2016 RV Trip - July-August -- CANADA - Family Time!

2 new tires successfully installed in record time,  we left for Canada about 1:00 on Thursday. There were long lines at the border – took us about 35 minutes to cross over. No issues at all. We were surprised, really that we could have gotten IN without even showing our passports, but they said we’d have never gotten OUT and back into the US without showing them. I wish our government was that diligent about letting illegals in the country, but that’s another story.

We enjoyed the drive up from the border so much. This is a very rural area, and we passed some interesting and lovely farms.

Excited to see the family we checked into our motel in Westport, a little resort like town, with nothing but a few shops and a motel.  The motel was VERY forgettable, but the closest we could find to Fred & Ria so we endured. We were really only there to sleep anyway, and it was clean with comfortable beds. We usually get a king sized bed, but chose 2 queens this time since Lisa is coming tomorrow. We got to Fred & Ria’s – our first time to see their brand new home they just built on Buck Lake, replacing the cottage they’ve had there for almost 30 years. Just lovely and FULL of people!!!  The wedding is Saturday and all of Rosanna’s family is staying there, Hugo and Elva, (Rosanna’s parents), Andrew & Rosanna along with Isabella and Emma. Everyone of course is in love with Emma! Look at this face!!! Rosanna’s sister, Carla and Eric and their son, Eric, such a lovely family. The tents had just been put up in the afternoon so we all sat out there in the shade overlooking the beach and lake, talking about memories and fun times planned for the festivities this weekend. We’ll miss Emma’s baptism tomorrow as we’ll be on the way to the airport to get Lisa, but we’ll all be back for the rehearsal dinner. I know Lisa’s excited to see her cousins and Uncle Fred and Aunt Ria.

 

 On the way to Fred & Ria's...

Beautiful Buck Lake.... nice view, huh?  I have never seen a railing like this for the deck. Purposely made high enough that the railing doesn't interfere with your view and the panes of clear glass provide protection for little ones without impeding the vew of the lake. Nicely done!

Oh my, Emma is the sweetest.... so good ALL the time, never cries, just so contented and happy!

Brothers catching up..... we so enjoyed our time with family!

Friday morning we went over and Fred cooked us all breakfast! I do love a man in the kitchen! Ha… they are amazing at handling a crowd of people all over the place. We left around noon to go pick Lisa up at the Ottawa airport, anxious to get back for more family time. We're going to miss Emma's baptism, bummer, but Lisa's flight gets in at 3 and the airport is 2 hours away. At least we'll be back for the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner tonight!  What a pretty drive by more farms....

 We had just gotten to North Gower when she called from Philadelphia, saying they had given her seat away!  Whaaaat? She had checked in earlier, had her boarding pass, and seat assignment! The Orlando flight had been delayed a bit, and they “assumed” she might not make it in time, so they GAVE her seat to someone else!!! Unbelievable.  They were completely uncaring and nonchalant saying they could get her on a flight tomorrow!!!  TOMMORROW is the WEDDING!  Duh, that’s the whole reason she came! Unacceptable, so after lots of talking back and forth and her waiting in line forever to keep trying to get to someone to give her guidance, Earl had the thought to see if she could get a flight into Syracuse, NY and we’d just have to drive there and get her (3 hours) so long story short, that’s what she did. We turned around and headed to Syracuse – fortunately very short lines at the border to get into the U.S. 

  We had no idea we'd be crossing the border again so soon and the 1000 Island Bridge. Oh well....best laid plans. Thankful they could get her to Syracuse and we can get her. We'll miss all the festivities tonight, but she'll be here for the wedding, that's the main thing.

We were flying too, hoping there were no cops around. We got gas (much cheaper in America than Canada and picked her up curbside without incident.  Bless her heart, kind of mentally exhausted and still infuriated after all that poor treatment. But all is well, though of course we missed the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner. Even though it was late, we knew everyone would still be up and Lisa was so anxious to see everyone, so quite a few had left by then of course, but immediate family was there, so we went on, getting there about 9:15, starving hungry – none of us had eaten since breakfast. All Lisa had had was a bag of pretzels on the first flight. Ria had left food out for us, so we all enjoyed a meal while chatting and catching up. The last thing we thought this morning was that we’d be driving almost 9 hours today! But Lisa is here, safe and sound, so all is well. Grateful.

Saturday dawns bright and beautiful, temps around 76-78, a bit overcast and breezy. You just couldn’t ask for a more perfect day for an outdoor wedding. We just dressed casually and went over for breakfast. I have to remember those yummy chocolate muffins from Costco!  Around noon we headed back to our motel to freshen up and get back for the wedding at 2:00. Absolute perfection! I can’t imagine a more beautiful wedding. So happy to welcome Rosanna into the family.  We all just fell in love with her. Sad that we live so far away.  They live in Calgary so who knows when we’ll see them all again. I posted a separate FB Album of wedding photos, so I'll only share a few here.....the wedding was lovely and there are over 100 photos in my FB album, should you want to see more....

