Montebello

Mike seems to have outdone himself yet again by planning me the very best birthday I've ever, ever had! Last year we were on vacation in France for my birthday, and I was going through a bit of a Marie-Antoinette phase, so Mike woke up extra early, bought me strawberries, macarons and delicious French pastries and took me to Versailles for the day! I was having trouble coming up with ideas for this year, but I knew I wanted it to be just me and Mike, and maybe some family too. He took matters into his own hands, knowing full well that, left up to me, we wouldn't do much of anything at all, and he really did plan the best weekend ever!

We drove about two hours out of Montreal to a town called Montebello, which was made extra interesting for me when we stumbled across Louis Josephe Papineau's manor, and learned that the whole town was built up by him in the 1850s! One of my classes this semester is on the history of Quebec before the confederation, and this little historic site couldn't have been better suited to the subject we're studying right now! The manor itself is only open for visits in the Summer months, but Mike and I were quite content just wandering around the grounds, as usual!

After spending the morning exploring our hotel grounds, we headed out to Omega Park, where we befriended lots of different types of critters! Bison and deer and wild boar and even some little baby black bears came right up to our car to munch on carrots. One of the bigger deer actually tried to steal our entire bag! But Mike fought him for it and we salvaged most of it! Though I think he wound up with a mouthful of plastic!

This little pink dress is my new very favourite thing. I really have had trouble taking it off these past few days! I found it at The Little Shoppe, which deserves a post all of it's own! It fit me so perfect I really couldnt have left it behind. Unfortunately I never even thought of taking my sweater off to photograph the whole thing, but I'm sure it will be showing up here again....and again....! The little gray, wool set were a gift from Mike's Grandmother, who wore them on her wedding day when she was about my age! I love the set so much and I think I'll keep it until I have grandkids of my own to hand it down to!

The icing on the cake definitely had to be coming home to my parents' house though! After all the wonderful things Mike put together for me already, he also snuck in an awesome surprise party for me with all my cousins and aunts and uncles! My Mom and Dad made the house look perfect, and cooked the most delicious selection of foods for everyone and some of my cousins drove in all the way from Ottawa!!! It really was one of the most wonderful birthdays I've ever, ever had!