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When we were planning this trip, I had a vision in my mind of how it would look. I pictured quiet mornings with my coffee. I could do some yoga in these beautiful outdoor spaces and Greg could read in the hammock while the kids played serenely around us. We would then head out to explore whatever part of Canada we were visiting. On driving days, I'd sit at the back table and teach the kids. They would diligently plug away at their work while we learnt about the countryside we were driving through. 

The reality was more like this...

The mornings usually started with Parker making his way out of his bed and into ours.  As we went further East, the kids slept later and later.  It was great!  There was about 2 days of yoga.  The bugs were so bad in Ontario that it just isn't serene getting eaten alive.  Sitting in the hammock typically looked like this:

 

Early on I gave up on the driving and teaching.  Sitting backwards made me feel nauseated and entertaining the kids was making me crazy.  They hated doing "school" and honestly, I did too.  On the occasional quiet road we'd let them go in the back and play.  This was usually their favourite time and worked great until Parker would wander up to the front and insist on sitting with me.  We generally had the most success when Greg and I got up at 6 am and did most of the driving while the children were still sleeping.  Those early mornings were when we usually spotted wildlife ( a lynx, 3 bears and a moose, numerous deer ).  In 35 days in a RV our kids did not see a single animal (except cows) and Winnipeg zoo animals.

The day trips exploring parts of Canada really were amazing. We got to see and experience some of the best of our country. 

Sharing under 200 square feet with your family for 5 weeks and a few days is not really that different than regular life. We still get irritated with the kids over the same things, they still get frustrated with us over the same things.  The biggest change was that nobody had any real outside pressures. There is so much more patience, humour and general good will when the answer to the question,  "Do you have somewhere you need to be?" is always "No".  We really have become a team on this trip and I'll miss that when we get home and real life takes over. I'm so grateful that we had this opportunity and I'll treasure these times forever.

We really appreciate all our friends and family following along and sending the encouraging comments. We really missed you guys!!!  It is very lonely pulling into a campsite night after night and hearing all the groups around us having such a blast.  We can't wait to sit around the campfire with all of you and catch up on the last 5 weeks. 

And now for a little humour to keep the readers happy:

Top 10 Things We Learned Travelling Across Canada for 6 Weeks in an RV With our 3 Children

10. Ontario is bigger than it has any right to be.  It should have been 2 provinces with a really cool province between Eastern Ontario and Manitoba.  They could've called it Watersland - obviously because there is so much water there.

9. Size really doesn't matter....when it comes to black flies.  The littlest ones are the most vicious.

8 .Before you drive away from your campsite, always have a checklist of items that need to be completed.   We can't stress this enough.

7. Not all campgrounds are created equal. We're talking to you Brandon, MB.

6. Winds are a lot more complicated when driving a motorhome than when pulling a tent trailer.  Also, tornado like winds when you are camped in Quebec, can and will, actually move your slides in and shift you off your levels. 

5. If we've squeezed our RV into a really tiny space at the Tim Horton's and I ask you to move your car so we can get out, send your friggin text later Sir.  I've got three kids losing their minds in my RV.

4. All RV's should come with 2 sets of keys.  I think you all know why.

3. If you must go to two places between here and Quebec, pick Rushing River Provincial Park and Moose Jaw.  Seriously cool places that you'd never think to visit.  Also Winnipeg, but it falls at number 3.

2. The dead sea of Canada tastes really bad and hurts your eyes but we'd recommend checking it out. Apparently it has healing properties.

1. We will probably never do this again, but if we could...we just might. 

"Come on guys, let's go back..."

Happy Canada Day from Kakabeka Falls

The green tape is our route. The x's are where we stopped, the flowers are our favourite places.  Gracie and I liked Quebec, Greg- Ottawa, Parker - Moose (caterpillar) Mountain, Saywer - Kakabeka Falls.

It is hard to believe that we are in our 5th week!  Hope everyone enjoyed a beautiful long weekend.  We had great weather for Canada Day but the day before it was very rainy. Here are some pictures of Kakabeka Falls ( where we spent Canada Day ).   They are the second biggest in Canada next to Niagra Falls.

This one was my artsy attempt for you Sara...

Then it poured rain and we were stuck in this shelter with no money for pop...

This is how we felt about that!

