Day 3 McGill's Go Up North - Battersea, Montreal & Quebec City

Woke up early to enjoy the cabin as long as possible. Unfortunately we only booked it for a night. It was only meant to be a stop over on our way to Quebec and never did we imagine loving it that much. Next time (and there will be a next time) we are staying much longer. So, got up early, made us coffee and waited for the boys to wake up.

As soon as Finn woke up, he got dressed and back outside to fish some more!

Like I said we had to leave early.... today's driving time was 8 hours with a stop in Montreal for a few hours. We had a long day ahead of us with a lot of driving and lots and lots of rain! I bought the first two books of Narnia on CD's for the boys (well and us) and we listened to it most of our way to Montreal and then Quebec.

We arrived in Montreal around noon. It was still raining and we quickly began the search for a restaurant with poutine. Which is hilarious because I think it would have been harder to find a restaurant that does not serve poutine. haha So, this was our first poutine experience and we all loved it. But how can you go wrong with French Fries, Gravy and Cheese?

A few years ago Scot and I have been to Montreal and I had an amazing Pistachio (if there is Pistachio on the menu, I will always order Pistachio!), I couldn't wait to have another one. Found a cute little Gelato place and we all had Gelato in the rain!

We walked around Montreal for a few hours and took in some of the sights of the city but we really were all eager to get to Quebec City. We spent most of our time at the fountain in front of the Notre Dame Basilica, did some people watching and let Finn get his energy out chasing pigeons.

It's just amazing how different these boys are. Jake was happily content sitting around with me and Finn was non stop in action.

We left Montreal, drove by McGill University to show the boys and stop by at the bookstore but the traffic around the university was so bad we decided to keep going. Stopped at McDonald's for some drinks and continued driving to Quebec City.

Quebec City is one of my favorite North American cities, mainly because it reminds me so much of home! We rented a sweet little Airbnb in the heart of the city. We were told that the Airbnb has parking in the courtyard but it is really tight for a small car but there is street parking available. Too bad that the day we arrive there was a large festival going on and there was NO street parking available. Dum dum dum... so we had to park in the courtyard with our SUV. Things went downhill when the older French neighbor later started yelling at us not to park in there, she didn't realize we had rented the space from her neighbor and our French is basically non existence to get that point across and then.... the side of my car got all scratched up because it is a parking space for a small car. So yeah no photos from that minor nightmare.

But we did make it to Quebec City. Just in time to enjoy a few hours in the evening walking around and taking everything in.

Jake and I went back to the Airbnb and Scot and Finn went to a concert at the festival nearby. We went to bad very, very exhausted but excited for the coming days!

Mom's Highlight of the Day: Pistachio Gelato

Jake's Highlight of the Day: arriving in Old Quebec.

Finn's Highlight of the Day: Quebec

Dad's Highlight of the Day: going to the festival at night with Finn

Day 2 McGill's Go Up North - London, Battersea Ontario

Day two, we woke up to some yummy pancakes from Oma and a cooler full of food for our trip! It was so nice not to have to worry about the food for the first few days of this road trip.

We didn't waste much time at Oma's and left soon after breakfast for our first adventure on this trip. I booked a little cabin, situated on a farm by a lake near Kingston Ontario.

We arrived at the Dog Lake Cabin early afternoon and loved everything about it immediately! The setting was perfect. The cabin was small and simple but super cute and had everything we needed!

We were greeted with a cute little sign on the door and Scot had to laugh when I said "Don't let the boys in yet, I want to take pictures of it while it's still clean". I want these twin beds for the boys room.

The cabin had it's own little dock and canoes. The boys immediately went out to fish. Unfortunately Jake's fishing pole was broken beyond repair, even though I reminded him to get his fishing stuff in order before we left. Oh well, he had a fishing net with him and actually managed to catch a few fish with it.

Again, this was a great little cabin. I love the décor, even though simple it was all well done. I am a huge fan of maps and was pretty excited to see a map of the lake on the wall. My favorite part was the view though. Just sitting on the porch and watching the kids play on the dock was pretty special.

