Sisi, Agios Nikolaos, Elounda, chillin by the pool and Rethymnon

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We woke up to some more rain and decided we would chase the sun:)

We knew we wanted to head out to the east to do some exploring so off we went.

We first hit a cute little fishing town called Sisi. It was still pretty rainy, so we grabbed some hot chocolate.

We continued on to and visited Agios Nikolaos. It was also a beautiful town with a lovely marina.

We then decided to hit the cute town of Elounda. It was a gorgeous drive to get there too.

We had a nice little lunch right across from the harbour.

We also hit a cute little place on the water for dessert.

It ended up being an awesome day – we avoided the rain and saw some great towns. At night, we did our usual relaxing:)

The next day we wanted to just relax by the pool – so that is exactly what we did! It has been a while since we have really vacationed (we went away in August to set Zach up at BYU and had a couple of down days surrounded by lots to do so, this was our first true vacation in a while and we both felt the need to recharge!)

The weather was iffy – a mix of lots of sun and then sprinkles of showers! But I managed to get a book read and a bit of napping in the sunshine!

For our last night, we decided to head into the closest town Rethymnon – about a 20 min drive from us.

We found a cute place on the waterfront and had dinner.

And that ended our week in Crete!

We really could have stayed here for several weeks. Between just being zonked and wanting to just recharge, and there being so many things to do (we didn’t even hit half of what we wanted to do and see) we feel like we just scratched the surface of what Crete has to offer! There are so many little towns, more beaches and of course historical sites that we missed – we will have to come back! We envy people living in Europe (most people here are from Europe – I don’t think we’ve see any North Americans!) where it is literally a super cheap direct flight away! Our dream is to live in Europe and when we do – we will be back!

On to Santorini tomorrow! The last time I was in Santorini – I was 22 years old (Rob has been too in his mid twenties. Neither of us had been to Crete or Myknonos – but Santorini is a repeat – on purpose as it was so stunning – and we are certainly planning on doing it differently than we did in those younger years:))

Falassarna Beach, Crete

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It was not the nicest day where we were and we wanted a bit more beach so we headed back to the west where some of the nicest beaches are said to be.

We drove through the mountains again in search of ocean and sun!

We found it, set up camp , no sooner to see dark clouds roll in.

We decided it was the perfect time to go have lunch and found a cute restaurant overlooking the beach. We made it just in time for the torrential downpour to hit! I didn’t get any pictures though (we are totally chilling on this vacation and are keeping our phones more in our pockets which mean more limited pictures. It’s ok though – our hearts take the best pictures anyway)

After a yummy simple lunch of calamari, salad and tziki, the sun came back out and we headed back to the beach.

We napped, read and walked on the beach. Just so nice to relax!

It was a beautiful drive home again – winding through the mountains with stunning views:

We stopped to purchase some local honey:

We picked up some baklava too – which was delicious. After we arrived back to our hotel we relaxed on the balcony with some chamomile tea with honey:) Another relaxing day!

Chania, Crete

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We spent the morning lounging by the pool – but it was super windy and then got super stormy. We made it just in time to the restaurant to grab lunch while it completely downpoured…

But then it cleared up and we headed to Chania.

Chania is supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in Europe – and it did not disappoint!

It has a waterfront that is know to be like Venice – and it truly was.

There was a really cute lighthouse too (I love lighthouses!)

We walked along the harbour, sat by the sea, and explored the cute streets:

Always working, lol.

We had a mediocre dinner but had fabulous views:

We found a great place for dessert:

And then enjoyed the sunset and how the city started lighting up

What a beautiful city!!

Elafonisi Beach, Crete

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After a day at the pool, we decided we needed to head to the beach.

Elafonisi Beach is supposed to be one of the top beaches in the world!

And it did not disappoint.

The drive was pretty nice too (of course I fell asleep for parts:) We drove through some beautiful twisty roads, over mountains and saw lots of places we thought would make a great stop for dinner on the way home!

But first – the spectacular beach!

We spent a beautiful day lounging and then headed back through the mountains.

We found a great place for dinner!

It was a great meal and we were zonked by the time we got back – so just chilled and relaxed….

Heading to Greece

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It has been a while – like everyone else in the world – that we have travelled. We were hesitant to go at first given all the restrictions – but we decided that Greece was calling our names.

We decided to forgo big cities and booked Crete, Santorini and Mykonos. We both have been to Santorini before (me 27 years ago!! and Rob about 24/25) but figured we could do it better together!

