Canada - there's no place like home!

Months of anticipation and "facetime" with Brooke's Canadian family culminated on the day we finally landed. After 12+ hours of travel time we arrived in London Ontario to see Brooke's proud grandparents for the first time.

After a good night's rest it was time to visit the rest of Brooke's family:

Her cousin Carys.

Her other cousin Alex drove down for a visit. Below are Grandma, Grandpa and all the grandchildren together for the first time!

Auntie Susan.

and Uncle Mark.......with her new Minnie.

Once we were settled in the Great White North, Brooke made herself at home in Grandma and Grandpas' chairs. We are now looking for some high backed chairs for Brooke to enjoy back in California as she really enjoyed them.

Quality time with Grandpa.

While in Canada during the winter we had to experience some "Canadian" activities.

Tim Hortons:

My brother-in-law took me to a London Knights hockey game - here is a highlight of one of the intermission shows.

LONDON KNIGHTS SLINGSHOT

Canadian bacon as well as my favourite "Ah Caramel" dessert in the background:

We also had the opportunity to stay in Grand Bend to enjoy some other winter activities.

Snowshoeing action:

On Lake Huron (frozen of course):

And some more quality moments while at the cottage:

It wouldn't be a complete trip without some snowman building:

Our trip culminated with a visit to my Aunt and Uncle (including cousins) in Toronto which nearly completed my side of the family:

Our anxieties were quelled when we realized that Brooke continues to be an excellent traveler. She was a pro on all her flights and vehicle travel which impressed not only us but all the passengers nearby.

 

It's always nice to return to my roots and I'm happy that Brooke was able to enjoy her Canadian visit and family. We are already missing everyone across the border and looking forward to our next visit - there truly is no place like home.



The road to Canada....

With the birth of our wonderful daughter, it has been our goal to meet her Canadian family. In order to accomplish this, we needed to acquire Brooke's birth certificate and subsequently, her passport. Getting a passport for a newborn is almost a comical experience as the proper photo requirements are quite difficult for a newborn. Below is Brooke's official passport photo:

To get this picture we had to make sure Brooke was awake and we both had to hold her ensuring that none of our body parts were showing. No easy task but I believe we were pretty successful. Here is the final product that arrived just before our trip.

Although Brooke has been an amazingly happy baby, we were worried about the 12 hour travel time to visit her Canadian relatives as she is quite particular in the way she likes to be held. Our worries were unwarranted as Brooke was lulled to sleep with the plane's noise and motion.

After a tiring day of travel, we now were proud parents of an international baby....Canada here we come!!!



San Diego and new friends

The past month has been a whirlwind of adventure, learning and excitement. Continuing our goal of maximizing our time off we decided to expand our adventures with more camping. With that in mind, we visited the Salton sea, San Diego, and Costa Mesa.

Brooke and Mom enjoying the last moments in the camper while at the Salton Sea, then it was off to the San Diego Zoo!

Seeing Panda and Polar bears were some of the highlights of the many animals we saw during our visit.

Although Brooke was sleeping during the majority of our Zoo visit, she allowed us to thoroughly enjoy this famous landmark. After our visit, it was time to make our way home which included a great stop to see some of Brooke's relatives. Stopping in Costa Mesa, we were able to meet Brooke's Great Aunt and Uncle as well as her second cousins and their wonderful children. We were also very lucky to enjoy fantastic (and authentic) meal of enchiladas, guacamole and lasagna which was dee-lish!

Included with all the new people Brooke has had the privilege to meet was our family friend Larry who graciously stopped by our home for a visit.

Whether it was Larry's baritone voice or simply his kind nature, Brooke was simply enraptured while listening to their conversations.
Brooke's uncle and future aunt also visited while on their way to Hawaii for their vacation....she was very happy to see them both:

We have been very fortunate to have such a loving family willing to travel many miles to see both us and Brooke. Till next time, we look forward to more adventures as a family.....