Feb 27 2010
off to the land of mountains and maple syrup…..
Do you recognize this flag? This is where we are all off to come 16th June for 5 1/2 weeks!!!
Rod’s brother Ivan and his Canadian fiance Jolene are getting married in July in the town of Winnipeg (right smack bang in the middle of the prairies) and we are going to be there! Actually half of us are in the bridal party so we better be there hey 
Rod is best man, I am a bridesmaid, and Janaya is a flower girl……exciting huh?
It has taken so much work to get all our flights planned and booked,(but even more scary paying for them….yikes!!!!), and we have a monster trip planned! First off we land in Vancouver which we will stay for a few days, then visit friends in the Fraser valley. Then we pick up a motor home which will then become our abode for the next 4.5 weeks! We hope to do the Rockies, Jasper, Banff, Calgary, and then up to Edmonton, through Saskatoon, and then onto Winnipeg.
After all the wedding festivities, we hope to high tail it to Toronto, and then visit Niagra falls, and head south to Baltimore, Maryland USA to visit Kate (my brother’s fiance) and spend some time with her and her family. Then last of all we will travel up to New York for a few days, and then fly home.
Travelling with 4 young kids is going to be quite an adventure I am sure!!! No doubt it will have it’s trying times, like on the 16 hour flight home!!! But with the hard times there is going to be so many exciting times too.
So you gorgeous Canadians out there, please let me know what you think is your top picks to visit. We are driving pretty much straight across the country so if you have any tips I would really appreciate to hear them!! Also any travelling tips for taking kids along, that doesn’t always involve drugging them with sedatives??? LOL!
I have all these stampers I want to visit, and of course the Stampingbella store in Toronto, I just have to get Rod to come to the party, as he assures me we are not on a stamping adventure holiday! It is going to be so great to meet the Canadian Design team girls, and hopefully some in the US too!
I am sure the trip will be here before we know it, so it definitely will be fun planning all our adventures, and I need to keep reminding myself that I don’t need more stamps, and have to save my $$$ for the trip Then I can buy it all over there and bring it home with me!
Anyway I am super excited to share with you our fun news, and look forward to hearing all your travelling do’s and dont’s!
Oh and I have stamping to share too, so be back in a mo with that for you too!
Have a fabulous weekend peeps,
Wowzers keeshabelle!! How exciting! You guys are having a ripper of a year so far, and it’s only getting better! Ooooohhhh YES, I have lots of travelling tips for you, but we’ll leave it for a good long natter over the phone
Love you babe xxx
Hey Keesh…. So your gonna visit my home country.. I don’t have much in the line of what to see when you are on the west as I have never been, my home town is RIGHT by Niagara falls.. you will pretty much drive right past my old house.. AND you will pass my mommy and daddys house
Anyways… on to that.. I would say the highlight to see would have to be the falls and the CN tower…Take a trip up it if you can… if the kids like amusement parks you have Canadas wonderland in Toronto as well.. that is AWESOME…just watch out for some discount coupons and its fairly cheap to get into then ) If you need help with that let me know as I can always find a way for you to get some 
As for flying tips with the kids PACK LIGHT for your carry ons, I found I took WAY to much stuff and never touched alot of it and its all the more you have to lug around with you. The flight isn’t really all that bad… and we have to fly for 30 hours before we are home!!! The kids really liked the TV’s on the airplane.. we had the option of watching movies or we could also play games.. there was also kids shows on as well. For the food I specially ordered the kids meals for the flights. They seemed to like that. Also they do quite often give you a bag of things to do on the plane.. so that saves you having to take it with you. I brought colouring and some toys and the kids never touched them. They also slept a fair amount.
Well if you have any more questions I would be happy to help you with them!
Have an awesome trip!
Love Michelle
Wow how exciting! I’m sure you’ll have a crazily busy but fantastic time! Enjoy!
Keesh - sounds awesome - what an adventure that will be for you all!
Keesh,
That is so exciting! I saw a little of the east coast of Canada and would just love to see the West. I adored Quebec (pron Kebec) and Niagara Falls was incredible. I was disappointed as I really wanted to go in the helicopter over them, but it was rainy & foggy. Toronto is an interesting city. The CN tower was good & I think that’s where the big shopping centre is mainly underground linking with the underground railway.
Friends who have travelled with kids bought them all Nintendo DS or PSP (expensive, but keeps them entertained on the road).
Does this mean you won’t be at Convention this year? Figuring that would really stretch the budget. If so, sad for us but I’m still so jealous of the Canada trip.
Fi xox
WOW keesh sounds like the trip of a lifetime!! How amazing! And new York thats sooo cool.
Cant wait for all the pics and adventures from that
Kristy xx
Thank goodness you are going in June. They don’t call it “Winterpeg” for nothing. Canada is beauty where ever you go. You are all going to have a sensational time! Love Leanne.
WOW! I knew you were going to my hometown of Winnipeg, but had no idea you were doing a cross Canada Odessey! My recommendations are visitink Kelowna and the Okanogan Lake, Calgary Zoo, Regina has a beautiful park to explore, Winnipeg has the Forks and Assiniboine park (don’t bother with the zoo in Winnipeg), There’s the CN tower in Toronto but also the Calgary tower too, both are great, but only do one, similar experience. Niagara Falls is awesome too. I’m a bvit jealous of your cross country trip, but also looking forward to our trip home to Winnipeg for Christmas this year (then on to Mexico for MY brother’s wedding).
