Forest

Our next stop was Forest Ontario. We went to stay with Ruth Ann and Peter. Ruth Ann was my writing teacher in high school and we had reconnected a few years ago. They had popped over to NZ, as one does, and stayed with us while they toured the island! They invited us to stay with them when we next came to Canada, so we did. Easy as that! They opened their home to us...literally. We stayed in the house and they stayed in their trailer. We were fed and watered in true home cooking style! We were the dinner for many deer flies as the clearly live NZ blood! Now when people say. " oh those flies..." We can say..." Yes. Bloody awful things nearly are us alive!" A true Canadian war story! Lol! 

Cohen and Theo had hit pay dirt as they had a real bow and arrow to shoot! All the kids loved it...especially the two big kids, Peter and Filo! Cohen loved all of Peter's "big boy toys." His very own tractor and digger! Peter let the boys drive it and they loved it! 

Ruth Ann had a selection of books for Madeline and she had her own room with  a cozy reading chair do she was  in heaven! 

There were lots of tales of Ruth Ann and Peter's sailing trips and of life down East.

A few people thought it different or slightly weird that I would visit, let alone stay with a former teacher. We hadn't stated in touch and it had been well over 20 years since I spoke or saw Ruth Ann, but she was a teacher you remembered because you were memorable to her! She connected. She cared and she taught you to be who you want to be without lecturing...without lessons. She showed us how to look inward to get the answer and she taught Creative Writing...there were no "right" answers! It was the beginning of finding yourself and I was fortunate to have her in my last year of high school. A year that carries so much personal and emotional weight it can make or break a kid. There were no special words of wisdom...just a feeling and a knowledge that she cared about you. She was the type of teacher you needed and need in schools and she's the type of teacher I hope I am. Connected. Caring. Present. Believe me...it matters. 

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Thanks for an amazing visit and more stories and memories for Our Fale Five! 

Burlington,BBQ's and Blaney

After our adventures in Forest we have arrived safely in Burlington at Uncle Paul and Aunt Colette's place. 

We could hardly contain Cohen's excitement when he saw the pool! He wanted to dive right in. 

Aunt Joan greeted us and then Aunt Colette and Uncle John appeared!
Ryan and his fiancé and daughter came around to meet us too. Mark arrived home from work and Kyle came home so we got to see everyone! 

We spent the first day or two int he pool. The kids can literally be in the pool for hours without lunch etc...they LOVE the pool is clearly an understatement. Theo wants one now. Badly! 
Madeline is loving being spoiled by Aunt Colette! 

We are being treated like royalty and Aunt Colette is the Queen of treats for our three kids. Cohen is loving it, and her! My cousins, Ryan, Mark and Kyle are his personal helpers as well! Amazing how the youngest one can figure this all out in the first day of meeting everyone! Cohen calls the boys, "the teenagers" when he cannot remember their names.

The highlight of the trip is the annual Blaney BBQ that we are here for...a kind of family reunion! All the cousins came and my Aunts and Uncles as well. It was amazing seeing everyone and meeting all my cousins significant others! Facebook is a wonderful thing but seeing everyone in person is much better! Wonderful in fact! 

Jamie Oliver...AKA Uncle Paul prepared a feast! His sous chef...AKA Aunt Colette sorted him out in the kitchen and made sure he had everything he needed to make his feast!
Meatball Subs at Noon...followed by appetizers and snacks from they guests and Aunt Colette...followed by the main meal of BBQ steak, cauliflower gratin, zucchini bake, famous shrimp, chocolate cake and lemon cake. There was a tonne more food and lots of laughs! 

The BBQ went well into the night with only the "cool" kids left...and of course those of us who live or are staying here. haha!

When I left Canada these big cousins of mine were wee...in primary/high school, and now they are married, getting married or working full time in amazing jobs! 17 years changes a lot! 

Enjoy the video of our family fun. There are lots of shots of all the kids in the pool! 

