It was so nice to climb out of the truck and meet four kids who were super friendly! They came and introduced themselves and showed us their very adorable puppies.? And because they had a pool we eventually ended up in it! We spent a full day in the pool – most of it without sunscreen…? So Cassia and Lanaya sported some rather painful looking sunburns for a week or so… One issue I struggle with is jealousy over how tanned Lanaya gets! We spend the same amount of time in the sun and she turns out about 20 shades darker than I could ever hope of achieving in five months of sun!!!?

This puppy’s name is Ivory. She is a two month old golden retriever. The Kember’s also had another four month old golden retriever named Cooper, and an 11 year old dog named Shadow. 

Some more cute puppy pictures!!!!!!!!!!

When you actually capture that cute puppy tongue!❤️❤️❤️

One of the days during our stay at Brian and Jeanette’s we went to Ottawa. We went up the Peace Tower, and sat in a parliament session in the House of Commons! It was pretty cool – but incredibly boring!!!!!!!? Maybe part of the problem was I didn’t have a clue what one of the ladies was talking about…? But one funny part was security had to take away Mom and Dad’s phones, and Mom’s purse, and the camera, because people have been known to throw things from the balcony if they don’t like what the MP’s are talking about. It’s kind of a funny/sad issue…??

Next we toured the Mint! Did you guys know that only the collectible coins and medals are made in Ottawa, and that all of our pocket change is made in Winnipeg, MB?!?!?!?!?!?

We went to the Canadian War Museum – which was SUPER cool!!! They had two special exhibits; one on old army vehicles, and another on Vimy Ridge. It was such a cool museum but we only had two hours to do it before it closed – so things were kind of rushed…? I would definitely save at least a whole afternoon for the museum – if you ever go…?

This picture was taken in among the old army vehicles and I just think Lanaya captured perfectly what it must’ve been like to be riding an old motorcycle in the war days…??

On our last day with the Kember’s we picked the kids up from school and drove into Montreal to go to an Aerial Adventure Course and then out for poutine!!!!

It was SOOOOOOOOOOO much fun!!!! Even though I was older than the rest of the kids they were so much fun to do all of the courses with!!! Some of them were scared of heights, they all had never done this kind of thing before, and then they ended up doing the double black diamond course with us. My favourite obstacle on the double black diamond was a skateboard that rode on two wires back and forth between the two trees. I jumped on it, struck a “surfers pose!”?‍♀️ (The one where you kinda squat, and stick out your arms in a half dab…?) Anyway I felt like I was on top of the world…!!!? In a way I was pretty close…??

Either we were starving, it was a ways after 7:00pm when we sat down to eat poutine, or else it was REALLY good food!!!!! I’m not really sure – but either way it was delicious! Thank you SO much Kember’s for the great time; it was relaxing, while somewhat busy at the same time! 

Brian and Jeanette do an awesome gospel work in Cornwall. We thoroughly enjoyed being with them and it was hard to say good bye!

CN tower (check out the shadow in the smog!!!) #onlyinthecity

We stayed overnight at the the Steers in Toronto, and then went down to the CN Tower! It was pretty cool to look down and see all these cute little cars, and watch a plane land at a nearby airport – I don’t think I’ve ever watched a plane land from above before! Cassia and Mom looked a bit unsure as they stepped out onto the glass floor. But looking down over 1000ft is pretty scary!!!

We all made it onto the glass!

Mom got down on the ground to get the “perfect picture!”

No, my sisters are not pretending that they are about to hit me on the head with clubs – they’re pretending to hold a baseball bat…? But when you have a sister who’s a lefty and one who is a “righty” pictures can get pretty scary…?

We spent the weekend at the Robertson’s in Chatham, ON. They had a lot of people over, so we met a lot of great people – the only problem – we didn’t take any pictures.? Like getting a visit with Rachel (who used to live with us in Vancouver) and her beautiful family. It was so weird to think that her kids are now the age that we were when she lived with us! But we did take the camera when we went to visit the Bergsma’s, and they had a pool!!!?

Thank you Jon and Julie for the great Father’s Day lunch, and for all the barbeques, and hosting so many people!!! It was a lot of fun! And thanks Amy and Tyler (you know who you are?) for the AMAZING perogies on Sunday night!!!! I LOVE the climbing wall in your basement!?

Our next stop was Niagara Falls! They were bigger than I thought, and the river was flowing so incredibly fast!!! You could sense the power just looking at the river, and then you saw the falls, and you were just, like, “WOW!”

For some strange reason any loose hairs stuck straight up in the air! It must of been because of all of the energy or something…?‍♀️

Canada in a picture. Okay… Maybe not… But it is pretty iconic!

We came at night for the light show and fireworks – there is something so amazing about watching fireworks with the falls crashing behind you in a crowd of people that is so amazing!!!

We went on the Hornblower – the Canadian ‘Maid of the Mist’. Cassia was being “smart” but it is kind of hard to see the beauty with a thin red plastic covering your face…?

You could seriously feel the power as you drove into the mist! I’m pretty sure all Lanaya and I did was stand at the front and laugh with our mouths open trying to capture the mist! All the while we were looking up feeling pretty puny, while having the time of our lives!!! Sort of doesn’t make too much sense – but beautiful doesn’t have to.

We also did the Behind the Falls experience – cool and scary. Super cool knowing you’re standing looking at the falls from behind but scary because the wind would sometimes randomly ‘whoosh’ in and bring a sheet of water with it – scaring everyone three feet back from the railing…?

Niagara Falls.

My face at least fifty percent of the time…? This is Mom but we also have a couple other photos of Cassia, Lanaya, and I all doing the same thing!

We now have a large collection of ginormous ponchos…?

We are now back in the USA – it feels good to be back.