What?! A real post?

[benjiesluv]

Sorry to all my loyal fans that have been missing posts from me. It's been a busy time in my life and I really hate writing :P BTW: Nixorbo, thanks for the nudge ;) Let's see, I last posted in April which means that there has been a lot that's gone on. I believe that it was sometime in early May that I got promoted from Cashier to Supervisor (which basically means I'm still a cashier, but now I have more responsibility). I had an interview for assistant service manager, but basically they told me that they want me to be a supervisor for a while, but to give them a call in Sept. What else? Hmmm...

We are still living in the same place and Ben and I are still working at the same places. I've been losing weight a little at a time so that's at least boosting my self esteem a little. I really notice it most in my face (it's a little less, let's say, cherubic) :)

Last weekend was the first real exciting time in quite a while. We left on Friday morning for Montreal . We arrived in Montreal around 11ish I think. We went to Montreal to visit Ralph and Rhonda (friends of ours) and to do some touristy things. Ralph took us to see the Oratory (a big church like thing devoted to Saint Joseph).
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We also got to take a look at the original oratory chapel. outside
inside It was very peaceful and beautiful there. We went into the garden where they had statues telling the story of Jesus' journey to the cross. I took a picture of my favorite/most meaningful to me.

After the oratory we went on a picnic in this nice little park. We had chicken sandwiches with lettuce and veggies. I put cucumbers on my sandwich because I love cukes SO much. We also had soda and we were supposed to finish off with brownies, but Rhonda had left them at home. It's okay though because I had a yogurt instead (which was much better for me anyway!)

After the Picnic we went to the Biodome. This is a HUGE building that houses several different types of climates. It only cost us $25 CDN dollars for the two of us. Not too bad when you think about it. We were in a rainforest where we saw Tamarin monkeys , crocodiles sleeping with a turtle , macaws, and many different types of birds. After the rainforest we went into a place called the Larentian forest. This place had the same climate as where we live now, and like in WNY. In this habitat we saw more turtles, some more birds, and fish. There were also two beavers, but all we saw of them was a live video feed of them sleeping inside their den. Also there was an otter, but he too was sleeping in his den. I guess that we caught nap time at the Biodome. Next we went into an area that had a Lynx in it, but he was sleeping too and all we could even see of him was the tip of his head with his two little ears sticking up, and a bit of his paw. He was sleeping up high on his "mountain".

After that was a room with fish, it was a side view of the water (a lot like the tanks you'd see in an aquarium). These were all fish from around our area. Pike, salmon, etc. Some of the fish were Mammoth! I wouldn't want to be swimming with those nearby AT ALL! Then the next room we went into was the above ground view of this same water and in it we saw tons of different types of birds. It was really neat. There was also a pool that housed sea urchins, sea cucumbers (not the kind I like to eat! LOL), and starfish. It was quite cool, oh, and there were also crabs in there too. One was hiding a bit and was completely covered in moss! Interesting to watch nonetheless.

The next and final room was the penguin room! There were, I think, Three different types of penguins in this room.
Type 1
Type 2
Type 3
They were very fun to watch because they would put on a show. They would dive in the water and swim really fast. They would "march" and pose and chase things under the water. We spend a majority of our time in this room.

After that we went to the fossil exibit which was interesting, but fossils are fossils to me. Then we went to the giftshop! I bought a magnet with Biodome de Montreal on it and a penguin on it too. I also bought a Biodome de Montreal water bottle (similar to the small nalgene bottles) so that I could take water to work. It cost me around $20 CDN for my souveniers so only $45 for the day! We were going to take the Metro train back to Ralph and Rhonda's house, but we figured that since it was getting into rush hour time and I'm VERY clostrophobic that we'd better bypass the Metro until some other time when it was less busy.

Instead we drove around Montreal and went through this HUGE cemetary. It was really beautiful and there were some quite ornate tombstones including one with an angel (bigger than me!) crying over it, and another one was made of a crystal like material. Apparently it's been replaced several times due to cracking. We also saw the tombstone of Maurice "Rocket" Richard (a famous hockey player for the Montreal Canadiens). We drove around in the cemetary some more and saw tombstones in Vietnamese and all sorts of languages. It was really interesting.

