Saturday, July 25, 2009

Our Vacation In Canada

Earlier this week we came back from almost a week in B.C., Canada, visiting family. We had such a good time! We were sad to leave, but life had to get back to normal. And I almost strangled my mom a few times, so perhaps it was time anyway, for us to leave. haha We left on July 16th, and came back home on the 21st.

Thursday the 16th, we just relaxed at my mom's house and visited with her, my step-dad, and my sister. My sister Maegen is a hair stylist, so she spent the evening giving us free hair cuts! It was really nice to just sit out on the deck, enjoy the weather, and sip a glass of wine. My mom made me a Black Forest Cake for my birthday, everyone and sang Happy Birthday.

Friday, we spent the day in Vancouver with my sister as our tour guide. What an EXHAUSTING day! We walked, and walked, and walked, and walked some more. Went on the Sky Train, rode the bus, walked and walked some more. We enjoyed Coal Harbor, Canada Place, walked the Sea wall, saw a Sea Plane take off, and smelled the salt water. We also visited my sister's Salon where I picked up some awesome hair products (at cost! yaay!), and then went for a relaxing lunch at White Spot, where we enjoyed some local Hefeweizen. After lunch, we ventured over to Stanley Park for awhile, and then it was time to go home to my Mom's. The evening was spent relaxing, because we were so pooped from our day. My sister wasn't able to stay, so we brought her back to her place.

Saturday was one of the best days. We planned to go to Fort Langley for the day, and then my husband and I went to see Harry Potter 6 (read the book instead, the movie was not so good). I woke up around 7:30 or so on Saturday morning, and my mom said she had to run a quick errand. I said ok, and went downstairs to get the kids' breakfast together. Mom came back about a half hour later and told us she had to go over some x-rays at the clinic. I thought nothing of it, but maybe 10 minutes later, the front door opened. I remember thinking to myself, "Oh, Walter is back" (my step dad).

Imagine my surprise when it isn't Walter, but my BROTHER, whom we haven't seen since Dec 2007!!! What a wonderful surprise!!! I had been bugging and bugging him to come home for a visit because we wanted to see him, but he kept on telling us he couldn't make it. Oh I was so happy to see him!! I just gave him the biggest hug ever. Mom had actually gone to the sky train station to pick him up, and was "lying" to us, haha. He flies back to Ontario today, so we got a good few days with him before he left.

We did land up spending the afternoon in Fort Langley, which was incredibly awesome. Fort Langley is the oldest Fort in B.C, and was started by the Hudson's Bay Company. It's very historical, and they had a lot of demonstrations. The oldest building in BC is inside the Fort, and is the only original building left from the Fort. One of the highlights of the day was learning about the "Voyageurs", and being taught the actual meaning and history to the song "Alouette". It was nice for me, because I was taught that in elementary school. The song was used as a cadence (helped them keep the beat) for the Voyageurs as they rowed, and portaged across Canada. We also learned all about the day when B.C. was born. What a treat that was. I highly recommend going to Fort Langley if you haven't already, and live in the area. We had a lot of fun there. We even got to see a working Blacksmith! Everything was very entertaining, and the kids had a blast with their uncle too.

This post is getting to be longer than I intended, so I will continue in a couple days. Here are a few pictures of Fort Langley for your enjoyment:


We were standing in the room depicted in the picture. This shows how B.C. was born, and became part of Canada.

And this is the oldest building in BC, and the only building left standing from Fort Langley all those years ago.


Just thought this was funny. We were in the building shown above, and they had a bunch of furs, goods, etc, depicting the Fur Trade of Canada. I know it's a Beaver, but I can't help but say "how much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood", every time I see it, haha.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi Joanna

Dad

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