Everything in between

It had been 8 years since we visited Mike's family in eastern Canada...we were definitely overdue for a visit.  So, a week after getting home from Finland, we were back on a plane again...or at least waiting to get on a plane again.

The beginning

In order to save $200 a ticket (which is a lot when you are buying SEVEN), we opted to fly out of Vancouver.  So we drove the 2+ hours up to Abbotsford, then Ted drove us the 45 min. to the airport.  We actually waited in line to check in since none of us had seats together (another way to save money).  We managed to get Summer and I together since WestJet has a policy for a miner to sit with an adult, but they wouldn't switch anyone else's seat.

We managed to get there quite early (since I am always stressed about being late), but after waiting our 3 hours to board, our flight was delayed.  We were scheduled to take off at 11:15pm (another way to save money), but we didn't board until 1:30am.  The flight next to ours was cancelled, so we were sure we were going to be calling Ted in the wee hours of the morning asking for a ride home.  Luckily our plane still took off.  But we were all pretty grumpy...and mean...and upset...and uncomfortable...and tired.

Rough start.

Sleeping in between strangers--haha

The middle

We had a great few days visiting Niagra Falls (where we spent New Years Eve back in 1999 right after getting married) and hanging out with family.  

We had all been up all night, but we made it to the falls so we had to take pictures, right?!

The BEST ice cream!  Maybe even worth the $50+ we spent on it:)

We wanted to do the boats again because it was Clayton's first time and Summer was only a baby last time we did it.  We opted to go on the top floor, and it was crazy! We were all completely drenched from head to toe, but still, such a cool experience.

We had a BBQ at Mike's brother Jeff's house with all the siblings and their kids.  Everyone was so grown up since last time we were there!  Here's a picture of Grandma Cindy and most of her grandchildren (just missing Cheryl's 4 and Bradley, I think)

Now with Dan and the parents too

And then just the OG's...missing Cheryl (and of course Denny)

We had a wonderful visit with both Toby and Jackie and a few on their kids.  It was nice to go to their homes and visit with them in a smaller group, I don't think I've ever done that before.  I wish we lived closer, so we could spend more time with them.  

Here's Summer swimming at Aunt Toby's pool

We were planning on visiting Toronto last summer, but when we decided to take the family to Europe, we had to push the trip off a year.  Unfortunately during that time, Mike's Grandma Anderson passed away.  We are grateful our kids got to meat her during our last visit, but sad to not have one more visit with her when they are older, especially Summer who was just a baby last time. 

We also visited the grave of Mike's Grandma and Grandpa Emonts, his Dad, and his Uncle.

The end

Unfortunately the end of the trip was worse than the beginning, ugh.  During the last night Jordan got sick (we are pretty sure it was food poisoning...or something similar), so when it was time to check out, she was still so sick she could barely move.  But we had no choice.  We had to check out and return our rental car.  

We had planned to spend the last day in downtown Toronto and at the aquarium.  Since Jordan was in such rough shape, we skipped the aquarium.  We decided to drive downtown so everyone could at least walk around and Jordan could just rest at the park.  

On the way to return the rental car, Jordan started throwing up.  It was a rough few hours (I will leave out the gory details)...and we still had to get on a plane.  Luckily the throwing up subsided before that...maybe it helped that our plane was delayed again...and we had to switch gates...and then it was delayed again.

We didn't get home until about 3am.

Needless to say, it might be another 8 years before we head out to visit Mike's family again.  But at least everything in between the beginning and the end was wonderful;)