Happiness?

I realized on my vacation (and a few weeks prior and now after too) that my Happiness Project is starting to work.

I am happierJ

And really for me it comes down to three things in life-all stolen from French woman and their nature and language. If I have all three of these things as often as possible in my life I will be very pleased and content:

1-D’etre bien dans ma peau (To feel good in my skin)

2-D’avoir beaucoup de gouters a chaque jour (to have many treats each day)

3-D'avoir des enfants bien encarder (to have well brought up and life educated children)

Bien dans ma peau includes:

Being relaxed

Not being irritated

Enjoying life

Feeling proud of body

Looking good

Healthy

Fit

Feeling confident

Having nice clothes

Feeling like I want people to take pictures of me

Having personal style and brand

Beaucoup de goûters chaque jour includes:

Things to look forward to daily (friends, work, experiences,  collegues couple time, family)

Liking daily life and not just vacations

Eating yummy things and enjoying them (especially cupcakes here and there)

Treating myself to fun and relaxation (good book, Jacuzzi outside, dinner with the family)

Sending and receiving nice texts and emails from friends and families

Talking on the phone

Making time for friends and family and what is important in life

Having cool projects in my professional life

Reading

Writing

Writing on blog

Being there for people I love

Having people I love being there for me

Being sincere and honest daily
Relaxing at my cottage
making time for the most important things in life

Reaching for what I want-as hard work as that is 

Les enfant bien encadrer includes:

Well brought up and polite kids

Kids who have been given attention and handed down our family values

Kids who are self confident

Kids who can socialize with adults and be respectful

Kids who know we are not there friends but their parents and love them but will always be there for them

Kids who have a heart and soul

Kids who love each other and love us

Kids who know the difference between right and wrong

Kids who have a “vrai education” in life

Kids who make themselves proud

Kids who we have planned out long term for and not just focused on the here and now

So if I can have all of this…man will I feel happy! Work in progress for sure but at least I know my goals and are trying to achieve them! It's a start....

My (not)Drop In Uncle

I got this incredibly sweet text at the end of the day yesterday asking if there was any chance my favorite Uncle who lives far away and happened to be in town for business could go over to my place and get some hugs from my kidsJ Uncle Chez Veto.

Of course the kids were thrilled to have him all to themselves for a couple of hours and we got to spend some great time with him after work for drinks and then dinner at our place.

So I knew that today the title of my blog would be “ Not Drop in Uncle” . Mainly because I love paradoxes and play with words….and although he happened to drop in yesterday…he and his family have been the opposite of “drop in” to us all.

We have been so much a part of each other’s lives for so many years. What I appreciate most about our relationships together is the effort (which has been easy) we make for each other and for each other’s families over the years. It is so fundamentally important to all of us and it has fueled all of our actions.

Most people I know have many aunts and uncles who drop in and out of their lives-depending on what is going on. “Oh you had another baby-a card sent”” A second-whoops was too busy that year-sorry forget”. “Third one-what’s her name again”?

Not my Uncle. Not my Aunt . Not my Cousins. They have consistently been there through everything in our lives as we have for them-even with the distance between us.

At one point for a couple of years we were a littler bit less close and had a big talk about it, and made sure we got quickly back on track to where we knew we belonged. We have openness, candor, trust and integrity between us. I love the relationships I have built with Veto and Auntie Chiffon because they are deliberate, and built, and nurtured. We make time for each other and always have.

So last night…we chatted and we talked and enjoyed each other’s company. We talked of happy things and harder things. As I looked across the table at uncle Chez Veto…..it came to mind that I have always adored him and he had always adored me. I have always pictured in my life that if something went really wrong, that he would be there for me to hold me up, and support me. He is physically capable that is certain at 6’5…but more than that he is mentally capable and I cannot express how his strength has been a comfort to me over so many years of my lifetime.

I will always remember him coming to the hospital with me to see my Dad. He understood how very hard that was to me. He understood why around my Dad I was a different girl, and he accepted this and respected this.

