Deedle

Thanksgiving

2011-10-31T16:10:00.004-04:00

Here we are, the Bider cousins. In a tree, of course.

For Thanksgiving, this side of the family got together at Kim and Mark's farm. The night before, Mom, Dad, R.C and I camped in the field and then biked into town for breakfast. I got to meet all the animals for the firs time, from the ducks in the kiddie pool to the cranky sheep. We then spent the day running around in the grass, attempting to fly my kite, bugging the crancky sheep and, as I mentionned, climbing trees.

Sailing in September

2011-09-26T16:27:00.002-04:00

Renée, Dad and I have had quite a few sailing adventures recently. Earlier this month we sailed to the Toronto Islands and jumped off the boat to swim (getting back in is harder). This weekend, we took part in the annual race. Due to an unlucky jamming of the rudder and main sail, we ended up fully clothed in the water with our boat upside down. Capsizing (or «turtleing» as I am told the word is) is actually more fun than you might think, and the only one not to make it back on board safely was Dad's right flip-flop. We still finished the race and much enjoyed our celebratory chips!

Algonquin

2011-08-16T15:56:00.005-04:00

For our annual canoe-camping trip this year, we decided to explore the Barron Canyon in Algonquin Park. This area is made up of several small lakes (with interesting names, my favourites being Opalescent and Ooze) and the Barron river, so we did some of our longest portages ever! Mom is very proud of herself for carrying the canoe on her head the whole time!
Here we are at our daily activities.
Our very own water-spirits

Going down the natural slide

Cliff-jumping

Portaging

And, of course, paddling!

Bubbles in the Saguenay

2011-08-16T15:19:00.004-04:00

L'Acropole

2011-07-31T11:11:00.006-04:00

L'Acropole des draveurs is a mountain 1080 m high in Charlevoix. It is composed of three rocky cliff peaks overlooking the Hautes-gorges-de-la-riviere-Malbaie area. Two weeks ago, Renee, mom and I set out to hike to the top!

After 5 kilometers of uphill path, we reached the first peak. From here, we had to walk on the top of the cliff, among the sub-arctic vegetation. At the highest point, is is a full 10 degrees colder than at the bottom of the mountain! That is where we stopped for lunch.

A week with Pierre and Sharon

2011-07-21T12:57:00.015-04:00

School has ended and mom, Renée, and I are in the Saguenay to visit. We spent a much too short week with Pierre and Sharon, crammed with a lot of action! Between go-karting, the zoo, Tadoussac, kayaking, hiking, and swimming, we barely had time to sit down to play cards!

Water Fight

2011-06-28T16:07:00.003-04:00

Here we are, cooling off on our green roof. This is the best way to escape the heat of summer!

Paddle the Don

2011-05-24T17:01:00.005-04:00

A few weeks ago, Mom and I participated in a fund raising event called Paddle the Don. The Don River flows through Toronto, and the participants canoe 10.5 km through the city. There are a few things to look out for when you are urban canoeing:

Large blocks of concrete
Man-made waterfalls
Low bridges
Rusty metal crates

Luckily, we managed to avoid all these and made it to the finish without capsizing once, although with a few significant new dents in our canoe! Next year, we will talk Renée and Dad into coming!

Tourists

2011-05-04T21:17:00.007-04:00

I am finally visiting New York! We have been so busy the last two days that we have barely spent any time in our hotel, named "The Pod". Since our arrival we have been to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building, walked the Brooklyn Bridge, took a boat trip around Manhattan, walked on the Highline, visited the Museum of Natural History, the folk art gallery and the Frick, rode on the (crazy) subway and shopped. My legs are so worn out from all our wanderings, I wonder if I will ever be able to stand up again.

It's all very intense and exiting, and tomorrow is another busy sight-seeing day!

Birthday

2011-04-12T17:08:00.007-04:00

On April 9th, my birthday, I began the day by getting up at 5:30 am (on a weekend!) to drive to Waterloo for the provincial u-14 water-polo tournament. Unfortunately, there was not mutch birthday luck for me, and we finished in last place. Well, I think (hope) we are starting to play better as a team and I had enormous fun playing teams from all over Ontario!

When we got home at 10pm, I opened my presents and ate delicious chocolate cake!

The crazy fire-eater

March Break Wanderings

2011-03-31T18:49:00.003-04:00

Here we are, bike riding along the lake during March break. We are in our light coats as the ice slowly floats to shore. The swans are poking around, and spring is in the air!

L'écho d'un peuple

2011-03-08T16:28:00.003-05:00

This passed week, I have been preforming in «Écho d'un peuple», a play about the history of French Canadians in Ontario. Even if the play itself was a little weird, acting in it was a lot of fun! Yaryna and I, along with the other participants from our school (mostly 7th graders) were early 20th century farmers. We wore long skirts and straw hats and pretended to throw seeds in the crowd. At the end of our scene, we did a dance, which must have looked insane to the crowd, but was fun to preform! The highlights for me where:

seeing people I know in the crowd
when we jumped and yelled «hey» at the end of our dance and my hat fell over my face
twirling in those puffy skirts
when Rowan, the only other 8th grader, decided to name her bonnet «Bonnetta» and introduced it to everybody
signing in the last act with 400 other actors.

