heading out from my mom's place

I have a lot of wonderful friends, and I am so grateful to all those fantasti people who helped us out with this move. For all the cleaning, packing, meals, help with the kids, and the care packages we were sent off with. We feel very loved, and that makes saying goodbye that much harder.

Theo and Holden are my nephews that lived next door to us. They are Leif's best BFF's. Those are his words. When we got here, Leif and I sat and cried for awhile together. He said "I want to go home and ride my bike with my boys." He will miss them the most I think. Violet adores those boys as well.

first stop in Hope. Leif says "look at my butt."

So let me tell you a little about the journey. It was long! We were loaded with new movies, toys, books, and lots of junk food. The kids went through all the new toys before we reached Rae-Anne's place 20 minutes from my mothers. We managed to go movie free until we reached Merrit, two and half hours in. We drove from there to a town I will call "Trout Leg" (to protect it's identity) with few stops, but lots of whining and crying. By the time we arrived Rae and I were ready to leave the kids at the Travelodge and run away. We stayed the night there, and it was one of the ugliest, most depressing towns I've ever been in, and to call it shabby would be a compliment. It was like traveling back in time, sort of. We wouldn't have stopped had we been kid free. To the children it was exciting to stay in a hotel for the first time. Leif even asked if it was our new home. Yikes!

 We couldn't get out of that town fast enough. The drive from there to Golden was slightly less torturous. The scenery got more beautiful and two of the kids had short naps. We did however have to endure at least four long hours of Punky Brewster episodes. My mother bought a season of the show for the kids. "Thank-you mother." That theme song is now burned into my brain. We took many pictures on the remainder of the drive. The mountains were spectacular, and the lakes were endless. However the roads were steep and winding and I couldn't help but wonder if I will be able to make it back to B.C for christmas, as I so want to. It's what I have to look forward to. 

Our last stop on the drive before arriving at our new home was Lake Louise. I am so glad that Rae-Anne suggested that we stop there because that place was spectacular. We couldn't take enough pictures. The water was such an amazing color, and even the smell up there was wonderful. I look forward to going back there often. It would be a nice, getaway. 

I know my pictures don't do it justice. There was quite a glare on the lake from the sun, and I'm not much of a photographer. I promise, it was amazing though.
 We are at our cute little house now, and I look forward to getting settled in and decorating to make it feel more like our home. I will post pictures of it on FB when we get set up. I hope that soon this place will feel like home to me. For now though I have a great heartache, and I miss all those near and dear on the west coast.