Village du Pere Noel..in August??

Yeap, yesterday we headed off to Santa's Village! Did you know that Santa vacations in Quebec each summer? Neither did I! But, my friend, Preetha, told me about this park outside the city and we decided to check it out yesterday. It was the perfect place and a very nice break from daycare and job hunting (stay tuned). The kids had the best time and it would be somewhere I'd love to go back to. We spent most of the day there and didn't get a chance to be bored. A great spot for Shamus and Breagha's age. :) Very happy day.

The kids tried out every single thing that was there. From these water bumper boats to rock climbing, to castle climbing...you name it, it was there...

The climb up was pretty easy but the climb down was much trickier. Breagha did quite well. She held her own with the boys...

The kids loved the pony ride...even Shamus! Breagha is definitely the big animal lover though. She has no fear of any creature.

Rudolph?

The little go-carts were the biggest highlight of the day. We did these 3 times. The kids loved the idea that they didn't need a grown up to drive them! Pretty cute to watch them go around the track.

The boys were much faster than Breagha. They flew around the track while she took her good old time. She went off the track a couple of times because she is so darn nosy...she doesn't keep her eyes on the road!

Preetha and her daughter, Mia, did about 10 trips down these slides. It was Mia's favorite part of the day.

Joe getting the kids ready for the zip line. They did really well standing. All the ones we've done before were sitting. Breagha was nervous the first time but great after that!

On your Mark, get Set...

GO!

Shamus and Matteo didn't see each other for about 2.5years but they never missed a beat!

Oh yeah, Santa's Village does mean that Santa is around...of course we had to stop in to see the big guy!

The pools were also great...

The girls were so cute together. Mia's a bit younger than Breagha but they get along really well.

Time to get ready for home. Boo hoo! We'll have to make another trip!

In regards to the job and daycare hunting - things have been grim with the job search. I haven't even applied for a job yet as every position wants French only or bilingual. And you can't really fake whether you can or can not speak a language. Right? So, I went to Services Canada this week to see if they would sponsor me to take some French courses. Normally they will only sponsor you if you are already on Unemployment. But, I filled out the fills and have an appointment in 4 weeks. Can't hurt to try. If the government will sponsor me then I can take some French classes and have Breagha in daycare. In the meantime, I'm just going to start applying and see if anything comes up.

With the daycare situation - most of the large daycares have wait lists so I've put Breagha's name on some already (including her old daycare). We did get at the same daycare that Matteo and Mia go to, but it's in the city. It's a great daycare but trying to get Breagha there and back would be tough (it's no where near Darryl's studio). A bummer as it is a $7.00/day daycare which is really hard to get into. We would like something near our house so that we can have Shamus and Breagha in the same area...as much as possible... I have no idea where I'll be working so I think having the kids close to home would be easiest. I can get Breagha into a preschool program through the school board but it is only half days. That's totally fine for now as I'm not working. And it's only $100.00 a month. And it is French. So, I think this is what we'll do for now. This way she will get some type of daycare, it's close to home, and it's not expensive. Now I just need a job!

Besides daycare and job hunting we've been doing the usually stuff. We head off to a park most days, go biking (great bike paths in our neighborhood), and have had some play dates with friends. Darryl is working on a deadline at work right now so we haven't seen much of him. :( He's gone before the kids are up and gets home after they are in bed. No fun! But, it's only for a few weeks and then hopefully back to normal. The long commute doesn't help either. So, this makes us realllllly wonder about where we want to buy a home.

Lots to figure out these days!