Friday, June 27, 2008

Vive la Montreal and St. Laurent Street Fashion

Last weekend we travelled to Montreal by train for our yearly reunion/ pilgrimage up to Mount Royal cemetary. Only this time it was a little more fun because we were joined by my cutie nieces (and their parents and MY parents; but the kids are so much cuter than the adults and will be displayed prominently here:)

My rugrats entertaining cousin J:



Cuddling versus fighting (always a good thing)



So this is my grandparents' gravesite. We've been coming here (almost) every year since I was born. Candles were lit; fresh flowers were planted, and if you look closely at the bottom right of the photo, you can see the lovely spread that was set out for the "meal". Chicken, dim sum yummies, butter rolls that you can only buy in Montreal (at least as far as I know).


Here's a better picture of the feast. Symbolic paper money and pyjamas were burned as an offering to the grandparents (see lower left corner). They have to be dressed in their finest, don't you know. I am sure they're proud of their granddaughter.

You'll notice everything is in "3's" - a good luck number in Chinese. And yes, there is booze there (although I did not imbibe; it's poured into the earth for my grandparents).


We had a lovely dinner with whichever cousins could make it that evening. My cousins in Montreal are a little older than I am (their kids are in university or working; there are at least 10 years between my father and his siblings on either side which makes for interesting generational dynamics).

The next day, we headed out for a walk along St. Laurent and Prince Arthur. It was such a lovely summer day, and while the boy went off with his Dad to check out a video game tent, my sister and I (and her husband) did more walking. Luckily for me, the girlie's uncle kept her entertained with the face-painting and balloons available for the kids...



Because there was shopping to be had. Check what I found in the 3 for $10 bin:


And if I get sick of the belt, I can always use it as a macrame plantholder (according to my brother-in-law).

So that steal left me with change to pick up this...



...and these funky tube tops. (I have nothing to hold them up with, but they're pretty anyway.)




We had a fairly uneventful train ride home that evening (well, except for when the girlie got so busy playing with her cousins that she forgot to tell us that she had to go pee until it was too late. Big brother got a nice shower on his Globo shoes).

And my old ovaries were screaming...




But, no, I'll be leaving the business of babymaking to my siblings from here on in!

13 comments:

Jenn @ Juggling Life said...

That's the only way those tube tops work on anyone over 21.

Screaming ovaries--I've been there lately.

Karen said...

No wonder your ovaries are screaming - look how adorable!

Kamis Khlopchyk said...

Cute shirts! the one shoulder one is my fave... I have nothing to hold up tube tops either. Maybe a good push up will do the trick? Strapless of course!

Now my ovaries are screaming too!

:-)

Anna-b-bonkers said...

Love the fashion!
The train sounds fun, too bad they dont go from here to Mexico. I hate flying!
The graveside feast looked interesting, I had no idea about that tradition. Neat.

My ovaries scream too, but I wont listen for a year, shhh ovaries!

louann said...

nice nice pictures. And yes, cuddling IS ALWAYS better than fighting! I can totally relate.

My ovaries scream when: 1.I see cute babies and 2. Have very close friends who get pregnant.

So, my ovaries are pretty much screaming right now.

Rima said...

1) Wow, that is a really cool tradition.

2) The kids are all adorable.

3) The V-meister has the same skirt as the girlie! (from Gymboree, right?)

4) Glad you had a good trip!

MarĂ­a said...

You live in Canada? I didn't know that!! Everyone cool lives in Canada. :(

BusyDad said...

One thing about being in a Chinese family. You are ALWAYS fed well. What a spread!

Manager Mom said...

Sounds like a great family trip. You totally caught me off guard with your screaming ovaries at the end! I've had a lot of preggy friends give birth lately and am feeling the danger... need to send the husband of to make things permanent before we do something rash.

The Littons said...

The "meal" photos are fascinating.

Miss said...

Oh wow, what a ceremony and way to honor your grandparents!

Great shopping scores too!

Unknown said...

Ooooooooooooooh! Photos of babies just make my heart melt! They are soooooooo cute! Liam and G look adorable in the photos too! Looks like they had a blast!

That is so funny, Karen! I was supposed to be in Montreal on the weekend too! My family has an annual pool party/reunion/birthday bash but I was unable to make it. With the morning (errr...I mean ALL DAY) sickness and the having to pee every 30 min, driving to Montreal would not have been a good idea!

Don't ya just love, love, LOVE shopping in Montreal? It's the fashion capital of Canada! ;) I remember when I was in university, all the girls were always dressed as though they were going out to a night club. I guess that's where my "never leave home without wearing make-up" thing came from. *sigh*

Anonymous said...

Great finds. I love shopping in Montreal :). And how nice that you make the yearly pilgrimage. My Grandparents are all on Mount Royal too.

The babies are adorable. And nice to see your kids cuddling, I am sure they do it often, but we don't always remember to take a photo.

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