Trains, trains, trains

We took my train loving dad with us to see the Canadian Railway Museum on the south shore out of Montreal. It was amazing. We rode on an old locomotive, watch countless miniature trains go round and round and Claude climbed up in some of the old steam engines. Best of all, we managed to fortuitously go on Montreal museums day where entry to all museums is free!

 
 

Grandparents come to visit

Immediately after we arrived back from Philadelphia my parents came to visit for a week. We had a fabulous time seeing different parts of the city, doing some touristy things (photos to follow) and eating nice food. Claude was delighted to play trains with Poppa and have vanilla milkshakes at any cafe that served them. Asha had a great time walking around with help and playing on the swings at our local park.



All in all it was a great week - too short by half - but a fabulous way to show some members of our family what life is like here.
Now we're just waiting for our next visitors??!! Anyone for a trip to Montreal??!

Please Touch Museum

Philadelphia has an amazing kids museum call the Please Touch Museum. It's designed for those under 8 and everything is touchable. We had a great day exploring all kids of worlds. There are all kinds of transport to explore, shops/hospitals/gardens to play in, trains of course, musical instruments and water play. I would highly recommend it to anyone with kids visiting this city.

 
 This statue of Liberty is made entirely of recycled toys!

Philadelphia

We had the opportunity to travel down the the USA for Greg's conference in Philadelphia. We decided to hire a care and drive  - much cheaper than flying, less carbon intensive (especially since we had a hybrid car - only 3 tanks of petrol the whole trip!), and a great way to see the countryside.

We had a beautiful drive through the Adirondack mountains in New York state and stayed with my aunt's sister in Monticello on the way down.

Philadelphia is the first capital of the USA, the place where the Declaration of Independence was signed, home of Benjamin Franklin and full of history.
Independence Hall

The Liberty Bell

Reading Terminal Market - across the road from the conference centre and full of amazing food and produce

The best part was my parents were in town at the same time - coincidence?? not likely - divine providence that helped me keep two children entertained for a few days.

Arts cafe

There are so many cafes around our place, but this is my favourite. They have fabulous rooibos tea and the decor is great. One of our waitresses is an Aussie and knows what a babyccino is - to Claude's great delight!

Emmaus church

We have found a great new church in Montreal called Emmaus (after the road the 2 disciples walked when they met the risen Jesus - Luke 24:13-35). Its Anglican, part of the ANIC - the Anglican Network in Canada, smallish (about 50 people) and very welcoming. We are enjoying a slightly more liturgical service than Barneys with Communion most weeks. Its a great new home for us and there are many opportunities to serve in the community. Claude is excited to have some new friends to meet on sundays and we catch up with some of them on tuesday mornings for a mum's playgroup.
We meet in another church building in the beautiful Westmount park.

What is the yellow stick for?

Can you guess?