Ottawa Weekend

2011-02-28T18:24:00.004-05:00

For the Family Day long weekend, RC, Mom, Dad and I went to Ottawa to visit aunt\uncle\cousins Anne, Keith, Emma, and Jeremy. We saw the Museum of Civilisations and the Diefenbunker. The Diefenbunker was the bunker where the Prime minister would have hidden if there had been a nuclear attack during the Cold War. In the end, it was never used and has now been converted into a museum. Here is RC standing in front of a «fat man» nuclear bomb.

Snow Day

2011-02-05T19:54:00.003-05:00

Snow days are a rare but wonderful thing. They occur when a there is a too heavy snowfall to keep the schools open, which is only once or twice a year, at most. Snow days allow us to do anything we want on a day where we would usually be trapped inside an overheated school, so everyone celebrates! We went toboganning in Christie Pitts and were truly rebellious by eating ice cream in a snowstorm! I am still waiting for my fingers to thaw completly.

Titan's Cup

2011-02-03T18:01:00.010-05:00

Last weekend, the Golden Jets went to Ottawa for the Titan's Cup tournament. This tournament was open to girls and boys under 14 years old, so most of the girls couldn't come. We didn't do so bad, and we won 2 out out of 5 games. In the end, we ranked 6th of 8! Between games, we had snowball fights and went skating on the Rideau Canal. Mom, dad, Renée, Arthur (our goalie) and I skated 12 km in all and stopped for Beaver Tails halfway (yum!). We met up with other team membres Freddi, William, and Cameron and played tag on the ice. Poor Cam had lots of trouble staying on his feet, especially with Freddi and me «helping» him! All in all, lots of good times and I can't wait for our next tournament!

Me (left), Arthur (center), and William (right).

New Year in the Laurentians

2011-01-06T19:16:00.009-05:00

For New Year's Eve, we went to the family cottage in the Laurentians, where we met up with uncle Keith, aunt Anne and cousins Emma and Jeremy. We really enjoyed the snow, building a (estimated) 9 foot tall snowman and some speedy toboggan runs. We also initiated Emma, Jeremy, and Anne to cross-country skiing. We stayed up until midnight playing games. We laughed a lot and I look forward to doing it again next year!

Christmas, before and after

2010-12-26T20:20:00.010-05:00

We have been so very busy, what with skiing, snowshoeing, fort building, helicopter flying and all those things we do around Christmas, that I have not had time to write! Since une image vaut mille mots, as we say in french, here are some pictures.

Renee as we know her.

I did not push her!

Liliane asks "What do you mean, a box of Christmas dolls? What are Christmas dolls?"

Presents!

Helicopter

The fort, complete with entrance tunnel, escape slide, and snowball stock!

Tournament

2010-12-12T19:41:00.008-05:00

Today was my team's first ever water-polo tournament. We lost rather horribly (2-11, 3-15, 3-8, 0-11), but I did learn some very valuable kicking, shoving, elbowing and bathing-suit yanking techniques. From left to right : Léa, Mia, Megan, Nicole, Freddi, Karolina and me. Here are some action pictures!
(I am numbers three and eight)

Sunk! I am the black blob under the water.

Tree Trouble

2010-12-09T17:02:00.006-05:00

All right, here is the thing: never let anyone looking like this get anywhere near your tree...

or you will end up with this.

The best solution is to tie your tree to something (in this case the door), so you can decorate safely, like this.

However, beware of this funny creature, who just might steal all the presents (don't be fooled by the outwardly cuteness).

Water-Polo

2010-11-22T20:17:00.005-05:00

We are now getting ready for our first big water-polo tournament, which means new t-shirts, insanely tight bathing suits that require two people to zip, and intense practice. Am working hard.

Here is the (awesome) Toronto Golden Jets apparel!

Punpkins!

2010-11-05T16:06:00.006-04:00

The good old tradition lives on! Here are the pumpkins we carved for Halloween. The larger one is made by me and the little one by Renée. We of course brought them to the pumpkin parade, where, this year, had over 1100 participants. My favourite was a sculpture of an alligator, with one big pumpkin for the head and little ones in the tail!

Small note for my fellow Harry Potter fans (maniacs according to Yaryna): only two weeks left before the last movie comes out!!!!!!!!!!

Halloween

2010-11-04T20:47:00.008-04:00

Halloween has come and gone yet again. This year all my friends and I went trick-or-treating together, as characters from Alice in Wonderland. Yaryna, Katerina and Hannah came to my house early to watch the new movie (which is very good and highly recommended by me). Here we are, all in costume.

From left to right: Katerina (Tweedledee), me (Mad Hatter), Renée (Red queen), Clara (rabbit), Yaryna (Cheshire cat), Sauvanne (Alice), Hannah ( Tweedledum). Next year, we are thinking of being The Wizard of Oz or Micheal Jackson and the zombies.

Nuit Blanche 2010

2010-10-03T10:20:00.010-04:00

Auto Lamp

This year, once again, we celebrated Nuit Blanche, the all-night modern art festival. My favourite projects were the Auto Lamp, by Kim Adams (an old van turned into a disco ball), Crossings, by the OpenEnded group (projections on the ROM), Company Blonde (a dance number to heavy metal violins), and All Night I Mourned Myself, by John Shipman, Pamela Williams and Zhang Xing (listen to your own funeral on the Coffin Phone). We braved the cold until 1am, pausing to drink some hot apple cider by the Pine Cone Colony, by Floyd Elzinga. We also nearly got to hear an orchestra made interly of bells, but one of them was missing! I will definitely be returning next year!

