Special Canadian Edition of EQ's Blog
The Canuck Experience
Ethan has stacked up quite a few miles on travels in and around Australia but he made his first international overseas trip in his thirty third month. When people found out where he was heading too the first question he was always asked WHY? Why leave the sunny summer shores of Australia - well Ethan sees lots of sun in Australia but he has never seen snow so we thought it was time he finally experienced all four seasons including a real Winter!!! . So he packed his bags with a few SMALL essential toys, an Aussie passport and few Canadian dollars in his wallet (a big thank you to Gramma Lana for sending these over). He headed off to the airport and went from a warm 30 Celsius to the Arctic climes of North America.
The most important part of the trip was for Ethan to meet and greet all his relatives and friends and boy did he press some flesh during his stay. He really got it down to an art practising his handshakes with a thorough one - two (shakes) then release.
The 'Stevenson' clan in Montreal (Two Mountains actually) put on a special turkey dinner for Ethan's trip. Attendees included; Maurice, Lou, Virginia, Al (aka Uncle Owl), Angel, Bobbi(special guest in from Calgary), Lana and Rick. Casey made it for dessert but missed the photo shoot...
An evening on the West Island with Mummy's friend Connie and family, including; Pasquale, Spyro, Alex, Connie and Nadia. Connie cooked up a wonderful meal and Ethan watched his first American football match on TV, the SuperBowl.
In Ottawa Ethan met up with Uncle Tony. Tony was very busy with his studies, with a paper due and an exam while Ethan was in town he still managed to squeeze in time for a dinner, a breakfast and the all important 'BeaverTail' (local delicacy!). 
Another friend of Mummy's in Ottawa put on a delicious roast lamb dinner (we sure were well fed in Canada...), Susan and Andrew. Andrew's Mum lived in Australia and was Ethan's Mummy's 'bus' friend years ago. Andrew's Mum moved to Canada before he was born and he came into this world exactly one month before Ethan. This was the first time Ethan and Andrew met but Ethan knew they would make great friends the minute he walked in and saw all of Andrew's 'Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends' toys...
In Toronto, Wendy and Les hosted a family get together, including; Wendy and Les (of course), Pam and Mike, Brent and Tanya, Keith, Jade, Cory and Ethan's Great Gramma Manson (that makes 4 generations of Mansons present). Ethan was impressed with this side of his families special trait. Pa had shown him in Vancouver but it seems most of these Manson's are able to touch their tongue to their nose, coool. Unfortunately Ethan and his Mum missed out on this special gene :-(
Ethan's 2nd Cousin Brook was busy that night, busy most nights we suppose as he is a chef... but he joined us for a burger and this photo.
SOOOO many new friends for Ethan! and all provided him with so much warmth, affection and positive attention that he felt a most special boy. Thank you everyone.
The Journey: It was a busy itinerary and his round Canada trip included 5 days in Vancouver, 10 days in Montreal, 4 days in Ottawa and 3 days in Toronto. And so to the tour...
Back to the beginning: After a non stop 15 hour flight from Sydney, Ethan's first port of call was in Vancouver where he stayed with his Grandfather Pa and Fran. Ethan flew from Australia on 23rd January at 2pm and arrived in Canada on 23rd January at 9am so in effect he got a few hours younger during the flight. He celebrated Australia Day in Vancouver where he sang the Aussie national anthem, waved his flag proudly while Pa drank an Aussie beer or two... 
Pa also took Ethan to a motorcycle show, guess what... Ethan now wants one (thanks Pa!).
Ethan went to the zoo and fed the ducks in Stanley Park (still Vancouver).
...and saw for the first time in his life little white flakes of SNOW - but it's not supposed to snow in Vancouver???
Ethan and Daddy had to improvise, they went sliding down Grouse mountain on a garbage bag :-) Ethan was sure learning fast that this wet, icy stuff can be fun. 
Ethan ate Pa and Fran out of house and home thanks to some delicious, top notch food that Fran cooked (Nanaimo bars for instance...) and then it was time to move on.
Next destination - Montreal.
He found out that a good form of transport was the toboggan - but only if his dad was prepared to pull him along - mush, mush! And at times the toboggan would double up as a bed. Perhaps jet lag had caught up with the young fella but he did fall asleep (and also fall off) while Daddy pulled him on the toboggan through the streets of Two Mountains (yes sleep...).
Ethan spent a couple of days skiing in Val Saint-Côme north of Montreal (thanks to Christine and Mike for letting us stay at your house!). He carved his way down the Junior slopes and snow ploughed his way down a blue run with a little help. 
He even went up the chair lift!
The men working on the hill did not want him driving his 'GT sno racer' down the hill but he did manage to sneak in one trip down before they noticed. This was much easier than skiing!
Val Saint-Côme had an ice sculpture competition during the time we visited. This was Ethan's favorite, the kids well known cartoon character, Dora the Explorer, and he was able to go into her ice house.
What better person to help Ethan make his first 'snow angel' than his 2nd cousin 'Angel'. She's very good at these, look at her flapping her arms. Also, her snow angel bottoms aren't so big like when Mummy makes them (Mummy's bottom is quite a bit bigger than Angel's I guess...).
Tobogganing and crazy carpeting were a blast with Mummy, Daddy, Lou and Casey (and Bobbi behind the camera). Until that crazy Casey decided to surf down the hill standing on the toboggan with Ethan between her legs and almost put both herself and Ethan in hospital :-)
Then on his last day in Two Mountains finally it warmed up enough to build a snow man. Despite all of Uncle Al and Virginia's efforts, they were not able to make one stick a day earlier. OK so Maurice built on his way home from the Tartan Pub the night before which probably accounts for the snowman looking a little strange.
A Capital Time: From Montreal the Q family hired a big car to drive to Ottawa (because by this time Ethan had acquired a couple of big presents from his very generous Gramma Lana, a car the size of a truck was needed to carry toy trucks the size of a car). Ottawa was still mighty cold, more snow, more ice sculptures, a walk on the frozen Rideau canal and this photo opportunity with Dad, in front of the Capital's Parliament building. 
To-ronto: After a few days in Ottawa, it was then a quick drive up to Montreal for an even shorter flight to Toronto where Pam and Mike played host. In Toronto Ethan went to the top (and looked up from the bottom) of the CN tower.
The Furry Friends: As lovely as it was for Ethan to meet all the Canadian people, he was particularly enamoured with the canines he met. Staying with some very kind and friendly dogs really gave Ethan a lot of confidence being with these wonderful animals. There was Sylvia (Pa and Fran's dog)...
Gramma Lana's 'Dakota' or 'Pony Dog' as Ethan called him...
The soft and kind 'Summer' (Pam and Mikes dog)...
And of course the irrepressible Boss and good natured Maggie. Ethan says a big "woof" to all you four legged types.
Back in Oz: Before he knew it the holiday was over and it was time to head home. The flight back was just as on the way out and Ethan took it in his stride with barely a mutter or moan of complaint. Ethan can point out his home town on his wall map in his room but still doesn't really have a concept of just how far he has travelled. Yesterday morning when we said we were going out for breakfast he asked if Tony was coming? When we said Tony couldn't make it because he was back in Canada, Ethan asked if we could go to Canada tomorrow. Not tomorrow Ethan but like your Great Auntie Casey said "Hopefully we make it back before Ethan has grown whiskers"...
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