About Our Family

John and I met when we were 12 years old. Seriously. We both grew up in a small town in Newfoundland, Canada. We met when we were volunteering at the local hospital and were friends throughout high school. We lost track of each other for a few years and as fate would have it, in third year university our apartments were three doors away from each other. He was studying biology and I was studying French and Education with a goal to be a French teacher.

Two years later we started dating and the rest, they say, is history. I taught in St. John’s, Newfoundland while John completed his Masters degree and then we moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia for him to do his Ph.D in Biochemistry. By that time, I had been teaching French Immersion for five years but was yearning to make a change. I started law school a year later and we were married the year before I graduated. Law school is where I was meant to be. I LOVED it! The year after my graduation John decided to become a lawyer as well. The field was in desperate need for lawyers with scientific backgrounds so he defended his Ph.D. while in second year law.

I was working in Ottawa that year and we spent as much time as possible travelling between Ottawa and Halifax. At the end of the year, we were in desperate need of a real vacation. While I tagged along with John when he attended conferences in British Columbia and Georgia, we had never really gone on a vacation. I researched and researched until we had planned our first trip: Mayan Riviera, Mexico. It was fantastic and we both were smitten with the travel bug but it would be five years and two babies later before we were able to plan another trip.

We started travelling with the kids when Lucas was 4 years old and Sydney was only 8 months old. We knew we wanted to travel somewhere but had no idea where to go until I saw an ad in the local paper for free dining at Disney World if you stay on site. We didn’t have much money but we did have Aeroplan points. The only route we had enough points for was Ottawa to Tampa so that was our route. I was so unsure and spent months planning. We flew into Tampa, picked up a rental car and drove to Disney World. We stayed at All Star Movies as, at the time, it was the least expensive on-site location for our family of four. It was amazing! I learned quickly that with proper planning, travelling as a family was not only doable, it was incredibly fun and exciting. 

Little did we realize at the time that we would return to Disney World very soon. Four months after our first visit, Sydney was diagnosed with neuroblastoma. It was caught very early and we will always be eternally grateful for that. She needed surgery and regular monitoring for years to come but otherwise, she was going to be ok. After her surgery, we needed to get away. It was only six months after our very first family trip but we already were planning our second. Within a few weeks, we were back in Disney. It was a short visit but exactly what our little family (of almost 5!) needed. 

From this time onward, we returned to Disney World every year, sometimes twice a year. It was our way of getting away from it all. Our way to bond as a family. 

When Sydney was granted a wish from Children’s Wish Foundation, she could have asked for anything but she wished to eat with the princesses and swim with the dolphins: at Disney World.  

She was too young to swim with dolphins but she did get to feed them and pet them at Sea World Orlando.

We also visited Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure which we all loved. Lucas was a huge fan of Disney roller coasters and was ready to try the big ones, especially the Harry Potter rides as he has always been a big fan. 

The most excited part of Sydney's wish was becoming a princess at the Bippity Boppity Boutique and eating with the princesses. It was pure magic. 

Our trip that year was truly magical.

Disney World was for a very long time our happy place. We visited again in 2012, when we brought my parents with us, and also in 2014.

By our fifth family vacation to Disney World, our feet were getting itchy to explore beyond our Disney bubble. In 2010, the winter before Sydney's Wish Trip, we brought the kids to an all-inclusive resort in the Mayan Riviera, Mexico. A different one than John and I had visited so many years ago but still familiar and within our comfort zone. It was a whole new travel experience but it taught us something. We could go ANYWHERE with the kids. With proper planning, every vacation could be fun and stress free. Yes, we learned that Lucas pukes on bus rides from the airport to the hotel. So for future trips, we booked a car transfer. Yes, we learned that Sydney burns terribly no matter how much sun block she uses. So for future trips, we brought several different types of sunblock and reapplied every 30 minutes. Yes, we learned that private guides and tours work best for us so that we can go at the kids’ speed and make changes. So for future trips, we try and book private guides as long as the price isn’t too high. But we also learned that Lucas is an adventurer at heart. At the age of 6 he raced his dad to the top of Coba pyramid while I waited at the bottom with Sydney and CJ. We learned that all the kids love to experience and learn about art and culture. They were enthralled with the tour of the Coba ruins, shopping at a local market and visiting a local school in Akumal. The world was ours to explore.

