Thursday, August 8, 2013

Returned, Restart, Review

My blogging hiatus is coming to an end after a year!  During the past year I have been living in Quebec and have traveled to BC a fair amount. Three weeks ago I moved back to BC.  I figured a good blog to welcome the restart of my blogging would be a recap of this last year.  Unfortunately since I take a million pictures and love them all, this post has a LOT of pictures.  No exaggeration there.   So, since a picture tells a thousand words, I shall let you enjoy the photos (with a few captions here and there of course). And since I couldn't actually post them in order, they are random. (You can probably figure out that the ones with snow in them are from the winter, and the ones without snow are non-winter.. :) )  Enjoy!  Hope I still have some readers out there!

So here's what I've been up to this year:


Celebrated national holidays, like national 'wear a hat day'

 

Saw lots of cool, beautiful churches in Quebec


Spent a lot of time at the Nordic Baths Spa fifteen minutes from my house (hot pools, cold pools, extremely cold pools, steamroom, sauna, dark room and resting spots- absolutely amazing!)


Experienced some severe cold weather


Visited an ice village and ate at a restaurant made entirely out of ice and snow! Thankfully there was fur on the ice seats to keep you a bit warm!


Stood by this display booth for many hours (in Winnipeg, Toronto and Vancouver)


Got to know and play with this little gaffer


Crossed the new bridge going into Vancouver!


Cheered on my favourite hockey team (the Canucks that is.. no converting to becoming a Canadians fan..)


Enjoyed my first burger from Five Guys


Hung out in Winnipeg with this girl A LOT. In fact, I visited Winnipeg almost as much as I visited BC this past year


Hung out with these two at multiple missionFests 


Enjoyed the snow, hated the snow, played in the snow, watched the snow, waited for the snow to melt


Plugged my car in for the first time (only took me a year to figure out it had a plug in!)


Saw Bonhomme at Carnaval in Quebec City!


Enjoyed waterfalls in all seasons


Took multiple pictures of waterfalls in all seasons


Celebrated 'Read in the bathtub day'


Went to a choir concert in a fabulous church with amazing accoustics


Marveled at icicles


Waited for my windshield to defrost on very cold days


Went on a family holiday to Arizona to escape the winter


Waited for the sap to run which meant spring had come!


Enjoyed all the cool buildings in Quebec


Hung out with my awesome Outreach team, the ABC team (which stands for Awesome British Columbia since we all came from there.. we may have caused some jealousy towards us)


Watched the snow


Celebrated 'burn a snowman day'


Ouch.


Ate paska.


Celebrated Jason and Eleasha's marriage in Winnipeg!


Road trip to Ontario for Easter!


Hung out with this crazy in many different places


Went to MissionFest Toronto with Janaya


Ate the biggest burger ever (The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse from Burger Priest in Toronto). We shared of course.


Enjoyed Niagara Falls from a new angle


Hung out with this crazy.


Watched the remake of the Titanic, the Canadian version


Went to a giant apple.


Convinced Janaya to let me cut her hair. haha. She should have known better...


Saw Les Miserables


Told people to jump for photos


Celebrated national 'high five day'


Volunteered at a youth drop-in centre


Designed a bunch of shirts and sweatshirts for students


Got to know this cutie-pie


Went to the Stanley Cup Playoffs and waved a white towel fiercely in the air 


Had serious hair envy


Celebrated receptionist's day


Brought 'Love Abbotsford' to Rawdon and had 'Love Rawdon' with the students throughout the year


Went on a few photo scavenger hunts


Ate Costco hot dogs


Got creative with photo taking


Enjoyed cherry blossoms


Dressed up for many school banquet celebrations


Went to a francophone concert, 'Les Cowboys Fringant' (absolutely wonderful)


Read a lot of books


Enjoyed my favourite cemetery


Went to krispy kreme and forced people to wear their awesome hats


Explored St. Joseph's Cathedral


Ate poutine (probably far too much)


Went to my favourite cathedral in Montreal (where Celine Dion got married!)


