We've arrived!

Yesterday afternoon, after a 3,656 kilometers, we arrived!

We sure had a lot of fun on the road, but we were happy to have 'arrived' at the same time. Now it's time to settle in and plan the next few weeks.

To be honest we don't have a departure date yet (probably some time late November?), nor do we know where we will be when over the next while. We are taking things as they come, planning when needed, and going with the flow... Really trying to fight planning every last day like we usually have to when visiting Manitoba :)

{During this visit we are house-sitting for someone, so it's kind of cool that we'll have our own place... It also makes it possible to host a blogger get-together without having to balance the child and bedtime at someone else' house ;) Let me know if you'd be willing to get together in the city this time!}

Overall it's great to be here. It's great to have this time to share with family and have some time to just relax. I love having Tom 'home'. What an amazing gift it's been! We sure have a lot to think and pray about, and that's a really great thing.

Minneapolis :)

Yay for the Mall of America!

Also, yay for passing through Quebec, Ontario, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and now Minnesota! Tonight we're heading to North Dakota and then... Oh then... It's Manitoba time!!

kilometer 2387

And the kid is still traveling well.

I'm impressed.

The Windy City

Elkhart was very, very interesting and definitely gives us even more to think about!

After Tom spent yesterday morning at the technology center with the crew that run the place and all 3 of us going for lunch with the director, we said our goodbyes and headed in to Chicago.

Wow, what a beautiful city!

We spent the night there last night and toured more of the city this morning. Baby Jay doesn't quite get the concept of time zones so we had a nice early start this morning ;)

We are now on the road again, headed towards Minneapolis. Thanks to my techy hubby we have phone and Internet access again (without costing a few limbs). I'm lovin' it. Can't tether to the computer though, so picture posts are out until we get 'real' access.

Hope you are all doing well and we'll see you SOON!

Detour!

We're back on the road today, leaving after a wonderful 4 day stay in Cambridge, Ontario.

We spent our time there checking out Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo and surrounding areas. We toured the HCJB Global Canadian head office (HCJB is the organization we served with in Ecuador and went through missionary training with in Colorado Springs a little over a year ago).



We looked up MLS listings for houses to get a feel for the cost of living, checked out local parks, and, of course, frequented coffee shops ;)



Now that we're back on the road, our route has changed. Tonight we are still aiming for Ann Arbor (just past Detroit), but instead of continuing on to Chicago tomorrow as originally planned, we're heading to Elkhart, Indiana.

Where, you say?
Where? is what I said.

It's here:


View Larger Map

It's also where the technology development centre is for HCJB. They do all sorts of cool things there and Tom is most interested in taking a look at what they're up to... So off to Indiana we go. But first, Detroit, again.

Off to Cambridge

Spent the night in Oshawa Ontario.

{We love Hotwire, decent hotels at discount prices, which comes in handy when a relative you planned to stay with comes down with a nasty cold she doesn't want to share with your little one. Thankyouverymuch}

Slept in, enjoyed the free continental breaky, and headed back out on the road. The drive through Toronto was easy and we made our way to a fantastic vegan restaurant in Burlington. Restaurants like this are golden when you're off dairy.

Lunch was fantastic.

Dessert by the waterfront was even better.

Traveling with my two favoritest people in the world?

The absolute best.

Kingston was fabulous, next up: Toronto

Spent a beautiful Friday afternoon in Kingston on Queen's University campus.



Met up with my cousin (L) and our friend (P) to have a picnic by Lake Ontario. Gorgeous weather! P and L are both settling in for the new school year. Can't say I miss university yet. :P



Jay slept all the way from Montreal to Kingston this morning, that was glorious! And now that we're back in the car he's sound asleep again. We're trying to make it as close to, or to, or past (?!) Toronto tonight.

So far we're 323km in to this adventure and couldn't be happier.

AAAAND... They're off!!

Left a little behind schedule (surprise!) but we're on our way!








First stop: Kingston, Ontario.

disappointment

Our week home before hitting the road has been wonderful, and it was supposed to be topped off with Tom's birthday (last July) present of flight lessons at a local airport this afternoon. We were excitedly driving to the airport when we got the call: Due to weather conditions they had to cancel his lesson.

BOO!

I felt so sorry for Tom, who has been looking forward to this for a long time. Finally, when the timing would work, the weather didn't... Looks like he gets to continue looking forward to taking that lesson.

Say, did I ever tell you about the time we took a private flight with 3 murderers? NO?!?! That should be a good throw-back story for Blogtober...

On a happier (and less scary) note I made fantastic no bake cookies late last night. Yeah, I probably should have been sleeping, or packing, or most definitely sleeping, but they seemed like a great idea. I called them 'flight cookies' for the pilot. I guess we should change that to grounded cookies now, eh?

I should probably quit procrastinating and get back to packing...

End (or beginning!?!) of an era

Things are changing 'round here!

Tom's home on parental leave now (WOOHOO!!!) for the next few MONTHS!! We're packing like mad tonight realizing there's only two more sleeps until we're hitting the road BIG TIME!!

Can you tell I'm excited? In three sentences I've managed to use 8 exclamation points.

:)

something I didn't know

Give a baby some oats and his diapers will smell like a barn.

And now you know.

six - take two

Yes,

look who's six (months)!

And

full of baby tricks.

Yes, he's sittin'!

And feelin' smitten.

Happy 6 months Jay Jay, I'm lovin' every moment with you!

six

My baby is six months old today.


Wow.


Happy unbirthday, Jonathan. Can't help but notice the tooth-fairy stopped by for the occasion :)

Oh, and I'm so proud of us for making it to our goal of 6 months exclusively breastfeeding (well, aside from the few bites of cereal and banana you've had). Thanks for hanging in there and not giving up on mommy!!


{Photoshoot of my 6 month man to come!}