Quebec Trip Part Two: Mont Saint Anne

Montmorency Falls was our next stop.  

We lasted maybe 10 minutes here.  The falls were really pretty and Mike and I would have happily wandered around for a while.  But, the unimpressed grumpy children weren't into it and we had a long drive ahead so we moved on....

En route from there, we came across a bridge to a little island called the I'le d'Orleans (I think?!).  It was full of artisans, cheese makers, farmers, cideries, etc.  Lots of neat little stops to make along the way.  

We even found a place that made Screamers :)  (Slurpees with ice cream.  Total hit!)

From there we headed to Mont Saint-Anne.  To say our kids like biking is an understatement.  They LOOOOOVE biking!  So since we were so close to the mountain resort town of Mont Saint-Anne, we decided to spend a couple days there and take the kids mountain biking for the first time.  

We thought it was a great idea.  We thought it would be the highlight of their trip. We thought they would love it!!!  

They started off loving it...there was a little pump track at the base of the mountain and they were all over that.  But once we started heading UP the mountain, things started to slide backwards a little.  

This was the calm before the storm...

See how much he's loving it?!?!

  

About 1/3 of the way up, Small was miserable.  And when he's miserable, it makes everyone miserable.  He kept claiming he couldn't do it and he wanted to go back.  Big was only slightly better.  He wanted to go back, too but was a little quieter and a little more polite about it.

Enter in mommy and daddy bribing encouraging them to keep going....

We started off with a break and A LOT of granola bars and treats.  And then I just stopped trying, got on my bike and left.  He followed yelling all kinds of pleasantries at me!  Ha!  Luckily, I'm wiser.  Once we caught up to Mike and Big, he killed it!  Like flew up the mountain killed it!  We could barely keep up with him.   Those were some granola bars, let me tell you!

This was us at the top!  I'm just going to leave that here for a moment....

WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!!!  

If you were on that mountain with us and saw how much the kids were NOT into it, you would understand how much of a feat that was!  We were all so incredibly proud of ourselves!  The boys were proud of themselves for making it and we were proud of our bribing encouraging abilities!!!  It was really awesome!  In fact, now we are trying to figure out how we can get mountain bikes for all of us so we can do it more often!!!

At the top, we were gunning for "a lake with a slide".  That's what the rental agency person suggested we head for.  When we found it, it was more like a pond with a couple of VERY VERY old slides, a lifeguard and nothing else.  Not even other people or kids?!

But honestly, it was quite likely the best lake / pond / puddle we've ever found!  The kids had such a blast playing around in it and did I mention....WE MADE IT TO THE TOP!!!!

Such a great day!  And guess who was the fastest daredevil down the mountain???  Yup!  Small!  We even had to let him go first because Big was slowing us all down.  Turned out that Big was nervous without all his BMX gear and didn't want to fall and hurt himself.  Fearless Small could care less!  He flew down the mountain.  So fun :)  And trust me, we all slept well that night!

The next day, we headed out of Mont Saint- Anne towards Petit Saguennay.  On the way, we stopped at Saint Anne de Beaupre church.

Now, let me just interject for a second here...The kids had less than zero interest in looking at churches. And they were quite vocal about it!  I found myself trying to explain what's cool about looking at churches and cathedrals and all the history and murals and intricate designs there are on them and what not.  And as I heard myself convincing them, I flashbacked to when my parents took us to Europe and I remembered seeing cathedral after church after cathedral....I'm sure I was equally as unimpressed and vocal as a kid so it was rather amusing to be in the opposite end.  Ok, only slightly amusing...but still...

Anyhow, it was a pretty cool church:

Next stop, Village Vacances Petit Saguenay...

Quebec City Part Four: Back to Quebec City

There's not a lot to say about our return trip to Quebec City.  We were all pretty tired by then so we spent the last 2 days wandering, eating, shopping and chilling.  We went back to all our favorite spots.  Ate our last ice creams and poutines.  And bought some keepsakes to bring home with us.  Funnily enough, the souvenirs the kids decided to bring home were cool rocks from Brazil?!?!  Oh well, at least they have the memories :)

Mike also caved and downloaded Pokemon Go so that may or may not have become the new highlight for the kids. 

We also checked out the Museum of Civilization on the last day.  They had some interesting exhibits but this room, by far, was the most fun :)

Always gotta Dab!

And Freeze

And about 10 minutes before we had to catch the cab to the airport, we decided to get a quick charicature done of the kids.  We would have liked to have all 4 of us done but we were running late and had already just barely made the flight there.  Big told the artist that he likes to ride scooters.  This is what he came up with...



Haha!  Oh well...at least he's trying to catch Pokemon while he's riding that scooter :)

And that's about all I have to say about our trip!  It was amazing, fun and a really great adventure with these two awesome kids!