We decided that Autumn that we would make another winter visit to the Caribbean. After much research, we decided on Beaches Ocho Rios in Jamaica. The children were a year older and we discovered how sociable they were, even outside the comforts of home. They loved meeting and hanging out with new friends and rushing down the water slides at the resort. 

But they also truly enjoyed visiting a local basic school and meeting Jamaican children their own age. We went to the adjoined chapel, said prayers together to start their day and explored the classroom.

They also enjoyed visiting Dunn’s River Falls (we didn’t climb it because they were still very young), visiting what is now Konoko Gardens and Waterfalls, visiting Ferngully and learning about our guide and his family. We also learned on this trip that all three of our children LOVE food. All kinds of food! They were willing to try anything and loved jerk chicken and festival. Too bad they didn’t eat like that at home!

By 2012, John was travelling extensively for work. I still remember my reaction when he told me he was flying to England. That was over the ocean! Seriously?! What was then a surprise became our norm. Friends would ask where John was, assuming he was in some far flung location; and they were probably right.

In August 2012 the kids and I were visiting friends in Windsor, Ontario. John flew into Windsor from an overseas business trip so he could visit with friends and drive back to Ottawa with us. The day he arrived, out of the blue, he told us we should travel to Switzerland for a month the following summer. I thought he was crazy. How do you travel to Europe with kids for a month?! Where do you stay for that long? How do you get around? How can you handle that much luggage for five people? By then we knew Sydney was allergic to nuts. How do you handle allergies when you don’t speak the language? It was clear. He had lost his mind. But our sweet friend looked at me and said: “Your husband just asked you to travel to Europe for a month. Are you crazy? Jump at it and say yes!” Well, maybe it was possible.

The idea slowly caught hold. The research started as soon as we returned to Ottawa. Yes, maybe it was possible. It was then that my over planning personality was born, and, in fact, thrived. Since that month-long visit to Switzerland, where we also squeezed in a week to Paris, we’ve visited Europe almost every summer: so far we’ve visited England, Belgium, Paris, Switzerland, Rome and Spain. We've also returned to Jamaica several times and plan to branch out to other Caribbean islands in future.

It hasn’t all been easy. I was in a pretty bad car accident several years ago from which I still haven’t recovered. I can’t plan like I used to. I depend on guides more so that we have the same kind of experiences as we had prior to the accident. Our days can’t be as long, I’m sensitive to noise and light. But I refuse to let this stop what we’ve started with the children. They’ve grown into bright, caring, brave, resilient little people who deserve to experience everything this world has to offer. I will not let this car accident impact them more than it already has. For this reason, we continue to travel. It’s just, well, different than it used to be.

I love planning our trips and I love the memories it has given our family all these years. I’ve pruned packing lists, stayed in oodles of hotels and hired amazing guides. I’ve written and re-written itineraries so they’re just perfect and I’ve read more travel blogs and travel forums than you can imagine. I haven’t been able to work much since the accident and I haven’t been able to keep up with the photo albums and the travel journals that the kids and I used to write on each trip.  

I saw a quote recently that said “Sometimes you have to accept the fact that certain things will never go back to how they used to be.” So, maybe there’s another way. I thought maybe, just maybe, writing a blog may be a way to help others like so many other bloggers have helped me. I also thought that it would be a wonderful way for the children to have all the memories of our trips in one place. A place they can revisit time and time again.

So here it is! My new venture! I hope it helps you to plan your own very special journeys.