It’s hard to believe that we have been in Canada for almost a month now, everything is happening so fast and we have been enjoyably busy.
We started our time in Canada over in Rosebud, AB, where Eben’s parents and sister live. We were there to attend Jaala and Jordan’s wedding, which was our major reason for coming back to Canada this summer. They had planned a beautiful outdoor wedding, but as their date approached we realized that mother nature was not in agreement with their plans, which sort of turned out to be ok for our boat family as we were finding the weather EXTREMELY cold. Their wedding was beautiful, fun, and everything that you would want it to be…but not without a traditional Stolz Wedding mess-up.
We snuck out of the wedding reception to take a family pic as we realized we didn’t have a single one of all of us dressed up.
At Jair and Mel’s wedding one of the girls got a bloody nose on Mel’s wedding dress. At our wedding about 90% of our guests, ourselves included, got food poisoning. At Cyra and Sebastian’s wedding two car loads of us showed up late for the ceremony and a few of them had caught an Ecuadorian tummy bug. At Jaala and Jordan’s wedding, the most recent (and thankfully the last for us unlucky folks) the bridesmaids and newlyweds fell through a staircase that collapsed under during picture time.
It was so wonderful spending a couple of weeks with all of the family together in one spot, since we are usually all over the place (Caribbean, Mexico, B.C. Alberta). We all crammed into the Stolz residence and soaked up as much of the family time as possible before we all dispersed again.
Saying goodbye to Eben, for our longest time apart ever.
About a week after the wedding Eben hopped on a flight back to our sailboat in St Thomas. Before leaving for Canada he had a few boat projects offered to him, and with our financials right now, and the extra expenses of a trip to Canada, we figured it was smart for him to accept the jobs and go back to the boat for a month. We could have easily all gone back to the boat, but that would’ve meant paying 4 plane tickets back there, and then back again for more weddings in Canada at the end of this summer. So we split for the month, him there and us in Canada. This will be the longest Eben and I have EVER spent apart.
Eben sewed 10 bean bags for a friend of ours’ charter fleet. Just one of his many sewing projects.
Eben is keeping himself busy, sewing sewing sewing. And the girls and I are keeping busy on our end too. We are staying with our friends Luc and Amanda, and their two boys, in their home in Beaumont, AB. Are days are filled with kids playtime, homeschooling, working out (coached by my amazing friend Cari), and other routines like nap time and meal time. On weekends, when all our friends are off work we get extra booked, trying to get all the visits in while we are here. Another fun coincidence is that my sister is actually in the Edmonton area right now as well! We’re trying to get the most time in with her as well, to get our Aunty NeNe fix.
Hanging out with Aunty Nene at the Farmers’ Day parade
Being away from Canada for the past year and a half has made me feel like I just don’t get this place anymore…it’s June and I am freezing, and the sun goes down later than I remember! How did I ever forget these things!? At first I was wearing my one and only pair of pants everyday, but thankfully for me, my Fig stuff (for whom I have been selected to be a brand ambassador) arrived to keep me slightly warmer in this arctic country. As for the girls we made a quick stop at Old Navy to score them some long sleeved pjs and shirts so they don’t turn into Canadian icicles on me.
Whenever the sun comes out we let the kids go play outside
Jokes aside, it has been super nice being back, hanging out with everyone, and being in a different climate (apparently its ridiculously hot on the boat right now, hurricane season heat). We do miss Eben a lot, I do miss the cost of wine in the Virgin Islands, and we sometimes miss being in our little floating home, but we are extremely happy to have the opportunity to spend time with our loved ones.
Entertaining ourselves, a little family yoga.
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