Trip to Canada

Last week, we had our trip to Canada. (May 18-26). Saturday A had a fewer, so we were not sure if we could leave. Sunday, she still had a fewer but she was playing and had a lot of energy, so we decided to follow the planning.

Oh, yes the planning, I should tell more about that first: I was trying to plan the route, knowing that P would want to drive each day till we drop. I thought it would be nice to see a little bit of the surroundings. I couldn't get much of interest from P, as I expected. My parents-in-law were too tired to stay awake and look to the map with me - jet lag. I suggested that we can try to get to Canada as soon as possible but that was not necessary, we should enjoy the trip. I ended up staying up till 2 am on Saturday and make a trip plan for 4 days: 2 days of 5 hour drive 2 days of 2,5 hours drive: 1 short day to stay somewhere and look around, be together and relax, and one short last day.

Packing was something to mention, too. 4 grown-ups and 2 kids in one car... Well we have a Volvo with seven seats but the 2 extra seats are small, there is not much space for the feet, and seats are -if you use them - where the trunk is. So we had 7 seats and not too much space for the suitcases. My father-in-law didn't believe first that we would manage. As you understand, we did manage: It was a masterpiece of packing, just enough for the trip and nothing more. I am proud of it. (also applause for my mother-in-law). Last and not least, Volvo, here free commercial for you - great car!

As A looked OK, we left Sunday. We arrived to a hotel in Chippewa Falls, a small place in Wisconsin. We stayed at the Country Inn&Suites, a chain hotel I found on Internet. It was nice. The next day, we left the hotel around 11 am and took a look at the 'down town'. It is a very small town, with one street with some shops and the biggest attraction seems to be a beer brewer, don't ask me the name. We left the town about 12 am. The next destination was Duluth, a town at the lake Superior in Minnesota. I was there in 1990 and I remember that it was very cold, the lake was frozen, there was a volleyball tournament and people were playing in their shorts - how can I forget this.

Of course I didn't remember any place I saw before, but that doesn't matter. Duluth is a nice place to see. We saw a bridge that goes up and down to let the boats. It doesn't open as the Dutch bridges, but it goes totally up and down. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Lift_Bridge). After crossing the bridge, we went to the beach. The kids played nicely. We also went to a very nice playground by the aquarium. It was so nice, we all played there.

My planning was to find a nice place by the water, go to a restaurant downtown and stay at Duluth. Of course that didn't happen - disappointing for me - because we hadn't drive enough for the day. My whole planning went in the garbage. We ended up driving in 3 days - which I had suggested before. The last part of the trip P kept on telling me that we would stop as soon as we find a nice place while I thought '1,5 hours from Winnipeg, we are not going to stop to spend the night in a hotel!'.

Tuesday evening we arrived to Winnipeg, to John and Bev's. They are super nice and know how to make you feel home. John is P's cousin who is already a grandpa for, I don't know, 7 times? There are more on the way, too.

We had very nice days in Canada. We visited aunt Tine. She is my mother-in-law's sister who lives in Canada since 1950's. F gave her a big hug although she doesn't know her, probably because she spoke Dutch and she is so nice. We went swimming with the kids. We had a dinner at Marc and Susan with all P's cousins, aunt Tine's children (there are 9 of them). We visited Jeff and Ronalee, the son and daughter in law of John and Bev.

Friday evening was the big event: the wedding of Melissa, the daughter of another cousin, Gerald and her wife Edna. F was waiting for the wedding for days already. She was so excited about it, I decided that we should buy a special dress for her. She choose a white dress with a lot of 'volume', very cute. She looked like brides maid.

At the church she was watching Melissa breathless. She walked after her the whole evening at the party. She asked me if they were going to a castle after the wedding: Melissa was the princess. At a certain moment, I saw her kneeling down, it was so funny: Melissa was talking to someone and F was behind her touching her wedding dress, caressing it! It was a very nice wedding, lots of fun, relaxed and good organised.

F was also crazy about Simone, the 11 year old daughter of Ralph and Caroline. I think she spent most of her time with her. They couldn't communicate with words but they understood each other. Simone has a lot of patience I have to say, I mean she is older than F, she could get bored with a little girl. She was our 'babysitter'. Good job girl!

Saturday we first went to Rick and Annie's. Ralph and Caroline were staying there too. Of course F was happy to see her friend Simone again. While we were visiting people or doing stuff ourselves, P's parents were mostly visiting aunt Tine which was very nice for all of them. That evening, Gerald had a BBQ. The whole family was there again and we had a chance to talk to a lot of people. F said that the princess didn't have her princess clothes but she still looked nice. The weather was great till almost the end. It was big pleasure to be there and be a part of the wedding and everything.

We ended the trip with a nice evening with John and Bev on Saturday. Sunday morning we left for USA. After the first trip I said to P 'do what you want, don't ask me which way to drive or what to do'. We took the road with scenery. We went all the way to Thunderbay and went around the Lake of the Woods. Nice scenery but we just passed through, didn't really see much of it. We stopped for the night at Superior, just after Duluth, very nice place by the water.It was quite late though and cold, so we didn't really enjoy the surroundings. Instead we went all swimming in the hotel. There it happened: both girls, always so scared of swimming alone, hanging to us in the water, decided that they can swim alone - of course with swim bands -. It was delightful, it was so much fun, it was beautiful. And again A, proved to like warmth, she went between the whirlpool, which is quite warmer and the normal pool which felt cold after a while. We couldn't get in the whirlpool as fast as she did.

The next day, Monday, we drove home and we were here around 5:30 pm, faster than we expected.