We had two birthdays right in quick succession when we got to Quebec. (If Seb had been here with us, we would have had three! Not that he didn't have a birthday of course…but he didn't have one HERE.) I was excited about the birthdays in a new place because I thought it would be fun to see what different little exciting things we'd have to come up with to do.
On Clementine's birthday, Sam and I took her off first thing in the morning for a little "birthday walk" to a boulangerie. (O, that this were a tradition we could have at home!) There's a pretty park we walk through on the way to the bakery (La Boîte du Pain) and Clementine posed, without being asked, next to every flower bed.
As we were walking, to our surprise, we met Malachi coming home from his run. So he got to come with us to the bakery.
We got a bunch of pains au chocolat to bring home, but we decided to eat one right there at the bakery first. Just in case they all disappeared too fast at home.
A funny thing: they don't call them pains au chocolat here, but chocolatines. I looked it up and there are strong feelings about the two names…different regions in France prefer different names, but here in Quebec, it is all chocolatine. That means it's probably the original and true name, seeing that Quebecois French is purer and closer to the Old French language. So! Chocolatine it will be for us forevermore. I never liked pain au chocolat anyway. It's not bread, it's pastry!
For lunch we had a picnic at the Plains of Abraham and then played on a playground. This one had a fun little jeux d'eau and a sandbox!
There were SO many toys in the sandbox! (They weren't just abandoned, but put there on purpose for play…they were all labeled with the name of the park.) You should have heard the noise these three little people made as they drove their dumpers and scoopers and pushers around. Maybe you can imagine it as you look at their faces!
Clementine was loved and celebrated and played with all day by her siblings.
She had such a fun time!
Her birthday dinner was homemade macaroni and cheese and peas…
…and white cake with broiled crunchy icing, a cake that my mom used to make but which I'd forgotten about for several years now! It's a good one.
The candles with their colored flames made a re-appearance. They are so cool! I'm going to stock up and buy several boxes before we go home.
She got a couple of these "story orchestra" books for her birthday, which I brought from home because I didn't know what sorts of presents I'd be able to get before her birthday here in Canada. Junie has a book like this of the Nutcracker, and Clementine loves it, so I knew she'd like these.
When the music started playing, she immediately started dancing in her chair without missing a beat.
She also got a Gnomey backpack
And a dress to match with Evie!
And that was Clementine's happy third birthday! She has been such a wonderful and delightful two-year-old, I wish we could keep her just the same age for a few more years. But I guess we will like her just as much now that she's three!
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Since the girls aren't able to go to ballet while we're in Quebec, they've been diligently doing their own ballet classes twice a week. It is quite entertaining to come upon them doing their barre work or their stretches in the kitchen.
If Clementine is lucky, they will put a tiny bun in her hair and let her join in!
Everyone claps for Clemmie after she dances. Look at her up on her very tip-toes!
I love all these dear, hard-working little dancers of mine!
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All through August, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, there was a fireworks show up by the Château. I couldn't figure out if it was for some kind of holiday or what. Maybe it was just for us and all of our August birthdays! But I kept seeing signs that said "Grands Feux Loto-Quebec" and finally figured out that Loto-Quebec is a lottery! So maybe the fireworks were paid for with ill-gotten gains, who knows, but at any rate they were SO fun to watch.
Each show was a little different (they were accompanied by music down on the riverbank, but we could only hear that far-off and faintly), but the fireworks were always shot off from a barge on the river between Quebec and Lévis. We could hear them from our house, but not quite see around the corner of the river, so Sam and I headed up to a viewing spot just about every fireworks night, with more or fewer of the kids depending on who felt like going with us. The best night was one that followed a long rainy day, when the sky cleared up just before 10 pm (or 22h, as I am trying to get used to calling it). Almost no one was out and we stood right at the railing on Dufferin Terrace by the Château and overlooking the river for a perfect view!
It was fun to go when there were big crowds, too, though, because there was a festive Fourth-of-July-ish atmosphere to it all. The Château is beautiful at night and the streets of the city are too!
Daisy got a good seat on a cannon one night
On the Fourth of July I usually think, "why take pictures of fireworks? They never turn out that well and it's more fun to keep your eyes on the real sky anyway!" But these fireworks were so different and pretty going off over the river; I've never seen anything quite like it! These pictures were taken on several different nights when I just couldn't help getting out my phone to capture them!
I'm so happy we were here at the right time and got to see these!
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A few miscellaneous things to end this post. A beautiful breakfast I had with Malachi (we go out to lunch to talk about books whenever he finishes a few from the Great Books List I made him. But sometimes we do breakfast instead, which is wise when there are good pastries to be had.) I've never had such lovely-looking hot chocolate before! (Sadly, it was only average in taste. But the pastries were great!)
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Some cuties
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We love the missionaries in our branch! There is a pair of elders and a pair of sisters (we like the sisters best, but don't tell the elders!) and they are so kind, so friendly, and so sweet. We have been having them over for dinner as often as we can and we always look forward to it!
I like this picture of our family with the sisters, plus random child
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Some pretty parts of the city at night
I love these beautiful old houses!
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After initially seeing them and assuming they tasted like the "magic-shell"-style dipped cones we've tried in the U.S. (not that they are BAD but we don't think they are that great either) we finally tried these chocolate-dipped ice cream cones for ourselves. They are wonderful! The chocolate is so delicious just on its own, and forms a thick, slightly-flexible coating over the ice cream underneath. You can get different flavors of chocolate like caramel, hazelnut, orange, and raspberry. (You can get white chocolate with maple flavor too, but I don't think it's as good as the regular chocolate.) The cones are surprisingly filling and amazingly good. It's sad to face the fact, but Canada and Europe just do chocolate so much better than we do!
Now that we know about these cones, we will be getting them frequently until we go home!
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Surprise churches
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Playground after a swimming and a poutine picnic
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People peeking out
Why why why DON’T we do chocolate better? Weep.
ReplyDeleteI continue to love so much that you are having this experience! And that it’s just so unique and so different from normal Utah neighborhood living! All the bakeries and parks to walk to. The fireworks over the water. (Of course they were for you! Just like Rapunzel wondering what the lanterns were for in Tangled.)
And 3 is a wonderful age! I know you are sad to set 2 aside, but I was just looking at photos and blog posts from when Starling was 3 and wishing we might have kept her at 3 for at least a few years. (Of course now I’m wishing we could keep her at 5 for a few years. That really ought to be an option with youngest children. There’s simply no need for them to rush to the next age.)
Clementine has such a winning smile in every picture! I love that she is able to generate that happy look at any moment that it’s needed. And I am so glad that you capture it so often.
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