Surprise!

“Forty is the old age of youth; fifty is the youth of old age.”

If Craig wasn`t thinking of his upcoming landmark birthday yet, he sure is now. The surprise party, when successfully pulled off, remains a winner; the celebratee is surrounded by loved ones when they least expect it. And given that Craig`s official 40th is not until September, he cannot be faulted for not suspecting it.

The whole episode was particularly amusing because of Craig`s attitude as we drove out to Scott Jonction, a town south of Quebec City about halfway to Maine, where most of the family on Maman`s side were awaiting. He spent a good portion of the ride whining about why on earth Mom would choose a restaurant out in the boonies when there are about 1000 nice restaurants in Quebec City! `Guess Mom is getting a little loopy as she ages`, I replied, giggling to myself whle shooting a knowing glance at Michele.

And sure enough, once we got there, we were overwhelmed with greetings from the amazing Tetu side of the family. I was so excited to see them - and with good reason. Ils sont formidables! It was pandemonium at first, all the adults doing la bise, hugging and talking over one another while the children screamed with joy while running around (``Y en a de la marmonne icitte`` said mononcle Reno). It felt so refreshing to be back in a culture that is so openly affectionate again.

Of course Kael was a major point of interest, as most of my quebecois family were meeting him for the first time, but he was far from the only child. All of my other cousins, except for one, are now unmarried with children. It`s true; there are five couples in total who have children and none of them are married. Michele and I are the odd couple out here!

But the night belonged to Craig, of course. They had balloons, a card signed by all, plus another impromptu violent birthday card created by six year-olds Leo and Youri (who don`t speak the same language!), candles in crepes smothered in maple butter rather than a cake, and some great pictures from trips of the countryside in Montmagny where we used to spend our summer vacations as kids. Those pictures of us riding the tractor or playing sports out in the great expanse of the `front yard` brought back fantastic memories.

It may not have been the raging party many 40th celebrations turn out to be, but I`m sure Craig was happy with the fine company of the Tetu family.Plus, he`ll get his rager come September. Whenever we are all together we are never short on laughter and merriment. Grandmaman Berthe actually said it best when she told me, after telling a surprisingly dirty joke at dinner, `I came into this world laughing and that`s how I`m going to leave it, too. Laughter is the music of the soul`

Amen, grandmaman.

Trip out to middle east - of Canada, that is

Once you have high speed connection, boy you can never go back. It`s taken me about a half hour to log in here, but I`ve finally made it. It feels like I`ve reached the summit of Mt Patience! I really thought the view would be better...

Nous voici in beautiful Quebec City. We expected nothing less than a hellish flight on Saturday and we were`t disappointed. Kael is not known for his sitting in one place prowess; he`s a mover and a shaker - at all times - therefore the prospect of spending hours on a plane without moving had us plenty worried. At least he had recovered from his feverish bout with tonsilitis the day before leaving.

As with most VAN-YYZ flights, there wasn`t an empty seat in the (sky)house. We managed to keep the little monkey at bay with stories and snacks for the first half of the four flight, but it was at that point that the real struggle began. KAEL NEEDS TO MOVE. I can`t put it any simpler than that.

To make matters worse, the Kman is in a real cling-to-mommy-or-else-she-might-disappear phase,so sitting with Papa only incited screams of torture. So poor Michele, with early third trimester belly roundish and full with Kael`s little sister, has to try to deal with a wriggly, squirmy toddler pushing with full force into the seat in front of him (how the man didn`t turn around once in annoyance is still a wonder to me)directly into her belly. With good reason, mommy was on the verge of losing it, and much to her credit, she didn`t.

And due to the capacity of passengers, there was rarely a moment when the aisles were free to roam. As soon as they did, we didn`t waste any time getting out there in a hurry to take advantage. Upon return after our short foray, there wasn`t far to go before the path was blocked, I wound up donating my seat to Kael and spent the better part of an hour standing, frequently having to contort my body in obscure positions in order to allow passengers and flight attendants passage.

Speaking of which, I must state for the record that there was not one `skyhag`on this Air Canada flight: all of the flight attendants were accomodating and pleasant. There`s hope yet!

But that tolerable situation soon came to a shaky end when we hit turbulence and I was forced to sit down. Kael was now worse than ever, in extreme struggle mode due to fatigue and lack of afternoon nap. There was no escape for Mommy or kid. It ended taking about 40 minutes before he finally struggled himself right to exhausted sleep. As Murphy`s Law dictates, we touched down in Toronto a mere 20 minutes later.

Once boarded on our connector flight to YQC, Michele declared loud enough for everyone on the enire plane to hear, ''I am never traveling with a child again!'' The good news was that the hour-long flight was not full, so the little guy would have his own seat.

This made a world of difference as he sat contently next to Papa for almost the entire ride. Well ok, he didn`t actually sit the whole time, but he was good. He spent most of the time violently opening and closing the shutter, climbing up and down on the seat, and flirting with an older couple sitting opposite. Most importantly, he was given enough space to be independent. As we learn more and more about his temperment, fiercely spirited and independent are his main strengths - and our main challenges.

We touched down into Quebec sain et sauf much to the relief of Grandmaman and Armand, who were anxiously awaiting to pick us up.

Travelling with a toddler is never easy, but I`m quite sure not it is doubly hard with a boy as active as Kael. In fact, I saw another boy who must have about the same age sitting quietly on his Daddy`s lap for pretty much the entire flight. Just luck of the draw I guess. And when they`re too young for Nintendo or movie watching, all you can do is endure as best you can, knowing you won`t have to do it again for another two weeks on the return trip home.