Two summers ago on my boat, I had asked Chiffon and Veto if anything every happened to us if they would take our three children if my Mom for whatever reason was ill, or help her with raising them if she was their guardian? I have to admit I was a little shy in asking such a HUGE commitment. They both looked at me with pure love…and said from the bottom of their hearts that they would raise all three like their own. No hesitation at all.

And I know they mean it. Is there a higher compliment in life?

So this man who dropped in last night…I adore. We have always sent each other little sweet texts and emails, and he read me a birthday poem about holding me in his arms when I was a baby when he was 8 yrs. old, he gave a speech at my wedding with tears in his eyes, and hugs me endlessly with his strong arms each time I see him.

I still have the urge to sit way atop his shoulders and ask him to run though the house without knocking my head off into a beam, and I still have the urge to run towards him and Auntie Chiffon if I am feeling blue. He always made time for me in his busy life and he adores my three children to an extent that has made our lives rich, and beautiful and full of love.

I love the way my Uncle loves me.

 

I look plenty forward to the next phases of our lives together. Summer get together’s at the lakes and cottages, winter get togethesr at the cottage and on Ridaud. Thanksgiving turkey carving lessons and Fall Colors Runs. His two children (my two godchildren who are in their early adult hoods now, are my definitions of the kindest hearted, wonderful people I know).

I would feel blessed if my three kids turned out anything like either of them.

So I felt blessed for the men in my life last night, Between Uncles Chez Veto, and my two wonderful brothers…I have had some pretty good examples of adoring men. I had a hard time with my Dad, but feel blessed that I have these other important men in my life,who have surrounded me with affection and love.

When Chez Veto left last night, I realized I want to keep making him proud. I am glad to have that goal to work towards.

So there you go DirtBag!

And next time you come over, I may just ask if I can step on your feet and walk around my whole house while my head reaches only the height your tummy. You have always made me feel precious and treated me with the utmost respect and love. You have highly contributed to the Woman and Mother I have become today.

And I thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything that has meant to me and our family. For being a wonderful example of strength, capability, humanness, vulnerability and love.

For ultimately teaching me that we should strive as much as possible to consider every blessing we have as “Chez Veto” and to invite as many moments like that into our lives as often as possible.

Especially one day ..spontaneously..in JulyJ

Un gros merci à mes parents!!! (by Bear)

Tout le long de ce voyage’ je pensais comment j’étais vraiment et vraiment chanceux d’aller sur un voyage tout seule avec mes parents

.

Ce voyage a été une expérience inoubliable que je vais me rappeler toute ma vie.

Ma meilleure journée dans notre séjour était quand nous sommes allés à Mykonos .Pourquoi car nous sommes allés à la plage et parce que je me suis presque fait mordu par un pélican.

Quand nous sommes retournés à Venise nous sommes allés sur une gondole. J’ai vraiment aimé car nous nous sommes promenés dans tous les petits passages.

Pendant ce voyage, comme je le disais dans l’autre blog, j’ai dû coller des collants à des places originales pour gagner un certificat cadeau pour un magasin. J’ai collé les collants dans des places historiques autour du monde. Une des places ou je l’ais collés  est sur un canon à Athènes. J’espère bien gagner ce concours car le magasin qui nous donne le certificat est un magasin que moi et mon frère aimons  beaucoup.

En ce moment, je suis sur l’avion pour rentrer chez moi L

Aussi, ma mère a pris beaucoup et beaucoup de photos pendant notre séjour, elle a probablement pris près de 700 photos!!!! Moi j’étais dans au moins 600 photos. Près de la fin du voyage je me tannais de toujours être dans les photos donc j’ai décidé de dire à mes parents je ne veux plus de photos de moi!! Finalement ma mère m’a dit qu’elle allait plus prendre de photos de moi. Mais l’avant dernière et dernière journée elle me voulait dans cses photos. Donc je lui ai dit ok parce que c’est la fête des mères.

J’aime ma mère et mon père, il sont les meilleurs au monde.

Mother's Day in Venice

Mother’s Day in Venice  ( by my Protector, My guy, my Hubby-all the same wonderful man of mine:)

Travelling is quite an experience for the mind and the body. For the mind because of all the beauty, sights, culture, smells, tastes, languages and sounds  and generally the whole experience of absorbing so much information in so little time.


