We left on a hot July afternoon. Normally when we visit it’s warm when we leave, cold when we arrive. Cold there, not here.

There is Ontario, Canada. There is where I was born and raised. There is where most of my family is.

This time it felt hotter there. There has humid summers.

We arrived to my sweet brother and his cute girlfriend waiting for us at the airport. They had snacks all ready for us in the car, and we had a nice tour of the town before getting on the road to go to our parents’ house (thank you Google Maps lady voice). It was super late, so we giggled a lot (like when I told the guy at the toll booth to have a good night and my brother replied, “You too.”).

We enjoyed a lot of good time with the family. Really, it was an incredibly awesome time. We had a 60th birthday party for my dad. We got to hug/squeeze/play with our 10 month old niece again. We got to visit the farm where my brother, his partner, and little daughter live. We ate snap peas from their field and picked sour cherries from their trees. We had the privilege of having dinner with their community – a delicious farmers meal of Chicken with Mushrooms, Greens and Potatoes, Beets, Baked Beans, Green Salad, Boston Brown Bread, and an incredible Sour Cherry and Berry Cobbler. Oh to eat that meal again tonight…

We ate a lot of junk food too. A LOT a lot. I guess it’s just what we do on vacation. We hang out, watch movies, read books, lay on blankets on the grass watching the baby store things under her legs and eat currants. And we eat chips and ice cream every day. Because it’s vacation.

We barbecued. We had things like Steak, Burgers, and Beer Can Chicken. We had three kinds of Potato Salads. We had Angel Scones, Cinnamon Buns, Chelsea Buns, Chocolate Cupcakes with Salted Caramel Frosting, and Banana Muffins.

I don’t know that I was ever hungry on this trip. We talked about what we would have at dinner while we were still eating lunch.

After spending the first half of the week at my parent’s place, we drove 4 hours East to my Aunt and Uncle’s cottage for the reunion. Husband and I rode in the back of my parents’ VW Westfalia. Remember when I said that it was hot and humid in Ontario in July? Westie = no air conditioning. That’s cool when the windows are down and we’re driving fast. But, we got stuck in traffic in Toronto…

We laughed a lot with the family, much of it a result of many games of Mad Libs. As it got later and later, the answers got funnier and funnier. The second night we got the whole family playing. My parents were laughing harder than I’ve seen them laugh in a long time.

We’d been hoping for a nice thunderstorm while we were in Ontario. We don’t get many here in LA, so we thought it might be nice. We got one. We were camping. We woke up to pouring rain, thunder and lightning at 3am. We were damp, tired, and our air mattress was slowly losing air. I’m not the outdoorsy type. I survived.

The rain went away, and we enjoyed the remainder of our weekend swimming in the lake (which kinda freaks me out – I don’t like to not be able to see the bottom), reading books on the deck, catching up with the family, enjoying the next generation of our family (those kids are seriously amazing!), and eating, always eating.

And now we’re back. I can’t say that I’m glad yet. It was a great trip and it’s always hard to be back home when it means being far away from people that I love so much. I try to make myself feel better by starting to plan the next trip, but they’re still there and I’m still here…

Angel Scones

Last modified on 2013-07-25 23:50:01 GMT. 0 comments. Top.