A glorious day in history!

9 years ago, Gordie and I becme parents to a beautiful one year old baby girl, Qin Li Cui from Hepu, Guangxi.  What a fantastic day it was!

Party Time!

Part of the excitement of celebrating a birthday around our house is actually figuring out what kind of party we will have.  This year, no great thoughts came to mind so pajama party it was.  In fact, it was a great idea!  Cara-Li enjoyed it tremndously!  10 girls for her 10th birthday!

Home made birthday banner in the party colours.



Potted veggies and dip.

Girls decorated their our fluffy slippers with foam flowers.

I needn't cook as they made their own pizzas!

Cake pops for the dessert bar.

Dessert bar = fruit skewers, cake pops and 'smores cookies.

The birthday girl with the birthday cake.

Opening present is always fun!

They're staying!

6 girls left behind to sleep.  It was not quiet!

Fruit platter for the morning after.

The Big Ten

Someone I know turned 10 years old today.  That someone is my baby, Cara-Li!  Hope that this landmark birthday lives up to her every expectations.  Love you, Cara-Li!  Enjoy your day.

And the celebrations begin...

Tonight we celebrated a couple of birthdays.  SQ who turned 9 on the 21st and Cara-Li who turns 10 on the 26th.  The cool part of their relationship is that they are from the same orphanage and were both adopted one year apart by 2 Montreal families.  So we always make a point to be part of each others lives and frankly, we've done a great job!  We see each other all the time and are always there for each other's important landmarks (and other stuff too!).  This happened to be an impromptu dinner at the cottage and a grand time was had by all!

A tribute

It has taken me until now to muster up the energy to come back to this blog.  You see, one week ago, we celebrated the life of my dear brother-in-law who was taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age on Sunday, March 11th. Since then, we have been going through the motions of what we call normal life, but man, this has proven to be extremely tough.  I am fragile, emotionally fragile.  But it is not about me.  It is about a wife, 2 sons, parents and 4 siblings he has left behind.  How do they go on without Gary in their lives?  Without ever seeing his smile, hearing his laughter, seeing him react to things in his usual nonchalant way.  Gary has left a huge hole in our lives and in our hearts which will take an extremely long time to heal.  Thankfully we have many, many wonderful memories of this gentle and kind man that was put on this earth to enrich all of our lives.  For this, I am thankful.  I am thankful that he was part of my life.  My sweet Gary, may you rest in peace... until we meet again.  I love you with all my heart!

February blahs...

I just noticed that we are already into the month of March and that the February blues are still upon me.  The weather has been great considering we are still winter.  But I don't know what it is.  It happens every year so this year I tried to keep busy during February, at least during the weekends with lots of skiing and lots of friends visiting at the cottage.  But no... that hasn't really worked.  I have no physical energy to do anything yet I have piles of ideas and tons of little things to do.  Hell, I have boxes still to unpack and we've been in our new house now for 7 months!  What hasn't helped is that my dear brother in law is going through some hard times, medically that is, and I cannot help but worry about him constantly.  And Gord hasn't been very present due to this.  So, yeah, I guess that's why I'm feeling that I am just getting through day by day... often forgeting what needs to be done on certain days and mixing things up.  It's a wonder my kids are being fed and bathed  :)  You know what they say:  This too shall pass...

The end of an era...

It's 1987. I was in my second year of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Lasalle College and I was 19 years old. I was working on a year long project with 4 other girls and we were building a (pretend) hotel from the ground up. We were at the point where we were working on the restaurants, most specifically the kitchens. I was the purchasing manager thus in charge of collecting any information on all the kitchen equipment. Since my family is in the espresso machine business, we always did the yearly Hotel and Restaurant Suppliers Association (HRSA) show and so since I would be there anyway working the booth, it was a no brainer for me to get all this information. While at the show, I looked around to see where I would grab some catalogues and lo and behold, in the booth just next to ours was this very good looking guy selling all sorts of kitchen equipment. So I meander over and strike up conversation with him and manage to get all I needed to complete my project. After several days at the show, this same fellow asked me out for drink which I graciously declined since I was already involved with someone else.

Fast forward five years and it's 1992. Same show, same guy, same girl. Except this time when the guy asked the girl out again, the girl said yes. Happened to be that she was now single. Of course, the rest is history. Gord and I were married two years later and we certainly were the talk of the show. And it seemed very fitting that we would get the call from China for Cara-Li during the 2003 show. Once again, we caused quite the stir around us.

We met, we married, we had our first child at this show. It is now exactly 20 years since our first date. And this is the first year that the show has been cancelled. What a shame! We were supposed to have our first grandchild there...

The 'Girls'

A cute photo taken last night at our Chinese New Year's dinner.  Aren't they all the most beautifuls girls you have EVER seen?



Xin Nian Kuai Le!

  Happy Chinese New Year to all!

May the dragon bring you all good fortune and health!



What we've been up to

Did you notice in my last post, 'Happy New Year', the Mickey Mouse fireworks?  Go see...

