For the past several years, we've had to fortune to be invited to the AHS President Council meeting due to Kent's job as CFO of Adventist Care Centers. However, since 2010, my 2 pregnancies and lack of desire to travel with an infant have kept us away from the fun each year (with the exception of 2012 when we did take Erik to the meeting in San Diego). When it was announced that the meeting would be held in Quebec Province, Canada this year, I determined that we would ALL be attending even if it meant having 2 rambunctious kids in a small hotel room each day! We were able to persuade my parents, Nana & Pops Chalker, to drive up from Ohio to spend the week with us.
In short, we LOVE, LOVE, LOVE Quebec!! It was an amazing 10 days of near perfect weather and gorgeous scenery. We flew up on Friday, June 19, and spent the first 4 days in a lovely hotel located in Old City (Vieux-Quebec), Quebec. We were within walking distance to almost all the attractions & sites - the large city park called Les Plaines d'Abraham, La Citadel, the iconic hotel Fairmont Le Chateau Frontenac, Place Royale (one of the oldest public squares in North America built in the early 1600's), etc. The kids did great with all the walking around & site-seeing. It was a major plus that Nana & Pops arrived the day after we got there to help distract, entertain & carry, as needed!!
Here are a few pictures from our weekend in Quebec City:
 |
| View of the Fairmont Frontenac from the Promenade |
 |
| Nana & Pops have arrived!! |
 |
| Nana & Elin in Quebec City |
 |
| Erik & Elin learning about dandelions! |
 |
| Pops & Birthday Girl Elin |
 |
| A lovely photo of a Mommy & her baby girl going for a walk! |
 |
| Another view - Elin loves to wear the hoods on all her jackets & sweaters! No wasted fashion elements here!! |
 |
| Erik is another fan of the hoods on his sweatshirts & jackets! He loved pulling his orange backpack EVERYWHERE! |
 |
| Walking with purpose! |
 |
| "What's inside the cannon, Pops?" Good think they aren't loaded anymore!! |
 |
| Erik & Pops |
 |
| Erik & Kent climbing the old city fortification walls |
 |
| Kelli, Erik & Pops on the carriage ride around Quebec City |
 |
| Pops, Elin & Nana in Place Royale |
 |
| Erik getting his first taste of a macaroon |
 |
| Elin's turn! |
 |
| Trying out some yummy ice cream topped with fudge |
 |
| Beautiful picture of Erik |
 |
| At Montmorency Falls outside Quebec |
 |
| Kent, Erik & I at the falls |
 |
| Erik & Elin loving the outdoors |
On Monday, June 22, we drove to La Malbaie in the Charlevoix region of Quebec province where Kent's meetings were actually being held. I wasn't sure what to expect from this area at all, except that it would be rural (it is touted as an agricultural spot) - we were all astounded at the beautiful, amazing, magnificent, glorious, spectacular scenery! Need I go on?!! [sidenote - Kent just read this section & says it sounds just a tad cheesy & that I should only pick a few of my favorite adjectives. Hmm, should I tell him that I already did that?!] The St. Lawrence River was the almost always in sight during our stay & it was much larger & grander than I had anticipated. After our visit there, I'm half tempted to learn French so that we can move there!
Seriously, it was so pretty there and sadly, my pictures just don't do it justice. I wish now that I had taken my SLR camera, but I didn't want to carry it around with me, so opted to just use my phone camera instead - silly me! I did learn on this trip that Kent can take amazing pictures with his cellphone while mine are just normal or mediocre compared to his. Now, if I could just get him to download his pictures faster!!
Anyways...we had a lovely time in the more rural setting of La Malbaie. The conference was held at the Fairmont Le Manor Richelieu and while Kent was in meetings, the rest of us went on lots of walks, toured a cheese factory (what's not to love about that?!) in a nearby town, played in the pool and played in the super-cool toy room that the Fairmont had. When Kent had time off meetings, we explored the shoreline of the river, went on more walks and also explored an island called Isle-aux-Coudres where we went on a treasure hunt, but sadly didn't find the treasure that was hidden somewhere on the island!!
 |
| View of the Fairmont Richelieu from their golf course |
 |
| Elin & Mommy standing by Mommy's favorite flower - lilacs! |
 |
| The Girls |
 |
| Erik on the shore - he loved throwing rocks - such a boy! |
 |
| Exploring more of the shore |
 |
| Saying "Cheese" while on a nature walk |
 |
| Elin learning how to walk the balance beam |
 |
| Elin at her photo shoot!! |
 |
| It looks like she's sleeping, but she's playing her favorite game - Night-Night! |
 |
| Photo courtesy of Nana - she took this when Elin was upset about something. But I love her little sad face, too! |
Family Photos:
 |
| On the Promenade in Les Plaines d'Abraham Park, Quebec City |
 |
| On Isle-aux-Coudres, near La Malbaie |
 |
| Nana, Elin, Pops & Erik outside Fairmont hotel in La Malbaie |
We had pretty good travel experiences on both the way up & back, even though we had a bag delayed 1 day when we got to Quebec (plane was too heavy so they removed some bags). Thankfully, it was our La Malbaie suitcase (we packed our bags based on location - what a fortuitous decision)!! The worst of it was on the way home and trying to make our connection at JFK plus getting through customs. Fortunately, a security guard bumped us out of a 30 minute line to the diplomat line. He bumped us after he watched me trying to get Erik to stop touching every barricade he could reach while also trying to pull the cords out of the retractable slots on the posts!! He must have thought that I would never make it through 30 minutes of that (or that the customs hall would be virtually destroyed by a 3 year old!) It was a very good thing we were bumped because we still just made it to our connecting flight with no time for potty breaks or to pick up food (and I was starving)! We had to pick up our bags, recheck them, figure out what happened to Elin's boarding pass for our 2nd flight (Delta messed up because she turned 2 while we were on our trip and therefore, required a separate ticket on the way home and we only were given 1 boarding pass from Quebec to JFK and the ticket agents in Quebec couldn't help us get a boarding pass out of JFK), and then, finally, find our next gate - which ended up being in another terminal that required riding an airport tram, leaving 1 building, crossing 2 busy airport roads, going into a 2nd building, climbing a flight of stairs and going through security all over again. I hope to never fly through JFK again!
 |
| Waiting in customs line at JFK |
