Wednesday - May 21st - Julie's grad from Med School, and our trip to Ottawa

Our weekend in Ottawa was great. Tiring, but great. We got to spend time with friends and family, and to witness Julie's graduation from medical school.

We left our apartment Tuesday night at 10h30 am local time (3h30 pm Tuesday afternoon EDT) to get to Ottawa 24 hours later, landing at 3h15 pm. All flight were on time, and we had a 3½ hour layover in Frankfurt and a little more than one hour in Toronto. Needless to say, we both were tired, but Jacqui more than me. Julie picked us up at the airport and drove us to our hotel. After a quick shower, we went for an early dinner (ribs, beans and beer!!) then called it a day. Jacqui was sleeping early and I watched 2 of the 3 periods of game 7 between the Bruins and the Habs (kinda slept through the second period!)

On Thursay, Julie and Jacqui did the "girls thing" - massage, manicure and pedicure while I went for lunch with Genevieve, a former colleague with who I used to carpool; she was in Ottawa for the provincial math conference that same weekend. When I walked her back to the University, where the conference was held, I had a chance to meet up with another 8 of my former colleagues, which were all attending the same conference. We didn't have much time together, but it was still very nice to see all of them. We had a BBQ at Julie's place for dinner, with her roommate Fatima and her family that came from Vancouver, and Julie's boyfriend Dave. We both had a good night of sleep after this very nice day.

Friday was grad day. Jacqui and I went for lunch at Mama Grazzi's, in the Byward Market (one of our favourite restaurants) and then went to the Conference Center for Julie's grad. We saw her a bit before they had to go in to get ready; that was the last time we saw her as a student. Kinda weird when you think about it. The graduation itself was very nice: the speeches were interesting and it moved at a pretty good pace. I don't have any words to describe the feeling that we got when she was waiting her turn to receive her doctorate and then was called on stage by the words "Docteur Julie Emond". I still get emotional just thinking about it. It was the culmination of a lot of hard work, and she deserves everything that she has. There was a short reception after the ceremony, where we got to meet a few of her friends, a bunch of new doctors. By seeing those young people in that room on Friday, I think we're in good shape for our future health care! We then headed out for dinner at the Keg, where Nic and Vin were waiting for us. They had gotten to Ottawa after 3pm; it was very nice to have the whole family together again, even if it's just for a few hours. We went back to Julie's place after the meal and started playing a board game, but Jacqui and I were fading away quite fast! The game didn't last long.

We met Saturday for lunch in the Byward Market. We all had a good lunch then went back to Julie's to start that board game again. It was much better than the previous night. We also had game 1 of the Habs and Rangers on TV; now that game didn't last long! Vince and Nic went back to Guelph and Waterloo after the game; it was Vincent's first weekend off in a while and he wanted to "socialize" with his friends! Julie had her graduation celebration in the evening, so she had organized a pre-drink party at her place. Parents were invited, so we got to met some parents and a few more doctors. It was quite interesting and also very nice to see all those beautiful people all dressed up. After dropping off Julie and Dave at the reception hall (the War Museum), Jacqui and I went for dinner at Stella's, in the market. Another good meal!

We met Julie, her boyfriend Dave, her roommate Fatima and her fiancé for lunch and then headed back to the airport at about 2h30 pm. It was kinda hard to leave but we know that we are coming back in a month (June 20th). So we took our 5 pm flight to Frankfurt, where we had a 7 hours layover and then flew to Kuwait. We were back at the apartment shortly after 9 pm, totally exhausted, but so glad we did this trip. We would not have missed this for the world.

Our invitation to the ceremony

Before graduation

She's up next! Nervous? The answer would have been Yes!

Congratulations!! She did it!!

Julie and Dave

A doc between two proud parents

A toast, to our new favourite doctor!

Nic, with his playoff beard, Jul and Vin, with a fairly fresh haircut!

Julie and Dave, before going out to celebrate