sleeping

it was a lovely christmas.

after church on christmas eve my family all gathered at my sister's place. we played apples to apples after the kids were in bed. i was amazed at how well my mom and carol did. it definitely revealed a new side of them.

b and i slept on a blow up bed, and woke early in the morning to the sound of my family gathering in the kitchen. the kids did so well, we didn't open our gifts until around 10 or 11 and they were very patient. the present opening ceremony was fun as usual, and b fit in to the mix really well. that was followed by a early christmas dinner, then it was time for us to head to nancy and gerry's place. we had a nice time there too. just casually eatting apps, and watched a movie together that night. we stayed over night there too. we're really grateful that both our families live in town so we can see both in one day.

boxing day was pretty relaxing. we went to a matinee and ate popcorn, then just chilled in the evening. we had to go to bed early because we had an early start the next day. we left at 8:30 and drove to north bay to visit brendan's dad. it was fun. i'd never been there before and the drive there was beautiful. it was so great getting to share the driving, but we had a few tense moments because i tend to still give him driving instructions. i know i'm being a backseat driver, but he's only had his license for 6 weeks and has never driven at such high speeds before. hopefully that will get better and i'll relax more when he gets more experience. he did great. we split the driving 3 hours and 3 hours. i'd never been on the trans-canada highway before, i felt super excited and happy to being doing something new. it was really beautiful driving in the winter. the trees were bare so we could see lakes that would usually be hidden by leaves. and the hills!! my goodness. i came to realize that i'm truly a southern ontario girl and don't know much north of the 401 :S the weather was great! although we were surprised to find so much snow in north bay, there's still none here! it helped me understand why andrew and shannon are disappointed by kingston winters. we stayed at a best western, and went swimming twice and in the hot-tub! brendan was reluctant at first, but loved the hot-tub he said he could sleep in it. we really enjoyed the hotel and kind of made the decision to stay at a hotel at least once a year just for fun and relaxation. even if it's just one in kingston.

it was great seeing brendan's dad andy. he showed us all around north bay and took us out for dinner. he's pretty extroverted and talks pretty freely, which made him easy to be around. i found all his stories about north bay interesting so i genuinely enjoyed chatting to him. he's a nice man, and very optimistic, he was so thrilled that we'd came to visit. the next morning we went out for breakfast and he took us to see some nice horses then we went for a walk. soon it was time to head home for another 6 hours drive.

we drove 12 hours in 36 hours. but it was fun, i really had a good time.

now that we're home we're just relaxing. it's been great. a super vacation :D

we're out to prove the truth of the man from galilee.