Crossings and some giant origami.

school

2010-09-20T19:43:00.005-04:00

At long last, school has really started... well, I am a little late in writing this because classes began two weeks ago, but I thought I would tell you about it anyway.

I am still at the same school, Collège Français, and in 8th grade. While we mostly have the same teachers as last year, the french, math and social studies ones have changed. I think these first weeks have been going quite well; the only downside is that my locker number has changed, and now instead of fabulous 2222 I am stuck with boring 2217.

Most of my friends are in my class, which is quite practical for team projects and whispering during classes!

With our first test coming up (subject: the microscope) everyone is working very hard, and, I think this year will be a fun one.

Canoe-camping

2010-09-05T12:33:00.008-04:00

This year, for our annual camping trip, we returned to the French River, but to change the itinerary, we canoed down to the Georgian Bay. On the first day, the headwinds were so strong, Sam and Andreas got thrown out of their canoe! We got to enjoy lovely scenery, sunsets and true camping food (pizza and chocolate cake). Although it rained hard at night (half the tents flooded) The weather was quite nice and on the last day, we took a break from paddling and used our rain coats as sails to float downstream!

All the kids

Portage end

Deer at the Shack

2010-08-17T16:13:00.004-04:00

We have, as every year, been to the Shack for some well-deserved rest and swimming. This year I was lucky enough to capture a deer on camera! We also spotted a beaver and our good friend Platypus the snapping turtle!

Painted faces

2010-08-01T12:10:00.002-04:00

I have recently remembered this picture of Renée and I after the first annual Pearson Party!

Splish -Splash Guy

2010-07-31T11:31:00.004-04:00

Here is a video Yaryna and I made for English class*.

*In the original showing, the audio and the image were actually synchronized. Our sound team is currently working on fixing this problem to bring you the nuttiness in all it's splendor.

Stockholm

2010-07-31T11:00:00.014-04:00

For the last two weeks, Renée and I have been in Stockholm, Sweden with Pierre and Sharon. For a more complete version of what we did, go to Sharon's blog, but here is a taste.

Day one
We arrived and explored the neighborhood and our apartment.

Day two
We went to Haga Parken, king Gustav III's favourite gardens and met some hungry carp.

Day three
We visited the Vasa, a ship that unfortunately sank thirty minutes after it left the harbor. It is also home to the ugliest cherubs on the planet.

Day four
We saw historic houses from all over Sweden at the village of Skansen (for example a temperance lodge).

Day five
We went to Drottningholm, the queen's palace and got to try on some of the costumes used in the plays preformed in the theatre.

Day six
We visited Sharon's parents and brother in Bro. And met this snail.

Day seven
We saw the city hall and went souvenir shopping in Gamla Stan, the old town.

Day eight
We had fun at Gröna Lund, the second biggest amusement park in Sweden! I was the only one who went on the free-fall and Pierre won two kilos of M&M's!

Day nine
We took a boat to the outer islands and swam in the cold Baltic sea.

Day ten
We went to the Nordiska museum and saw the same smurfs that are at Grandma Bider's house!

Day eleven
We departed for Toronto.

Rain

2010-07-17T21:16:00.002-04:00

The Saguenay is not a stranger to extreme weather conditions, what with the heavy snow falls and the famous Déluge in 1996. And indeed, the word Déluge was spoken several times as we wached the street turn into a river before our eyes today.

Tadoussac

2010-07-17T20:43:00.008-04:00

Tadoussac is a small town on the intersection of the Rivière Saguenay and the Fleuve St-Laurent, and it has become a traditionnal day-trip spot. This year, Pierre, Sharon, Renée and I started by visiting the giant sand dunes and spashing around in ICE COLD water (our feet where turning bright red). It was my first sighting of a wild sea cucumber (now that may give you the wrong idea, the thing was moving at the speed of 1 inch per hour) and of crab dwellings (resembling anthills). Then, we went to our choice whale-waching spot, but no whale showed up. The whole time, we where wrapped in thick fog, making everything seem grey and mysterious. We ended the trip with a look in the Cétacébon chocolate shop, and ate chocolate all the way back home!

Crab Dwellings

Sea urchin

Charlevoix

2010-07-10T09:18:00.006-04:00

The Charlevoix region, where we camped last week, is home to the highest peaks in Canada east of the Rockies. We hiked and biked around the Parc national Les-Hautes-gorges-de-la-rivière-Malbaie and saw partriges, baby foxes, a wolf and a mouse. I have now discovered that there is practically nothing cuter than a baby fox. They have fluffy little ears and tails as big as their bodies. We were not lucky enough to spot one of the caribou who are said to wander in those parts. Next year, we will go back and climb the Acropole des draveurs, the most challenging hike!

Wonderland!

