It's a hard life...

Darwin loves us and is a lovely puppy - with just the right amount of mischief, I tell people.

But the indignities he must suffer..

and finally, his first bath last week

Our tulips

We heard about these special tulips created in the Netherlands for Canada's 150th. So we special ordered them last fall. Lorraine kindly planted them in October, for the main man was not up to it and I was away. So when these vibrant and strong beauties popped up I was thrilled, but figured that they were some other flowers. 

Until I read this article about a mix up with Home Hardware's southern Ontario shipment... I laughed and honestly, they were beautiful.

And then these arrived!

U of T's Science Fair

There was a lot to see but I took few photos. Imagine exploding fruit and burning gummy bears to demonstrate energy. Not to forget liquid nitrogen ice cream that you can eat and isolating the DNA of a strawberry (yes, the food & nutrition section was a family pleaser).

Virtual reality medicine

He was learning how to intubate someone...

Grove school play 2017

The theme this year was the Beatles and this was the stunning backdrop with all the teachers' faces and many of the students (Sophie can be found over the V)

The crowd - in the hottest school gym in the city

the famous bake sale

in the back you can see part of Seb and the bowls to serve his bean dip contribution

Our terrific teachers - who danced to "Long and winding road"!!

Sophie (in the tiger pyjama / fleece suit - in said hot gym!!) and classmates who sang "Help" and danced about the impact of environmental degradation on animals

And Montreal had more to offer

We also saw Grandma! Here grandmother and granddaughter are sporting a bit of cheery/cherry red. And Sophie is sporting the skirt I "designed' (I picked the fabrics) in oh 1978 or something. Auntie R had something similar.

 We took Grandma out on Sunday night for soft tacos and then a return trip to la Diperie (and yes, they now have a branch in Toronto). Sophie had cheesecake dip and mini-marshmallows; I had lavender and rainbow sprinkles!

Bon anniversaire, Montreal

And then there was this place...

That night (our first) she had black liquorice dip with pretzels!

Jacques Cartier bridge's light installation - 35 million$ over a decade...

Biodome glowing warmly / ominously

Sunday was St Viateur bagel shop's 60th anniversary. The 50th was a sweet memory of my dad and the children.

 I arranged to meet up with a global humanitarian colleague at the street party

We love our bagels

Then it was on to a Montreal 375 party in a neighbourhood park.

Lots of juggling, swinging, etc

Time for a quick meal with our lovely friends/ nos enfants terribles

Then off to the weekend highlight...

Les Geants strolling through the streets of Montreal. See some amazing shots from an old school mate of mine

Yup, I took a selfie or 2

The little girl in her rain slicker

WOW! What a weekend. And Darwin did fine with his puppy sitters.

Suiting up

 As middle school graduation approaches, Seb wanted a suit. And his grandparents obliged - complete with purple shirt and all.

Matchy-matchy

Sophie loves the idea of us wearing something the same or similar. She is tall enough to try an XS. Sigh - it already looks better on her! But no, we did not buy them

Running for strength and pleasure and pride

Sophie ran the 200m and 800m events at Track & Field day. She had opted out of 1500m because "it's early and no one will be there to cheer me". She was had been practicing at least 4 times/week for the last month or so. There's always a big turn out from her school - just not Grade 5 girls. She was the only one...

The girls who ran the 800m

Yup she smiled and ran

She had made it past the girl in yellow - it took quite some manoeuvring

Great pacing of the race 

and she finished 2nd in the 800! So off to the next round in June - and not only will her coaches (Shannon and Andre) be cheering her on but hopefully Gramps and Nana too.

She then had to sprint across the stadium to get into place for the 200m, which she ran with grace. Not quite her distance though. 

We are on borrowed time....

How our teen spent his screen-free afternoon

Seb had an externally imposed screen-free afternoon yesterday.

So he sank a few ships in the tub

and built a robot (the screen wasn't internet-enabled and only came out for the last 20 mins so he could program the robot before Scouts - in the woods)

Our lovely birthday fella

We tried to fete him well.

Slow and steady indeed

yes, it's true. He had to make his own (carrot) cake

I made a pretty lovely dinner though

Some of his haul

And it was dinner at the Good Son the previous night

I knew it was the right place when I saw oysters and brussel sprouts on the menu