While at the airport, we bumped into a friend I had met in my Mommy’s group when Zach was 6 weeks old! Now our kids are all in University! Crazy!

We grabbed dinner at the airport and enjoyed some chill time before our flight!

We had a connecting flight through London and then arrived in sunny Crete.

After a mix up with our rental car (BTW some places will only rent if you have an international drivers license!)

We checked into our hotel -Rimondi Grand Resort and Spa – surrounded by olive trees – had a nice dinner, headed to bed and then spent the next day lounging around the pool.

We sat on the terrace and ended our night looking at the crescent moon.

Great first day in Greece!

And number 4 is off – at least for now…

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And just like that we are down to one at home. And he splits his time between two house – so does that mean we are down to 0.5?

Josh decided to defer his university acceptance and take a gap year. After being in school online during Covid for 1. 5 years, I had no objections. Starting university online (or hybrid) was not so dreamy.

He decided with a couple of buddies that they wanted to travel Europe. But with Covid, it complicated things a bit. Europe likely could not happen in the fall – but hopefully winter/spring.

So the fall is work time.

After trying to figure out working here and living at home, Josh decided that he’d have more fun and potentially make more money heading out west to Jasper Alberta and work at the Fairmont. He has a good buddy there who started a month ago and is really enjoying it. So Josh applied, got the job and here we are. Saying goodbye to Reggie….

They have become good pals. Well, they always have been good pals, but in the past year when we have headed out of town, Josh has taken care of Reggie so there is a special bond.

They said their good byes and we headed off to the airport:

Of course, it is totally normal for your kids to grow up and head out on their own. That is what you want for them. To create a life for themselves – to be independent and have their own adventures.

But I have to say, it is truly bittersweet.

Hard not to get all nostalgic of those days when they would beg to have a sleepover on our basement floor – staying up way too late (except Josh who would always just roll over and go to sleep).

So many pros and cons to getting older. I love the relationships we are developing with each one but I miss the cuddles and tuckins at bed time. I know I will also miss the walks I could convince this guy to do with me. We have had some nice on one time in the past couple of years that I am going to miss. It is going to be awfully quiet around here!

Here is the send off:

Bon Voyage! Oh the places you’ll go…..

Zion National Park

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After dropping Zach off , we decided we would take a few days to go explore Zion National Park.

What a good decision that was!

It was so nice to get away! Nice to drive somewhere (we have been barely using our cars during Covid as we don’t go very far and living downtown we can walk most places! Not complaining – but it was nice to play music – and listen to podcasts:) and to just chat).

It was about a 4 hour drive with some stunning scenery as we got closer. We stayed in Springdale, just outside the park gates in a super cute Best Western.

We hit a super easy trail right away in the early evening – it was still really hot but doable. We stayed until about sunset.

We went and grabbed dinner on a patio. We were surprised at how good the food was – some really cute places!

The next morning we got up early so we could beat the sun and heat. It was a gorgeous hike – even though we ended up doubling back over the same path (but went a different way so did get some different views!). Sadly, I slipped on the way down and hyperextended by knee which hurt a tad:(

We had to head into St George in the afternoon to get Covid tests mailed off for our trip home (they were self testing kits that had to be sent via UPS from St George). We had a nice lunch there and did a tiny bit of shopping before heading back.

We wanted to go on another sunset hike. To get there we had to drive through this incredible tunnel that was about 1.1 mile!

We hiked up and what was supposed to be an easy hike – and it was except my knee was killing and there was a lot of up and down – not hard – but not great for my knee. Luckily I had purchased a knee brace that afternoon so it helped.

It really was beautiful to see the sun set against the red rock. We headed back to the town and had a really nice Thai dinner.

The next morning I was hoping my knee would feel better because we planned on doing the Narrows – a hike that is apparently on the bucket list of must do hikes in the world.

It did not disappoint! My knee enjoyed the cool water and we just took it easy. We ended up going much further than we anticipated but it was truly awesome.

I highly recommend that you rent the water shoes and socks and the walking stick like we did. It made it so much more enjoyable!

We went for lunch in the town (we were starving!) and then headed back to the hotel to read and lounge by the pool. I have to say that the hotel – even though pretty full car wise – there were never many people around so we had the pool almost to ourselves! It was a nice to just chill and relax. That night we had a great dinner at another local place with such a gorgeous backdrop!

It was a great little getaway and really has me itching to travel!!

We headed back to my brother and sister in law’s and were able to have dinner with the fam and say a last good bye to Zach and hear all about his first few days (which were jammed with all sorts of new things).

