Yesterday, we left Montreal and drove to Lac Brome to pick up Chris' cousins CB, N and S. The drive back to Bagotville was pretty uneventful with not a single moment of silence. CB, in particular, talks and talks and basically never shuts up, no matter how ridiculous the topic (ie. how he, as a champion pellet gun shooter, would survive in the middle of nowhere by shooting deer through the eyeball and into their brains. He would also make a little extra cash by teaching pellet gun sharp shooting on the side). We also had to convince N that buying and living in a Westfalia van was an unrealistic life plan. We did, however, see a baby black bear in the park in the median between the two sides of the highway.
I was supposed to have a Gazelles outing this morning, but it was postponed until tomorrow. I'm getting a little frustrated with the disorganization and lack of communication in this group, but hopefully it'll get better over the summer. The plan for tomorrow morning to leave from Costco and bike to St-Felix and back (~85km). I'm really not looking forward to it because, if you recall, it's an intense hill ride. I'm hoping it'll be better in a group and my legs should be able to handle it a little better since I won't have done a half-marathon the day before.
Today was the first full day of having the cousins here. After making smoothies for breakfast, S and I went to pick up the puppies and check the mail. I received all the course critiques from my classes at the tax centre. I spent some time reviewing the comments and overall they were positive. There was one, however, that really irked me. According to one of my students, I have a mauvaise connaissance (poor understanding) of French. I don't know why, but that comment above all really pissed me off. We also made some plans for activities for the kids and meals throughout the week. Their mother, Chris' aunt, sent up lots of food that she had prepared (lasagna, meatballs, brownies, cookies, etc) so we basically have to take care of breakfasts and lunches. Because we were in Maine and then Kingston, we didn't really have a lot of food in the house so we did a big grocery shop.
After that, S and I did some errands, including a stop at Sports Experts to get some new water bottles for my bike, where we had a really strange experience. As I've previously mentioned, the staff at Sports Experts must be paid by commission because they pounce on you as soon as you enter the store. Buying a water bottle is not really a purchase that requires employee assistance, so when the guy asked me if I needed help, I said no. I spent about a minute looking at the selection, checking prices and capacities, when another guy told me (in French) that the bottle I was holding was a "heating bottle". Now, this was extremely perplexing to me because I understood the words that he said, but they didn't make any sense because it was just a regular bottle and what's a heating bottle anyways?. After I looked at him funny for a few seconds, he said it was just a joke because he thought I was having trouble finding what I wanted. I told him, no, I just needed a couple minutes to decide. Then, the two guys start laughing at us, right behind us! I couldn't believe it. Anyways, I got what I needed and got out of there as quickly as possible. Next, we had to stop at Loblaws for a few particular things and as it turns out, it was sample day! S and I got to try salmon, blueberry/orange salad, gum, granola bars and ice cream.
When we got back, I went for my first run in a week. S and CB joined me on the run since it was a 5km, and CB is doing the run portion of our team triathlon at the end of July. I completely underestimated how challenging it would be. I figured, phft it's 5km, no big deal. I didn't take care to eat properly before and I paid for it during the run. I'm going to have to get with it because I'm starting a new running plan in the hopes of increasing my 10km time. It's going to be quite demanding in terms of pace plus there'll be 5 runs per week. I also registered for the Quebec City half-marathon at the end of August, so I have to keep training for that as well.
After a light dinner of toasted tomato sandwiches, we went and saw X-Men: First Class at the base theatre. Aside from the chaos at the concession stand (I gave each kid $5 to spend as they wish), the movie was pretty good. When we got home, Chris decided to put some A535 on his legs because of the soreness caused by crutching around all day. Well, CB and N, who are not the brightest bulbs in the box, decided they wanted to try it too. Despite warnings from both Chris and I, they slathered it all over their bodies, claiming they didn't feel anything. Sure enough, a few minutes later, they started hopping around and squealing about how much it burned. It was so funny!!!
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