The Story of Canada 2011 - Chapter 3 - The Wedding

This past summer, I was back in Canada to spend time with my family. The months up to my trip were hard. My Mormor died in June - just a bit over a month before I was supposed to visit her. Losing her reminded me that family is important. No matter how far I am from them, they are my family. No matter how crazy and screwed up we can be, we are family. When Cydney and Tyson got married, we celebrated life and happiness and Mormor was there in spirit - she was the sunshine looking down at us. 

My family is split up all over the world and that means I don't see them as often as I would like to. My aunt - mom's sister - lives in the States with her kids and grandkids. I hadn't seen them for years, especially my youngest cousin, Cydney. She was unable to attend the last family reunion which meant we hadn't seen each other since I was around 15 years old. So you can only imagine how awesome and amazing it was to see everyone at Cyd and Tyson's wedding. It was a gorgeous day. The sun was shining and people were happy. It was a great feeling being a part of the family again and not just relying on emails and pictures. 

Mom, checking out the wedding site as things were getting set up. The weather was just gorgeous for an outdoor wedding. 

Cydney and Tyson. He is a nice guy and is crazy enough to be a part of our little family. 

My baby cousin grew up into a beautiful woman. 

A private moment between the bride and groom. 

The things you do to avoid grass stains!

My family!

Wedding ceremony. Dad was taking all these amazing pictures. 

"You are now husband and wife. You may now... eat the cake." 

Christin - crazy bridesmaid. Mom. Katie - my cousin's wife.   

Cydney and Mom.

Thank you for letting me be a part of your day.

Dad is pretty talented behind the camera lens. It was hard to pick and choose which pictures to use on this post - I have so many! 

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The Story of Canada 2011 - Chapter 2 - G&N, Dad and Biksen

Canada 2011 - a wonderful summer. One evening, I was at Glenda's place and we were talking about my dad's boat.... after a short chat, we called up my dad and arranged a day for Glenda and Nathan to come with us for a short trip on Biksen. My dad loves those two so it didn't take any time to convince him that they should come with us when we move the boat back to Hidden Harbour. What a perfect day - the sun was shining, we ate lunch on the boat and just had a really good day. The only downside was that we didn't have much wind and we didn't have all day to putter around in the ocean. But a wonderful few hours with some of my favourite people in the world.

Glenda and Nathan, waiting for Biksen to be put back into the water.

Biksen is being put back into the water, while Glenda and Nathan keep an eye out on things.

Glenda! One of the coolest people on earth!

Captain Nathan - Love this picture!!

Taking a break from being the captain and enjoying the quiet up front.

Teehee, sorry dad, couln't resist. Love this picture too!

Nathan - I hope he had a good day!

Nathan and Glenda - thanks for a great day!

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The Story of Canada 2011 - Chapter 1 - Dad and Biksen, the boat.

So I'm slowly going through my photos from my Canada 2011 trip this summer..... All 1000 pictures!! Yes, I come from a family of photographers and we all LOVE taking pictures. So between all of us, we managed to take a 1000 pictures during the three week time period I was home. I want to share my trip with those of you who care and decided that I would do it in chapters on my blog and overwhelm you all with babble and pictures. (I tend to babble...) So here we go, in random order; The Story of Canada 2011.

Chapter 1 - Dad and Biksen, the boat.

Dad has a sailboat, a Contessa 26 - that's one of his biggest passions. Dad had to sail Biksen to Sidney from Vic West to get some work done on the hull and we decided to make a day trip out of it. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, maybe even too sunny and hot and we had a good time. We sailed to Sidney Spit and spent the night there, ate steak and eggs, did some fishing and had a nice quiet night. Then we sailed into the harbour where we got Biksen hauled up and started cleaning, painting and polishing the hull. It was nice spending some alone time with my dad.

Walking from the house to the boat - see the cruise ship?

Hidden Harbour - where Biksen lives.

The captain getting ready for our sailing trip. He had to do most of the work since I know NOTHING about sailing.

Slowly sailing out of the harbour, past the houseboats.

Oh Canada!!

The big cruise ship, up close and personal!

Captain Jens!

Victoria, British Columbia!

Trying to escape the sun while fishing - the fish were there but they didn't bite!

My face was so burned from the sun.

Steak and eggs for dinner. YUM!

Enjoying the view.

Sunset

Sunset that evening was gorgeous!!

Waiting to get hauled up out of the water.

Power washed the boat.

That huge machine could move all sorts of boats around - operated by remote control.

Once Biksen was on land, dad did his inspection.

Time to get some work done - the water line had to be cleaned and polished.

Dad and Biksen

Working on the boat.

Kinda funny to see how small Biksen really is compared to these other boats.

Dad taking a break from painting and polishing - checking out the boats docked out in Sidney.

Dad and Rie - we had a good day!

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