For the body because it is exhausting to be on the move continuously, not wanting to miss any of these precious moments.


I remember my first experience of travelling to Europe. I was 20 years old (that’s a little while ago!) and went touring in France from Paris, to Normandy, then making my way down to Toulouse and passing through Champagne, Bordeaux, Bourgogne, and then Provence. It was my first contact with such a different world than our North American culture. I was impressed by the castles, the museums, the history behind all of it, the sights, the food, the culture everything that makes Europe what it is. Different.  Since then, on numerous occasions, I have travelled back to Europe to relive this first experience feeling.


But the journey this time was much more special because I could relive Europe through the eyes of Bear: HIS first experience of Europe.  Venice, Bari and Polignano in Italy, Corfou, Mykonos and Athens in Greece and  Dubrovnik in Croatia, finally ending it all back in Venice. That’s a lot of beautiful sights for 10 days.  Every stop had its special moment, its special experience. Bear almost even got eaten by a huge pelican roaming the streets in Mykonos. He looked friendly but don’t get too close we learned!


I am sure Bear will remember this vacation all of his life. It will stay printed in his mind forever.


It was all perfect. We enjoyed every moment to the brim.  I can’t even express how wonderful this vacation was. There are just too many memories in my mind but one really will stick with me forever.


This morning we woke up in Venice where we spent our last night after the cruise before coming home, sharing a room the 3 of us. Today is Mother’s Day. When Bear woke up, he crawled into bed with his Mom, hugged and kissed her and wished her a Happy Mother’s day. Even far from home, across the world, his bond to his mother is so strong. He just loves her so much and she loves her little Bear with such passion. What a beautiful sight!


If we are in Venice with Bear, it is because of her, of her purposeful parenting. Wanting to have something special for each of our children, memories that will last a lifetime, bonding us in a different way that we could at home, because of the craziness of our lives, always running around.

Happy Mother’s Day from Venice.

Ping-Pong Fini

Friday :

So tonight is our last day time at Sea. We disembark in Venice early Saturday morning. There we booked a hotel for Saturday night since flight is Sunday. We are all thrilled to tour Venice for another complete day. We thought it may have been too much to do 1.5 days at beginning of trip and a full day at the end…but there was a lot we did not have a chance to do –including a gondola ride-so we are happy to go back as the finale of the vacation.

Dubrovnik today was soooooo incredibly beautiful. What I love about these European cities is how within 30 minutes you can walk from incredible architecture, to amazing food, to breathtaking beaches…and it’s all by foot. Our kind of place. We walked around the old city, took a cable car ride of the sites with an incredible lookout point where we enjoyed bitter lemonade and beer, did a little shopping and went to explore the ocean for a good 30 minutes surrounded by amazing monuments.

Bad part was that we had to get up at 6am and the shipped docked from 7am -12pm so again way to short. Very depressing to return back to a cruise ship after seeing such beauty so early in the day.

Bear is a trooper-he is still really fun to be with and hardly asks or wants for anything at all. Never an ice-cream-never a drink-never a souvenir. Nada. But by this point in the trip his enthusiasm is wavering a bit too-he is tired and I think misses other kids(especially his kids aka brother and sister). Although most the time he is really happy to be with us..and passionate and excited about the trip-there are times I think he feels a bit lonely too.

None of our kids would make very good only children!  They seem to crave each other like oxygen.

But he has been amazing and a pleasure to be with just as we had expected. He comes down on us hard for a couple of things the main one is that he thinks we spend too much money frivolously (guess who just got named the executor of our Will)!  And we are not that lavish either..a beer here and there and a soda here and there..I mean we are on vacation . I bought a 12$ watch for myself today and he was not impressed at all.

Second thing is first three quarters of trip he was fine with all the pictures but now he is fed up! Maybe he is the one who threw my camera in the ocean?

Other than that he loves his Mommy and Daddy big time.

