Montreal!

Greg, Will and I got back last week from our first family vacation, a drive up to Montreal to explore the old city with the stroller and indulge my inner francophile without crossing the Atlantic. Traveling is a little different with a ten month old in tow, but we had a great time, even though I admit I missed having long dinners out on the town in the evenings.


Shopping with Will :)

Greg and I enjoyed visiting the biodome and botanical gardens, shopping in Montreal's artist district (where we got some amazing puppets for Will that this guy makes in his basement! www.diabolopuppets.com) and checking out the Museum of Beaux Arts. Will enjoyed seeing the train come and go in the metro station, waving at strangers, taking baths in the hotel room, eating out at restaurants with us during lunch where he insisted on sampling a little of everything and introducing himself to strangers, and the mylar balloon we picked up for him at a local gift shop.



Actually, Will seemed to enjoy the museum as well, but mostly because Greg carried him around in the baby bjorn facing forward and explained each painting to him until he was bored and wanted to look at something else, at which point Greg would try to interpret Will's line of vision and bring him to the next bright painting or shiny sculpture. Wow, patience.


Will helps Greg interpret the guidebook from his favorite position as copilot

But for the most part, while Greg and I appreciated the bigger sights of Montreal, Will was just happy to be around both of us 24/7, and experiencing new things. The bathrobe at the hotel. The balloon. The doors on the metro cars. The bubbles we brought for our picnic lunch in the park. It reminded me how many things are still new and fascinating to him, and renewed my motivation to find new things near home for him to experience. Light switches. Opening and closing dresser drawers and cabinet doors. The texture of the rock in our backyard. Wet sand at the pond a mile from our house. Will doesn't need to go very far to have a good time, and since many of my favorite moments are watching his, neither do I!



That's not to say it wasn't worth traveling, too. What a relief it was when we went back to the hotel for his naps and there was no laundry to be done, no frantic cleaning up of breakfast and lunch dishes. Just reading, knitting, and watching the occasional cooking show in French on the hotel t.v. And the food was fabulous!

French fries fried in duck fat, for starters. Need I say more?