Andrew and Rossana live in Calgary so not likely we'll be seeing them anytime soon, which makes me sad. What a beautiful couple.

We had time between the wedding and the reception to kill while they were taking all the photos, so we went into Kingston and saw the church Earl’s dad used to pastor, and the house they lived in in Kingston, the only “home” I knew there. The trees were so overgrown you could hardly see the house but the ornamental plow and the circular hanging planter was still in the yard (minus plants) – Mom would have never stood for that! Memories.

We went over to the Cataraqui Cemetery to visit the graves of Mom and Dad there. By far the largest cemetery I’ve ever seen! Over 46,000 graves are there in 91 acres! Very interesting to drive around and see dates of birth as old as 1802!  It is one of the national historic sites as many famous people are buried there, among whom is Sir John A. MacDonald, the first prime minister of Canada.

 The last time Earl was up here, he tried to find his parent’s graves and could not remember where they were so Fred had given us a couple of landmarks to watch for, so we found them this time. Bittersweet of course. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could have occasional visits from Heaven? We miss them so much.

  

The wedding reception was at The Ambassodor Hotel in Kingston so we headed over there to enjoy a delicious dinner, take lots of photos and celebrate Andrew and Rosanna. Reception photos also in the FB Wedding Album.

Sunday morning we headed back over to Fred’s and again, had a wonderful breakfast – they just kept a line going of food in abundance. I don’t know if I could have handled that big a crowd with such grace! My hat is off to them!  Stephen had brought over lots of pizzas and someone had gotten yummy beef or turkey croissants, so there was plenty of food and drinks. We all sat out on the deck and reminisced and told stories…..such fun times. It’s really sad for families to be so far apart and see each other so seldom!  

This is Ria and our niece, Janet with her daughter, Kelsey, who was the flower girl. What a cutie!

The front of Fred and Ria's new house -  oops I forgot, they call this the BACK of the house, and the front of the house is from the lake. Makes sense, as the garage, etc, is where we drove up.

This is the side of the house, and patio/grill area is just outside the side door making it really convenient to the kitchen.

 Lisa and baby Emma, what a sweet baby girl!

Steven didn't want Shari to feel alone so he found a ball to stuff under his shirt.... funny guy.

Fred and Emma - I don't think he loves her much, can't you just tell from his expression?

Our nephew, Steven, and his fiance, Shari. We loved spending time with them. Shari was 9 days PAST her due date at the wedding! Yikes! We've found out since, she delivered a beautiful baby girl, Alexa Rialynn on Monday, the 1st, our anniversary.  Wish we could have met Alexa!

Shari and Steven, with Lisa. 

 Late in the afternoon, Fred took us along with Andrew and Rosanna and Ria out on a nice long boat ride on Buck Lake.  So different from our lakes in Florida – these are interspersed with islands of trees and boulders and the water is dark and cold. (not cold to THEM, however). Andrew went skiing – very impressive skier, I might add! 

These birds are called loons.... and an engraving of a loon is on the one dollar Canadian coin (called a loonie), the queen is on the other side,  and a two dollar coin is called a toonie..... just an interesting note. I love the Canadian money, brightly colored and easy to differentiate.

 Sunday was just a lovely family day, and we dreaded saying all our goodbyes, but all things  come to an end. So lots of hugs, and we went back to Westport for our final night in Canada.

 

Monday, August 1 is our 46^th  Anniversary,  so this morning Lisa took us to a wonderful breakfast and then we checked out and headed to Ottawa for her flight home. Because of the weird situation and uncertainty of the flight up, Mark had been on the phone with American Airlines, since Lisa was trying to avoid international rates,  explaining what had happened on the flight up and wanting to make certain everything was in order.  Yes, she got confirmed and got email confirmation.  We said goodbye to our sweet girl, I circled the airport 4 times while Earl went in with her to get her checked in, make SURE she had her boarding passes and all was in order. Everything was good, so we breathed a sigh of relief and headed back to Alexandria Bay where we had left the RV. No trouble crossing the border at all, and as soon as we crossed into the states, I turned my airplane mode off my phone and immediately a text from Mark popped up. Lisa’s flight had been canceled due to the crew not showing up and no one to fly that plane to Philly!  WHAT??? HOW on earth does this happen??? I cannot believe what I’m seeing here, so we were texting back and forth for awhile. We were wishing we’d brought her with us and we could have just taken her to Syracuse again to fly home! Long story short, they re-routed her from Ottawa to Chicago (!) with a layover there and then flew her first class to Orlando. Nice, but too little too late! She got home about 10:30 and we all breathed a sigh of relief. Whew….what an ordeal.  This does not make me feel confident about our already paid for flights to Hawaii next month! Yikes

Once we knew Lisa was taken care of, we then relaxed, found everything was good with the RV, we sat outside enjoying a cool breezy afternoon while I caught up with the many wonderful FB wishes for our anniversary. 46 years y’all! Hard to believe! So hang in there with us - more photos to come on my next blog of the 1000 Islands and touring Boldt Castle!