Blaney BBQ 2014 from The Fales on Vimeo.

Sarnia...you were good to us!

Well our Sarnia trip has come to an end. My BFF Sarah and her hubby Wayne and the three girls, Emma, Chloe and Hannah were AMAZING hosts. We wanted for nothing...except perhaps, more time and for good byes to not be ugly and sad and necessary. Emma is a beautiful young woman with talent to boot! She is serious about school and life but still knows how to have fun. I will have to recreate Werewolf as it is now a Fale family favourite. Chloe is a lovely young lady who is sporty and feisty. She will not be one to be walked over later in life. Hannah is the baby of the family and a cutie! Her high pitched voice and love of meat is hilarious. She is the apple of her daddy's eye and his little buddy. She was so good to Cohen and loved hanging with him(sometimes). The girls made sure Madeline had a great time and she loved sleeping in the trailer. What a treat. Even Cohen had a sleepover in it! Theo loved his private room and his sleep ins! Cohen also enjoyed flirting with Emma and making Michael jealous! (and he was...LOL) We did everything we wanted to. The most important things were connections. It is wonderful how you can meet up again after 9 years and feel like just a week had passed. True friendship feels right and easy. Sandra, other BFF came down for the weekend and we took advantage of hanging out together leaving Wayne and Filo behind to complain how they never get to do anything, but secretly they love it. No time with nagging wives and Sandra around to ask them to do stuff! I loved catching up with all the Donkers who were around. Not much has changed there too except Emily went ahead and grew up into a beautiful and talented young woman. She is sporty and independent and just has this air of sophistication about her! I loved hearing stories of her being "naughty" and how much fun she is having. Herb and Anne are a wonderful couple to be around. Their love for each other is so evident and Herb still makes us laugh! Bubble Boy Forever. I cannot wait to meet up with Adam in Guelph and try and find Ray in Edmonton! Such a great family! We went out and saw the old house and had a quick catch up with the neighbours. Bright's Grove is a perfect place to grow up. Beaches. Sun. Safe community. Lucky us back then. Enjoy the slideshow. It's long but it's our week in photos. Good bye Sarnia. It was fun The Fales.
Sarnia from Andrea Fale on Vimeo.

Sarnia

WE MADE IT! We finally turned the last bend and are staying put for a week! We're here at my best friend's place in Sarnia. Sarah, Wayne and the three girls are hosting us for a week! The house is full of activity and food and fun! Sandra has come down for the weekend too so we have been having campfires and s'mores and Pie Irons(Canadian pies - bread, butter and pit filling all baked in an iron...it's kind of like a pop tart but better! We have just been doing a lot of hanging out and the kids are all having a great time hanging out. Sarah has rolled out the welcome mat and bought the kids "kiddie" cereal and even let them put skittles on their cereal as well! THEY THINK SHE"S AWESOME!!!!! There will be more Sarnia posts but this is the start of them! The song is Patio Lanterns by Kim Mitchell, a Sarnia native and I've been doing a lot of patio action so I thought it was fitting! Enjoy! SARNIA! on PhotoPeach

