Uncharacteristic indulgence

Tomorrow, we are leaving for a winter holiday. We are going on a cruise.

Seriously.

Here is it, the second day of Lent, and I'm doing nothing but eating cake* and going on cruises. Ready to get struck by lightning any moment now.

All of us - kids, baby, crazy parents (just two) - head for NY tomorrow, then board the Gem on Saturday. (Is that ship seriously emblazoned with cartoony gems? Or is that Photoshop job?) And sail down Bahamas way... Where they are having the coldest winter ever. And, embarking from New York, you ask? In February? Give us a break, we're new to this whole cruising business. Last year, we drove two hours north of Gatineau for our winter getaway. This will be an improvement, I promise. "Next time", we'll fly straight to Miami and go south from there.

Doesn't this kid look like he needs a break from winter?

At the very least, we'll be leaving the housework far, far behind.

* On the weekend, we had "death by chocolate" birthday cake at my Dad's. Then, I made a cheesecake for Family Day, complete with grated fudge topping in the shape of a heart. Maman came for supper on Family Day and brought leftover spice cake. And let me tell you, that woman can bake. So I've been stuffing my face and enduring the tummy cramps all week. I'm nice and puffy for the cruise, but it'll be too cold for bathing suits anyway.

Family Day

After finishing up a nice family dinner, I'm doing up the dishes in the kitchen. I can hear laughter, splashing and general chattering coming from the bathroom, where my husband and his ex-wife are bathing my child. As I enjoy listening to these sounds of ease and contentment, it occurs to me that the only weird thing about this scenario is that it is NOT weird.

Because my family ROCKS, in it's weird little way.

Hope yours does, too. Happy Family Day!

Hero worship

So, I'm in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner and I put Tim down on the floor. He immediately abandons me, crawling toward the living room with bustling purpose. I follow him, and discover he had purpose indeed:

Um, hero worship, anyone?


(Not shown in the photos: we had to keep pulling Tim off of Ben's lap.)

Here, Tim is actually eating the crumbs of Ben's dessert, (while gripping the Wii nunchuk, natch), possibly with the hope that his brother's awesomeness might be transferred to him via remnant chocolate.