2010-06-27T15:59:00.008-04:00

Last week, my school organized a sort of celebration due to the end of classes. The whole week, we did fun activities like historic boat trips and the zoo, but my favourite place was, without a doubt, Canada's Wonderland. It was my first time going to such a big amusement park and I was really excited because I LOVE rides that go either very fast, upside-down or even better, both! I can't say which of the rides I went on was the best, but I really liked the Dragon Fire (lots of loops), the Vortex (fast and furious), the Flight Deck (really high and upside down), and the Mighty Canadian Minebuster (sooo fast). Plus, there was the amazing cotton candy, a must-have for any trip to the fair! Hannah (my «Wonderland buddy») and I have decided to convince our families to take us back sometime during the summer, and this time we will conquer the Behemoth, the highest ride in the park!

The Dragon Fire

Bells on Bloor

2010-06-06T10:02:00.007-04:00

This year was my first time participating in the annual Bells on Bloor parade. This is a sort of protest to put bike lanes on Bloor street. Everyone brings a bike and a bell and rides down the street. There was a HUGE amount of people, all chanting and screaming at the same time. Some even brought trumpets and gongs that they hooked to their bikes. Dad made a video by attaching his tripod to his bicycle (mom was sure he would knock over some poor pedestrian). I will post it if he finishes editing before next year. Meanwhile, here is a picture!

The Garden

2010-05-15T16:18:00.008-04:00

Spring! Warmth! Sunnyness! It has all come with the first few weeks of May. Now, I can at last report that the garden we planted in April has begun to grow! In fact, Everything is growing (except maybe Renée) and the view from the third floor looks like someone has dropped a green paint bucket on it. Dad is leaving a leafy trail on the floor behind him as he parades through the house with a vine covered window screen (why? good question) . I have been riding my bicycle to school, witch is quite pleasant and ants and spiders have taken over the house. Summer is on the way!

Oh, and if you have any reading suggestions for me, please leave a comment. For the moment, I am stuck reading Harry Potter 7 for the 8th or 9th time.

Sponsorships and Starvation

2010-04-24T19:42:00.004-04:00

Dear reader
On Monday (I think) May the third, I will not be eating for twelve hours (sleeping does not count) to raise funds for the school charity program Brique par brique: le collège français en Afrique. If you are interested in sponsoring me, please contact me at my home number (I don't have any other) or by email.

I will write about this event a little later.
Thank you

My birthday

2010-04-10T12:43:00.003-04:00

The 9th of April is my birthday, and in my view one of the best days of the year. My family, friends and I celebrated by going to the wave pool! Being in a wave pool is like being shipwrecked, but with your feet touching the bottom and without the sharks. I received many wonderful gifts, including a bicycle and (stripy) helmet! The delicious cake was made by Mom and Grand-maman Lili. Now, we are all enjoying a day of rest before Mom's birthday tomorrow!

Lights out!

2010-03-29T16:37:00.002-04:00

Two days ago, as you might know, was earth hour, which, if you don't know, means that for one hour, everyone must turn out all the lights in their house. Since it is very important to us to protect the environment, we did not only that but turn out the power too. We sat around the table and played a round of Parcheesi in the dark (Renée's favourite game because she can send notes to her fellow players « To warn you I am going to win!» to use her words). There are no pictures of this event my camera is not good with low lighting conditions.

March breack

2010-03-16T17:53:00.006-04:00

Now at last, it is March break. Today, Dad, Renée and I went to the McMichael art gallery. At first, we were going to go birdwatching at the Kortright center of conservation, but many, many, other people had the same idea (I mean a lot). For those of you not familiar with the McMichael, it is a gallery of Canadian art priding themselves for their collections from the group of seven (Obviously though, they do not pride themselves on their french translations which are awful). The gallery is built on the site of the old McMichael house and most of the group of Severn are buried there.
Planned for tomorrow: painting by the lake.

Paris

2010-03-09T15:30:00.004-05:00

Just last week, I was in Paris. It was my first time traveling on my own! My friend Clara and I were very busy during my stay, so here is a feel of what we did.

Arrival

Day one
Boating along the Seine and climbing of the Eiffel Tower on foot (701 steps up, 701 steps down)!

Day two
Versailles, of which we visited the king's rooms and Marie-Antoinette 's quarters

Day three
Le Louvre, so naturally I went to see the Mona Lisa. Absolutely no satisfactory pictures of that, due to the seemingly permanent crowd all around, but a picture of Clara and me in front of the Vénus de Milo.

Day four
Sacré-Coeur cathedral and the village of Montmartre

Day five
The Catacombes, in wich Lafontaine's remains lie (strange thought, that, but a strange place, too)

Departure

Even without the fact that this was a week off from school, it was an amazing trip and I can't wait to go back with the rest of my family!

Imminent departure

2010-02-28T16:42:00.004-05:00

I actually wrote this last week, but then got distracted, so the whole part about leaving for Paris is no longer correct. The post about Paris will come later. I apologize for the inconvenience, and all those formalities (giggles).

Only a few hours before I leave for Paris! I am very exited! I did not have time to write this yesterday, but now I have a minute.

