The Montreal Jazz Festival

Last year we took MiniM.E. to the Montreal Jazz Festival right after she started crawling when she was   8 1/2 months old.  Remember this post?  I was terrified to take her to a hotel in Montreal, but we all had a great time.

I was a little less apprehensive this time around, though I was a little worried MiniM.E. would be bored to tears, require us to carry her all over Montreal, and would only be happy doing things like climbing stairs or playing in mulch.  

Just like last year, MiniM.E. was a fantastic traveler and my worrying was for nothing.  We all had a great time.

Last year, MiniM.E. loved the hotel.  I have to say, between petting the fuzzy ropes at the check-in desk, climbing the stairs in the lobby and taking everything off the shelves in the gift shop, I'm pretty sure it was still her favorite part of the trip.

2012: Loves the bed

2013: Still loves the bed!

MiniM.E. enjoyed the festival a lot more than last year because she did a lot less napping and a lot more running, playing, listening, climbing, and jumping this year.  

The Festival had a really cute play area for kids that MiniM.E. LOVED and asked to go to the whole time we were there (we stupidly brought her there pretty early on the first day... from then on, it was "play the piano" and "go to the sandbox")

When we weren't at the kids' area, we saw a few concerts and walked around a lot.

2012 transport

2013 transport

We went to see a Canada Day Parade (which lasted more than 2 hours.... we lasted about 90 minutes...)

Played on the benches

Ate lots of snacks

Threw pennies in the fountain

And had some down time in the hotel

Even though there was so much to do outside, MiniM.E. still wanted to swim in the pool... multiple times a day...

2012: swimming with daddy

2013: swimming with daddy

And of course, the best part of the Festival was getting wet in the fountains.

2012

If this was an indication of a successful trip last year:

We succeeded again:

Happy 4th of July!

Late, of course.  Hope everyone had a great time.  We ate burgers and went to sleep...

And, I did it again.  We went on a vacation and I didn't even post about the things we did BEFORE the vacation... such is summer.

Here's a recap.

We finally filled up our sandbox, and MiniM.E. would probably stay in it all day if we let her.  Not sure how I feel about so much sand on my child.  And in my house.  And in her bed...

sharing with Baby E. 

and Baby O.

 We spent a lot of time in the yard.

And went to the playground.

MiniM.E. decided she likes to get her face painted.  It would be a lot easier if she stood still, didn't grab the brush, and didn't continuously touch her face while the paint was still wet...

We went to the Peerless Pool at the State Park.  MiniM.E. was adorable in the water, but I had to be in too, so no photos :(

And we had a relaxing afternoon at Congress Park.