Moving house

Quebec province has a strange arrangement where all leases expire on the 1st July, "Moving Day". Some conspiracy theorists claim it has something to do with a distraction from Canada Day (surely not :-). The week before hand is Quebec National Day - le fête Jeanne Baptiste.

Needless to say it was a crazy week with moving trucks and stuff everywhere on the streets. We managed to avoid moving on the first but it was still a big effort from all involved.

 Some found it all too much...

 We moved into an entirely unfurnished house so we're still getting everything together. In the meantime, its amazing how resourceful you can been in creating new furniture and beds!

Once we have set up there will be a photo tour of our new place!

Montreal Jazz Fest

Its festival time in Montreal. There are so many things going on all at once but this is one of the biggest. Several downtown blocks are barricaded off to make a huge outdoor space where there are lots of free concerts. There are plenty of paid gigs too but with 2 small kids they are more difficult to attend (next year!).

There is even a kids area where we discovered lots of percussion instruments and Claude had fun on a giant piano.

Bike buddies

We don't have a car here (no need really!) and the best way to get around is by bike. We have a bike seat and a trailer which the kids love to ride around in most of the time. They can even fall asleep there.

Montreal has lots of dedicated bike paths - the cars even give way to us! And when you come to visit us, you can rent a bike from the bixi bike stations that are all over town. Just pick one up in one place and drop it off when you arrive at your destination.

More fun at our local park

Summer has arrived in Montreal. Although we still get a few cold and rainy days, the weather has warmed up and the parks are in full swing. Many of them have amazing water features that the kids can play in. Claude had a great time splashing with the others. Asha still loves the swings.

Formula 1 Grand Prix

Ok, so you probably already know the outcome - Sebastien Vettel won - (I'm a little behind on posting to the blog) but we had more fun looking at the fast cars in the street. We didn't get to see the actual race - the tickets even for kids were outrageously expensive! But we heard the noise of the race cars and got to see some of the models in the streets downtown.