Newfoundland

I figured it's about time I showed you a few of our pictures of our trip to Newfoundland. A trip across the country like this is one of those things we've talked about... but never really thought we'd do it anytime soon. And then my brother got married there. Made for a nice excuse to go out there :)
I was a little nervous about travelling for almost 10 hours with Justin over night - but he did really well. He definitely didn't sleep his regular 12 hours, but he did manage to sleep several hours on the plane. And, even with this lack of sleep, he was a very well behaved, happy boy. I really didn't have to worry about anything.
We spent the first part of our trip in the town of Gander, where T & L got married. We had a most wonderful host family while we were there. We slept in their RV, ate a lot of our meals with them, and just really enjoyed being with this family! When I discovered a stain on Martin's shirt for the wedding the day before the wedding, C even took care of cleaning it for me! Justin also very much enjoyed this family - especially their 12-year old son, J. He took to him instantly. One night around midnight (since a 4-hour time difference affects a little boy's ability to sleep), J had Justin laughing harder than we've ever seen before or since. It was a real "belly" laugh - and one of the cutest things ever. Too bad we didn't get that on video. But that will always be a fun memory!! Thanks again L's for everything!!
When we weren't doing wedding-related things, we spent some time with my family just seeing some of the country there.

Note: Martin wanted to find a place with "open ocean" very bad. We missed the spot that was recommended to us to stop, and decided to stop here instead. Martin and Dad got some great shots... but the girls got attacked by hoards of crazy little bugs! Don't think we'll ever forget that ;)

Gander also had a new splash park there that Justin enjoyed very, very much! He had the most fun the first day we went there, but of course, I forgot my camera that time. He had fun this time too, though - so here's a few pictures of the fun he had in the water there.
Of course, meeting Uncle Thys & Auntie Leah was a highlight of the trip too. My picture with Justin & Leah didn't turn out, but as you can see, Thys knew how to win our little boy over: food :) This is them at the rehersal dinner.
And the whole reason for the trip:
Congratulations Thys & Leah!!
After the wedding weekend was over, we headed out with just the 3 of us for the rest of our time away. The first day, we spent some time in St. John's - we did the "touristy" things and saw Signal Hill and Cape Spear.

The most easterly point in North America

We stayed in the little town of Tors Cove in this house. The owner was very friendly, and when he heard we wanted to hike part of the East Coast trail, he offered to have us drop our vehicle at one spot and then he drove us to the next entrance point so that we wouldn't have to go back and forth on the same trail. That was great, because it gave us time to do another part of the trail a little further on that day as well! Here's some pictures of our hiking day. All that ocean air tuckered this little guy out.

He slept through the rest of the hike, getting transferred

into the carseat and then for the next hour or so until

we got to the next part of our hike.

Enjoying a campfire at the place we stayed.

The next day we headed back for home again. Again, Justin did super well - thanks mostly to Martin - I just didn't seem to have the right touch this time :)We chose a little longer layover in Calgary so that we could visit Martin's mom & dad for a couple of hours. Mom found a nice park near the airport and packed a delicious picnic lunch. It was so nice to see them and get to have a break in the long day of travelling.

Back at the airport, waiting for our next flight.

Coming home was so nice! It was especially fun to see Justin go check out his favorite play spots in the house. He has 3, and he raced (yes, he still crawls, but he's pretty quick) from one to the next to the next!