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!)
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.
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| This was the calm before the storm... |
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| 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...
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