Friday, August 14, 2015

Five for Friday

Note: today's post is quite lengthy but I hope you'll indulge me because....

1. It's my birthday!


2.  I told the kids in July when we went to see Ant-Man and saw the trailer
for Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation that I had found what I wanted to do for my birthday.
With Austin being scheduled to work tonight, though, we decided to go
see the late show on Tuesday, after taekwondo.
It was very good!


Crazy bad selfie, I know, but it was really late when the movie got out
and I just wanted to go home! 
Gee, I must be getting older..... ;)


3.  Last Wednesday, the kids and I flew to Montreal to visit my brother & his family.
It was the first time flying for Sage & Jonah. 
(Austin flew to Halifax with my mom and me when he was three,
but he doesn't remember it.)


(Another fun, but not so great selfie on the plane!)

We had such a wonderful trip!
Some highlights include...


Going to La Ronde with my nephew, Noah on Thursday.
We took the bus & metro (subway) there and had a really fun day!


On Friday, we went to Old Montreal, where we walked around,
did a maze called the Labyrinth & grabbed lunch.


My brother gave me my birthday gift -- the opportunity to zip line off of the tall
red/purple/blue tower in the background, over the water!
It was so fun!
(That's me, zip-lining with Austin, in the bottom right photo -- I'm the one on the left!)
Trevor and Noah are at the top.

We also went to the Science Museum to check out the Game On video game exhibit,
which the kids enjoyed.


They also really liked exploring the Science 26 exhibit -- a whole hands-on science experience.


On Saturday, we went to the Jean Talon Marché, 
to look at the soccer stadium that Trevor is the lead architect for (it was amazing!), 
to Mile End where they had the nicest paper shops,
and to Mont Royal.


We had such a fabulous visit -- and would go back in a heartbeat!


4. Another very cool highlight from our trip was getting to meet
the amazingly talented & oh, so wonderful Elena Roussakis.
We've been online friends for about four years now and when
I booked our flights to Montreal, I contacted her about meeting in real life.


Sage & I met Elena and her lovely family for coffee on Sunday morning 
and then we attended their church service with them,
which was wonderful!
And Sage & Elena's oldest daughter, Sofia, totally hit it off!
I'm so glad it worked out for us to get together!
My only regret is that we couldn't have spent more time together....


5. And lastly, I have a winner to announce for the give-away 
that I mentioned on Tuesday.

I had 26 people leave comments on my blog post,
so I asked Cameron to pick a number between 1 & 26 and he picked 16.
Which means, the winner of the Reverse Confetti Love and Ice Cream stamp set is...
Michele from I Card Everyone!

Congratulations, Michele! 

Thanks for looking!

18 comments:

Lynn said...


wow! Your trip to visit your brother looks fabulous Leigh! Way to enjoy those days of summer.

Chriss Blagrave said...

Happy Birthday Leigh! I am so happy that you spent time in Montréal and from the pic, it looks like your time was well spent!
Seeing all of the pics has me yearning for my home town and I am headed there in a couple of weeks.
Have a fun filled weekend ahead!
Hugs-️️Chriss

Lynn said...

I missed telling you Happy Birthday Leigh! Hope you have an awesome day!

Svitlana Shayevich said...

Happy birthday!!!
I also wanna see the mission (love action movies!).
So interesting to read your stories!

Audrey Pettit said...

Another fabulous Friday post, and this one is even better because it is your BIRTHDAY!! Happy, happy, happy birthday, Leigh! I hope you have an amazing day, and may this next year be your best one yet!

Ruth said...

What a fabulous time away! So glad you had a great birthday and enjoyed yourself. Xx

Megan Carroll said...

First of all, Happy Birthday Leigh! I hope you are enjoying your day!! Your post was great and your vacation looked fabulous, I will definitely have to take the kids to Montreal one day ( my husband has been there all week for work and us really enjoying it). Have a great weekend!!

Susanne Vargas said...

Happy Birthday! Hope you have a fabulous day!
When you were in Montreal you were actually not far from me! Glad you enjoyed your time there!

Alanna said...

Happy birthday! I loved seeing all these family photos.

Teresa Doyle said...

It looks like you had a great time in Montreal with your brother & fam. Happy Birthday and Congratulations to Michele!

I Card Everyone said...

By now you might just be tucked into bed, so I'll try to be very quiet when I again say: HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LEIGH!!! You know how happy I am to hear more about your fabulous trip with the kids...to see the photos [your selfies are great] makes it all even better. You are a dear, and one day WE will meet, I feel sure of it!
I'm so happy to be the lucky winner of that fabulous RC Ice Cream set - LOve ice cream and these sentiments are awesome!
Until next time... sleep well, my friend...
=] Michele

Kathy Mc said...

Happy Birthday, Leigh! Looks like it was a great one spending time with family. What an awesome gift from your brother. Did you enjoy zip lining? It's on my list of things to try at least once. Can't believe how fast your children are growing after seeing photos of them on your blog the past few years.

Kay Miller said...

Wow!! What a wonderful birthday and trip you had! I loved seeing all of your fun photos!! So neat that you got to meet Elena!!

Diana K said...

I'm so behind, Leigh, and missed your birthday, so sorry! Loved seeing my home town in all of your photos and glad that you had a good time visting here. I didn't even know that Elena lived in Montréal.

Lisa Petrella said...

Happy Birthday! What a fun post full of celebrations and adventures!!! Looks like you've been having a wonderful Summer!!! YAY!

Miriam Prantner said...

What a great trip! So fun that you were able to meet Elena! And happy belated birthday!!!

cm said...

Leigh, you've amped up my desire to travel to Montreal immensely! The photos speak of a trip filled with fabulous adventures and memories to treasure. Kudos to you for zip-lining! Meeting with Elena and her girls: fabulous! One of these days, it'll be my turn to meet you! Another Five for Friday that makes my heart sing!
~c

Joyce said...

Wow--I am really further behind than I thought. You have already gone on vacation and come home already. Wonderful pictures, and I am so happy you got to meet Elena. She was one of the first gals I got to know a little on the PTI forum all those years ago. I have never been to Montreal and your pictures make me really really want to go there.