This past weekend, we spent some time in Montreal Quebec with new friends. It was initially hard to let go of our 4th of July picnic ritual with “old” friends but we were looking for something different.
And different we found!
I had volunteered with the husband (Claude) a couple of years ago at a personal development training. I had briefly met his wife (Chantal) but didn’t know her well. Chris had never met either of them. So we were taking a chance when I called up and asked them if they wanted visitors for the weekend.
Knowing Claude’s personality, I was pretty sure he would welcome guests – and I was right. They opened their home and we had a blast. While we found out we had so much in common (business owners, like-minded, self development focused, etc.), there were some things they do as activities that we decided to try.
Mini-bowling – Chris is a great bowler and I have some fun but we had never tried anything like mini-bowling. The pins are half-size and the ball is about the size of a bocce ball with no holes for your fingers. When you bowl, you palm the ball and get into a low crouch – like in the sport curling – and release the ball. It was challenging (do 60 lunges and you’ll see) and a lot of fun trying something new.
Biking – okay, so this wasn’t brand new but it had been a long time since either Chris or I had ridden a bike. Thankfully, it’s true – you don’t forget. Although our legs were already tired from bowling, we headed down to the St. Lawrence River for some sightseeing.
Montreal Jazz Festival – Rochester has a great Jazz Festival but Montreal’s was about 5 times the size of ours. They had three main stages all facing different directions with shows simultaneously. It was great energy, great music, and lots of walking on our already sore legs.
Mini-trampoline – Claude and Chantal are in great shape (if you haven’t figured that out by now) and one of their favorite activities is using their mini-trampoline. We tried it and it was fun and quickly tiring on our now jello-like legs.
We got home exhausted but refreshed. New friends, new activities, and with a new mini-trampoline in our living room!!!
