Hong Kong & Singapore

We made the trip around the other side of the world to Sal and Julianne's wedding in Singapore. 20 hours flying time. It was grueling both going there and coming back. It just isn't right to be couped up on a plane that long. The trip from Toronto to Hong Kong was 16 hours. That is the 12 longest flight in the world and it felt like it. On the way back it took us 3 different planes and 30 hours of travel time to make it back.

However, in between those plane trips and the 4 different places we stayed at it was a great trip and got a chance to see places that I am sure we didn't think we would. Hong Kong was just an amazing place and it was great to spend time with Sal & Juls in Singapore and especially being part of the wedding. The weather was great. A couple of points of rain but over all it was HOT! We kept ourselves busy and made sure we spent the time to see the things we wanted to.

We missed the kids horribly and we are so fortunate that we were able to Skype with them so much and just loved seeing them. The 12 hour time difference made it tough but at least we didn't have to change our clocks!! The kids had an amazing time with their Grammy, Mick, Auntie Aisling, Auntie Anna, Auntie Sue and Auntie Nead, along with all their cousins. They had power packed days and just had a blast. We are so fortunate that everyone in London was able to take the time to look after them. That being said, they didn't just look after them, they fully entertained them! That is a whole different class of work effort! Their Aaji and Aaja even made a trip from Brampton to London to see them. Either way we are glad to have them now home with us.

Pictures of the trip have been posted at: www.brelan.ca/2010_hk_singapore

Alaskan Cruise

We all just returned late Sunday from our first cruise which was to Alaska.

We saw things that we all have never seen before and sights that would just make you stare in awe.

Quinn loved spending the week on the boat with her parents and her aaji and aaja. We had a moment standing on the top deck with mountains and glaciers around, we realized that Quinn will never remember the amazing things she has seen. Luckily we have a lot of pictures and video to show her.

New pictures posted at http://www.brelan.ca/

Early Rising, Graduation, and Pedicures

Quinn still is an early riser. She goes to bed anywhere from 7:30 to 8:30 but is usually up sometime between 5:00am and 6:00am. The good thing is that she really isn't looking for us to do anything for her. The bad thing is that she likes to talk and she likes to talk loud!!! We would like to be upset with her for comprimising our sleep but when we go in her room and see this... how can we possibly be angry??

A couple of weeks ago after some hard work and lots of studying Sinead graduated! She got her degree and is now off to face lifes challenges.... which could include some more school! It was a happy day for the whole extended Bedford clan.

My birthday is coming and Brenda decided to have a fun day on Saturday. It was a spa day at Novo spa in Yorkville, a nice lunch at the spa, a move in the afternoon and our annual visit to Tony Roma's in the evening. It was a great day all around. It was also my first pedicure experience. Let me just say that is was interesting. The other 2 treatments I had, a massage and a herbal wrap, were a lot more of the traditional relax thing. The pedicure was a whole other animal. I wouldn't say it was painful and I wouldn't say it was uncomfortable. I couldn't bring myself to actually look at the work that the lady was doing. She had a wide array of tools and I had no interest in what exactly was happening. I did enjoy the massage chairs and the foot bath. I also really enjoyed the final product as you can see they turned out pretty good. If you couldn't figure it out, my foot is the one without the nail polish!

New Face & The Film Festival

With the 4 teeth now here it seems to have been a catalyst for Quinn to develop a new face. We aren't really sure what it is but we believe she thinks it is a REALLY BIG SMILE. We call it her scrunch face and it is hilarious (as you see below).

Quinn hasn't been feeling the greatest the last day or so but you wouldn't know it from all the smiles and scrunches she is handing out!

Mom and Dad attended 3 films over the last week as part of the Film festival and got to see some stars that attended. The films we saw were: Before the Devil Knows your Dead (good movie, very film festival style), Poor Boys Game (ok movie, but predictable), and Rails and Ties (good movie, better than you would think). The stars we saw were: Donald Sutherland, Danny Glover, and Kevin Bacon. Kevin Bacon was sitting pretty close to us and we were hoping he would kick it "Footloose" style, but no such luck... We were really lucky to make it to the Film Festival and a big thank you to Aaji and Aaja who looked after Quinn when we were out. Quinn got her first Brampton sleep over. We know that Aaji and Aaja loved every minute of their time with Quinn. From all the smiles and giggles Quinn gave them we are pretty sure she had a blast too!!

