Leaving Canada and reflections on the last three weeks

Our time in Canada is drawing to a close, we are on a very early flight to Orlando tomorrow morning to start our Disney adventure.

We drove to Toronto from Niagara stopping off in Hamilton on the way. We have been staying in hotels and have been doing lots of swimming and catching up on lessons for Peter. We felt that after a lot of driving and sightseeing the boys (and us) could do with a couple of relaxing days.

The first three weeks of our trip seem to have flown by and we have packed a lot into such a short time. We have gained an insight into Canada and I think it is Ottawa that has won a special place in our hearts and is the place we are planning to make a return trip to one day.

All of the children seem to be coping well with life on the road. Luke clearly missed Guernsey when we first left and frequently asked after Sian, Lisa and Becky and wanted to go to the beach. Joseph and Peter also miss their friends, but they seem more content with each other for company at the moment.

Spending more time with the Peter, Joe and Luke was one of our main reasons for taking this year out and so far it has proved to be a great experience for David and I. They can be hard work, especially when explaining to Luke for the 100th time that we are not going on an air-plane today... only for the next question to be "air-plane mummy?". Their observations of the world have kept us amused, here are s0me of the things Joe has said which have made us smile:

"Last night I dreamed I was a carrot" - 6 September, Ottawa

"That cloud looks like sheep fallen down with a duck on it's nose" - describing the clouds on Route 303

Nic "Are you enjoying our trip?"
Joe shouts "NO..." pauses with a confused look on his face "...what trip?"

On seeing a bright yellow stretched Hummer "That's one of those cars they put dead people in."

As we reach the end of the first country of the trip we are still convinced coming round the world was a good idea. We have each only had one moment when we wondered why we had given up our jobs and sold our house for this trip.

We are both a bit nervous about getting from here to the campsite in Florida. In Scotland we had lots of family seeing us off at the airport and lending a helping hand. Tonight we have to pack and then tomorrow we will have to manage all our bags between us, get a shuttlebus to the airport at 4am, check in on time for a 7am flight, negotiate US customs and fit into a hire car (which in all likelihood will be too small) and then navigate to our campsite.

Hopefully our next blog will be from Florida! Some photos from the last few days here.