Can’t believe that that’s 3 kids in University (Gabe is in law school in Florida, Zandra is still at BYU Hawaii, Zach is at BYU Utah and thank goodness Josh decided to defer his acceptance to Carleton for a year (so we did not have two University set ups this year! However, he is planning on heading out west to work and then hopefully to Europe to travel so he will be gone too). That leaves only child Sam sweating out grade 11.

How does time march on like this without me noticing!!

Love all the adventures everyone is having – including our adventures (Rob and me) but it is still bittersweet.

“Backward, turn backward, O Time, in your flight, 
Make them a child again just for tonight!”

The Drop Off

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We only had Zach home for a few short weeks before he was off again.

He had deferred acceptance into BYU when he decided to serve a mission, so he was all set when he got home.

He actually drove out to BYU with Rachael and then we met him there. They had some pretty funny stories about their adventure on their way out…

We met them there and stayed with my brother and sister in law and their family.

We headed out for a little drive one evening and went to the Payson temple:

We had a few days to get him all set up so we first got his keys and then spent the day getting started with the setup.

The guy at the check in ended up being one of Zach’s roommates!
  • Pretty excited to see two TVs were there already!

We took a day off in between and headed up to Park City to do some hiking. We actually took the gondola ride up Deer Valley resort (we call it the heart attack hill bcs we were in Park City doing some skiing right before Rob’s heart attack). Memories.

Back to moving in>>>

We got him all settled in and then Rob and I headed south to have a little getaway….

It definitely is much easier to drop him off after having done the whole missionary good bye!

But we had dinner with him the night before we flew back home too – so one final goodbye. We went on a nice walk with my cutie niece that night too:

Hanging with the kids

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We tried to cram in as much as we could while everyone was here – but often people were in and out due to work, time with other parents etc.

We went to the beach for a picnic and played a couple of fun games.

The kids went out on their own a few times – they send me pictures:)

We ate out a lot depending on who was with us. Sometimes everyone, sometimes a couple, and even sometimes just one (including one night we had Shannon as our only child – but I forgot to get a picture that night!)

Our Sunday lunch was a beautiful charcuterie board that Shannon and Zandra put together.

Woke Zach up for a early walk one morning shortly after he arrived home from his mission.

We met Josh for lunch (he works close by in the local park)

Girls heading out to meet Zandra for wedding dress shopping:

Gabe and Rob lunch date:

The boys went to the driving range one night:

Finding space to work ! It was a bit crowded so the outside porch was a popular option:

Our tree is being cut down soon so they wanted a few pics:

Random nights:

Sibling outings:

Game nights:

Some graduation celebration before heading out for dinner (and sadly, I forgot to get a photo of dinner):

Can you spot the underwear amongst all the shoes!

First day at church and Zach met a missionary who he knew in Alberta (he was in the same congregation as him when the guy left on his mission to Toronto):

Walking in the ravine with Gabe and Shannon:

Zach and Rachael went to Montreal to see my mom and his grandparents on his dad’s side. Gran was thrilled that they went to the cemetery to visit Grandpa, out for lunch one day and then to the Montreal temple:

Gabe and Shannon had to fly home on the Sunday because he had to go to his law school orientation the next day. Shannon sent a picture of his first day!! Woo hoo!

    Rob’s 50th

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    Rob turned 50 in June but we saved the celebration for when all the kids were home.

    It’s always a challenge getting everyone’s undivided attention since they are trying to spend time with both parents, friends, work, sports etc. so I decided we would sequester everyone for one night and booked a hotel downtown.

    Of course, best laid plans things always go wrong and so we got off to a much later start than I had hoped for, but we managed to all meet up on a patio for dinner. I picked a casual place that has meaning to Rob and me (Hot House Cafe in St Lawrence market area). It was walkable to the hotel, and had options for all and a nice big patio.

    While having lots of personalities in our family can cause lots of drama, it also means we can have a lot of fun. And fun it was for that night.

    We had dinner.

    Walked around a bit.

    Then went back to the hotel for gifts. I had asked each kid to get 10 “gifts” so Rob would have 50 to open. I helped the younger guys out (insert eye roll here) but I think we managed to get 50 – some were silly, some were sentimental, some were practical, some were creative – they all did a really good job and Rob loved them all.

    We then did some cake and non alcoholic bubbly, played some games, while we crashed and the kids went back to their rooms to do who knows what?!?! lol

    The next morning, Josh had to head to work, but the rest of us went to St Lawrence market for breakfast ( I forgot to take pictures) and walked around the market.

    It was a great way to celebrate Rob’s 50th!