I can't wait to find out what we drum up for our next adventure!!!!

Quebec Trip Part 3: Village Vacances

First off, I have to explain what Village Vacances is.  It's not easy to put into words this amount of awesomeness....

If you speak French, you can check out this website and have a better idea of what I'm talking about:

Viva Vacances


If you don't speak French, you should check out the website anyway because the pictures sum up our trip better than any of the pictures I have.


We spent 5 days at Viva Vacances in Petit Saguenay.  It was considered their "lighter" week because it was their down season.  I can't imagine what a non-light week would be like because there was more than enough excitement and activity for us.  And even a perfect amount of downtime for us to relax and chill as well!

So here's how it went, every morning, the kids would be divided into different aged categories.  Our kids were in separate age groups.  That was good!  They had to meet new kids and speak French and try to understand all the French that was spoken to them.  Each group had Animateurs (think camp counsellors) who were super keen and energetic and clearly loved playing with the kids.  They got to do some super cool activities, too!  Their highlights were jumping off the sand mountain, digging for clams, climbing a waterfall and sliding down a rock waterslide!

I mean, just think about those activities for a second!  They were outside, having some cool adventures, with new friends, in French!  They would never get to do anything like that back home.  I have no pictures of them, though...because they weren't with us...every morning...we had time without our kids....sigh.  See how much we love Viva Vacances?????  :)

Gibli,  Small's Animateur

Small's other Animateur.  I can't remember her name:(

Quatre-Dix.  He was everywhere!

Canille, Big's Animateur

See how fun they look???  I only wish I had half of their energy.  They were awesome!!!

Every morning, the parents had activities to do as well with our own Animateur.

We did things like take a mud bath...

Well, they all did anyway...someone needed to stay clean to take pictures, right?!?!

And we climbed the waterfall that Big did with his group...

That was insanely fun!  And Big did it in his barefeet even!  Props to him!

We also did adult things like wine and cheeses, casino nights, 3 course dinners, etc....all while the Animateurs entertained our children.

In the afternoons, they had family activities.  Things like volleyball tournaments, hikes, pool parties, etc.  The Animateurs were out entertaining our kids and we either played along or chilled out near the pool.  I may or may not have taken a couple naps in the afternoon or read my book outside our chalet....

In the evenings, they had family activities like bonfires or night hikes or more activities where they would take the kids for a movie or games while the parents hung out with their new friends.

All that...and breakfast and dinner was included!  It was amazing!  We would go back in a heartbeat if it wasn't so far away!

Our cabin was right on the beach, too.

 Look how close to the beach we are!!!  We were right on the beach!!

And just check out these views we had as the tide came in and out.  Every picture is a different day, different time, different view!  All from our cabin!!

That's what we woke up to every morning.  I tried taking pics of the stars at night but it just didn't work.  I've never seen that many stars, though.  It was incredible!

By all accounts, we had the best cabin in the resort.  However...there was a price!  We had to walk uphill to le coeur de village 3-5 times per day.  All the food and activities were up at the top of the hill.  We had 150 stairs (yes, we counted them) and then some to climb every time we went up to the village.

But, I didn't mind.  It helped me work off that lifetime supply of french fries I packed on.  And the kids didn't complain either...which, honestly, was amazing :)

One night, we decided to have a bonfire at our cabin.  We invited our new friends to come but they were silly and decided to take the nighttime family hike adventure.  By their account, it was a 3 hour trip from hell!  They told stories of climbing rocks and slippery slopes with steep cliffs at the side of the trail...in the dark...with lots of crying children.  There was also a swarm of bees that sent a family to the hospital.  And sadly, the view at the end wasn't anything worth all the effort.

That's what they did that night.  This is what we did...

We obviously made the right choice :)

We also took a day trip into the town of Petit Saguennay.  There wasn't a whole lot there other than a gas station, a cache-croux, and some really cute houses.  But, we did head out to the viewpoint of the Fjord du Saguennay and it was stunning!  Windy...but stunning!!!

We also came across some interesting animals while we were there.

A  neon green bug?!?!

A Marmott

Just a bee...but a cool picture :)

I also decided to take an afternoon whale watching trip.  The kids and Mike weren't very interested in going but there wasn't a chance I was going to miss out on seeing different kinds of whales.  I saw Minke Whales, Beluga Whales (with babies!) and a few Seals.  We were on a zodiac in crashing waves and at times it was pretty intense.  But, all in all it was a spectacular adventure!!!  I didn't get very many pics because I was too busy hanging on to the zodiac for dear life, but this gives you a general idea of how it went...

And finally, these are some of the friends we made while we were there.  I won't post the kid's friends because I won't post other people's kids but we all had a great time with our new friends.  And we were grateful for their patience with our not so great French :)

Viva Vacances!  Such an amazing time!!!

Next stop, back to Quebec City....