We may not have much snow here in T.O but just enough to build a snowman, which is exactly what R.C and I did yesterday. But our snowman was special: it was on our roof! It did not last long as we are not great builders, and the different parts were quite wonky, but it stood long enough to take some pictures.

sweater

2010-02-10T19:50:00.006-05:00

Some of you may already know this, but I have been knitting myself a sweater, and I have now completed it. With the help of Grandma Bider who was visiting at the time, it is now in wearable condition. My anxieties over the fact that it would be too small were relieved because my wonderful sweater in in fact a little big...but no matter because it will last longer this way!

Oh, and a picture of Dad on the pond.

Picture

2010-02-08T19:54:00.002-05:00

A picture of R.C and I on the pond that I absolutely wanted to share with you.

Wintercity

2010-01-30T18:12:00.008-05:00

Yesterday we went to the week-long celebration of Wintercity , in Nathan Phillips Square. That night's shows were a vertical dance number by the company les passagers based on Chinese culture, and a performance by the «flaming lotus girls» which did not actually include any lotus girls, but big metal structures that burst fire in time to music. There also where amazing firworks by Circus Orange. The town hall realy looked like an erupting volcano with flames spurting in all directions. I am still frozen as I type this, but luckely I have my christmas tea set waiting!

Redpath sugar

2010-01-28T15:33:00.004-05:00

A few days ago, my class, 7c, and another class, 7b, went to visit the Redpath sugar factory museum. As our guide was so kind as to point out, we were not allowed into the actual factory because we were dirty. Inside the museum, we watched a video of sugar being made and learned that sugar came from two plants : cane and beet. Of course, the beets are not the same ones that grandma Lili pickles, as our very visual guide put it, they are white and the size of my head. Although there were no free samples, we got to admire all the Hary Potter characters made out of sugar and learn a few facts about John Redpath (he had seventeen children, for examlpe) and his factory (the Redpath logo is John's signature).
A little off topic, today was pyjama day at school, and I never realised how walking around in PJ's all day could make you feel so sleepy.

Follow-up

2010-01-19T15:17:00.003-05:00

You probably remember, if you have been reading this blog, that Renée, Sauvanne, Ariane, and I had a fund-raiser to help protect the leather-back sea turtles. Yesterday, we received a package from the Canadian Sea Turtle Network, to whom we had sent the money raised. In it, they explain that our funds will help continue their latest project of studying where and when sea turtle are most likely to get entangled in fishing nets. This will then provide them with the knowlege they need to convert fisherman to turtle-freindly fishing nets. In the envelope, there were also some pictures of turtles, stickers, and non-permanent tatoos. We put these on, but they came off overnight.
To find out more on this project, visit www.hww.ca

Skating

2010-01-08T16:52:00.004-05:00

First, I must apologize for my long absence on the blog plan. I have been so wrapped up with other things, I just haven't found the time! Now, without further excuses, I will begin.

We are so lucky in Toronto, in terms of winter sports. Just recently, I have experienced two very different skating types. The first, on Grenadier pond in High Park, the second, in Nathan-Phillips square. On the pond, we did not have to move a skate to go south: the wind did all the work. We found ourselves pushed at great speeds, effortlessly. On the way back, different story! At the square, we went around in circles, under the lights of the city, the town hall towering above us, but whether out in the open, or in the middle of the city, skating is always enjoyable.

Vallée des fantômes

2009-12-26T19:07:00.010-05:00

High in the Monts-Valin, there is a special place called La Vallée des fantômes or the Valley of the Ghosts. This snowshoeable trail is well known for it's incredible precipitations (up to six meters of snow!). When snow falls, the evergreen trees are so covered, they really look like ghosts. As for the others, their branches are delicately covered with crystals of ice, transforming them into «mummies». At last, after a climb up to an altitude of 980 m, we are faced with a 369 degree of the valleys around. No words can describe it well enough, so here are some pictures.

Christmas

2009-12-26T18:51:00.004-05:00

Here we are, in the Saguenay for Christmas. A lovely celebration. Great food, great gifts and great company. Pierre and Sharon talked with us from Australia over skype while we impatiently waited for midnigt. We are planing to eat leftovers for another month, but we are not complaining because they are delicious! Merry Chritmas!

Trim up the tree

2009-12-21T17:07:00.005-05:00

Chritmas is almost here, so we have put up our tree! Since we are staying at grand-maman and grand-papa's house the tree is at their place. Now we are ready for Chritmas!

Under water

2009-12-21T16:34:00.005-05:00

School is finaly over and we are in La Baie at last. On our way here, we stoped in québec city to visit the uncles and the aunts. We also stopped by the aquarium to admire the fish. we saw ugly eels, many types of fish, seals, polar bears, and waleruses that tried to sing jinglebells to us. We also saw amazing jellyfish, floating about, and walked inside the aquarium thanks to a glass tube.

We also visited the rest of Québec city very quickly. We slid down an ice run whose speed was estimated to 60 km/h ! At last, we admired the Chateau Frontenac from outside before continuing our journey to the Saguenay.

St Catherine's Day

2009-11-25T19:10:00.005-05:00

Today, the 25th of November, is St-Catherine's Day. There are many stories about this French-Canadian celebration. Some say that it was St Catherine who made candy to attract children to her school, others say it was St Marguerite Bourgeoys who made candy to celebrate her school's birthday. Anyhow, now was our turn to make taffy, with grandma coaching us over Skype. The picture is not very good, but the taste is delicious!