After the cemetary we headed back to Ralph and Rhonda's. We were going to go swimming but decided that we were too lazy to change into swim clothes and back out of swim clothes for only 15 minutes of swimming. Instead Rhonda took us on a power walk to the nearby boulangerie (bakery for the non-french speakers like myself). At the boulangerie we obtained two round loafs, some chocolate pastries, an apricot pastry, some croissants, and a cinnimon bun pastry. We ate all of these the next day and they were SOOOOOO delicious. We are actually still working on the last round loaf, and had it with our dinner last night. Yummy!

After the power walk we met up to say our goodbyes because we needed to be on our way to Vermont to see Alana. So we headed out about 4:45 pm towards Fairfax, Vermont with Ralph and Rhonda showing us the way despite our stubborness of not staying behind them and some misinterpreted facial expressions and hand signals. Nonetheless, we got out of Montreal traffic without a scratch!

We headed along the beautiful back country to Vermont with only one little mistake (which apparently is only because we were on a different route than what our driver was used to). The little mistake was only a 10-20 min. time difference, but we still didn't arrive in Fairfax until after 9 pm. It was quite a long trip for some reason. Everyone else tells us that the trip in it's entirety (from Ottawa to Fairfax) should have only taken 4 hours. Oh well. We got in and Alana had timed dinner perfectly.

For dinner we had Greek Souvlaki Chicken on the grill, a Greek salad, and some grilled asparagus. We also busted out the round loaf that we brought from Montreal. After dinner we chatted for a little bit, but Ben and I were exhausted so we went to bed and crashed. The next morning I was up at 7:00 am all on my own and decided to take a shower and get my day started. When I was done with my shower everyone else was starting to stir. We started our day off with lovely croissants, pastries, and juice/tea/coffee for breakfast. Alana's friend Blythe came over too. She stayed for breakfast and chatted with us for a while. Then we kind of watched some cartoons as Alana and Jill walked Eli and packed a picnic lunch for us. We then took off on our first real adventure. We went on a hike not too far from Alana's house. We hiked alongside a creek and some falls and we cooled off in the water a bit, but the water was frigid and the air was cool. It looked like it was going to rain all day, but it never did. It was actually the perfect weather for hiking (Eli thought so too!), but apparently also the perfect weather for Mosquitoes. Not too pleasant to have mosquitoes flying in your face every two seconds or so.

After hiking up to the brink of the falls, we hiked back down to the picnic tables and had our lunch. We had ham and cheddar sandwiches and some veggies and soda. This too was a nice and fulfilling lunch. After the hike we stopped at a small spot for Maple creamies (basically maple flavored soft-serve ice cream SOOOOOOOO Yummy!!!) We sure do eat a lot! After the creamies we decided that we would go to the Ben and Jerry's factory for a tour, but first we had to drop of Eli. I decided that after hiking and being disgusting that I would take a quick shower before heading off on our next adventure.

So after showering and changing, we left for the Ben and Jerry's Factory. The tour was only $3 per person and it was worth it. We saw a video of the background of the plant and then we had a guide show us the different machinery used in making the ice cream as well as the quality control measures that were in place. It was quite interesting from a Business Major's viewpoint because it was an entrepreneurial wonder that these two guys made it as big as they did. After seeing the machines we were taken to have a free sample. We tried the Strawberry cheesecake ice cream. SO delicious!

After Ben and Jerry’s we stopped at a Vermont Teddy Bear outlet store and a random chocolate/cheese place. We had free samples there and we also had hot chocolate and coffee. We were going to buy this pepper jack cheese there, but Alana said that we’d be going to a bigger cheese shop the next day and that we could get it then.

