PEI trip (part 2)

It was great to spend the week with Nana and Grandpa Sam.  One of the drawbacks of living in Canada is we are much further from our family, so we had not seen my mom since Christmas.  It was great just to be together relaxing, sitting by the campfire after dinner, going on walks in the morning, and exploring the island.

 We celebrated my mom's birthday together.

out for ice cream (one of our favorite activities for the week)

PEI trip (part 1)

Since our time in Canada is limited, we are trying to see as much as possible of this beautiful country. This summer, we had an adventure driving twenty hours to reach Prince Edward Island.  PEI is an island in the eastern part of Canada sandwiched between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.  We decided to break up the trip and spend a few nights in Quebec City and a night in New Brunswick.  To add to the adventure, we brought along our pop-up camper and camped in it along the way.  My mom and her husband met us in PEI.  Included in this post are the pictures from our journey through Quebec and New Brunswick.

 Our first stop was in Quebec City, the country's oldest city.  It has a strong European flavor, and we enjoyed walking around the downtown area.

 Quebec City

 our cozy pop-up camper

 In New Brunswick, we camped at Fundy National Park and saw a bit of the extreme tidal patterns.  The Bay of Fundy has the world's largest tides.

 exploring on the rocks during low tide

Close to Fundy is Hopewell Rocks.  This area has the same extreme tides, and unique rock formations have been chiseled out as the tide brings the water back and forth daily.  The picture here is taken at high tide.

Wesley is five!!

Click below to see Wesley's birthday video.

My Animoto Video

Graham's Teacher

We love her!!  I think she may have been Graham's favorite part of first grade.

Canada Day

According to Wikipedia, Canada Day is the national day of Canada, a federal statutory holiday celebrating the anniversary of the July 1, 1867, enactment of the British North America Act, 1867, which united three colonies into a single country called Canada within the British Empire.

We celebrated the day with some friends from our church small group.  We met at a great park that had a shady creek and lots of space for the kids to play.  They enjoyed looking for critters in the creek, and some of the kids, including Graham, enjoyed swimming in it.  It was so nice to spend the day with friends.

the three cutest Americans in Canada (according to their mom)

Camping

There is just something special about camping.  Okay, maybe you are not a fan of bugs, bears, or sleeping on the ground.  For my family, we don't mind a few of the drawbacks because we really enjoy being together outdoors.  From waking up in the morning to a duck quacking outside of our tent, to eating all of our meals outside, to enjoying sitting around a campfire and watching the sun go down, we had a great time.  Our Canadian friends, Alison and Mark, invited us to join their family this past weekend in the area called 1000 Islands.  It's a beautiful area close to the St. Lawrence River about 4 hours east of Toronto.  We actually didn't "rough it" too much because we stayed at a KOA campground that had nice bathrooms and two heated pools.  Our friends have a camper so we ate most of our meals with them.  That's my kind of camping!  Part of what made it such a great weekend was how much we love these friends.  They have been such a blessing from the first day we moved to Canada, and all of our children get along so well.

I've heard a statistic about camping and families.  I don't remember all the details but it basically said that the one thing a group of healthy families had in common was that they all went camping.  I don't think there's anything magical about camping itself but it does get you away from a lot of distractions and is a fun thing to do together.

Sometimes, we just need to get away.  Away from routines and hurrying.  Away from TV and computers.   Away from responsibilities and stress.  Playing with the kids and roasting marshmallows were about the extent of Tim's duties this weekend.  The kids spent the weekend playing, swimming, and getting dirty.  I think that's the definition of a perfect weekend.  Hooray for camping and healthy families!  I think we just may be getting a pop-up camper and doing this more often.

Graham and Victoria on the boat

Lidiyanna with her "little mommies"

me and Wesley

Lidiyanna and my sweet friend, Alison

Wesley with his best buddy, Harrison

Lidiyanna can put on quite a show.

a castle and some houses we saw on our boat tour of the 1000 Island area

The St. Lawrence River borders the US and Canada.  This bridge is the shortest bridge between the US (the island pictured here) and Canada

We give camping 2 thumbs up!!

Wesley's school year

Wesley was in the junior kindergarten program this year at Captain R Wilson, the public school close to our house.  He went to school every Tuesday and Thursday and about one Friday a month.  A fun part was that his classroom was next door to his brother's class so they saw each other often throughout the day.  God really provided for Wesley and for me by giving him a wonderful and loving teacher.  She had a gentle and calm spirit and she seemed to be a perfect fit for Wesley.  She's having a baby soon, and I will really miss her next year.  I think Wesley will too, but we're trusting that God will provide another great teacher for him as he is in Senior Kindergarten.

He still has a few days left of school, but last week, the JK and SK classes put on a concert at the school for all of the parents.  His class sang, "The Ants Go Marching Two by Two" and they were so cutely decked out in ant antenna.  Afterward the concert, the parents followed the children back to the classsroom where we could see all of the work they had done during the year.

 Wesley with his classmates in his room after the concert

Friends and Father's Day

Since we arrived home from Japan two weeks ago, we have been quite busy.  My friend, Saho, from Nashville was in town with her family, and we had a wonderful evening together.  We talked a lot about Japan since she and her husband grew up there.  It was neat to hear her perspective after seeing the country first-hand.  Her children and ours played a lot together in Nashville, so it was very fun to be together again.

 Our dear friends from grad school days also came to visit.  Ten years ago, we used to hang out together as couples.  Now, we have six children between both families.  What a fun adventure to be together again!!

Last but not least, we celebrate Tim today!  I am so thankful for the wonderful daddy he is to our three children.  They are blessed to have him in their lives, and I am a better mom because I have him by my side.

I also think of my dad today and am thankful for his love, support, and presence in my life.  I am looking forward to his visit in July.

What a month it has been and it's only half way through!

Final Post on Japan

Our last part of the trip was a visit to Kyoto, the country's old capital city.  Kyoto is full of temples and beautiful gardens, so we spent most of our time touring some of those.  Below are pictures of the Golden Pavilion, a bamboo grove, and Ginkaku-Ji (translated the Silver Pavilion).  The temples were architecturally appealing yet held little value to me as they, in my eyes, were just empty buildings.  I really enjoyed the tranquil gardens surrounding the temples.  Japan is full of beautiful flowers and vegetation .  Everywhere you looked, you would see flowers-from the temple gardens to the countryside to the pots outside of a residential doorstep.

One thing Tim and I found quite charming was the groups of junior high students in their school uniforms touring the city.  You would see groups of four or five students everywhere without adults or teachers.  Many students during their middle school years take class field trips to the city.   Despite the adult supervision, they all seemed to be doing what they came there to do: learn more about their country's culture and history.   We had several groups timidly approach us with their open books in front of them.  Part of their assignment was to "interview" English speakers since they start learning English in junior high.  They would slowly read the questions in English to us and look at us in anticipation as they awaited our answers.  They were just so adorable.  Then, they would always want to take a picture with us.

Our five days in Japan went by very quickly, and I had mixed feelings when the week came to an end.  I was so ready to come home and see my children, yet it had been a really neat week.  I was very thankful for the opportunity.  I find it very interesting learning about other cultures, and it is always a good experience to find yourself as the minority and learn how that position feels.