You can feel it in the air. Even if there is no one in your household finishing a school term right now, you still remember this as the ahhh moment. You start fading out of thinking/school mode and go into vegging out vacation brain.

Summer is the time when we all slow down – be it because of the effect of the heat on our bodies or the effect of it on our minds. We go into that relaxed island mentality and we barely cook, do as little housework as possible, read escapist books and sit on the balcony and watch the world go by.

However, exercising your brain during the summer can be part of the fun. Adults and kids (if you can get them to ignore the computer games) can reach for models, puzzles and mind challenging board games which can be played alone or with friends or the family.

Think of what a sense of achievement you or your child could have if they wile away some of those summer hours building and then flying a model airplane. Why not start a model railroad setup, with the whole family pitching in to build it and craft the scenery. Model railroading is a growing hobby and can be a lifetime one.

Udisco, 4668 Decarie Blvd. at Cote St. Luc Rd. Phone: 514-481-8107. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 9 a.m to 9 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. http://www.udisco.com We are fortunate to have Canada’s largest distributor of hobbies right on our doorstep, and especially lucky because it is open to the public at wholesale prices. You can get up to 70% off list prices on plastic and wood models, radio controls and planes, boats, cars and trains. All the accessories needed to play, such as precision tools, motors, fittings and balsa wood are there as well. Children’s crafts, paint-by-numbers and repairs to trains and radio control equipment can all be found here. Once school starts up again, remember this place when the kids need to do their school projects and dioramas.

Boutique Strategie, 3423 St-Denis at Sherbrooke St. Phone: 514-845-8352. Hours: Monday to Wednesday and Saturday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., Sunday noon to 5 p.m www.strategygames.ca Children’s crafts, paint-by-numbers The Chess and Math Association offers this gaming shop with sets from $2.95 to $1,500 (a carved wooden set that sits on an electronic board) along with ones using the Peanuts, Simpsons, Alice in Wonderland, Star Wars, etc. There’s a wall of chess books, CDs and mind challengers like Risk, Cranium, Axis & Allies, Scotland Yard, Settlers of Catan and puzzles. Profits from the sales to the non-profit association, which offers camps, chess clubs and lessons. www.chess-math.org.

Jigsaw Jungle, 2379 Guenette, Ville St-Laurent at Dobrin. Phone: 514-331-3389. Hours: Monday to Friday 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday 11:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. http://www.jigsawjungle.com From toddler to grandpa, jigsaw puzzles (priced $20-$400) fascinate. For those of you who enjoy challenges, try the double sided ones, ones that angle the puzzle differently than the photo, spherical ones, those shaped like a bird, the whole Sistine Chapel or the biggest – all 24,000 pieces. Find what you want at the web site (they are not on display in the warehouse), call and then come in and pick it up in this warehouse. You can buy a roll-up surface to work on or have puzzles glued or laminated on things like place mats or napkins. For summer fun there are blow up and deflatable kites.

When a woman becomes pregnant, no matter how excited she may be about the prospect, there is also an unhappiness about the loss of her figure. Though there are females who just love blossoming out, for the most part the loss of shapeliness is a negative part of pregnancy.

Especially in today’s ultra thin imaged society, fat is out. It took Demi Moore’s tummy on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991 and a pregnant Cindy Crawford in tight leather pants to start the mind change from hiding one’s pregnant stomach to flaunting it. This altered the entire fabrication of maternity clothing. No longer did women have to wear baggy tops over ugly stretch waistband pants.

Tight stretchy tops and dresses came parading in, naked tummies actually peeked out, and waistbands had to be designed to be visible, not hidden. Until recently, Montreal was a wasteland of designer or fashionable maternity clothes. Formes was the only game in town bringing in high end European fashions. Finally, Bloom Maternity came charging into the forefront with their funky clothes that you would even wear when you weren’t pregnant. Their famous convertible waistbands were written about in Pregnancy and Belly Magazine, and were worn by Britney Spears and our very own Jamie Orchard, Mitsou and Tracey McKee. when they were pregnant. And now we have Mama Mia on the West Island with the same youthful approach to pregnancy fashions. It’s about time.

Bloom Maternite, 4937B Sherbrooke St. West at Claremont. Phone: 514-481-5151. Hours: Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sunday 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. http://www.bloommaternity.ca Taking a whole new youthful approach to clothing (Olian, Juicy Couture, Seven, Meet Me in Miami, Michael Stars, Pure T, Maternal America) for pregnant women, this boutique’s T’s, tops, denim, stretchy, sexy things in sizes XS to XXL are so cute that you will wear them after the baby arrives too. Jeans have a convertible waistband so that they too can be worn afterwards. Pants are low-riders, specialty lingerie is yummy and there’s even a kit for a belly cast.

Formes, 2185 Crescent St. at Sherbrooke St. Phone: 514-843-6996. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Sunday 1 p.m. to5 p.m. from September to December) http://www.formes.com We were the first city in North America (since 1989) to benefit from the French couturier approach to pregnancy. The exclusive collection by Daniel Boudon’s design team is very European high styling in a mid to high price range. Women (sizes 36-44, 4-12) can look quite fashionable ’til baby is born. If you need it, there’s stunning evening wear and pretty bathing suits along with the business suits, work wear and casual wear.