For the travel tips, I think I sent you a few already. Wrap some new toys/activities in plain paper and let the kids open something every couple hours if they are good. Keeps them interested in new things. Wouldn’t go without our Nintendo DS’s anymore, and don’t forget travel adapters for the power points! Have an awesome adventure, and I can’t wait to see you photos!
Oooooh - a trip of a lifetime with a wedding thrown in - how utterly awesome!!!! Enjoy everything and share some tidbits with us so we feel we’ve had a holiday too - LOL
xXx
Oh how exciting!! I bet Cindy and Renee are really pleased too! Looking forward to some pics in the future.
I live in Toronto and you can’t miss visiting the Eaton Centre - a huge mall downtown. You can also visit Casa Loma; CN tower; Canada’s Wonderland - the kids will love this theme park. Also there is the ROM & the Science Centre. Just google any of these names to get some info. That is quite the trip you have planned and I hope you have a safe one.
Hi Keesh,
wow what exciting news. Yep it certainly could be challenging to do with four kids but what a wonderful adventure to share with them. 2010 will definately be a year to remember for the family!
Love Kim
My best tip for travelling with kids is audio books - lots of them! We listened to all the Narnia stories on our recent trip to Canberra but we are heading to Perth this year so gonna get LOTS more. Koorong has a good selection of Focus on the family recordings. Have Fun! xx
Hi and WOW!!! Can’t offer you any advice as I haven’t been out of Australia LOL but am so in awe! First a sea change from one side of Aussie to the other and NOW a BIG holiday overseas!!! WOW!!! Have heaps and heaps of fun. enjoy every single moment (even the trying ones) and you can’t help but have a good time! Good luck!
Hi Makeesha,
Your holiday plans sound very exciting. Like Michelle said, it really isn’t that bad traveling with the kids. I would recommend taking some snacks in your carry on luggage. Your kids may not like the airplane food and its always handy to have something extra to munch on. My kids have enjoyed playing with play-doh on long flights.
I would highly recommend going up CN Tower in Toronto. An amazing experience. You can’t miss Niagara Falls and while you’re there you might as well go on the Maid of the Mist.
I have never been to the west coast of Canada but have heard its really beautiful. You can’t go through Edmonton without visiting the West Edmonton Mall. I think its the largest mall (shopping centre) in the world.
One last bit of advice: Encourage you kids to keep a daily journal. Whether they write one sentence or a whole page.They could add a few pictures to it, ticket stubs, souvenir pamphlets, postcards or the like.
I hope you, Rod and your children have a wonderful holiday enjoying all of Gods creation.
Julie
Hi Keesh!
So exciting that you will be coming out WEST!!!!!!!! I know one place you will not want to miss-my house lol! I am in the Fraser Valley as well, so if you have time to get a little stamping in come on by and you will definately want to go to Whistler while you are here.
Sounds like you have a fantastic trip planned and I am sure there will be lots to see. As far as any tips for you all I can say is I will be praying for you as travelling with that many children can a long day even longer:)
Oh, wow Keesh, how awesome! Sounds like you have so much planned on what sounds like a fabulous trip! I am sure you have a count-down started already - I know I would. Look forward to hearing more about it. Chelle x
Keesh, that is an INCREDIBLE trip you and your family have planned - what an amazing adventure. Can I come too, to meet Renee???!!! Don’t fret about travelling with the kids; it’s much easier than we think it will be! We’ve done several long-haul flights with our children (admittedly, there’s only 2 of them, but still….) and they are incredibly resilient. I am so excited for you all; you will have a BALL!!!
By the way, Keesh, while you’re in Canada, please have a ‘Tim Horton’s’ doughnut for me, they are the best in the world . Also, enjoy New York, I LOVED it.
Fi x
Hey that’s crazy! I live in Winnipeg! It’s not too often I find someone planning on visiting here. To be honest, we don’t have a lot of “exciting” things to do, but there are lots of nice parks and museums in the area. If you are here in August there’s a 2 week festival called Folkarama. There are multiple venues around the city that showcases different cultures. There’s cool performances and traditional foods to try.
We’re a low key city, most people like to go out to their cottages in the summer.
Wow what a wonderful trip you will have. We just got back from the USA just over a week ago. We took our girls (7 and 4) to Disneyland CA. The kids handled the 13 hr flight better than we did. Curled up on their seat and slept quite a lot. At least you will be able to get 3 and 3 seats and not have to bother others to get to the toilet. You can put in a request for seat allocation early. Watch out for the kids meal notification, our agent did it but it did not flow through to V Australia so they had no kids meals for us. Like someone else said they have such great on board entertainment we hardly used anything we took on board. we all had our own TV, with movies, series, kids shows and games. The girls did play their DS though and did some colouring. We got given a very small activity pack in Sydney but nothing on the way home. We did pack snacks for the trip too. Jen
Hey Keesh! -
Can’t wait to finally meet you IN PERSON when you come to Baltimore! I am a bit jealous you of you going to Canada. I really would love to head north! And I LOVE New York City! I am sure you will, too. You should definetly bring the kiddies to the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore on a Saturday. THey have tons of kids things on Saturdays and I am sure they will enjoy!
-DeLisa