Eastern Excursion, Part 1: Traveling 1000 Kilometres with Three Children

I just have to say it: this post is being written TWO DAYS after my last post. I am on a roll, ladies and gentlemen!

Of course, it's not so much that I'm more diligent than usual - it's just that two days of travel with one beautiful woman (my wife, to be clear) and three children has lent me more than the usual quantity of blogable material. And really, who doesn't want to read about a family's ten (plus) hours in a van?

Actually, our story starts before our departure, with these photos that Jesse randomly took. I will attempt to give them artistic names.

Jesse Photo #1: Young Child at Sunrise

 Jesse Photo #2: The Mother Taunts Her Child

Jesse Photo #3: Parquet Meets Toes

Alright! Here we go. Our first genuine trip photo features little Robyn munching on some crackers as we prepared to unload for our first pit stop, somewhere just a little past Montreal.

What exactly is happening in this pic? Well, Janna has few things that she really doesn't like. One of these is bugs; the other is wind. Unfortunately, this happened to be a very windy, buggy day, and I was attempting to be a windshield while flicking away the carnivorous caterpillars that were relentlessly stalking her.

Feeling triumphant after successfully surviving our first pit stop snack.

Chrissy and Robyn. Kudo to Chrissy: She packed us an awesome snack. Robyn was a little surprised by the force of the wind.

I love this shot. BEAUTIFUL!

This is what masculinity would look like if it were a vehicle.

Before we left, we sent the kids out to run and chase each other in a nearby field. We felt that it was important that they became as tired as possible before getting back in the van. Since this wasn't really possible with Robyn, we just pretended to fly her around in the air. This didn't really decrease her energy, but it was really funny! :)

Enjoying the beautiful day.

Not really stoked about the beautiful day.

Robyn also enjoyed her brief moments on the ground, during which she would desperately attempt to eat as much grass as possible. We prevented this, most of the time.

Reflecting on her current life situation over a juice box. 

The photos may not really capture the dynamics of the situation. This video does the job a little better. Here is Robyn tackling Jesse, twice.

Our time in the field was finished. Time to get back to the van. Notice the incredibly large sign in the background. I couldn't stop looking at it, so eventually, I decided just to avoid eye contact.

Back on the road, we encountered this random rain cloud, and afterward, a beautiful rainbow. Chrissy and I were discussing how seldom we have actually been able to see an entire rainbow (ie. both ends of it at the same time). We felt pretty thankful for this.

Emerging from the rain cloud.

Finally we arrived at our hotel in Rivière-du-Loup. The kids were so excited to arrive, and they quickly made themselves comfortable!

 What can be said about sleeping in a hotel with three kids? Chrissy shared a bed with Jesse, I shared a bed with Janna, and Robyn took the port-a-crib. All three kids genuinely tried to sleep, to their credit. However, Janna was a little too preoccupied. She wanted to talk to me about her day, about the various things she saw around the room, etc. etc. Bottom line is: not much sleep for anyone.

A word should also be said about Chrissy's valiant efforts to secure a hotel room with a pool only to have none of the children want to give it a shot the next morning (and to be honest, my own attitude wasn't much better after three some hours of sleep). However, after Chris and Robyn had left for a dip, Jesse, Janna and I regrouped and had an attitude check. We joined Momma and Robyn a few minutes later and everyone quite enjoyed themselves! Jesse is pretty in love with the hot tub, now.

Day 2: On the road! Here are the kids half an hour into the trip.

A little groggy. Still in pretty good spirits.

We stopped in Hartland, where Chrissy grew up. Note the Irving sign, a company with which most non-Maritime people are unfamiliar, but which is one of the most powerful corporations in the Maritime provinces. Note also that gas cost nearly ten cents less here than in Quebec!

Stopping for lunch at a nearby Timmy's/picnic table set up. After grabbing our bags, I found Jesse pretending to drive. Only twelve more years, buddy!

 Hartland lunch time. Note the world's longest covered bridge in the background!

Robyn is having mixed feelings about the Pear-Beans-Mango food combo she was given (sorry, Gerber).

Jesse, truly enjoying his bun.

Janna's first experience with strawberry cream cheese was a WIN!!

 Update: Chrissy informs me that the strawberry cream cheese experience was NOT a win, but instead that Janna started crying, saying she didn't like it, and that she was implacable until Chrissy offered her a buttered bun. Not really sure how I missed that...!

Chrissy was experiencing a ton of different memories. I think it was really nice for her to be back! 

I just need to take a moment to thank Tim Horton's for coming our with its first gluten-free option: the glorious coconut macaroon! Crisp on the outside, moist and chewy on the inside: I feel almost emotional writing this paragraph! Thank you, Tim Horton's; thank you.

I couldn't help but get caught up in the historical landmarks. I knew that it had the longest covered bridge in the world, but I didn't know that it was the smallest incorporated town in Canada.

A view of the St. John river from the banks of Hartland. I was impressed by the fact that the little island, which isn't usually visible (since the river is usually higher) was shaped, appropriately, like a heart!

Jesse, trying (unsuccessfully, unfortunately) to push some water through an old mechanical pump.

Hartland Baptist Church: The place where Chrissy and I were married! We've got some pretty awesome memories there.

Excited to go over the covered bridge.

 Here we go!

OK: WHAT HAPPENED!? Apparently, all of reality went nuts as we drove across the bridge. Sweet blur motion, though, Chrissy!

The proverbial light at the end of the tunnel: A visual metaphor for being close to our destination after two days of driving?

Blinded on the other side.