Mama Mia, 262 Bord du lac at Cartier Ave., Pointe Claire Village. Phone: 514-695-8989. Hours: Tuesday to Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. (Thursday, Friday or Sunday evenings by appointment). If you want them, Silver Jeans are here with maternity waistbands and are priced under $99. Many of the lines (Nougat, Silver, Ca Va Soi, Rite, Olian, Japanese Weekend, Duet, Tummi) can be worn before, during and after being pregnant, and appear in sizes XS to XL. You can pick up a maternity bathing suit by Prego for the summer as well as nursing bras, baby gifts and diaper bags by Skip Hop, Lune and Jujube.

With vacation time approaching, it is time to check your luggage to see if it can survive another trip, or if it meets the new airline standards. Luggage allowances have been downsized in both sizes of carry-ons (safety and line-up issues), and then the weight limit for stored baggage has been reduced due to the cost of fuel and also employee injuries when hoisting overweight bags. Whereas a thirty-two kilo limit (for checked) per suitcase was an industry standard in the past, it is now only twenty-three kilos, with some charter airlines only allowing twenty kilos (and only one piece of luggage!).

To meet the new norms, newer luggage aims to be lighter, and the old standard 29″ bag has morphed into the new standard 25″ or 26″ bag. One of the most important things to look for when you buy luggage, if you hope to keep it for many years, is a recognizable brand whose company will stand behind its guaranteed product even through the ill-treatment a bag has to live through. There should be a hang tag announcing the company’s web site and an international phone number for customer service. With cheap unknown brands, once it breaks you are stuck with paying for the repair or buying new luggage.

– What kind of fabric should you be looking for when buying new luggage? Nylon is stronger than polyester, and the higher the denier the better. Nylon should be at least 800 denier, though around 1600 denier ballistic nylon is really good, and polyester should be 1200 denier and up. Unknown brands could boast good fabric, but costs were cut with poor quality sewing or zippers; flaws usually show up around the seams. Usually also, the bigger the zipper the better.

When I was in China in the Fall, the standard bags were super-light hard-cased luggage in pale metallic colors, so get ready to see them.. However be warned that plastic, if not flexible, breaks and cannot be repaired. (Price was $18 in Walmart for 26″ one!). Another new trend is toward duffle bags on wheels. There is less framing, so it’s lighter.

– Rollarblade wheels are still the best kind for luggage (think about how much abuse they get on the bladers’ feet!). Suitcases should roll without making much of a racket. High noise factor usually means too much plastic and not enough rubber. The newest wheels are called “spinners”, and they are fun because the wheels rotate 360 degrees like a baby stroller, so you can pull them in any direction.

– The handle should slide easily up and down. If it jiggles a little, that’s okay, there is very little breakage these days in handles.

Some last thoughts: Pack heavier items down at the bottom of a suitcase, near the wheels, so the case is more stable. Do not put your home address on your luggage tag. Put a company or a relative’s address, so if it gets lost there’s a place to ship it to. Most importantly, you don’t want to announce to anyone that no one is home at your address.

J.P. Grimard, 177 Beaubien St. East at Casgrain Ave. Phone: 514-277-4171. Hours: Monday to Wednesday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Thursday and Friday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. This is one of the places where the airlines send their claims, so you can be sure your luggage repairs will be done properly here. Better quality luggage is sold here: Delsey, Samsonite, Tumi, Atlantic, Skyway, Briggs & Riley, Swiss Army and Pelican. Even this 4th generation which took over this 70-year old family business knows how to custom make luggage out of aluminum, ABS fiber and vulcanized fiber. Other location (shorter hours): 2305 Guy (514-932-6979). http://www.jpgrimard.com

Carman Luggage, 6887 St. Laurent Blvd. at Belanger St. Phone: 514-274-1633. Hours: Tuesday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. Since 1945 there have been 3 reasons to shop here. Firstly, name brand luggage (Samsonite, Delsey, Travel Pro, Hedgren, Andigmo, Carlton, High Sierra) is discounted. Secondly, luggage can be repaired here. Thirdly, this is the place to go to have luggage and trunks made to order for computers, cameras, salesmen’s samples, etc., and you can even hire someone to give packing lessons or pack for you.

Willy’s Handbag Repair, 5456A Westminster Ave., Suite 206, at Cote St-Luc Rd., Montreal Ouest. Phone: 514-481-8446. Hours: Tuesday and Wednesday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday and Friday 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. If your luggage is still okay but just needs a bit of repair, walk up to the second floor here to find a luggage repair depot that has been open for over forty-four years and can handle airplane claims. They know how to replace zippers, locks and wheels, but also can handle trickier repairs to fabric and vinyl luggage. Techniques they have learned over their forty-four years allows them to fix handbags, tote bags, straps on strollers, jeep windows and even open combination locks.