By: Mary
Last summer our cousins who live in Vancouver, Canada came to visit us in Virginia! Ellie, Abram, John, and Gabby came without their parents. Their visit was delayed by a few weeks due to a COVID outbreak, and then our trip to Kings Dominion got almost got rained out, and then there was the whole Gramps-got-run-over-by-the-lawn-mower-incident. Despite all that and more trouble, we had an awesome time! Thanks to the rain, our trip to Kings Dominion was much cooler, thank goodness, because Canada weather is a whole lot cooler than humid Virginia! The rain also scared most people away, giving us an opportunity to ride every ride with either having to wait in a small line or none at all, which gave us the ability to ride lots of rides in the time that we had, and most rides at least twice!
We also got to go to Aunt Abby’s baby shower together. Us girl cousins celebrated our newest baby cousin! We can’t wait for Baby Liam to join us on our next cousin adventure!
To summarize the trip into three words and ten exclamation marks, IT WAS AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!
Canada Trip- 2023
This summer it was our turn! Thomas and Anna weren’t quite ready for this adventure, so David and I (Mary) were the only visitors. Grammy also came. During the time, our dad was in London for a business trip. He left early in the morning on the same day as we did. In the mid-afternoon we lugged two check bags, three carry-ons, four kids, and Grammy and mom through the airport to say our goodbyes before two weeks of adventure.
When we arrived in Vancouver it was 12:30 a.m. (and 3:30 a.m. in Virginia), and everyone collapsed onto their beds. The next morning, we reunited with our cousins! Our first day was lots of fun! Around the middle of the trip, the Truells took everyone on a beautiful camping trip in Chilliwack, B.C. Our campsite was by the Chilliwack Lake, and we swam in the freezing water every day! Every night we had s’mores by the campfire and told stories. (Sometimes scary, mostly funny!) One morning we took a hike to yet another freezing cold lake. No one dared to swim, plus we were wearing clothes!
The camping adventure was very fun, but it wasn’t the end of our trip! We had lots of fun days! We went on an ice cream adventure and traveled on a sky train and a sea bus to get ice cream and explore. It was a great outing with a great purpose: ice cream!
One day we went to Steveston Bay for a lunch at a sea food restaurant and then tried a fun dessert called Screamers. It’s 50% ice cream, 50% slushee, and 100% delicious! Then some of us went home, while others stayed for the park and to see one of the old trolleys from that had been preserved and recreated!
One of the highlights of the trip was girls day! All of the girls in the family participated in an outing to the mall to get pedicures, and then a fun lunch at White Spot! The boys took the time away from us girls to go to the skate park where David almost learned to skate (Almost!) They also went to the pool (Which was completely empty giving them VIP access!)
Some days we stayed at home, and others went to places like Steveston, the mall, and the park. We all loved every minute of it, either one! This trip was a big adventure and a new experience for me and David!
We both are very glad we went and very grateful for the fact that the Truells hosted us! What a great way to wrap up summer 2023!
What a fantastic recap of the trip from Mary! Thanks for sharing!