although we only spent 48 hours in Amsterdam we really got a flavor for everything the city has to offer. Once we checked into our hotel in the heart of the old city, we did like most people would do - headed for the red light district. Before your perception of us drastically changes, we only window shopped... and we did not go for a ''coffee'' in the famous coffee shops. Despite not setting foot in the establishments, we really got a flavor and smell of this distinctive part of the city.

We had a wonderful patio dinner the first night, followed by a post rain stroll along one of the many canal systems. The next morning we took a wonderful guided boat tour through the canal system. Amsterdam has over 1000 bridges and over 100 kms of canals. There is so much water in Amsterdam that many of the 17th century houses are built on piles of wood, and some are only accessible from the canal.

We visited the Anne Frank House - Anne Frank was a Jewish girl who wrote a diary while hiding with her family and four friends in Amsterdam during the German occupation of Holland in WWII.

Amsterdam is a must stop in any European trip - especially as a quick one or two day stop. The food was great, the accommodations were central, and the people were extremely friendly. Below are some of our many pictures.