The planets seemed to have aligned the day we met Michelle and Zach. Walking down the street towards downtown Perth we heard someone yelling at us, and we looked across the street and there was Michelle waving at us from her car. Jason and Michelle have been friends from way back in high school, but haven’t seen each other in years. Michelle calls Indonesia her home, and as we all know Jason’s home is now The Great White North, haha, i.e. Canada! It was pure coincidence that we all were at the right place, at the right time! Michelle has seen our photos, and there was no surprise that she booked us for a family photosession right there and then.

The next morning we set off to her house to take what seems to be the cutest photos ever! Zach is a total smiler, charmer and a future heart-breaker, not to mention he’s a really fast crawler! We had an amazing time running after him and capturing his beautiful little smiles. I absolutely adore his little baby teeth!!

Thank you Michelle and Zachary for capturing your memories!! Thank you for a really fun afternoon and lunch at Milk and Honey, it was delicious!

Here are a handful of adorable photos of Zach and his beautiful mama Michelle!

~Lena

Here’s the proof of those beautiful smiles!

~Lena

Enjoy their beautiful photos!

Perth’s beaches are magnificent!! White sand, crystal clear blue water!!! I never imagined it to be so breath-taking. But throw in a gorgeous couple in the mix, and I was on cloud nine! We had so much fun exploring the beaches and all the funky sculptures there.

Jason still can’t believe his little sister is getting married, but both Jason and I are very happy for Nathan and Jo, and we absolutely can’t wait for their wedding in November, it’s going to be amazing.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy!

~Lena

We’re on a plane over Australia, and although this won’t be posted until we’re down on the ground again, I thought I’d write anyway, and give you a quick overview of our trip so far.

I’m looking out the window and I see clear blue water and red soil of the land down under, and it’s only hitting me now that I’ll be in Australia in a few hours. Australia always seemed like such a far-away land, and all it had was kangaroos and some funny looking people who now live n Whistler and speak with a strange accent, hehe. But now that I’m married to an Aussie and I’m flying over this distant land, it’s finally hitting me that there’s more to it than kangaroos and Whistler lifties! I can’t wait to explore Perth, meet some real Aussies, eat the famous Australian pies and perhaps get myself some comfy Uggs  

But let’s go back a few days and I will tell you all about my impressions of SIngapore. I’m not the most cultured person I know, all I’ve ever seen was  the snowy winters of Siberia, cool summers of the Altai mountains, all of Vancouver and Whistler, a little bit of Mexico and a few months of Europe, oh and the resorts of Cuba. So Asia was and still is a foreign land to me. Singapore was definitely not what I expected, and I must admit I was pleasantly surprised at every corner  

Did you know that they drive on the wrong side of the road? I didn’t. I thought it was only those who spoke English with an accent drove on the wrong side, but as it turns out Singapore’s main language is English, and they do speak it a little funny, thus it was only logical they drove on the left side.

It’s also interesting to note that it’s always summer dress season there! Can you imagine the life without sweaters, boots and winter coats? The only bad thing is that you’re always, and I do mean always, sweaty there! Not sure that I could ever get used to it or adapt to it, but I don’t think I’m cut out for living in the tropics, the humidity would kill me. You sure do begin to really appreciated air conditioned air. The one cool thing that tropical countries like SIngapore have is lots, and lots of green trees, namely palm trees. I love walking down the street and being shaded by green giants, although the shade does nothing to cool the hot air.

Something else interesting to note is that they eat a lot! They eat 6 small means throughout the day, the food is cheap and abundant. There are small food courts all over the place. We ate all the different asian varieties of chicken, duck, pork and seafood, but if you’re a clean freak, you might find it hard eating anything in singapore. First and foremost they don’t give any napkins anywhere, unless you’re in a fancy restaurant. You gotta carry your own kleenex and wetones. But all in all, I had a great time experiencing a little bit of the  culture in Singapore. I’ve got lots more to say about it, like their awesome parking systems, monkeys as city dwellers, nannies and their metro system. But I’ll save that for anyone who is actually interested and wants to hear about it. I’ll tell you all about if you ask  

Now, here’s the part where we go sightseeing: their markets are busy, their zoo is awesome, and their orchid gardens are magnificent. Click on the photo to see the slideshow of our favourite photos from Singapore.

~Lena

Click here to view the slideshow!

I got a chance to fly almost all the way across Canada this past week and experience a different side of our beautiful country. I’m used to being in different countries and hearing different languages, so being surrounded by French wasn’t anything new or exciting, but halfway between the airport and my hotel it really hit me. And that it was that I was still in the same old Canada, yet the everyday usual English was suddenly replaced by  French taxi drivers listening to French radio. It was such a strange feeling!! Anyone else have the same sort of experience?

I was visiting Montreal for work, so most of my days were occupied with meetings, but when the night feel, I got bundled up and went out exploring streets of Old Montreal. It was soo different to what we’re used to here in Vancouver. 3 out of 5 restaurants we walked by were closed on a Wednesday evening at 8pm. That would NEVER happen in Vancouver.

The cobble stone streets were dark, with only the street lights and left over Christmas lights giving off any kind of light; I really pushed my camera ISO capabilities to it’s limits. Here are a few shots of  the Notre-Dame Basilica, it’s not as big as the one in Paris, but it’s still very beautiful inside and out!!

I got a few hours of daylight to explore the city as well, and we headed off through the streets of Montreal towards Mount Royal. Somewhere in the foothills of Mount Royal within the beautiful old buildings of McGill University we took the wrong turn and ended up on a snowy path. All we knew that up was the way to go, so off we trekked in the true Siberian Explorer’s style up the mountain along an unidentified snowy path.

We found a bunch of good ol’ grey squirrels and it reminded me of our dear old Stanley Park. I tricked this little guy in believing I had something in my hand to give to him so he’d come closer. Unfortunately we weren’t prepared for squirrels and had absolutely no food with us, not even bread crumbs  :(  Sorry little squirrel for tricking you, but you make an awesome model!!

Upon finally arriving at the Chalet du Mont Royal we were greeted by this magnificent view of Montreal! It’s a beautiful mixture of the old buildings, picturesque churches, and modern glass buildings.

And here’s the last photo of the bunch, this statue in front of the funky glass building was a little creepy!! It was all good in the front, but when you go to check out the rear end of this group of people, there’s some serious strange nudity! The statue is called the “Illuminated Crowd” and it’s a must see if you’re ever in Montreal  ;)

Montreal was beautiful, but I’m glad to be back home, I really do love Vancouver!!

Here are some shots from the trip, enjoy!

~Jason