Laryngitis

There's been a cold going around. At first I thought we would avoid it because our kids aren't in school, but I was too optimistic. I had a sore throat Saturday, felt fine on Sunday, and felt sick again on Monday. It was a little tricky homeschooling kids when I could barely talk to them.

It brought back memories of a video I made with Joseph 9 years ago after a cold that gave me laryngitis. 

 

Anyway, if you thought my singing was bad in that video, you should see what my singing was like this past Tuesday. It wasn't painful for me, but it was for everyone else.

Joseph is still great at laughing, at least.

Parks and Paths

I've known for years that my great-great-great-grandfather Alexander Neibaur was the first Jew to convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a dentist and a linguist, and he had converted to Christianity years before joining this church.

But living on a street of Hasidic Jews made me curious for the first time about his parents who stayed Jews. I went on Family Search and learned that there were several family sources about Nathan Neibaur. He was a Polish Jew who knew several languages. So, according to family legend, Napoleon once approached him asking him to be a spy. He didn't like what Napoleon was doing at that point, so he told him no.

I wish I could verify this story from non-family sources. It's also claimed that he was Napoleon's personal physician (which is why Napoleon knew to reach out to him later about the spy thing), but I can't find any evidence of that. Still, I like the idea of him standing up to Napoleon.

Then I realized something. The Jews on our street are from Eastern Europe. I apparently have Polish Jewish ancestry. Maybe we're related!

So today, I prayed and told God, "This is something I'd like to figure out. But I'm going to need Your help to put someone in my path who's willing to talk about this with me. I can't just go knocking on doors and asking."

After Julia woke up from a nap, she wanted to go outside. It was cold, but we would both be fine with coats on. So off we went to the park.

Though we weren't the only ones there, there were no Jewish families. So I decided to walk to the other nearby park (the one that still had a splash pad spraying water when we drove past it on the way to church today). No one there either. But I had fun walking around with her.

I decided that it was time to go back to our street since that's where the families live. Julia was screaming that she wanted to be out of her stroller, and the only way I could get her to calm down was to point out that a baby in the stroller walking parallel with us on the other side of the street was staring at her. So they stared at each other until we reached our house.

It turned out that Julia wasn't ready to go inside yet. She just didn't want to be in the stroller. So I let her out and followed her around, redirecting her from the curb whenever she wanted to step on leaves in the road. School buses occasionally went down the road, pausing to let little boys in kippahs out to their waiting moms.

Julia couldn't make up her mind where she wanted to go. She would take several steps forward, then turn around and walk back to where we had been before. She would shriek when I picked her up and say "no" if anyone walking by said hi to her. At some point I decided that we had walked back and forth by our house too many times, and it was time to cross the street. She continued her random walk, and eventually she started showing more and more interest in stepping down into the road. She would also wander onto people's driveways and crunch leaves on their front lawns.

A minivan stopped on the side of the road and parked. An older Jewish man got out and slowly got out of the car. But he seemed interested in watching her walk up the sidewalk and down again, shrieking whenever I redirected her from the road. She wanted to walk back and forth past that minivan over and over.

I made eye contact with the man and smiled. "She's the boss," he said wryly. This was the first time a man on the street had ever spoken to me (or even made eye contact). Was this my chance to ask my question?

It's easier to be awkward when you know you're moving soon. So yes. This was my chance.

"I just found out I'm descended from a Polish Jew. Neibaur. Is anyone in this neighborhood from Poland?"

He probably had to think for a minute to decode my Utah English accent and the unexpected question I had launched at him. "No, people here come from Hungary and Romania. So you're a Jew?"

"No, I'm a Christian. He was a Jew but became a Christian."

"If your mother is a Jew, then you are a Jew too," he said.

"It's from my father's side," I said apologetically.

And then we talked for just a few minutes about kids and grandkids and what my husband was doing in Montreal in the first place. He said he lived on this street for 50 years. And there are high taxes.

Julia wanted to run off again, and I figured that if I tried to keep holding her, she would shriek enough that we wouldn't be able to talk more. So I ended the conversation abruptly and hurried to catch up to her.

It was all a little awkward, but it was still nice talking to one of my neighbors for a few minutes. And thanks to Julia and her frenzied style of walking back and forth, God put someone in my path to help me answer my question.

Thanks, Julia. And thanks, God.

McGill and the Mall

Today we checked out the Redpath Natural History Museum at McGill University. Kevin is often able to work from home on Thursdays, so he stayed home with Luke and Julia.