After the chocolate/cheese shop we went to the Cold Hollow Cider Mill. We stopped on our way into the cider mill for a photo opportunity. Inside, we had a sample of cider and looked around their freakishly large (for a cider mill) gift shop. We also got to try a cider doughnut which Alana so graciously purchased for us. It was still warm and VERY DELICIOUS!!! After the Cider Mill we were ready to call it a day. We headed back through Smuggler’s Notch to Alana’s so that we could take Eli for a walk. We walked Eli and then Alana made the most wonderful dinner ever. She made a salad with candied pecans and chicken strips on a bed of mixed greens topped with raspberry vinaigrette. Alana’s cooking never ceases to amaze me. After dinner we called it a night.

The next morning brings us up to Sunday (Father’s Day). We went to Alana’s church which was a small, old building. They have a female preacher and she was quite interesting. There were very few people in the church compared to what we are used to in Ottawa. There were probably only 20 people at the most there. The music was all old hymns and they even had a choir (which were part of the 20 people there). It was suggested during the service that Alana’s family (us) move to Fairfax so that we could join their choir  They apparently liked our singing a lot. I was told that the preacher even started tearing up when she was listening to Benjie sing. There may have been 2 men in the whole congregation so it must’ve been quite a blessing for the preacher to hear such a strong male voice among the female ones.

After church we went back to Alana’s to walk the dog before heading out for Burlington. Once Eli was walked we all hopped into Jill’s car and drove to Burlington, Vermont. We began our adventure in Burlington at a Pub called Ri Ra’s. It was quite good. I had fish and chips (which I’d been craving for quite some time). There were some locals watching soccer on the TV so our conversations were often interrupted with cheers from the fans. It always startled me. Then Alana noticed some French (Montreal) Bikers (Harleys not bicycles) taking pictures of each other and offered (in French) to take a picture with all three of them. It was quite an interesting site to behold. Once we’d finished our lunch we meandered our way to Church St. Here we went into a bunch of different shops including one with just socks and one with everything made of pewter! There was also a shop that featured art from local artisans. There were so many beautiful and eclectic things there, but they were all very expensive as well. After the small shops we decided to make a pit stop at the Mall. While we were in the mall the fire alarm went off. We ignored it long enough for all of us to go to the bathroom, but then we didn’t feel fearless enough to venture into the mall. I guess it just gives us something to do the next time we are there. Once we had had our pit stop we made our way back to the car where we proceeded to drive down to the waterfront.

We sat on a swinging bench, had a picture taken of us, and moved on. It was too hot and getting too late in our day to really appreciate and enjoy the waterfront. After the waterfront we went to this little aquarium to use the washrooms again before our trek back to Alana’s. We also took some time to look around their little gift shop, but we didn’t buy anything.

We took a short detour to the cheese shop that Alana had told us about only to find that it wasn’t open on Sundays. So we proceeded back to Fairfax. Before getting to Alana’s house we stopped to get gas and Ben and I got some ice cream too. Then Jill (Ben’s mom) realizes she doesn’t have her water bottle that she had brought with her from Katmandoo, Australia. I said, “You must’ve left it at the pub.” But Jill was sure that she had taken it with her to the stores we had been in. When we got back to Alana’s house, Jill called around to all the stores that we had shopped at trying to find her bottle, and all for naught. Then she decided to call the pub and, sure enough, it was there. DUH…I could’ve told ya that, oh wait, I DID! Anyway, she had them put Alana’s name on it so that Alana could pick it up when she was there next.

Then Ben and I loaded everyone’s luggage into the car and said our goodbyes to Alana and Eli. Then began our adventure home…

We were taking a route home that was supposedly faster, but it didn’t end up that way for us. Needless to say, after several stops along the side of the road, loads of traffic and construction, and a wrong exit we finally saw the sign for Ottawa. What a sweet sign it was indeed. We made it back safe and sound. We stopped for Subway because we wanted to eat fresh ;) and then I had to pack some work clothes because I was going to stay at Jill’s that night because her house is much closer to my work than ours is and so I could get up at 7:00 am instead of 5:30 am. It worked out for the best and I crashed soon after eating my sub. All in all it was a long trip full of numerous adventures and good times were had by all!