Here’s the first post from our fabulous 14 days in Ontario and Quebec. This post actually covers the first two and a half days of our trip, as well as a few days in the middle, since we kept coming back!

We arrived in Toronto at just after six in the morning, after catching the red eye from Edmonton. Despite Belle being absolutely perfect, we were both exhausted. Michelle found us a fantastic buffet in a hotel attached to Pearson International and we recharged with coffee and a delicious breakfast. We cabbed downtown, grabbed our rental car, and headed out to cottage country!

The cottage was being rented by Yvon and Claudine, who we also stayed with in Toronto, who also rescued us from our car breakdown, who also found us a baby monitor to use at the wedding, who also let us use their GPS for the car so we wouldn’t get lost, who also lent us a guidebook for Quebec, since we forgot the one my parents lent us, who also… Anyway, as you can see, they were absolutely amazing to us, and we can’t wait to stay with them again next year, since we had a ridiculously fun time with them. Michelle’s godparents, Jacqueline and Roger (also Claudine’s parents), were already there when we arrived, and we had a great time introducing them to Belle and catching up. We also got to meet Harley the bulldog, so with the Simards’ two dogs as well, it meant six adults, one baby and three dogs in a two bedroom cottage! It worked amazingly, and we had a blast (though it did mean that we were very grateful for the sound blocker, headphone things that Kathleen brought us, since they really helped Belle with her naps.

We spent our time at the cabin getting tours of the lakes, playing with Harley, drinking wine, eating great food, making s’mores, having great conversations and sleeping in the “bunkie” which was like a mini-cottage with our bed in it. It was my first time in “cottage country,” and it’s almost enough to make me want to move to Ontario… at least in the summer.