Well, actually he drove us to the museum first. The kids wanted to take the Metro, but it looked like there would be lots of stops (as opposed to an easy 15-minute drive), so I only wanted to go on the subway on the way back. 

Kevin dropped us off as close as he could, and then we walked the rest of the way to the museum past the beautiful buildings of McGill. It was a little chilly whenever we walked in the shade, and Lydia (who either sobs or skips whenever we walk somewhere) was very sad because she was wearing shorts instead of pants. Somehow, despite doing laundry yesterday and today, all of her preferred pants were currently in the washing machine or dryer. We had a clean pair that she has outgrown, but I put them in my purse just in case she was desperate enough to wear them. We didn't have time to wait for the pants in the dryer to fully dry, but they were pretty close, so I brought them along as well and draped them on my arm. 

Things got better inside the museum, and we all liked looking at the fluorite and amazonite and other interesting gems and minerals. Next, we looked at some dinosaur bones for a few minutes. Then, we looked at some mummies and old vases. And that was basically it! (Glad it was free!) 

Our next stop was the nearby underground mall. Google Maps did a pretty good job navigating us there, but then it led us to a metro station. Google said there was a pedestrian tunnel somewhere nearby, and it felt like we were hunting for Platform 9 3/4 to find the tunnel to the mall.

 After walking back and forth the same patch of sidewalk a few times, the kids were cold, so we went into the metro station to study the map better. Then, we saw a hallway to the side of the subway lines, and there was the underground mall! 

After wandering and window shopping for a few minutes, we headed upstairs and outside to go to the Lindt store. Eventually we realized that we were standing on top of it, so we went back down to the mall and found the store there. I told the kids they could get ice cream or hot cholate there. The boys chose ice cream cones, and Lydia chose hot chocolate. I chose iced hot chocolate, which tasted like a large cup of melted ice cream. (I've always wondered what it is, and now I know!)

After they put the ice cream in the cones, they would drizzle lots of chocolate syrup on top. Unfortunately, one of the cones had a bit too much chocolate syrup, and the ice cream was dribbling off the cone. And of course, they gave that cone to a child who would prefers cups because ice cream cones are extra messy for him. Then we had to wander through a few hallways for a place to sit down to eat. Finally, we found one, but by then it was too late to have a clean ice cream eating experience (let alone take a picture of the ice cream cones). Fingers and faces were covered in chocolate syrup.

I had grabbed a few napkins from the Lindt store, but it was clear we needed more. "I'm going to get some paper towels from the bathroom," I told my kids, abandoning them in the mall while I went on a long hunt for the bathroom that took me down yet another escalator and down a long hallway. Once there, I only found hand dryers.

"I sure wish I had something in my purse to wash their hands with," I thought, remembering that the wipes were still in the car. Then I remembered that I had two pairs of Lydia's pants in my purse. I returned to the kids with a wet pair of pants and began wiping faces and fingers with them.

After another trip to the Lindt store to get some Lindor truffles (they offered us free samples both times we came into the store, and I took them shamelessly), we wandered through the mall and found the metro again. I guess I should say that I wandered. Joseph navigated. He is probably amazed by my lack of sense of direction. All I can say is that I would not be surprised if this mall had moving staircases just like Hogwarts. Maybe they're moving escalators.

But my sense of direction turned back on to get us home on the subway. Someday I think I will brave enough to take all 6 kids and a stroller on the freeway, but I still can't forget the time in March 2002 when my Moon cousins went to New York City with us and half of us got left behind when the subway doors closed too quickly. In the case of my brother Spencer, half of him was in the subway, and the other half got the door closed on him. This was before we had cell phones, so my mom had to shout instructions to my dad as she extricated my brother's head from the subway doors. I still don't know how she had the presence of mind and thorough knowledge of the New York subway to know how to reunite us all.

Thankfully, the subway experiences with just 4 kids have been pretty straightforward. After 12 stops on 3 different lines, we were back at the Outremont station. Lydia's pants still weren't dry (especially because they had been stuffed in the purse next to pants covered in water and ice cream), but she happily skipped home in her shorts. 

Today

 I spend a lot of time in the evenings Googling what we should do the next day. Last night was no exception. We were pretty sure Joseph didn't want to go to the stake YM activity, and I wasn't sure about the Relief Society activity, but we still wanted to do things in Montreal instead of venturing too far away. We figured that whatever we did, the kids would appreciate a good playground.