And he has become a Ping Pong fanatic. I mean 6 straight hours today at the table mostly by him!!! He has attracted Cliff the Chinese ping pong friend and an ex German Ping Pong all time tournament gold winner and he has learnt a lot this week. Each time we go and try to play with him he is usually found amongst his over 60 yr old buddies in a concentrated game.

And the pro told us he has “lots of potential and that we should send him to China to join the best table tennis club there is”. Ok mighty convenient that plan is!

So expect two blogs one more forced by Bear since he needs to meet the criteria of this all paid vacation with his parents alone and please my academic need of him writing this week. The second by my Protector, that he is anxious to do but literally has been no time to do as running one activity to another most days and he is a lot slower at writing than I am…although well worth the wait.

Just got back from one of our best evenings in the ship. A great circus show followed by an acrobat in the air show. Was really, really good. Followed by the best meal yet, so many good appetizers that we could not choose so ordered about 7 different ones as samplers. The actual main meals were equally as good. By the time the coveted key lime pie came around we were sad that we were too full to polish that off. I have to say we have eaten very well all around. We certainly did not lose weight on this vacation even if it seemed liked we walked endless miles. The food both in the countries and on the ship was yummy.

I am beginning to see the benefits of cruising in many ways; I could see us doing this again in the shorter term future. Takes us a while to get used to things but once we do we like them a lot. Some definite pros and other definite cons…but I liked it especially with a kid with us.

So all in all I sign off from this wonderful vacation with the following statements: Exhausting, breathtaking, bonding, beautiful, tours , I love  the sparkle of Latin people, I love the way blond young European men wear necklaces and smell good, I love the two amazing men travelling with me, I miss my two other kids at home a lot , I think my Mom is the sweetest lady on earth and an amazing and devoted Grandma, I love lemon anything, I am proud of myself for loving all the touring and never complaining  much about the guided tours, I can’t wait to travel all over the world after the kids are in university, I love being with Bear, being with Bear is so quiet compared to my three kids, I am happy to have turned my brain off for a week, I am scared to go back to the pile of work that awaits me, I feel more middle aged every year, I feelmore beautiful in Europe. I love my life.

I am a lucky girl.

Time Travelling

Thursday:

There are some people who don’t care about travelling too much and there are some people who live for it.  I would put Hubby and I in the category of almost near the people who live for it.

Our wanderlust levels are not at the highest peak there is-but our leisure levels are. And travelling if done well it is always accompanied by good food, lots of rest, memorable moments and lovely things to see. So I would say we live for our next trip.

My Sister Savvy understands what I mean..right Savvy?

For the 17 yrs we have known eachother we always talk about our lives in terms of the next vacation. I could name off her next 6 vacations much more easily than I could the name of her street, or neighbors or details of her job. So yes we live for it.

A few months ago my Mom asked me the question “what are some of the things between you and Savvy that are unique and special to your relationship?”. Talking about travel and trips is one of them for sure….right up there with talking about our daily lives. Which is interesting given that we live so far apart. We talk about the ins and outs of our daily lives and loves quite a bit and all the upcoming excursions. Whereas with most of my friends who live around the corner I focus on other things and less on my daily life and much less on my trips. It was a good question my Mom asked me. Made me realize how Savvy comes with me on all my trips and I come on hers with her too. We need each other on them.

What I realize each time I travel is how aware of time I become. I can’t believe that now I am already at that stage of my life where I am thinking “only 2 trips left as a family where Chase won’t be working part time..or only two trips left before all three are limited by the high school schedules”. I honestly can’t believe I’m already there.

Thank goodness I have used these years to travel with my family. Our best moments have been at the cottage and abroad. Our best memories come from experiencing things together outside of our daily life and routines.

I realize with each trip how precious these next few years are for me and we literally build our time around travel. When I write my boss and email requesting upcoming vacation it is never about the next season’s vacation it is about the next 3 yrs.vacation! We book our trips sometimes 1-2 yrs in advance! That is how important travel is to us…our lives are planned around it.