Quiet!

2009-11-23T18:19:00.002-05:00

I don't know if this is a tradition in whatever part of the world you might happen to be right now, but in Toronto, on Friday November 20th, there is an activity called the Vow of Silence. To participate, you must promise so not talk for 24 hours, to raise awareness against child slavery. I am still suffering from the side effects of this, and every time I open my mouth to speak, alarms go off in my head. Unfortunately, someone disconnected these alarms on the day of, because I spoke accidentally once or twice (Renée won't let me forget). I hope the world is a little more aware now, thanks to me.

Framed and fabulous

2009-11-14T11:03:00.003-05:00

It's very satisfying when your hard work is finally finished. This is the case for my two needle points which are now framed. The company that framed them made a little mistake and framed the blue poppies upside-down, but it will soon be fixed. I am now working on a hedgehog and a knitted sweater.

You see, Sharon, now it does look like a cat.

Pumpkin parade

2009-11-06T12:45:00.004-05:00

After Halloween, what could be more fitting than a pumpkin parade? For this annual event at a nearby park, the neighborhood brings out their pumpkins and places them all in a long line. This year, we counted nearly 2000! The next day (November second), the city comes and takes them away. What a source of compost!

Halloween

2009-11-06T12:31:00.005-05:00

I know that this is a little late, but I still think that I should tell you about Halloween. This year, I went as a jellyfish and Renée as Charlie Chaplin. She was going to go with her friend Marie as Dupont and Dupond, but Marie was sick all week and couldn't come. We celebrated with our neighbors Sauvanne and Arianne and their parents Steven and Kirsten. We ate buzzard, liver and newt hearts before stuffing ourselvs with candy. The jellyfish is a little windswept in this picture, but still looking good.

What to do with paper

2009-10-21T17:28:00.004-04:00

This weekend, Renée, mom and I engaged in various activities, but our main shopping expedition was to the Japanese Paper Place. The reason for this was their annual «create your own snack bag» event, where you get your pick on all their paper scraps and cram them into a small plastic bag for five dollars. the only condition is that you must be able to then close it. Of course, when confronted with such a bargain, we went crazy an now have nearly a year's supply
of lovely Japanese paper. Our question now is : what to do with it?

Thanksgiving

2009-10-12T20:08:00.003-04:00

To celebrate Thanksgiving, the Biders in general have a very particular tradition. For as far as I can remember, we have always gone up to the Laurentians in the old house there. This year was no exception. We met up with all the other cousins and, like always, had a good time. We hiked by The Creek and Papy's House. As usual, we only had a general idea of where we were going, but at least we made it back in time for turkey. On one of these hikes, Grandma and Grandpa's dog Toby, a very peculiar beast, had a slight misunderstanding with a porcupine. He came back with quills in his chin, poor thing. after dinner, we played kick-the-can in the dark.

Tonight, we celebrate thanksgiving again since we were a day early last time.

Nuit Blanche

2009-10-05T20:06:00.005-04:00

Nuit Blanche is a very popular arts festival here in T.O. Of course, Renée, Mom, Dad and I don't stay up all night, but many people do. We roamed around the streets of downtown Toronto only until 11:30 this weekend, but we are still exhausted! These were the highlights.

-Mom and I learned the Charleston and the Lindy hop at the Toronto Reference Library;
-We admired the Rabbit Balloon, a gigantic silver bunny created by Jeff Koons, in the Eaton Center;
-Were blinded by the word «Wind» written in light bulbs and suspended between the two buildings at City Hall
-Listened to an «audio parade» by Anita Hamilton;
-Peeped into a laundromat kaleidoscope by Nika Mistruzzi.

I must catch up on lost sleep now, good night!

Racing

2009-09-20T11:24:00.006-04:00

The big sailing event of the year is, no doubt, the TSCC's race around the island. This was my first year competing. We did not exactly go around the Toronto island, but along it's side. I steered on the way back while dad controlled the spinnaker(large sail in the front, good for when the wind is behind you). Dad and I finished 7th out of 11 in our category. The picture is the view from the front of our Waferer? Wafer? Wefre? Anyway, our boat.

Save the sea turtles!

2009-09-16T15:28:00.004-04:00

Last weekend, Sauvanne, Arianne, Renée and I organized a yard sale of most of our old toys and things. All the profits went to the Canadian Sea turtle network to help protect the Leatherback sea turtles. After sitting outside for five and a half hours, we managed to raise around 230$ for our cause. We are getting together this week to write to the organisation and send them the cheque!

This picture is a detail from our poster.

Air show

2009-09-10T15:29:00.005-04:00

We are lucky to have our green roof for many reasons. One of them is because it is straight under the path of the planes during the Air show. Sitting on our lawn chairs with our neighbors Sauvanne and Arianne. Some F-18 jets got so close, we could see the writing on them. I do not have pictures of them, sadly, but here are a few good ones. We have been to the Shack and found a neat variety of creepy-crawlies like this caterpillar and this Dragonfly larva. School has started and Pictures will follow.

