Thanksgiving

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

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

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

L'Acropole

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

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

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

Paddle the Don

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:

1. Large blocks of concrete
2. Man-made waterfalls
3. Low bridges
4. 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

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

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

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

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:

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

Ottawa Weekend

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

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

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

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!