So that's it, everyone! I'll be sure to blog again before the end of our trip. Note: It is Chrissy's birthday on Friday. Happy Birthday, Babe!

I'll leave everyone with this random video of kids screaming in the van. Enjoy!

...Until next time!

Parliament // Toronto // Kiting

Yes! It's been a couple of weeks, and here we go! Three life-changing, earth shattering events that have occurred in the life of the Vance family lately have been our pilgrimage to Parliament Hill, our amazingly adventurous trip to Toronto, and our first efforts to fly a kite with Jesse.

Parliament Hill

Jesse is four and Janna is two; both are Canadian citizens; both will be able to vote in Canadian elections in less than sixteen years: basically, it was time to expose them to the glories of Parliament Hill to see where our elected representatives meet to decide important things in our country.

The children are pumped. Jesse is nearly exploding with civic excitement; Janna is enthused as well (do not be fooled into thinking that that is a cynical smile on her face - she takes politics very seriously).

All excitement was unfortunately lost by the time we reached Sparks Street.

The glories of Sparks Street. The children maintained this expression of reverent awe as I expounded on the historical significance of various landmarks. 

Note Janna's glee as she spies a horse the Peace Tower.

Trying to get the classic awesome Peace Tower shot. Unfortunately, the effect was somewhat lost during a minor controversy over whether or not Janna should hold Jesse's hand.

Soon Janna found something she was REALLY interested in... leaves!

Jesse was mesmerized by the water and kept trying to persuade me to "touch it!"

Checking out the changing of the guards. Jesse thought that this was cool enough, but Janna wasn't a big fan of the bagpipes.

Sitting down for a snack after a busy morning. I literally pleaded for Janna to smile in this picture. Here, you can see a faint sign of her amusement at refusing my request.

Jesse always likes taking a few photos, so I turned the camera over to him for this one.

Here's what kills me: I beg Janna to smile and get nothing. Jesse says, "Hi, Janna!" and this is what he gets!

On our way to find a washroom before we headed home. The kids actually insisted on stopping to sit down and have a photograph in EVERY WINDOW WE PASSED.

Much to our surprise (and Janna's general terror), the changing of the guards procession followed us down the street!

There's a bit more controversy that we could talk about - trying to find a washroom that didn't have loud noises, finally locating one fifteen minutes later to find out that Jesse didn't actually have to go, Janna's being terrorized by the noises of buses and construction all around us... etc.! But all in all, it was a fun and deeply educational trip that we will certainly try again in ten years!

Toronto and Back!

A second cool experience was our trip to Toronto to see Josh (Chrissy's brother) and Kari-Leigh, who have recently welcomed their first child into the world, a baby girl named Parker. They are not posting photos of the baby yet, which means that this post won't actually include any photos of them at all, but the trip down and back - in the same day - was still pretty awesome.

8:30am: Here's how we now start road trips. 

(Did you know that Timmy's sells gluten-free macaroons?)

Chrissy: Pumped, confident, hopeful. 

Me: Looking slightly less confident, but still pretty pumped for a road trip to Toronto. 

Pit-stop at McDonald's. Janna is seriously torn between her chicken-nugget, her yogurt, and the French fries she spies in front of Momma.

Robyn wasn't torn at all. "I want that Gerber Banana-Blueberry Fruit Purée in my mouth right now!!!" Good ol' Gerber always comes through for us.

This photo isn't in focus, but I thought it pretty perfectly captures how much of a gift Robyn has been to us. At any given time we can look back and find this expression on her face. (Also, we occasionally find radically different/opposite expressions, but this one's still pretty common.)

Yes, I get really excited when I see big buildings. It must be my PEI background catching up to me.

There she is! Queen of all skyscrapers, and the tallest structure in the world for THIRTY-FOUR YEARS until her title was shamelessly swiped by towers in China, Japan, and the United Arab Emirates.

It could just be me, but I felt that Chrissy didn't experience the same sense of personal pride and indignation over the fate and destiny of the tower.

And this must be where this particular story ends. We did see Josh, Kari-Leigh, and little Parker; we held the baby (and she was really cute), and we all played at a park with some sweet Toronto play-ground equipment which seemed somehow more sophisticated than our Ottawa equipment, even though a tree had crashed down in the middle from the big storm. We left at 8:30 to go home, and the kids slept most of the way, which was really nice.... good times!

Kiting

So Jesse has never flown a kite before. We figured, having bought a kite from the dollar store, that it was time to take him a-kiting! 

Here we are, travelling to the park, dollar-store kite in hand.

I think we all had different expectations of what this might be like. Jesse was pretty wistful and reflective as we approached the park, pondering on the existential significance of flying his first kite.

Momma was mildly excited. :)

Janna was hard to read.

Robyn was stoked, mostly, I think, because the kite looked delicious in its plastic package.

I was very, very excited. I mean, this is a big moment for a dad! I could barely contain myself.

Testing out the wind... seems strong enough... 

Showing Jesse the perfect technique to get a kite into the air. I had to run really fast in several circles before we got the kite off the ground.

LIFT OFF!!!

Passing the torch. Jesse flew that kite like a champ!!!

Looking down the hill at Janna and Robyn, who showed little interest in following us up.

Soon after, Janna became restless and decided that it was time for our next activity. I can't really blame her - the bugs were super bad that day.

Frustrated over the bugs, we decided to head home.

... It was an awesome day, though. Jesse's first time kiting... it'll go down in the books!

That's it for today. We're heading off to the Maritimes tomorrow to visit family for a couple of weeks. Hopefully we'll have some good stories to share when we get back.



...Until next time!