HE said/ SHE said

Lori:

It was not a nice day!  I did NOT want to go swimming. It was only 19 degrees outside and that wind was friggin cold.

Greg:

We'd been cooped up all day and I thought a change of scene would be good for us and the kids. Mostly the kids. They were making me crazy cooped up inside the RV. It had finally stopped raining so we headed over to the pool.  Lor would get over it and end up thanking me for the great family time.

Lori:

He dragged me there.  I tried to be a good sport and help out by sitting on the side of the pool wearing my dress as a tent over my shoulders to keep my whole body warm. I was fully prepared to help supervise all three kids from there.

Greg:

It was a great time.  The water was warm.  The sky looked a little iffy, but no matter.  We were having a blast.  Parker was enjoying getting towed around and Gracie and Sawyer were working on the duck diving for rocks I had showed them.

Lori:

From my lifeguard like vantage point, I noticed the kids doing some weird diving thing. It DID NOT look safe.  I decided I better hop in to keep a closer eye.

Greg: 

Eventually I convinced Lori that it would be more fun in the pool than out and she abandoned her make-shift dress parka and got in the pool.  Then we were all enjoying the water for a while. 

Lori:

IT SUCKED!  I started to feel really cold, no matter how much I tried to swim around. I decided to try convincing a child to get out of the pool with me and run back to the trailer for more towels. I thought it was a pretty smart way to get out of the pool and still save face.

Greg:

After a while we were all about ready to get out so I sent Lori back to the RV to get some towels. 

Lori:

So off Gracie and I went to get some towels. Greg had finally "trusted" me with the keys again, so we were going to be super organized. Into the RV, get changed, get more towels, back to the pool.  The plan worked like a charm!

Greg: 

Somehow, Lori and Gracie forgot a towel for me. So After Parker and Sawyer were out of the pool and dry, I got to rub myself down with some wet rags.  It was starting to rain by this time so Lori, Sawyer and Grace headed back to the RV while I got Parker organized and we followed close behind. 

Lori:

Sawyer's lips were already starting to turn blue by the time we made it to the RV. Standing around in a wet swimsuit in the rain will do that. I reached for the door, it was locked. WTF!!! I started breathing like a mad woman and wrenching on the door. I had left the keys inside, but I knew I hadn't locked it.

Greg:

She locked the freakin' keys in the RV!

Lori:

OKAY, so it is a dumb system where the key will open the door but if the handle lock is locked, once the door is closed again it will lock automatically.  SHIT, I'd locked the keys in the RV.

Greg:

At this point I took charge.  It was raining, my family was locked outside and Lori was doing a weird breathing thing but I was very calm and rational.  I looked at my watch.  It was 4pm and I know that locksmiths charge extra after hours.   I proceeded to the campground office and asked the manager if he could help me gain entry to the motorhome.  He called a locksmith for me.

Lori:

I started taking some deep breaths to settle myself. We needed to think and come up with a plan.  Where the hell had Greg gone?

Since he usually panics in these situations, and I couldn't find him anyway, I decided to take control. The boys were cold. I stripped them out of their wet clothes and put my sweater on Sawyer and wrapped Parker in a blanket that I found in one of the outdoor compartments.  Then I huddled the children together under a third blanket.  Then, I proceeded to check all the windows to see if they were open.

Greg:

When I got back to the RV, I noticed that the boys were naked.  WHAT WAS SHE THINKING?  I climbed on top of the RV to see if any of the roof vents were open. One was, but there was no way to get the screen out.  I then told Lori we needed to check all the windows on the RV to see if we could get any of them open. We finally managed to get a tiny little side window open, but there was no way anyone would fit through that.   

Lori:

EUREKA!  One of the side windows was open. I jimmied the screen around a little and managed to remove it from the window frame.  It made the hole just big enough for one of the kids to fit through.

Greg:

She was reaching for straws. There was no way that a child would fit through that window.  I told her we should wait for the locksmith.

Lori:

With a little convincing, I managed to get Gracie on board. I proceeded to pick her up and try to shimmy her feet through the window. She started to freak out.

Greg:

Lori tried to jam my kid through a tiny window! I panicked.  It was really out of character for me.  I was really concerned Gracie was going to get her head stuck and then we would need a locksmith and an ambulance. 

