Crossing Boarders

Drive days are always hard days, but going from Maine to Quebec, Canada was exceptionally hard.

Preparing to cross the boarder we did lots of research before hand. I made sure we didn't have illegal fruit and Justin took extra precaution in researching if we could travel with his shotgun. Looking at the Canadian Customs website, from what we understood, we were allowed to cross the boarder with a shotgun if we had a permit. All we had to do was fill out a form and pay a fee. No problem.

Pulling up to the boarder I was a little nervous. This is our home we are trying to take across, they were bound to find something they didn't like.

Everything went smoothly at first, questions were asked and they seemed pleased with our answers. At one point the customs enforcement officer asked us why our children were not in school. Um...let me see here. How do I explain road schooling? He seemed satisfied with our answer.

Sadly though our conversation went down hill when we mentioned we had a shot gun and gave them the paperwork we had filled out.

They looked at us like we were crazy...and then proceeded to treat us like we had a bomb on board.

They made us pull to the side and told the kids and I to go wait in the waiting room...more like holding room. We watched them search our coach and vehicle, every nook and cranny. It took about an hour, which seemed like forever.

I know they were just doing their jobs, but it still felt violating. At one point I just wanted to turn around and head back to the beautiful States, my home.

The officers ended up confiscating our shotgun, despite having agreed with us that their website is misleading. They are holding the gun for 60 days, but we are not returning the same way we entered. So that is that.

Our experience at the boarder put a damper on the rest of our day...Justin and I chatted a long time that evening and we came to the conclusion that we cannot focus on the negative during this trip, we don't want it to cloud the many blessings...and Quebec was just that.

Our first day we took a trip into The Old City...

We took the Funicular up from the lower city and into the walled section.

Walking the streets felt like we were in another world.

We ate lunch...

went shopping

learned about Canadian currency

and took in the beautiful sights.

I spy a cute boy.

Just relaxing in Quebec with a Starbucks.

The Old City was amazing.

Since we only have wi-fi at camp we could not use our phones to navigate around Quebec. We had to do everything the old fashioned way...we used a paper map and asked for directions.

It was such a good experience for our kids, everything was in French.

Our second day we drove to Canyon Sainte-Anne where we walked across three suspension bridges to see a huge waterfall from all levels.

The path was secure and safe making me happy to let my little ones walk on their own and discover. It was beautiful.

Back at camp we have enjoyed the nice weather...

Looking closely at this picture you can see Blake flying a kite and the girls sitting in the grass.

Madison and Blake enjoyed exploring the lake on a paddle boat.

Today we spent a few hours at an indoor mall with amusement park rides...

The kids had fun...we enjoyed lunch and ice cream.

The rest of the day was spent at camp, enjoying the warm sunshine. Our experience in Quebec was a good one despite the original hassle of crossing the boarder.

We are off to Montreal tomorrow, hopefully we wont get lost, we are realizing we rely on our phones way too much!