Because of Love: Canada

About a month ago, actually on Alyse's first day of school and dance, I got a phone call from my Dad that my Grandpa had passed away. It was a little bit of a surprise, but also expected. My mom has been in Canada to be with my Grandpa most of this year. He had some serious heath issues and surgeries. He had been doing better. So again, we knew it was coming, we just didn't expect it to happen when it did.

Of course we knew that we would be taking a trip to Canada to go to the memorial service. It was kinda funny because Alyse wasn't sure why we were going to Grandpa's house since he was in Heaven now.

So we were off on a 12hr car ride to Ridgeway. (It's a small town not far from Niagara Falls.)

The car ride was pretty good. We learned that Alyse does not do great in the mountains.... but praise God that I have good travelers. They were happy to watch movies, play on the iPad, and look at books.

Finally it was time to cross the boarder into Canada. (Yep, Breeley slept through it.)

The first day we just hung out at my Grandpa's house. I helped my mom with some planning and organizing. The girls did a lot of exploring.

Y'all might not "get" this picture but it makes me smile.

My sister and I use to play with these rocks all the time.... but we got in trouble with my Grandpa. :)

The next day we decided to get out of the house and have some fun. We headed out to Niagara Falls.

My husband and children made me ride this.

(I'm not a fan of heights or rides...)

Then we walked around for a little bit.

We were waiting on my parents so we did a little shopping.

Then we had lunch at the Rainforest Cafe.

After lunch the girls somehow talked their Papa into taking them into an arcade to play some games.

Then it was back to the Falls.

We decided that we had to ride the Maid of the Mist.

(It's a boat that goes almost to the base of the Falls.)

Alyse loved this. She thought it was so fun.

I don't remember very much of it because I was trying to keep track of a crazy 2yr old named Breeley as she was running all over the place. She thought it was so funny to run back and forth between my Mom and I.

Then it was back to more touristy fun.

Of course we had to go to the Hersey Store where the employees apparently loved my children and kept giving them chocolate kisses. They could have stayed there all day.

Right next door was a Coca Cola store. Alyse got to eat her chocolate ice cream and I got a Diet Coke in a glass bottle. Josh had both ice cream and a bottled Coke, of course. Breeley just kept getting more and more chocolate handouts and was taken behind the bar to chose anything she wanted. I was hoping for a chocolate chip cookie but she was happy with more kisses.

Finally we drove to Niagara on the Lake.

(It's a very pretty shopping district. I love it there!)

We didn't have much time so we did mostly window shopping and a stop at the Christmas store.

The next day was the memorial service.

So thankful for my husband who entertained the girls during the visitation and then took Breeley (my not so quiet child) during the actual service.

After all the funeral events we over, we packed up and headed to Toronto where my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins live. They were more than welcoming to us and it was so nice to spend time with them.

They have a pool and my girls were so excited to go swimming.

(Yes, swimming at the end of September in Canada. The heat was turned way up!)

The next morning Breeley was in her "baby suit" by 9am.

Later that night we left the girls to entertain my family and Josh and I headed to the new Elevation GTA. Our church is starting a new location in the Greater Toronto Area and we were so excited to go visit. They have not officially launched yet, but our friends John and Heather Bishop moved there at the beginning of September to be the campus pastors. (They are Core Team members of Elevation and were the campus pastors of our Matthews location but felt lead to go to Canada to help a group of people who really wanted an Elevation Church there in Toronto.)

When we walked in it brought back a lot of memories of "the old days" and it was so good to see John and Heather. They are amazing! Josh and I were so glad we got to go see them and Elevation GTA. We were so impressed and I know God is going to do great things!