Just some Scenic Shots

We stopped in Kenora to stretch our legs! Kenora on PhotoPeach

Welcome to Ontario

Zooming past the sign was a good thing as a wee bit of emotion welled up in me. I was in Ontario. You drive and drive and drive and then that feeling of home hits you. It wasn't that I felt fondly of Thunder Bay or Wawa...it was that I was from Ontario. This is the Canada I know and knew from my childhood. I never travelled through these rocky terrains as a youngster either. We tried camping. We didn't succeed. We saw parts of Northern Ontario in cottage season but my adult eyes are very different and there are things I want to see. Crossing the border lulled me into a sense of comfort and I thought Sarnia was right around the corner. It wasn't...and there were lots of corners! Beautiful, rocky corners. People had stopped and made little Inukshuks along the way. I loved that having those little guides along the way, watching over us and making sure we were on the right path. The highway was a two lane highway and I longed for a large motorway where I could do the speed limit and not be THAT van doing 90 and seemingly holding up all the other holidayers who zoomed past every time a passing lane appeared. My holiday is well planned but not so well timed that I had to maniacally drive in order to enjoy it. That's just ironic to me! Thunder Bay was just a stop. A place to rest our heads and have dinner at 11:00 at night as I had forgotten about, yet another, time change! That's what holidays area ll about though...eating hot dogs and ice cream sandwiches at odd times. We headed to Wawa. The name alone intrigued me. Our hotel was called The Mystic Isle and it was beside The White Fang. I couldn't help but think I was driving into an episode of Twin Peaks...the massively darkened trees from the rain, fog...random fog hovering on the road..just enough to make the hair on your arms tingle...and the stone roads leading up to your lodge! We went to see the town of Wawa first. We did the obligatory photos of us standing under the largest Canada Goose and we loved it. There were theses colourful totems that are called Gitchigoomies. Gitchigoomee is the Ojibwa (Chippewa) word for Lake Superior. Canadian folk singer Gordon Lightfoot sings about Lake Superior in his song THE WRECK OF THE EDMUND FITZGERALD: "The Legend lives on from the Chippewa on down of the big lake they called Gitchigoomee. Wawa was a fun spot and I am glad we did it. How many kiwi kids are going to be able to say they've been to Wawa? Our slideshow features the song, The Edmund Fitzgerald, by Gordon Lightfoot. Wawa on PhotoPeach

Our fourth province - Manitoba

So today we started our journey in Saskatchewan and ended in Manitoba. I must say I thought there would be more pomp...more umphhh....more something when crossing into a new province. Other provinces have let us down in that department but Manitoba had a large, hey I'm a really cool province, sign!  The sign is what is cool about Manitoba! haha!

Today we left early as there has been flooding and parts of Manitoba are under a state of emergency due to the Assiniboine River rising. Scary stuff for travellers but farmers have lost all their crops and people have lost their homes. With that said, I am glad we made it. It wasn't really hairy at all. A few places where the water kissed the edges of the highway. Nothing too scary for me.


There were massive wind turbines along the highway today. I was telling the kids how they are there to generate power and Cohen pipes up..." Great. Let's see if we can get some wifi!"  Now that would be something. Wifi on the highway! I bet the van would be silent then!!!

We thought we would be stopping more along the way to look at historical landmarks, but as we have our goal in mind of getting to Sarnia, we just drive on. I don't think we are missing much this time around as we have to drive back. Then we can stop...as long as everyone wants too. 

We do look out the window and notice our country. We watch the massively long trains wind their way through the hills and try and guess what's in the Canadian Tire cars. Cohen counts the number of cars or sees how long he can count and says, That car was 65 seconds long." When we do stop for a snack or for a toilet stop, we look around and we notice. This country is beautiful and the people are vastly different province to province.  For example, today I was in a corner store, not on a corner, but that's a different story. Almost everyone had on Saskatchewan Rough riders gear and you could buy anything to do with their CFL league in this shop. Deep seeded pride in their team! 



Gramma and Bunka shouted us a dinner at Boston Pizza. It was yummy and the kids loved it. Cohen tried to order 3 of the children's dishes...as usual in his funny manner. Theo had spicy sausage pasta. He is missing his Bunka's cooking and Madeline has nachos and is missing Gramma's endless supply of sour cream. We are in a really nice hotel that has an awesome pool and spa so we are all clean and relaxed and now drinking complimentary hot chocolates and green tea! 

Today's slideshow is short and the music is Harvest Moon by Neil Young, a Manitoba native. You'll thank me that it's short. You either love him or hate him. Either way, he's iconic!