The farm itself was pretty cool and we took a small walk around. Lot's of animals to pet and a sweet dog named, Ditch. The owner of the farm at this point walked over, welcomed us and handed us two bags of fresh greens and sprouts for a salad (good thing that salad is one of Jake and Finn's favorite food) and a basket full of firewood.

We decided to take a little canoe trip. Across the lake from the cabin, about a 15 minute paddle, is a little beach with a swimming dock and the kids really wanted to go there. We left with perfect sunshine. Once there the kids jumped out of the canoe and swam a bit and that's when I noticed the black clouds. Aaaaand about 5 minutes later it began to rain. It rained HARD. Kids climbed back into the canoe and Scot and I paddled hard, because now it's also lightning and lightning + water + canoe don't mix. We paddled hard and we all go from being scared to OMG can you believe this is happening to laughing hysterically because now Scot and I are drenched. And I kid you not, we step on the dock and the sun is shining again. Hahaha

After getting all dried up and changed, Jake made Mac 'n Cheese for Finn and him and Scot started building outside a fire with wet logs and newspaper. It took him a little longer than usual but we soon all enjoyed a big campfire.

Being at the lake house was absolutely relaxing and I just loved sitting on the dock with my new camping chair . It really was MY highlight of the day... probably not the boys highlight but mine!

After a while of sitting on the dock, I noticed a family coming back to the cabin... and after a few more minutes I realized that this was a German family with two boys Jake and Finn's age. I took the boys over, introduced ourselves and within a minute all 4 boys were playing Hide and Seek or "Verstecke" in German. This occupied them until late into the night. All 4 of them went fishing, turtle catching and just had a great time exploring the farm together.

I spent the evening untangling Finn's fishing pole, which will seem later in the trip like a daily ritual, and Scot and I sat on the porch for a while. The kids took late night showers and we all went to bed happy and relaxed! Day two was perfect!

Day 1 McGill's Go Up North - Cincinnati to London, Ontario

The start of our 12 day Road Trip up North taking us to London, Ontario, Battersea, Quebec, Les Bergeronnes, Saranac Lakes, Lake Placid & Bufallo.

Day one! We packed up the car, ran a few last minute errands, said good-bye to Penny our dog and left around noon to head to Oma's house near London Ontario.

On the way we stopped in Lima, Ohio at the Kewpee Hamburger Place. It was so so good! The best hamburgers I had since In-Out-Burgers. I have to say though the doll is a little creepy haha

Fun Fact: on the way we saw Colonel Sanders driving in the car next to us. I didn't have my camera ready and he was driving soooo slow. It was pretty awesome though and probably the highlight of our first day!

Instead of crossing into Canada in Port Huron of the Bluewater Bridge we have been taking lately the ferry in Marine City. It shaves about 15 minutes off our trip and we never have to wait at the border. Plus it's so much more fun riding the ferry. I can never get over how BLUE the Bluewater River is!

Arrived at Oma's house and she had this beautiful cake for me. A little belated birthday surprise! It was even more delicious than it looks! We ate so much cake that we only had a very small dinner much later! 

Scot and the boys played a few hours in the backyard and then we all went to watch the storm roll in. The lightening was perfect and so I had to snap a few pictures of Scot too.

Unfortunately the storm also knocked the power out and so we spend the rest of the evening playing board games from my childhood by candle light. We had a very mean round of Mensch-Aergere-Dich-Nicht going!

Went to bed with the power still out and excited for the next day!

Ingrid { 3 months} - Cincinnati Child Photographer

Ingrid or "Iggy" is one of my One Year Package Babies. I am so excited I will get to watch this little nugget grow over the next year!

Holy Powder Family Session

I love when clients come to me with an idea! Taylor had this amazing idea to use holy powder, just like the color run uses and build a session around this idea. Even the dog were in on it! Such a fun way to end a session and keep kids interested, I might have to use this idea for my own family session.

To book your Holy Powder Session, please contact Sonja at www.sonjabphotography.com

“First they ignore you, then they laugh you, then they fight you, then you win.”

— Mahatma Ghandi