And in an instant, we're back in Australia.

We had a wonderful trip to Canada, and as usual the only complaint was that it didn't last long enough!  It was much more fun to have a travel companion rather than going solo, although it did make the logistics for where to stay/with who/when a little more difficult but I think we managed pretty well.

The weather was beautiful, particularly on the most important day - D'Arcy and Birte's wedding day!  I don't think they could have asked for a more perfect day.  It was great to be back at the farm for another wedding - and this time not have to deal with any of the stresses of it being my own!  I don't remember being that stressed, actually, but at your own wedding you feel obligated to do the rounds and make sure you're not neglecting anyone whereas at this one I could dance the night away :)

It was also fantastic to spend some time at Hartley and Peggy's cottage, which is one of my favourite places.  Jeremy and I spent the night after the wedding there, reading and relaxing which was the ideal thing to do after all the excitement.  We had a soundtrack of Ontario wildlife in the background, including the loon.  My parents drove up with their seadoo and met us at Charleston Lake after our night at the cottage and saw the cottage for the first time.  We spent quite a bit of time swimming in the lake, which is almost unheard of at the beginning of June, but that is just how gorgeous it was.

I finally got to meet my nephew and niece, Caleb and Aliana.  I think it went pretty well.  I can still hear choruses of "Aunt Leaaaaaaaaaaaana" and "Feliz Doobidoo".  We named some cows, played in leaf piles, talked nonsense and did all sorts of other fun things that a 4 year old and a 2 year old would enjoy.  I'm looking forward to our next encounter!

I also got to re-explore my favourite Canadian city, Montreal.  I hadn't been in almost ten years and during my weekend there I remembered why it had been my favourite city.  It's so vibrant, alive, happening...we were there for Ronan and Adam's bachelor party and there was no end to the festivities.  Over the weekend, we had dinner in the dark, rented a private karaoke room, went to a poutine restaurant, walked around the city, had a swim in the hotel pool, had dinner in the gay village, danced the night away at a club in the gay village.  I think Ro and Adam really enjoyed themselves, which is obviously the most important part!

That's probably enough of an update for now although I haven't even touched on half of our trip.  I always find the jet lag coming back to be much worse and this time was no exception.  In fact, this time was the very worst!  I think we're almost back to normal now, but yuck...no fun!