As it turned out, Joseph was interested in the YM activity, so we hurried over to a nearby playground at Jeanne Mance Park. We decided to drive, but it ended up taking longer finding parking a few blocks away and walking over than it would have been to walk. (The good news is that the kids say they are willing to walk to this park because they like it so much.)

This water system was a big hit!

Joseph and Lydia went across the street with me to see the Georgie Etienne Cartier memorial.

I gave Julia an apple slice, and after one bite she dropped it in the sand. It was beyond saving, but I was willing to give her another slice after her hand wasn't covered in sand. She cried that I had taken her apple and cried that I was brushing off her hand.

Then a little boy came over. "Porquoi pleurer?" he asked. Why is she crying? 105 days of Duolingo still hadn't taught me how to say, "She doesn't like that I'm brushing off her hand," so I said one of the 744 words I do know. "Pomme." Porquoi? Pomme.

Behind me, a woman was stuck in one of those diabolical spinning toys that never run out of momentum. I saw her asking her son for help, but he wasn't doing anything. I started walking over, but two other dads got there before me. I'm glad to live in a world where there is no shame in getting rescued from spinny toys on the playground.

The boy came back with his own pomme. I pulled out Google Translate and asked "Quel age as-tu? Trois? Quatre?" He responded with some number that I didn't understand. He asked something about "appelle" so I said "Julia," and he seemed satisfied with that answer. "Julia. Julia." Then he said something else which I assumed was his name, but I didn't understand it either. It is very humbling to have a toddler speak a language a whole lot better than you.

By then, Kevin was back with the car, so we got loaded up and headed to Angrignon Park for the YM activity. I guess when you're stuck with younger siblings 24/7, the idea of hanging out with nice teenagers can sound pretty appealing. There was plenty of traffic, and it was exciting when Kevin got on the freeway because it meant no more bikes! No more pedestrians! And no more stoplights! I could see City Hall, which I had seen on Thursday when we went to the science center, and Joseph pointed out the overpass we had walked on when we got off the metro. It feels like putting puzzle pieces together, approaching landmarks from different angles.

After we dropped Joseph off, I survived the walk back from the grassy area to the car without getting bitten by any geese,

and then we went to Snowdon Deli to try the famous smoked meat.

It was pretty crowded in there, and it was even more crowded with our double stroller. It looked like we would have to wait a while to sit down to eat, but thankfully there was a short line at the takeout counter. While we ordered, Julia started to fuss. Then, one of the owners appeared with cookies for all of the kids. I'm sure we looked like quite the sight with 5 kids, and the 6th wasn't even there! After we ordered, I took some kids to the bathrooms which were right by where everyone was cooking. Jacob loved watching them work.

We got our food fairly quickly and decided that the easiest place to eat would be across the street at the church. (So, you know, still 5 minutes away.) Thankfully the bees that had gotten in our car at Snowdon deli didn't have relatives hanging out in the church parking lot because I still have a red spot on my thigh from where I got stung 4 weeks ago. After I nursed Julia, I joined everyone else in the grass to eat. The food was good but I wish I had gotten to eat it 15 minutes earlier. Even so, I ate a lot! The church was unlocked, so while we waited for Joseph's activity to end, we went up to the nursery to let the kids play. Then we picked up Joseph and drove home.

After that, Jacob and I walked over to a convenience store to get some more batteries for his cutebot. Then I went to a Relief Society activity where we talked about inspiring ancestors. I was the only person from the US there, and it was great (and humbling!) to hear stories about parents and grandparents working hard and living lives of love. Something that is kind of interesting (and it might just be my personality) is how the character traits that impress me the most are often related to simple personal improvement. Like, I really admire people who are excited to learn and improve no matter their age, who learn to not see themselves as the victim, who can view people who think differently without contempt or condescension, and who practice warm-heartedness and forgiveness. But it seems like the focus for most of these stories was strength and loyalty. Stories of a father who had to take care of all his siblings and some nieces and nephews starting when he was 16 and gave up job opportunities to stay close to them. Stories of mothers and grandmothers whose husbands cheated on them and loved their kids fiercely. Stories of really looking out for family members. People who dealt with strokes and paralysis and other health problems. (Meanwhile my biggest trial this week is that I really miss my vacuum back home.)

Anyway, when I talked about an ancestor that I admired, I didn't talk about hard things this ancestor went through and the strength they showed. I talked about the personality traits I liked. And I think there's room for both niceness and strength. But it was humbling realizing that most women in the international church have had to become strong in ways I can't imagine, and their niceness comes from strength rather than occasional moments of self-reflection in an easy life. 

