November 21-27, 2022

We thought since we entered the country on our Canadian birth certificates, we may as well get Canadian passports while living here.  We needed to visit the Canada Passport office Tuesday to complete a declaration of residency form.  We passed by some interesting sculptures on our walk from the metro to the office.

The sculptures are located outside the Doubletree Inn, with no plaques to explain so I can't tell you anything about them.  The naked gentleman atop the chair in the third photo was probably sorry he left home without his clothes, as it was a very cold and windy day.

The remainder of the week was all focused on John's surprise birthday party and the events leading up to it.  There's so much to tell - I'll just try to recap each day.

Thursday, Thanksgiving Day:  Daughter Kim and her family were scheduled to arrive unannounced at our apartment for lunch.  She texted mid morning to say the kids were all sick and didn't think they should come to the apartment.  So the plan changed and they went directly to their Airbnb.  John doesn't know they are in Montréal.  Later in the afternoon, we picked daughter Sherri up from the airport and went directly to the mission office for Thanksgiving dinner with the other senior couples.  I had also ordered dinner (to take away) for Kim's family of seven.  I didn't know what to do with all that food!  We decided to take it to the Airbnb and just drop it off for Kim's family to eat when they felt up to it.  John asked twice why I was packing all the food and what I intended to do with it.  I looked at Sheri and decided we would just have to tell him about Kim being here.  We called her on Facetime so John could see her.  They chatted for a minute and John asked where she was.  She wasn't sure what to say until I said to go ahead and tell him.  When she said she was in Montréal, John started to cry.  We arrived at the Airbnb and decided to go in.

Jon, Ella, Raena, Kim, Ivy, John, Sadie, Benson, me

Friday: We had an interview with President and Sister Harkness, then went to the food bank for our afternoon of service.  Sherri went with us and was assigned a window to distribute food.

Fun on the metro

After the food bank we went back to the Airbnb to meet Kim  for dinner.  When we arrived, daughter Lisa and her husband were there to surprise John.  He cried again.

Me, Garrett, Lisa, John

Kim, Lisa, John, Sherri

We decided to eat turkey dinner at the Airbnb, then the adults (plus Raena) went to Rockaberry Pie for dessert.

Saturday: We met for brunch at our favorite place by the chapel.  I tried a western omelet, which was good, but think I'll go back my regular eggs benedict.  Kim and family departed for Florida.  We took a tour of Lasalle so Sherri and Lisa could see where they lived 50 years ago.  We tried to find the elementary school but not sure it was the right one.  We drove to the Lachine Canal Park to get a closer look at the Saint Lawrence River.

John and Garrett

At this point, we still hadn't figured out how to get John back to the church at 4:00 pm.  We decided that Lisa and Garrett would go find their hotel, check in and rest for awhile, then meet again at 4:00 for an early dinner.  The meeting point was the chapel parking lot.  We returned to our apartment - John and Sherri both had naps.

When we arrived at the chapel, several of the senior couples were also arriving.  John wondered why all the missionaries were there.  He asked what was going on??  He was so surprised when we walked in and saw everyone there.  He cried some more.

Love the glasses

Some of the seniors that came to support us

Lawanda (RS president) with John

Emil and John, good friends for 50 years

The fancy cupcakes were made and decorated by Chiara, who was baptized a few months ago.  She owns Simple et Sucré (Simple and Sweet) and bakes amazing cakes, cookies and cupcakes.  Half were lemon flavor, the other half carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Sister Lund made the birthday cake

The bishop's little girls and his mom (their grandma) made this cookie cake

Kim gave John this t-shirt.  It says "Vintage 1942. 80 years of being awesome."  He loves it.

Today at church the Morales family gave John this tie.  It has pictures of our 10 great grandchildren on it.  It's a little flashy for church, but he put it on and wore it proudly.  It's really sweet!

It was quite an accomplishment to plan all of this and to keep it a secret.  But we did it!  I'm fairly confident he didn't have a clue about any of it.  He swears he didn't and his reactions verify that.  It was fun pulling it together, with help from his daughters and other senior missionaries and the bishop.  Not everyone is fortunate to live to be 80 and have good health.  We are grateful every day for good health and for all our other blessings.