GAAAHHHH!!!… I’ve spent the last week completely addicted to the Girl Genius comics, reading the entire backlog from 2001, and now… now I’m UP TO DATE! Which means there is no more for me to read! And the story is ongoing! Now I’ll have to content myself to 3 pages per week, as they come out.

12 x boohoo!!

I just might get me a heart-shaped gear insignia to console myself. (They are so cute!)

Seriously, though, I recommend the comic. Its tagline says “Adventure. Romance. Mad Science!” and it’s the best description I could give, with “really funny!” implied in there.

PS. And Paula, I found out that comic is STEAMPUNK genre, so now I know what that is!

Girl Genius - Web comics

Alright, back with the rest of vacation, in bullet points (because I have too much ground to cover):

• Monday, August 3rd: Visit to the old Mill in the morning with lunch from the bakery. End of the afternoon and evening at Frank’s parents’ house, where we test their new jacuzzi! Dinner on the BBQ, yum.
• Tuesday and Wednesday: two quiet days. Some shopping and prep for WorldCon. First bellydance class in the evening!
• Thursday: X and O see their daycare friends again, and Frank and I go to Montreal to see the da Vinci exhibit. Next, we have lunch on site, and Frank drops me off at Karine’s place, where I will be staying for the next few days. He drives back to Trois-Rivières to take care of the kids. As for me, after an orientation with Karine about transport and lodgings, I get to the Palais des Congrès to see what an international science fiction convention looks like. I see some panels: it’s cool!
• Friday: Karine leaves for the weekend (boo) and leaves me her place (yay!) and her city transit pass (w00t). I go back to WorldCon and see some more panels… these are getting more and more interesting! I have lunch with some friends (dim sums!) and dinner with our whole bunch of friends (pizza!), then we have drinks on invitation from GGK (peach thunderbolt, yum!). Much fun – I love this group: each of them is warm, funny and extraordinary.
  At home, Frank is fighting the flu while taking care of the kids. Fortunately, his parents are lending him a hand.
• Saturday: Another day at the convention, more interesting panels. Lunch on the go and evening at our Montreal friends’ place.
• Sunday: More panels! Dim sums lunch (but the real chinese dim sums place this time… we’re a minority; it’s an experience… animated!), and dinner at the Montrealers’ place, again, with charades in the evening. Fun filled days!
• Monday, August 10: Back at work for Frank, and back at daycare for the kids.
  As for me: morning at our friends’ then group outing in the old Montreal, including a visit to the Basilique Notre-Dame (wow!), then lunch. Bus back home in the afternoon… I see my kiddos again, yay!

Routine rushes back in… Boohoo, vacation time is over… Fortunately, we made the most of it!

WorldCon was a blast — super friends, super event, super chance to live in the city for a weekend (and a super 5 days break from parenting… I love my kids, but a small break is sanity once in a while!).

This weekend, it’s my turn to babysit while Frank is spending his time at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières with his cousin. Summer heat has started, too!

Frank’s grandmother on his father’s side and her friend invited the whole family for lunch at their cabin on the lake, today. The day was wet with rain, but it did not stop people from a little swimming and catching fish!

We went to Lac Ricard (a camping) yesterday with Geneviève and Éric and our kids. It was fun; there were splash games, including small water slides for the kids and an artificial lake where the kiddos could play in the… mud! Thanks to our friends for the invitation!

I just added around 50 pictures to our Summer 2009 album.

We had a great hot (and very humid!) day at the zoo Tuesday with Amélie and Nicolas; the kids enjoyed seeing the animals — although some made them nervous, and even a little scared. Xavier always loved lions, except at the moment when he got close to a live one tearing through its lunch! Poor Xavier, as a matter of fact, got up that morning with a knee injury and spent the visit in the stroller. By some miracle, however, he managed to get on his feet to enjoy the zoo’s waterpark.

From Wednesday to Friday, we had a little too much rain, but we still enjoyed our time camping. The kids — Xavier, especially — loved the ATV rides in the plantation and the outdoor games, as well as sleeping in their grandparents’ trailer.

I’m leaving you with a couple of shots from the series — and I’ll be back another day with the rest of our vacation! (We went to Lac Ricard today with Ge and Éric; it was fun…)