Enjoyed the random art displays in Montreal


Hung out at the Old Port in Montreal


Swung on swings that make music when you swing


Had the best smoked meat at Schwarts'


Walked down St. Catherine's, which is a pedestrian street in summer


Went on mini weekend relaxing trips


Tried lime with corn on the cob (AMAZING)


Sat on this grass enjoying summer days


Agonized at how much rain Quebec gets when it's not snowing


Posed for photos


Found an old fortune that has become quite true (49 countries and hopefully more to come!)


Enjoyed sunsets


Ate at the first PF Chang's in Canada


Went on random adventures with Laura and enjoyed our friendship


Basked in the majesty of the mountains


Enjoyed more waterfalls


Surprised my mom for her birthday!


Made jam jam cookies


Made babies cry


Ate popcorn at a graduation ceremony


Swam with my nieces and nephew


Celebrated milestones with friends!


Met friends' new babies!


Celebrated Mark and Maia's marriage!


Made rollkuchen


Ate rollkuchen. And watermelon. And farmer sausage.


Celebrated my mom's 60th


Cheered these guys on while they did a triathlon (which has excited me to do one next year!)


Enjoyed visits in the office from this little one


Clung to God's truths


Enjoyed tasty Asian food


Laughed at random roadside decorations on farms in Quebec


Ate the best chocolate dipped cones ever


Went to Quebec City


Free Outdoor Cirque de Soleil show


Was blessed to get to know this family through working together and meals together


Was blessed to be part of this small group and get to know these amazing people


Took some kiddos on lunch and movie dates


Had a farewell poutine party before moving


Went to Talay Thai for the best peanut chicken ever


Signed my final acceptance letter as Bible School registrar


Cried as I drove out of Capernwray's driveway and waved goodbye to dear friends


Played board games


Road tripped


Packed my vehicle really really really full. 


Let these men fix my vehicle when it broke down in Ontario


Went swimming in Lake Superior (brrr!)


Waterfalls!


Drove through Ontario and Manitoba 


Hung out with friends


Visited Saskatchewan


Storytimes with Aunty


Dance parties in the car


Took a lot of photos of canola fields (because one is never enough)


Was reminded of how awesome the prairies are for photo opportunities


Visited Alberta


 Admired colour contrasts


Got attacked by dinosaurs and lived


Did I mention taking pictures of Canola fields?


Enjoyed visits with friends across Canada


MOUNTAINS!


MOUNTAINS!


MOUNTAINS!


drove across Canada


Sunsets


Fireworks


Re-enacted the battle for Canada on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City


Drove to Ontario to visit family on vacation


Steph and Matthias' wedding!


Defaced some statues in Boston...


Marc and Emily's wedding!


Went to New York and saw Once on Broadway


Becky and Phil's wedding


Another roadtrip to New York!


Saw Newsies (best musical- if you go, see it!!)


Saw Evita and loved Ricky Martin in it


Enjoyed playing with this kid


Went to Disneyland


Visited these precious kids


Random road trip to Vermont and New York state


Visited cemeteries in winter


Enjoyed Christmas holidays with my co-workers


Celebrated my birthday


Marvelled at upside down trees


Cuddled babies


Biggest tandem bike adventure ever


Vancouver Christmas train


Celebrated the new year in style


Toured an ice hotel


Played in the snow


Played human foosball, where you strap yourself in


Went to a Phoenix Coyotes hockey game


Hosted a photography workshop (one in English and one in French!)


More dinosaur attacks


Met amazing ladies at our ladies' retreats


Hosted a french ladies' retreat


Central Park


Bible School registration (our students are pretty young)


Got to know an amazing group of students


Enjoyed Fall colours


Yay for fall!


Conducted a choir


Enjoyed snow


Welcomed my latest niece in to the world


More snow!


Went to a cabane a sucre (sugar shack) to celebrate maple syrup


Met the closest Jesus look-alike


Went to Steinbach.


Congratulations if you made it to the end.

And that friends was a tiny glimpse into the last year.  Here's to more frequent updates!

2 comments:

Irene said...

Welcome back Vanessa! Loved your year in review!
Irene

Janessa said...

Haha I love how "went to Steinbach" made it onto your list, like it's a terribly exciting place to go lol