Lori:

With Gracie and Greg freaking out, I put Gracie down.   Hmmmmm.....was Sawyer up for a challenge?  Yes, he was!

Greg:

While I was trying to calm Gracie down after her full blown panic attack I looked around only to see Lori trying to jam Sawyer into the same window, head first!  I stood there, mouth hanging open while she crammed his fragile little body through the window. 

Lori:

Head first!  That was the key!  Like childbirth, if the head the shoulders fit then the rest is good to go.  I have never been so proud of that little boy as what I was when he wiggled his little body through that window. 

Greg:

Sawyer quickly unlocked the door.  Crisis over, I calmly walked back over to the campground office to ask them to call off the locksmith so I might avoid the call-out charge. 

Lori:

Finally inside the RV, I quickly realized we needed to get the boys dressed before Parker peed everywhere. 

Greg:

When I got back to the RV Lori was stripping all of the bedding off of our bed.  I guess the combination of a naked 2 year old and suddenly getting warm and cozy was too much.  Parker had peed everywhere. 

Lori:

Too late!

The Best

I suppose you have to experience the worst to fully appreciate the best.  The best part of the trip so far, was definitely our visit to Quebec.  Greg's exact words were "best father's day ever". 

We spent it at my friend Mireille's cabin tucked in between Montreal and Quebec. They have a lake that no one else appears to share with them.  It's amazing!  We detached the dock and floated it out to the middle of the lake where we anchored it. We then spent the afternoon drinking beer, swimming and enjoying the sun.  It really was fantastic!

We followed our time at the cabin up with a visit to Loretteville, Quebec.  It's where I spent 3 months of my grade 11 year year going to school. It was like a trip down memory lane.  Mireille and her family were fantastic hosts. It was so much fun to watch mine and Mireille's kids play together (Mireille and I have not seen each other for 15 years). Even though they didn't speak the same language, they seemed to figure out how to communicate.  

While in Lorretteville, we briefly escaped camping life to take in what Greg and I affectionately called "Vegas for kids".  It was like an indoor playground on speed.

The place was covered in neon lights and candy. It was really creepy but the swinging tree above was kind of cool.

Finally, we said our goodbyes to our hosts and we headed to the KOA in Quebec City.  It was pretty fun with the giant pillow trampoline and the playground (and the popsicles).

We hopped the shuttle from the campground to Old Quebec and spent the day wandering the streets.  I got to play tour guide because "le vieux" had at one time been my home too. It is one of my favourite places in this country and I realized how much I had missed it.  We showed the kids my old apartment, my old backyard (the plains of Abraham) and all the other tourist stops. Gracie and Sawyer even convinced us to take a horse carriage tour which turned out to be really fun. They both got to drive the horse - their highlight by far!

In the end, we all left Quebec feeling rested and content.  Je m'ennuie déja!

The Citadel in the middle of old Quebec. It is the only historic sight that is also an active military base. 

There is a cannonball lodged in this tree from the war between the French and English. 

Gracie gets involved in a street performance

Too much fun for one little man...

Ottawa - Part II

We survived and no one was actually voted out.  It was close though.   The children's unlikely alliance proved strong and I was very nearly voted out, largely because of my refusal to support the purchase of toys in every single town we pass through, but in the end I convinced one of them (my favorite) to change their vote and so we're still a family of 5.   
ed out of the family.

Today, fresh off our pirate adventure, we heeded the kids' threats of mutiny and ubered it down to Wellington Street instead of repeating yesterday's epic six hour bicycle excursion.    We first took in the historic Ottawa lock system on the Rideau Canal adjacent to the East Block of Parliament.  It was fascinating to see Parks Canada staff operating all 8 locks by hand, turning huge cranks to open and close the lock doors and the valves controlling the water.  We were also fascinated that there are no railings anywhere near the locks despite hundreds of people milling around an incredibly turbulent and dangerous set of historic hazards!

We took a water taxi across the Ottawa River to the Canadian Museum of History in Hull.  We only had time to take in the Children's Museum but the kids enjoyed it and it bought us some good will for our tours of the Parliament building and the Supreme Court of Canada. 

Our new ride...

Lori and Parker prefer this one, you can tell by her face...