C"est l'aviron (it's the paddle)

2009-08-16T20:46:00.003-04:00

If I have not been in touch with anyone for a while it's because we have been back-country canoe-camping along the French River. We had a wonderful time paddling about signing songs and listening to Nancy Drew: The Haunted Bridge, which I read out loud for the entertainment of the surrounding canoes. Although I didn't do much rowing, I was quite hoarse at the end of the day. We tried out new cooking skills on our camp stove. We had some disasters, like our brownies, who burnt to a crisp, but our pizzas were the envy of our all fellow campers. It's so much fun to float down rapids or jump off cliffs, but we were very happy to relax at the Pine Cove Lodge before coming back home.

To the cabin

2009-08-04T18:59:00.001-04:00

For the past few days, we have been up at the shack. A lovely place to be. We swam in the lake, swung on the swings, got nibbled by mosquitoes, and hunted for frogs in the marsh. This is a picture of the lake at night and our sailboat, the Béluga optimiste

Summer wanderings

2009-07-30T10:39:00.002-04:00

This is a slideshow of our summer wanderings in Québec.

At the camp

2009-06-22T20:05:00.006-04:00

Last week, from Tuesday to Friday, was the six grader's annual end-of-year trip. After a seven and a half hour drive, we finally got to the camp where we were staying. As soon as we stepped out of the bus, we were sweped up into a whirlwind of activities lasting from 7:30 AM to 9:00 PM every day. Among these were archery, rock climbing, swimming (shhh! no one is supposed to know that!), survival in the woods giant stratego and hebertism, a sport wich involves poles , ropes trees and falls. It is also a system they used in the navy to keep soliders in shape for combat. Ingoring the blood-thirsty mosquitos, We all had an awesome time!

Archery

One of the Herbertism courses

Unicycling

2009-06-13T12:12:00.003-04:00

Lately, our babysitter Celeste has introduced us to the unicycle club. Me and Rennée are practicing very hard on borrowed unis, but dad, who seems to have some experience already, is planning to try Unicycle basketball soon. This is a sport that the club organizes at the end of every meeting and looks EXTREMELY difficult. I can ride half the gym without falling now, but it is a lot of work. I will post some pictures as soon as I figure out how to plug dad's camera in.

Francourse

2009-05-22T17:07:00.004-04:00

Yesterday, the third graders and up from our school headed out to Brampton for the annual Francourse. This is a 5k race for kids from first grade to eigth, and this year, 1000 kids showed up. Unfortunately, it just so happens that on that particular day, it was over 30 degrees C and the whole cours was in a field, under the bioling sun. Still, I finished in 32 minutes and Renée in 30. The fastest runner was a third-grader from our school, ending in 17 minutes!
All our friends tiered, sunburnt but happy after the race.

Exercise video

2009-04-21T17:07:00.004-04:00

This is our home-made exercise video filmed in Turkey. We think it is hilarious, and so I wanted to share it with you all.

A fantastic trip

2009-04-19T10:52:00.004-04:00

I will never be able to say everything that has happened on our trip to Turkey in one post, so I will sum it up. We have been all around the west stopping in Istanbul, Ankara, Goreme, Antalya Kas, Pamukale, Selcuk, Bodrum, Bergamon, Bursa and back to Istanbul, making a loop of around 3000 km. We swam in the mediterrainien and in the ancient Roman baths, diped our feet in the calcium waters, explored cave dwellings, saw magnificent temples and really tiered ourseklves out. Touring Turkey with Pierre and Sharon was fun, and now I can't wait to go to Hong-Kong in two years! Here are some pictures in order.

Attaturk's toom, Ankara

Goreme
Goreme as well

In the Meditiranien

The only slightly renovated roman baths in Pamukale

The library at Ehpesus

Dad as a gladiator

A new adventure

2009-02-28T09:51:00.004-05:00

We have tickets! we are now officially going to turkey! R.C and I are very exited, because dad has told us we will be flying quite near the north pole! We are taking a 14 hour plane ride to Istanbul, staying there for four days, then taking a train to Ankara, from witch Pierre and Sharon will take us visiting the rest of the country. I just can't wait!

Higher!

2009-01-24T10:46:00.005-05:00

I got my pogo stick for Christmas. I have been practicing for around three weeks, interrupted only by eating, sleeping, and a case of appendicitis. The record for this house still stands at 143 jumps and 16 bruises (but I have a suspicion that the bruises might come from throwing myself onto our ice slide at school). Now I must be off to continue my training!

Summary

2008-12-20T20:44:00.004-05:00

Gosh! I hadn't even noticed that it's been over a month I last wrote. Anyway, I intend to catch up. School has finally ended (after the principal tried to freeze half the school by making us stay out at ressess during a snow storm, which resulted in a lot of fuss (which would have been avoided if he just let us in) ). We now have around a foot of snow and R.C and I are planning on building a fort soon. We went tobogganing with dad today, lots of fun, and just as we got home, Grand-maman and Grand-papa arrived! Right on time,too, for my piano recital. In this recital, every person at my piano school had to play a Christmas song. I played Joy to the World.
Tomorrow is R.C's violin recital, so I might try to persuade her to write about it.
Phew, what a lot to say!

Strange storm

2008-10-26T19:55:00.003-04:00

It all started this morning. It was freezing cold. Not weather you want to be out in without a warm coat. Anyway, the cold led to rain (hard), witch led to ice. Strange. That's all.

