Our Return To British Columbia

After the festivities in Oregon, we headed up to BC for a few days.   In some ways it was odd to be back. Our old neighborhood has been developed SO MUCH; it's unbelievable how many condos have gone up in the last two years.  And traveling around in the Lower Mainland with a kid is so very different than traveling around with just two adults.  But it was also great to be back.  We got to see lots of friends, which was really wonderful.  We got to visit a few of our old haunts.  We got to eat delicious yogurt :)

We totally forgot to take a photo with the friends we stayed with!  However, even though there's no photo to document our time, it was really nice to spend time with you guys, Dan & Jemma, and to get to know your son more!  Helena sure had fun playing with him & his toys.

 A pizza dinner at Derby Reach was also enjoyed with friends.   

Their daughter was really nice to show Helena the ropes of a McDonald's Playland after dinner!

What we were most looking forward to in BC was getting back onto the hiking trails.  The air smelled so fresh and we were surrounded by deep thick greenery.  I LOVED IT.

Helena seemed to love it all too - looking at the big banana slugs up close...

 

running through rotting tree stumps...

and having a centipede crawl all over her arm were the highlights for her.

Again, being surrounded by forest was amazing.  It was wonderful to look up, way up, and see nothing but leaves and tree trunks and blue sky.

Oh BC, we still love you.

Camping in Algonquin

To celebrate our five years of marriage, our family left Toronto to go camping up north in Algonquin Provincial Park.


It was remarkable how similar the drive was to the drive from Minneapolis to Bemidji. City to suburbs to small towns & beautiful trees.


We saw our first moose a few minutes after entering the park!


Helena is such a helper. In the city, she's helped me hold an umbrella, beat eggs, and hold a lunch tray at IKEA. Here she is helping me carry chairs over to the campfire.


Not exactly sure how she managed it but Helena got bit by some kind of bug only moments after I put her down in the tent for tummy time. After I squished whatever the bug was, she started to bleed and bleed. It didn't affect her emotions but we were a bit worried for a few minutes.


That was her only encounter with bugs. Not sure how she did it since she wore no bug spray and her parents were covered with it, but the trip ended with parents itchy and bumpy all over! Here we are taking a walk through Spruce Bog; the lovely head adornments are there in an attempt to keep the deer flies and horse flies at bay.


As you may have seen before on this blog, typical J&C camping trips have been full of long hikes and little downtime. Not so now that H has joined us! Booth's Rock Trail was the only real hike we made it on, but it was gorgeous. Check out the view of the diaper changing station!


A wade in the lake was definitely in order after a hot afternoon of hiking.


It was a great first camping trip for our family.

Scarborough Bluffs

We went on a bit of a hiatus but now we're officially back into exploring Toronto and the surrounding area! First adventure with Helena - Scarborough Bluffs.


The erosion of the bluffs is extremely obvious but we stuck to safe places and enjoyed the view.


But after five minutes, the cold wind got to us so we left. But how does one rectify a trip across the city for just five minutes of fun?


Make a stop at the local donut shop. As you can tell, Helena thought it was all worthwhile.

The Canadian Rockies with my Bro

We have made it to Toronto and are settling in. Today is John’s first day of events at the university – orientation! More about Toronto will come as we have thoughts/experiences to share, but for now I’m just going to try to catch up with blogging about the last month.

My brother Rob joined us in Langley right before we started the move. While I worked, John & Rob hiked the Chief. Check out who they visited!

It was my great pleasure to take him & John to Kobe’s Steakhouse for their recent graduations.

The food was delicious and the chefs were entertaining.

After driving for a day, we spent time camping and hiking in Glacier National Park (in BC, not Montana!), Yoho National Park (in BC), and Banff National Park (in AB). They are all located close to each other – really, it’s an amazing area of the world. We traveled through or next to mountains from when we left Langley to until we left Banff. It was incredible; the mountains surrounded us for eleven hours and then all of a sudden, they were absolutely 100% gone.

Natural Bridge in Yoho - Can you see Rob and me?

At Emerald Lake

John was clearly on vacation!

The men took a swim in the glacial Ross Lake. It was cold! The bottom was

surprisingly muddy and hard to walk on without falling in.

Takakkaw Falls in Yoho

Hike at Lake Louise

Plain of Six Glaciers

Lake Agnes

The three of us

Yes, this tree is growing UPSIDE DOWN!

Rob in Johnstone Canyon

Banff National Park

Then it was another day of driving to Billings, Montana, where

we visited John’s cousin Kaylie and her son Sullivan.

One more day of driving and the trip was complete – at least that leg...