The Parliament tour was pretty good.  I had never been in there before so I geeked out a little.  I have never before considered politics but being there made me just a little intrigued by the whole thing.   The guide talked a lot about how we would recognize things from watching media scrums on tv.   I couldn't stop thinking oh, there's the rotunda where the footage of them shooting at that guy was taken.    

It looks like one of the Famous Five is squishing Gracie

We got to the Supreme Court of Canada at the very end of they day.  I totally geeked out there.   It was inspiring.  The SCC courtroom seems so much bigger than it really is when you watch it on CPAC.   The Court is surprisingly well equipped to entertain young visitors so the kids got an activity book and they got to search for artifacts displayed in the lobby to win a prize.

By the end of the day it was hot, we were hungry and everything was closing but Ottawa has this incredible street called Sparks Street just a block south of Wellington.  On Sparks Street we found not one, not two but three giant gooseneck trailer food carts selling Southern Barbeque.  One of them was advertising that everything was gluten free so...we ate southern style barbeque on a park bench on a sweltering Ottawa evening.  It was amazing and it raised everyone's spirits.  Parker went from a hot mess to super happy and all it took was some authentic corn bread and a slurpee.   When he was done he started doing the hustle.  I swear to god. 

I can also report that I have learned of a secret salute between motorhome drivers when they pass on the highway.  I learned about it by waving at other motorhome drivers as they went past and watching for anyone to wave back.  Some of them actually do wave back.  Unfortunately this does not work with big rig truck drivers. 

Survivor Ottawa

Press this link and listen to the music while you read below...

Survivor Music

"On this season of Survivor, we are taking competitors to the political jungles of Ottawa. Here we have pitted family member against family member in a grueling competition to outwit, outlast and outplay.

Together they will compete in grueling competitions, like the 50 km bike ride to Mooney beach and back.  This competition will see some competitors fall..

 

While others will form unlikely alliances that further them in the game...

They will experience some of the worst conditions seen in Survivor history. Plus 29 degree weather (with humidity!) and forced to dress like pirates and participate in re-enactments on the Ottawa river; their shame will forever haunt them.

 

Yet, Survivor Ottawa will ultimately separate the weak from the strong and crown this season's sole survivor!"

The worst...

Sault Ste. Marie - June 16

In any long voyage there has to be a breaking point, for us that happened at the two week mark. We were in Sault Ste. Marie that morning wandering the boardwalk and visiting the Canadian locks.  That's where the ships drive into this long canal and this door swings closed behind them.  The water is then let out of the canal and the ship lowers down to the water level on the other side.  It's like an elevator for ships.  We were watching the locks and melting in the early morning sun and humidity.  Our tick count for the day was already at 3.  I should've known it wasn't going to end well....

At about 3 pm we decided to leave "the Soo" and head for a campground "just outside of Sudbury" for the night.  Our children were hot, cranky and tired.  We were too.  You'd think for a city roughly the same size as St. Albert it would be easy for me to navigate us directly to the highway. You'd be wrong. I managed to get us lost for about 45 minutes just wandering Sault Ste. Marie in our RV.  Greg was having to back the RV up in some pretty tiny places; I could feel my popularity falling by the minute.

Finally, we reached the highway. AH, FREEDOM! We were Fairbanks Campground bound.  It was going to be awesome.  Greg was still speaking to me through clenched teeth, but at least he was speaking to me again.  3 hours later we turned onto a gravel road. According to my superior navigating skills, this was the road to Fairbanks campground.  Yet, there wasn't any signage and it seemed to lead to farm houses. We were lost.

Greg turned the RV around in a ditch.  It wasn't pretty. I was now less popular than head lice and Nickelback.

Finally we found the exit to Fairbanks campground.  The road to the campground was mostly missing.  It was like Saskatchewan had taken a hold of the backcountry around Sudbury.  2 hours later we finally pulled into the campground for the night.  We gently navigated our way to our site which was too short and involved a sheer cliff drop off at the end.  After multiple tries to get into other sites, Greg had reached his breaking point.  We were leaving! I was scared to drive down that road again.  So at 10 o'clock at night we pulled into the group site. It was huge, there was no power and Greg was not levelling that "stupid RV".  The next morning we left at 5 am for Ottawa. Fairbanks campground would forever be known as Suckybanks to us.

We looked into switching drivers... apparently he couldn't reach the gas pedal. 

Group site B - thank you for saving my marriage.

Please don't leave us with these people...