Canada, Eh?

It’s hard to live just one hour from the Canadian border and NOT take a trip to another country when we have visitors, so today was the day for that. We faced the dilemma of taking two vehicles or leaving one person at home, since our van technically only holds seven passengers. Since I had plenty of housework, laundry and shopping to do, I opted out of crossing over to the other side. Kaleb decided to stay home too, since there wasn’t anything up in Canada that interested him in the least, so Kory was the chauffer and took the Norwegians north for the day while Kaleb and I bought groceries, cleaned the house and watered the garden. I think it was a good choice for everyone. Kaleb kind of liked being home alone as he was outside in the sunshine all day just entertaining himself and helping me when I needed it.




It was a little bit exciting for our company to get a “two for one,” visiting two different countries on one vacation, especially since none of them had ever been to Canada before. It was only a few minute wait to cross the border, then they were off to Vancouver, BC to see what that city looked like. They walked around the main shopping street, went to an underground shopping center, had lunch at an American restaurant and headed out to Stanley Park, the jewel of the city. It was a perfect day for walking along the trail that encases the park (see photo). They took a few photos, checked out the prices of things and were glad for the experience.



Inger is a very gifted artist that makes cards and scrapbook pages like no other. She has found her little piece of heaven here at the Michael’s store, the crafter’s supermarket for all things creative. She has been to Michaels nearly every day she’s been here in America, using up coupons and taking advantage of sales. Lucky for her there are several locations and each has something different to offer. On the way back from Canada, Kory stopped off at a Michaels so Inger could buy some type of special cutting system because she had a 40% off coupon and they had a special sale today for an extra 15% off. It was the highlight of her day to buy this thing for about one third the cost of it in Norway. While the boys were all waiting out in the car for her to finish shopping, Kory asked the twins, “What do you find at Mickey’s house?” They answered, “Mickey.” Then he asked, “What do you find at Michaels?” and they answered, “Mama.” They all had a good laugh over that one.



I had dinner waiting for them when they got home and it was still warm enough even at 8:30 to eat outside on the deck. Kory and I left afterwards to go over to the Smith’s house to retrieve their motor home, which we will use tomorrow on a little road trip around Washington state. (They are very generous people and we are lucky to know them.) We also enjoyed a glorious tour of their new house and my only regret was that Inger and Bjørn weren’t with us because seeing inside of that house was like walking into a magazine photo. It would be nice if something they saw here in America fit their expectations, as the reality of our world is so different from what is portrayed in the movies – except for maybe that house.