Well, that's because that's where we've been for the last few days!  Some months ago, I thought it would be a fabulous idea for us girls to tag along to Florida with Gord between Christmas and New Year's.  You see, he had to been in Fort Lauderdale for business as of January 3rd so we decided that we would finally take Alexia to Disney for her very first time.  Cara-Li, well... she's been spoiled having been there already three times.  So we were extremely lucky to have spent 4 glorious days (with about a gazillion other people!) on Disney's lovely properties.  Yeah, this time of year, it's a little busy at Disney.  So we were up and at it extremely early in the morning (that's 6AM to make a 7AM shuttle!) till sometimes quite late at night (make that midnight!).  Cara-Li, well, she had no problem being the non-sleeper of the family.  She is always raring to go and never wants to sleep for fear of missing something (sounds like someone I know...).  Alexia was a real trooper, grabbing a nap whenever she could and then waking up to join us without being grumpy.  Good thing I made all our restaurant reservations some months ago as well as with all those people down there, getting a bite to eat could have been a problem.  We had a real great time, not a relaxing time, but a great time!

DAY 1:  Animal Kingdom

We love this park.  It has lots a rides, the big Mount Everest, and lots of fun stuff to do like safaris where you get to see all sorts of animals.  Highlight:  'The Lion King' show, a show that is just like on Broadway.  This is also where we discovered that Cara-Li is a thrill seeker... love them big, fast (and oh so scary!) rides.  Gord was the lucky one to accompany her on all of them while I stayed behind with Alexia enjoying the smaller rides and lots of snacks.  But, whenever Alexia made the height requirements, she was in there and that also meant that I had to grin and bear it.  The girls had a grand time making fun of me, I'll tell you!  Lunch was with Mickey, Goofy, Donald Duck et al and dinner was a nice sit down restaurant where we gulped down a bunch of beer  :)  A well-deserved reward!

Here's a nice little ride that Mom was able to sit in the backseat to snap this picture.

A few giraffes seen on our safari.

Along with an elephant.

The Lion King show.

DAY 2:  Magic Kingdom and New Year's Eve

Everyone and their mother's thought it was a fantabulous idea to be at Magic Kingdom on New Year's Eve!  Including us.  The park reached its capacity of 100,000 by 10:30AM which if you weren't in at this point, you weren't going to be.  The park rarely ever shuts down... that goes to show you how many people where there!  But we were there when the park opened and so we were in front of the crowds.  And for as long as you stayed in front of the crowds, managed your Fastpasses (keep collecting them as soon as you can get them) and ride all the non-Fastpass rides early in the day, you can ride all the Fastpass rides in the afternoon when the lineups are huge.  There is a huge satisfaction in walking right to the front of the line at some of the biggest rides at Disney.  This also left time in the afternoon for all the parades and shows and character greetings.  Breakfast was at Cinderella's Castle where we dined with all of her friends.  Dinner was at The Plaza where Gord had one of the best Angus beef burgers ever!  Our gang was just a little to tired to make it till midnight for the special fireworks but we did see the Holiday Wishes fireworks before making our way home.

A crowd favorite... the Mad Tea Cups.  Cara-Li is trying to spin that cup right off it axle and trying to get her Mom to barf!

Cinderella and the gang... our gang at the Castle.

Inside Cindy's Castle after breakfast.

The special Christmas show.  It was so hot and there were all wearing coats, mitts and hats.  Too funny!

The Castle.  There is something magical about it.

Cinderella and her Prince riding in their carriage in the parade.

And the day would not be complete if we didn't have a one on one meeting with Mickey Mouse.

Oh, yes.  And let's not forget about the firework.  Wow!

DAY 3:  Epcot

I personally love Epcot.  It's like 2 parks in one.  The first part, Future World, where you have all the rides, namely 'Soarin', one of the best rides ever.  And then there's the World Showcase, a total of 11 pavilions representing the world.  Each pavilion has great exhibits, shows, shopping and dining.  And also, lots of beers, wines and champagnes.  Yummy!  Since we had a dry New Year's Eve at Magic Kingdom (there is no alcohol at Magic Kingdom), we made up for it here by tasting and enjoying all the above beverages  :)  The girls had fun getting their Epcot passports stamped and by day's end, they could say that they were around the world.  We had a great dinner at the Japanese restaurant at the teppanyaki grill followed by the evening's fireworks which are very similar to the ones here at La Ronde... fireworks and music right over the lake.

Finally hunted Minnie Mouse down.  She was a tough one!

Met Mulan at the Chinese pavilion and she was by far the best princess.  She took the time to speak to the girls about being strong ladies just like her and giving them some great advice.

DAY 4:  Magic Kingdom (again!)

This time it was much quieter.  If I could use that term, quieter.  By no stretch was it quiet but definitely much more so than on New Year's Eve.  Since we had done most of the park the last time, we were able to spend some time chasing down the characters.  The girls were on a mission on getting the most autographs possible.  I think they got close to 30!  Also, we spent the day going back to the rides that we most enjoyed on our last visit.  Lunch was on the streets which consisted of corn dogs and jumbo turkey legs.  Dinner was more civilized at The Crystal Palace with Winnie The Pooh and his friends.  And since it was our last night, we took our time and enjoyed our meal.  We also spent a good part of our day chasing day our friends M & T and their kids from Montreal.  Finally, met up with them for the fireworks.  And because the girls didn't want to leave after the fireworks, we continued on with our rides for a little longer.  No one wanted to leave in fact.  But we had to.  And until next time, Disney!  Thanks for the wonderful memories!

Tinkerbell.  Wow!  Is she ever chatty... A match for Alexia!

By far the funniest characters... Cinderella's stepmother and stepsisters.  They were a hoot!

The Classic Carrousel.

Mickey and Minnie in the afternoon parade.

And our favorite Hundred Acre Woods friend, Piglet.

The happiest girls at Disney.

The Castle at night... crazy stuff!

Happy New Year!

May this New Year bring you all lots of joy and happiness!