Thunder Bay

The previous two days' pictures may mislead you: Really, we did do things besides play with Hailee and watch Luke eat rocks.

Five of our fifteen days in Canada we actually ventured away from Winnipeg, away from Manitoba... over to the right in a land called Ontario. Thunder Bay, Ontario to be exact. This is the hometown of Richie's mom, and here's a little-known fact: We have more relatives there than we do in Winnipeg. (Yes, we counted.)

Originally planning to drive there, we soon realized we were crazy. Eight hours in the car with our carseat-hating baby sounded like torture. So WestJet transplanted us in just an hour and a half. Ahh.

They lost our luggage. Aww. But then found it again. Ahh. And never once did we regret flying rather than cruising 600 miles across Canada in a rented Chevy Impala with an irate baby in the back seat.


The first thing we did our first morning in Thunder Bay was to visit Grandma (Richie's mom's mom, Luke's one and only great-grandmother still alive to enjoy him down here!).


Luke and Grandma got to know each other first just by staring each other down.


Luke soon warmed up and laughed at who-knows-what.


They enjoyed rubbing noses.


Grandma wanted to take us to a restaurant for every meal, her treat. (And what a treat it was!) Luke indulged in broccoli.


We made a life-altering discovery while in Thunder Bay: Luke may not like the car seat, he may not like his stroller, and he may not always enjoy his papoose, but he looooves a Radio Flyer with fold-up seats! We could have walked for hours.


A sight we won't soon forget: Luke's little white-hair-covered head poking up into the air.


It was colder out than we anticipated, and raindrops started decorating our heads. So we bundled Luke in Daddy's sweatshirt, and it looked like he was drowning. (A happy drowner, though.)


What fun to be in Thunder Bay for Grandma's 88th birthday. Wish a 30-minute, 30-dollar flight to Canada, Grandma!


The whole Thunder Bay crew gathered to celebrate Grandma's birthday: Patti's two brothers and their wives, David and Janice and Mike and Kim; David and Janice's son Steven and his wife Catharine and their kids Deirdre and Gillian; David's other son Eric; Mike and Kim's son Daniel; and... Did we forget anyone?


It was hard to catch a shot of all three cousins (well, second cousins) sitting still! Kudos to Uncle David for snatching this one.


Luke with his Great Uncle Mike.


Richie loved being able to see his cousin Daniel again. Daniel had a new digital camera with pictures and video on it of his new puppy. Soooo cute! Made us (almost) want a dog.


During our time in Thunder Bay, Richie's cousin Steven and his wife Catharine kindly offered their entire downstairs to the Armstrong Three. It was cozy, beautiful, soundproof, and... well, fun. Richie fell in love with their train set. T-Rex and all.


Even more thrilling for Richie than setting up the train set was trying to keep Luke away from it.


Ready... set... charge!