Then I drove home. Maybe I'm becoming refined into a more patient person by driving in Montreal.

More food

 1. Last week, when we walked back from the JFK park (it was the day Charlie Kirk died, and walking to a JFK park made me think a lot about assassination even before it happened), we stopped at a boulangerie called Mamie Clafoutis. The cashier didn't really speak English, which isn't a big deal because I know enough words for a boulangerie, but I was also a little flustered by my kids breathing on the bread and Julia chewing on a stick. I think I'll have to go back there again once my French is better and we are stick-free. 

On our walk to JFK park

2. I already mentioned Boulangerie Cheskie in my previous post. I think we went there last Tuesday. Those were really delicious pastries.

3. We are really trying to be careful about lead since some of the paint tested positive for it, so we've put some contact paper down and gotten some HEPA filters to collect any lead paint dust. Then we realized that we probably had lead pipes (which is weird because the city map shows that the other half of the house doesn't have lead, but we most likely do, so why didn't they take care of it all at once?). So we also got a water filter. And that water tastes very good.

4. Apples! I got up all my courage to finally drive (okay, I drove to a park 1.1 km away on Friday, but those were just neighborhood streets) and left Montreal to go to an apple orchard about 80 minutes away.

So, in addition to yummy Rave apples from the store, we've been enjoying some sunrise, Golden, and Gala apples from the orchard. On 9/16/25, I made an apple pie pizza and made sure to make a slice that was 3 inches on one side, 4 inches on the other, and 5 inches for the hypotenuse.

side note -- this crust was perfectly crisp on the bottom, which is always my goal when I make regular pizza. All I did was bake this on a dark cookie sheet. Is this what I should have been doing all along instead of a pizza stone?

4. Poutine! We walked up to Parc Avenue to eat at Frite O Folie, which was a standard burgers and fries place. However, it did also offer poutine, so I ordered it. And it was yummy!

5. Dark chocolate. The kids didn't mind the high cacao content because it just looked so cute! And it's probably really good chocolate, too.

I promise we do cook and buy lots of fruits and vegetables! But we definitely also like being able to walk for our treats!

Three stories about squirrels

 1. One of the first days we were here, I took a few of the kids to the park. I think Luke was trying to go up the slide when other kids wanted to go down, so I tried to find something else to catch his attention. I saw a squirrel hanging out close to me and called out, "Luke! Come catch this squirrel!" I figured he would chase it and it would run away.

He smiled and said, "Okay!" Then he ran right over and grabbed the squirrel. I told him to let go, and he did. And that squirrel still didn't run away! It was so content to hang out with us and a few other girls who had noticed it. At one point it got really close to a little toddler, and she cried and cried until her sister picked her up and put her back in the stroller. Anyway, I learned that day that the squirrels are not as afraid of humans as they should be. (And I washed Luke's hands of course.)

2. When we went to the park this week, Joseph found a knobbly stick and pretended to be an old man chasing the squirrels. He chased one up a tree, and then he came over and said, "I think a squirrel just dropped an acorn on my head." I guess even the squirrels that are scared of humans aren't afraid of enacting a little revenge.

3. We brought a few French picture books with us that we got from dual immersion. And today I figured out how to scan the words into Google Translate and have them change before my very eyes. I sort of understood the gist of the story before, but now I really understand it!

Ironically, even though we've seen lots of squirrels, I haven't taken any pictures yet. But the kids are always excited to see them.

And pigeons and chipmunks too.

My favorite street

We have loved exploring our little part of Montreal, and Bernard Avenue is a big reason why!

We live two short blocks away from this street. To the right, we immediately get to enjoy a pedestrian area where the streets are entirely blocked off to cars.

Last week (I think it was Wednesday), I was feeling a bit burned out from a long day with kids. So Kevin and I took Julia in the stroller to Boulangerie Cheskie and got the most amazing pastries. Mine was a chocolate eclair with chocolate on the inside and it was huge and just $3.50 Canadian dollars and I am so excited to go back there again! Anyway, on the way back, we noticed this checkerboard. On Friday, we took the kids to get ice cream and made sure to stop here. There were also hula hoops, balls, and chalk. 

They pretended to be chess pieces. So I kept saying, "Not me, not Hermione, You!" and I don't know if they've seen enough Harry Potter to find that funny.