Manitoba on PhotoPeach

Roll on Saskatchewan

We had a goal to make it to Regina today and we did! The drive was long and straight and filled with lots of green hills and yellow canola fields. We had an 8 hour day! There were lots of trains winding along the hills as well. The roads were fairly empty. Lots of people warned us about the absolute boredom we would encounter while driving this route. While it wasn't as scenic as the mountains, it was an easier drive and somehow, seemed more Canadian. Untouched. Large abandoned barns. Bison in the fields. Men wearing cowboy hats while on a horse in a field...not walking down the street wearing an Ed Hardy shirt from Stampede! It was an authentic, Canadian experience. We enjoyed it. Which is good as there is the other half tomorrow! Enjoy the slideshow of photos of the world's largest teepee. The kids loved looking at the art and hunting for prairie dogs...who were kind of toying with the kids...popping up from random holes in the ground and then scurrying away! The song is Roll on Saskatchewan by Stompin Tom ! Calgary to Regina on PhotoPeach

Calgary

Well we left the Rockies behind us as we made our way to Calgary to meet up with Gillian, Steve, Liam, Lola and Riley the dog! We hadn't seen each other since our boys were 2 - they're now 11! Our families got along instantly. Gillian and Steve are both so easy going and fun. She had bought the kids lots of Canadian treat foods...and fruit...yummo cherries! We just hung out and chatted and laughed and made new memories. We had a tiki tour of Calgary but the thing I will remember most is what an incredible mother Gillian is. You don't think, while you're in high school, that your goofy, forever joking friend, would end up being this amazing mum and teacher and most of all, a long distance, very missed friend. Liam and Theo hit it off and Lola loved hanging out with Filo and climbing onto my knee for cuddles. She is very easy to cuddle with! Steve has a lot of facts about Canada and gave us heaps of things to look at and stop at along our way. He has passed on his sense of adventure to his son Liam and they love biking down mountains together! We had an amazing time and we could have stayed. We fit in and it felt right! We of course topped the trip off with the traditional ugly cry outside while our kids just stared at us! One day they'll know and they'll ugly cry too! Til we meet again! Love The Fales The song is Good Mother by Jann Arden. A Calgary girl and a favourite of both mine and Gills. Calgary with The Exleys on PhotoPeach

Day 2 - Banff

Heading to Banff. The kids are excited to see where Uncle Kieran lived all those years ago. I am excited to see what I can remember of the Banff I saw years ago. Enjoy the photos. xx Banff Alberta on PhotoPeach

The Fales Road Trip

Here we go!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! First leg - Comox - Nanaimo. Ferry to Vancouver. Vancouver - Kamloops! The Fales Road Trip on PhotoPeach

Banff Canada Day

Well we are Day three into our Fale Road Trip. Banff has been beautiful. Mountains, mountains and did I mention mountains. We did see wildlife. As we driving into Banff we saw a sign saying, "Bears on the highway. NO STOPPING." We all got excited. We wondered if we would see one. Well we did. Right where people were STOPPED! Some of the people who had stopped were cyclists. Now...they must have been great cyclists because they would need to out-cycle a bear. The bear was a blondy colour which I have now learned means it was a young grizzly. WOW! We went on a tiki tour the next day and saw a mummy coyote playing with her pups. At first it looked like someone had let their dogs run onto the golf course but when we asked the people who had stopped to take photos, they told us they were coyotes. AGAIN with the STOPPING. We celebrated Canada Day in Canada. The first one in 9 years. Awesome. And it was in Banff. A huge National Park surrounded by mountains and filled with wildlife that casually wander the streets. We sat an elk on the main street. So cool. The kids played games and ate festival food like candy floss, candy and beaver tails. A beaver tail is a deep fried, flat doughnut covered in cinnamon sugar or whatever you wanted. Cohen had an Oreo one and Madeline had the original - cinnamon and sugar. Theo opted for a smoothie under the guarantee he will get one on a future date! LOL! Well. Here is our slide show for Canada Day. The song is Blow at High Dough - a favourite of mine by The Tragically Hip - an epic Canadian band. Enjoy, eh! Canada Day 2014 - Banff, AB Canada on PhotoPeach