For us Europe and exciting places were key before we had kids. For the last 14 yrs however relaxing beach vacations and kids clubs have become paramount. Now that I have the taste of Europe back again on this trip(besides business travel which I have always done) it will be hard to keep me away. The next seven years will include Spain, Amalfi Coast and Capri Italy, a Greek Island Sail,some other type of boating or sailing trip abroad, Bali, California Coast and Costa Rica. Some with the kids and some without.

Now that the kids are older it’s easier to take them and easier to leave them too. Have I mentioned how great these years are in so many ways? Yes yes you get all the teen problems…but you get to travel too!!!! I can handle a few cigarettes and beers in exchange for that with a few broken curfews woven in…easy exchange.

My parents when I was young also took me travelling-and I loved it. We did not go as often or as far as we go with our kids…but they still always made it a priority and bless their hearts for that. They had limited budgets, but what they did have we always used for leisure and travel and family outings. They always made things interesting and lived life in a lot of ways to the fullest. They did not skimp when it came to fun and I always appreciated that knowing that financially things weren’t always smooth. I learnt to enjoy life because of my parents and the way I was raised. I learned to realize that the world was much bigger than the four walls of our home.

What’s interesting for me about travel is as much as I love it, I hate preparing and packing for it, and so does my Guy. We hate it. Thankfully that is where Savvy comes in (not to pack for us!) when it comes to planning. She picked and planned out this cruise for us-we just listened and booked it and paid for it. I am certain she will be picking out the next few too…..

So as I soak in the next and last two days of our trip with Bear, I remain grateful that we understand our priorities and act on them. Every moment of work I do is worth is for the luxury of travel and owning a cottage-I am serious when I say I would be in a huge depression if I lost my job for many reasons, but one of the main ones would be that it would seriously put my next trips and my cottage in some serious jeopardy.

So Savvy…goodnight. I know you are reading this because not only do you follow my blog always-as I follow yours-but I am on vacation so you may be opening that computer at the crack of dawn to live your wonderful wanderlust though me-just as I always seem to do when you are away. I appreciate that about us..and I treasure it. It occurred to me strongly on this trip that travelling is so very close to my heart and I am so blessed to have you share that portion of my heart so closely with me and understand how it beats so very well.

To fully understand that a cancelled flight or trip…is disastrous as far as we are concerned and we totally get that about eachother.

To know that although we are lucky to travel, and even luckier that cancelled trips could be considered a disaster for us…we also create our own luck and pave these beautiful roads for ourselves and walk them, keenly aware that we have mapped out in many ways where they will take us. We carry a compass at all times and adjust based on the eventual goal of where we want to go-despite bumps and obstacles along the way..we get there. And most importantly indulge in every moment and make them the very finest they can be. No matter what.

15 Best Moments (so far) Spendour of the Sea Vacation

15 Best Moments (so far) Spendour of the Sea Vacation

1-Getting our luggage on the boat in our room and crying out of sheer relief on the bed with Bear

2-Falling into bed the first night in Venice and sleeping for hours and hours
3-Bear’s Italian chop chop. Love his new hair!!!

4-The pelican almost biting bear in Mykonos!

5-Bear screaming in the restaurant in Athens when a cat licked him

6-Well hello again…Angry Bird!!!!

7-Realizing I can survive very well without a proper camera

8-Being calm everyday

9-Not thinking about work or about anything all day and night for 10 days

10-Getting emails from home telling us to be careful and not get pickpocketed in Rome (even though we are not in Rome!)

11-Being together the 3 of us 24 hrs per day and loving it (right now all 3 squished together in our bed each doing our own thing).

12-Greek salads, grilled feta, lemone Fanta, lemone gelato, soft chocolate ice-cream on the boat, pasta, antipasto, tzicki, watching Bear order cheese  plate  after cheese plate, shrimp cocktail, seafood pastas, Caesar salads and Thai BBQ. No grill cheese pleeze!

13-May 8^th and the moon

14-Beaches of  Corfu

15-How lucky and fortunate and spoiled we are to be able to do this type of trip with each of our children. It is incredible bonding time to see the world together…..and I am grateful for every single minute

(16) Can’t resist…..the fact that Bear just wrote an email to his sister at home and it started with ….”Hi beautiful….” Awwww………how sweet is that??????