A roof of green

2008-10-18T09:29:00.002-04:00

At last! The green roof is in! It looks grate, although a little dead, but the green roof expert says that it will do better in the spring. He even added that some of the plants might reach 3 meters high! Now that the renovations are done, we are concentrating on decoration...And cleaning! First up, our bedrooms which we will be cleaning this afternoon! Whew!

Labyrinth H16

2008-08-16T10:05:00.002-04:00

two days ago, we went around old Montreal with our cousins and decided to stop by the labyrinth H16. The point of the labyrinth was to find who stole the Jewel of the Cunningham family. I have never being more confused in my life! We traveled through bars, rubber panels, seat belts hanging from the ceiling, slid down slides and supermarket rollers, bounced on trampolines and tripped over mats, struggling to find clues in rooms to figure out whodunit. After an hour and a half of turning around and around and running after waiters with ties we found the exit! We all agreed it was time for some ice cream.

Shack attack!

2008-07-07T13:43:00.005-04:00

Summer vacations! What better time to go to the shack (our cabin on lake Nigani) ? None, I'd say, so that's where we went this week-end. We went sailing on our optimist, the Beluga, canoed and swam across the lake, did a picture shoot of us diving, and had a little adventure with a snapping turtle named platypus. Now no one knew for sure what the turtle's name was but we named it that because we were playing crazy eights when Ray-Ray said;

-Hey! There's something on the lake with a beak! It's probably a platypus!

All the time we were trying to identify it Ray-Ray kept telling us that it was certainly a platypus because what other animal has a beak and dives underwater like that? So when it turned out to be a turtle, Ray-Ray said;

-If it isn't a platypus, than Platypus is it's name. And so it was decided.

Around our dock there are lots of rocks and these rocks are the homes of many fishes. I call this area Rainbow City. I like to pretend it is my empire and so it is my duty to dive into it to count my citizens (the fishes) . In the time we were there, I counted 42 of them! It was a very exciting trip, I can't wait to go again!

More news!

2008-04-12T11:14:00.003-04:00

And now, for the very first time, a post from the family computer (which still doesn't have high speed internet)! Even if it's been a while, I feel I must finish recounting our March break. After the farm, as you know, we went to Montreal, and breaking our regular "stick around" routine, went sight seeing. First, we visited the Biodome to visit the St-Laurence exhibit and the Rain Forest exhibit. I don't mean to dissuade those of you who relish a swim in the St-Laurence, but there are stingrays in there (and carnivorous looking fish, but only at the bottom). What I love most are the tide pools like this one, because they remind me of little treasure troves. In the tropical part, we saw more fish, wallabies, alligators and at least a dozen different species of birds, all of which were quite colorful. And that finishes my tale of exiting adventures.

Thats all folks!

An exciting break

2008-03-10T19:06:00.004-04:00

At last, March break has come. Already, we have had several adventures. We began our trip in Toronto, shortly after Dad left for work. Our first stop was Ottawa, and we got there WITHOUT GETTING LOST! We stayed at our cousin's place and took Emma (one of our cousins) to the Parliament Buildings, took a tour, and saw the most fascinating stuff! Did you know that it was the librarian that insisted that the library be built in metal, to protect it from fire? Or that in the chapel, the nameplates that indicate the major battlefields that Canada helped during the wars were made from cannonballs from those battlefields? Those are just some of the things that we discovered! Then, in a shot of inspiration, Mom decided that, in honor of womens day,we would go have high tea. After that, we went to the farm and had heaps of fun sliding off the barn roof! now, we are in Montreal and ready for more and we can't wait!

Let it snow

2007-12-13T16:28:00.000-05:00

I love winter, season of igloos, snowmen and of course snow. Today was one of our very best snow days yet! It couldn't come on a better day, ether, since today was our big Christmas party at school! We played games had a ginger bread house contest, and had a SECRET SANTA! The way a SECRET SANTA works is that, before hand, everyone pulls a name out of a hat has to buy a gift for that person. I got a boy named Time (there is an accent on the E), I got him a knight action figure, and a girl named Charlotte got me a wonder full pair of earrings. For the ginger bread house contest, we had half an hour to each create a ginger bread house (witch was actually made out of Graham crackers) and the winner got to eat his or her house. In the end, we all won and what we couldn't eat, we brought home. Mine was deeeeeelicious!

Books, books, books!

2007-10-27T14:18:00.000-04:00

Yeaterday, I went to LE SALON DU LIVRE with my class. It was soooooooo jam packed it was a miracle everyone showed up for lunch! We didn't see much of our teacher, madame Brochu. She was too busy running around looking for students. I got a book while I was there. It's the second book of a series I am reading avidly. It was so much fun!

Turkey ahoy!

2007-08-17T11:32:00.000-04:00

Pierre and Sharon are moving already! Since Pierre is having problems with his visa, Sharon is traveling alone. We're seeing allot of them right now but were really going to miss them!

getting worked up!

2007-08-17T10:56:00.000-04:00

Finally! Back home for a little peace and quiet! Unfortunately, home is not as quiet as I was hoping. The workers that are building our third flour get here at 7 am and they don't come in on tip toe! Plus, they have taken a fancy to rock music. It's very exiting but I can't wait for it to be finished!