O Canada!

I had to present at a conference in Montreal in late October. What a good excuse for us to go visit Marcus! Actually, we couldn't have made the trip without Marcus- he was essential in booking our flight, our hotel, and let us stay at his house while we were in Ottawa. Of course, we couldn't have made the trip without our parents either- Nana and Papa stayed with Tyler for the first 3 days and Grandmama and Grandaddy stayed with him for the last 2 days.

I went to the conference for a good chunk of Thursday and Friday and Andrew met me for lunch and hung around at the hotel going to the gym and taking multiple showers. Each evening we had free drinks (thanks to Marcus again!) at the hotel bar. Marcus and Michele met us in Montreal on Friday night and we all stayed there for the next day. They showed us around the town. Then they took us to Ottawa so we could see where Marcus lives.

This is the canal that runs through Ottawa. I can't quite remember the story behind it, but I think it has something to do with an escape route for when the Americans attack

Yes, this is a black squirrel.

The squirrels are black in Canada.

Here we are in front of Parliament in Ottawa

Before climbing Mount Royal in Montreal.

Had to get a picture of a maple leaf.

Overlooking Montreal

Marcus and Michele in Montreal

Also had to take a picture of this statue

No caption needed

Can't visit Canada without going to a hockey game!

It was a fabulous trip- it even snowed! It was great to present at an 'international' conference, but even better to get to spend some time with Marcus. 5 days was too long away from Mister Man though. Come day 4 Mommy started to break down. We missed our Mister and were eager to get back home.

A Fair to Remember

We had quite a busy October. November hasn't slowed down too much, but the end of my semester is in sight, so hopefully we'll get some much needed rest soon. Here's a recap from our fun day at the State Fair (last month). We started the day with an early morning breakfast of ham biscuits and hot chocolate.

I just had to take a picture of the newest "ride" at the fair- Hampster Races. There was loud techno music playing to set the scene.

We took Tyler to the petting zoo to feed and pet some of the animals.

Grandaddy, let's go over there and see that llama

Ahhhhkkkkk, it's going to eat me!

We've been working on 'gentle' for a while.

Looks like we finally got it

Is that a camel?

I thought we were at the NC State Fair.

Off to the Pig Races after the petting zoo. There were a few different types of pigs racing that day...

and some duck races...

But the best race was the Vietnamese pig race. Grandmama was chosen from the crowd as the "driver" of one of the pigs and her pig won! Lucky Grandmama! Her prize was to get to kiss the pig- isn't he cute?!?!?

Don't worry, Grandmama opted not to give her kisses away-

she's saving them for Tyler of course!

What a wonderful day at the fair- good food and good fellowship.

These last 2 pics were not taken at the State Fair, rather at a friend's neighborhood fair. It was lots of fun too.

Which way did he go?

Tide You Over....

I have a lot of blogging to catch up on- trip to the fair, trip to Montreal- but these pics should appease your appetite for Mister Man pictures until I get the chance to blog more about Life with the Johnsons..... (Many thanks to Terra's mom for taking such great pictures of us at tailgating and forwarding them on to me!)

Family pic-

if we were all wearing Santa hats this would be our Christmas card for this year

Tyler Head scoping out the scene-

Should I play cornhole? Dance to the music? Or give hugs to the little girls here?

Two handsome Carolina fans

Rocking it out at tailgating