Back from Orlando

We got back from Orlando this week and spent our first extended period away from Quinn. The weather in Orlando was hot...... 103 degrees F. You could actually feel yourself melting.. However, unlike the heat in places like Vegas, this heat had some serious humidity and it felt like you were wearing it all day. We took some day trips and stayed and a great place about 5 minutes from Disney World. For the first couple days there we didn't even attempt to venture into the Magic Kingdom because we just figured Mickey wouldn't let us in without some crazy admission fee. We were wrong. There is tonnes of stuff to do there from Downtown Disney to Universal Studios without having to pay anything.

We made the trip to Tampa..... that was 120 miles that we wish we could have had back. There really wasn't anything of note in Tampa. There is the water... Some old town with a Starbucks that has a really bitter girl working there.

In Orlando, we did some great shopping (80% for Quinn), and went to eat at some really great places. Of course we made it to the Cheesecake Factory but we also go the opportunity to go to The Melting Pot. The last time we were there was 5 years ago and it was well worth the wait. Not too sound too much like a restaurant review but the Cheese Fondue was amazing, the main course with the broth for the meat had so much flavour and the desert chocolate fondue with caramel and peanut butter was unreal..... If you ever get a chance to go there, you have to make the trip. Look how happy we are below!!!

We were getting some good updates from Quinn's Nead mosi on how she was doing. She was a busy little girl in London. Unfortunately or Fortunately, whichever way you look at it, she probably didn't even know we were gone. Quinn was really pampered and got all the attention any 5 month old could ever want from all her uncles, aunts, grand parents, and cousins!! She even kicked Nead mosi and Uncle Radu out of their room so she could get a little privacy. Nead mosi and Uncle Radu returned our daughter happy and safe... just like we thought they would..... They also provided a beautiful book (lots of work by Sue mosi) that outlined the events of the week in London for Quinn. Thank you to everyone that cared and provided so much love for our little monkey.

The magic 3 month mark

Mom and dad figured it out.... There is no magic 3 month mark. In fact most people mislead us. When Quinn was 1-2 months old they all said just wait till she gets 3 months and then she will start sleeping well. As soon as Quinn starting getting close to the 3 month mark then the stories switched. It was all about that 4 month mark. We have decided to stop chasing that carrot!! We have even heard rumours of the 6 month mark. We now took matters into our own hands. It is amazing what a heartfelt conversation with a 3 month old can do. We spent a couple days of recurring conversations with Quinn about the value of sleep and it really worked like a charm. She now falls asleep on her own and is getting to be pretty regulated in the nights. We figure if they all can mislead us...... Okay maybe we decided to take a different route. We implemented a specific bedtime routine that really worked well.

Our family is now starting to actually resemble real life. We go out for dinner. We plan ahead for stuff and we can have tonnes of interactive time with Quinn.

Mom got some pictures done for Father's Day with Quinn and Dad. An example of one of the pictures is below.

We have decided that Quinn might have bipolar tendencies. She can go from the loudest cry (for her) to the biggest laugh and giggle. We love it when it swings in our favour and most of the times that is the way it goes. However, there are times it goes horribly wrong.

Mom has had a chance to get out and enjoy the great weather with Quinn but it seems her concern over the sun for Quinn should have been placed on her as well. She got a couple of real bad burns being out in the sun. Then again it doesn't take much. Quinn and Dad will always have to look out for the lighty.

Weekend for Mom and Dad

This past weekend, grammy was good enough to come down and look after Quinn so Mom and Dad could get away for a weekend alone.

We went across the boarder and stayed at the Seneca Casino in Niagara Falls, NY. It was a great time. However, we quickly remembered that americans can smoke in the casino. Brenda made a point of sitting at the $0.05 slots just so she could get 1 free drink.
We both came to the reality that we are now parents when we were on the elevator down to dinner and realized we both had spit up on our shoulders.... awww Quinn.

We made a trip to the outlet malls and Quinn was in our hearts as well as our pocket books as we did some serious shopping for her!! Mom had to remind herself don't Over Pink Quinn!! Too much pink isn't a good thing!!

On the Sunday we then had a chance to have a spa day together at St. Annes. It was relaxing as we both got massages and wrap treatments. The lunch and tea was also amazing. It will definitely be something we do again.

When we got home on Sunday grammy and Quinn looked like two peas in a pod. They even were lucky enough to get stuck in a rain storm together. Quinn came out of it a lot better than grammy!

Here are some more recent pictures of Quinn showing how she is not only getting bigger and stronger but also cuter!!