I also noticed this piano and thought it would be fun to play some music for the people sitting under red umbrellas outside the cafes. But based on the handwritten note on the sign, it looks like it's hard to reserve the piano.

Beside Boulangerie Cheskie, we've also liked Bilboquet Ice Cream and Boulangerie Premiere Moisson (they've seen plenty of us at that bakery and have been nice to us each time!). I am intrigued by all of the upscale restaurants on the street, but I am also a little intimidated by them. You can see people wearing tuxes inside! I also wonder if the cafe named Les Enfants Terribles is called that because kids might not behave their best if offered salmon tartare and calamari. (Maybe at some point we'll find someone willing to babysit a busy 1-year-old!)

If we take a left on Bernard to walk to Joyce Park, we pass by lots of lovely buildings and lovely flowers.

so many vines! My kids said it reminded them of their grandma's house. She doesn't have nearly this many vines, though

The medians are full of lovely flowers. I need to take better pictures!

We're glad we get to explore this part of Montreal!

Food so far

It's always fun to go to a new area and try the food there. Here's a bit of the food we've gotten to enjoy since moving here: 

1. Peaches and grapes and plums! It was great to go from my mom's peaches and grapes to my friend's peaches and grapes. I wish we still had some!

Speaking of plums, on Labor Day, we were invited to pick a ward member's house for a potluck and plum picking. We didn't pick any plums because we had some, but there was a treat with like a sugar cookie base and plum jam and then a crumble on top. When I said I liked it, she gave me the whole pan! And let me tell you, when you move to a new place, it is great to have food like this in the fridge.

2. Pastries at Boulangerie Premiere Moisson. Kevin went there once to get food when everywhere else was closed, and I've been two other times with some/all of the kids. They call pain au chocolat "chocolatin" here, and it is yummy! This picture was an almond pastry which was delicious and reminded me of Le Croissant in Logan.

While we were there the second time, a woman congratulated Kevin and me on having so many kids. Then the cashier said we could get little free treats for the kids. She probably doesn't give 6 away all at once that often, but she didn't mind!

3. Ice cream! We live very close to Le Bilboquet Outremont and we went there once. I think I packed too many light-colored shirts for Luke because he keeps eating things that stain his shirts (sometimes I catch it in time with stain remover, but not always!). 

4. Bagels! We met up for lunch with Kevin last week and went to a bagel place. We were first interested in going to St. Viateur, but it only accepted cash, so we went to District Bagel which was still not too far. Kevin got a lox sandwich and the kids liked a pizza panini. The bagels were good too, but it was clear that they weren't fresh. When I saw St. Viateur bagels available at Walmart, I figured that they would be as fresh as the ones at the bagel store itself, so I ordered some. And they were delicious! Just nice and chewy and with this nutty sesame flavor. I do hope to try some fresh ones sometime, but the toasted ones have been great!

5. Smoked meat. There's a place called Snowdon Deli which is close to the church, so we planned to go before Young Men's on Wednesday night. However, we saw that it closed early, so Kevin ran to a deli which was a little closer. The flavor kind of reminded me of hot dogs, which Lydia really liked. I liked it fine, but I think I like the meat from our smoker back home more.

6. After we went to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts last Saturday, we went to a nearby restaurant called Chef Istanbul because it had a family platter. Everything about it was great. The owner was so kind to our kids and seemed genuinely happy to see a large young family. The sesame bread was so amazingly soft inside. The fries were perfectly crispy and paired well with a spicy fry sauce. The rice and salad and meat just all had the perfect flavors. And our kids loved it too! 

7. Another ice cream place! We walked to Ripples on Friday, and it was really good ice cream! I decided to try a soft-serve ice cream cone dipped in milk chocolate, and it was delicious! The soft serve was a little creamier than I'm used to, and the dip stayed soft and a little fudgy. The few bites of ice cream I got to try from the others were also great.

8. Apples! The kind that we have been trying from Walmart are called Rave apples, which I hadn't heard of before. They are crisp and taste like apple cider. We're going to miss them when we go home!

9. Baguettes! We have gone through so many 87 cent (now 97 cent, sad) baguettes from Walmart the past two weeks. So, so many. I figure it's healthier than snacking on crackers. Back home, I can tolerate the bread products in the Walmart bakery, but the rolls and French bread have this sort of sour, processed aftertaste I've never liked. And these baguettes don't have that taste. Does that make them healthier? Maybe! 

I promise I cook sometimes, even though our kitchen is tiny! But it sure has been fun trying local food too!