My life in Canada (July 2005 - December 2005)

July 2005 - December 2005:

We had nice weather most of the time we were at Mara Lake and were able to spent some time on the beach and swim in Mara Lake. Our wedding day was here now...Thursday July 14, 2005. Michael and I got up and enjoyed our morning together. We tried to relax a bit before we had to get ready for the ceremony. The ceremony would take place at Griffin Lake near Revelstoke which was about 40 minutes driving from Mara Lake. Sicamous is in between Mara Lake and Griffin Lake, we would pick up the trays and cake after the wedding ceremony on the way back to Mara Lake where we would set up some picnic tables outside to have our dinner. The ceremony would start at 2.00pm, that meant that we had to leave Mara Lake around 1.00 - 1.15pm. We agreed that everybody would be at Mara Lake around 12.45pm so we could all leave together to Griffin Lake. I got dressed in my wedding gown around 11.30am as Deborah (Dorothy's daugher) was going to come by at 12.00 to do my hair fancy for the wedding. The flower piece was ready to go and I just had to put on some make up after that. The whole family was waiting outside of the cabin to see Michael and I walking out to the car. My family had a big smile on their face and really seemed to like the way we looked. We took a few pictures outside of the cabin before we all took off to Griffin Lake for the wedding ceremony. The wedding commissioner was waiting for us already when we got there at 1.30pm. The chairs were set up for the guests in the grass overlooking the lake and the mountains. We only had 14 guests in total including us. The ceremony started at 1.45pm and it was so wonderful.

A photo before leaving for Griffin Lake:

The weather was perfect, about +27C (86 F) and sunny. Michael and I felt so great that we finally could tie the not and promise each other to love one another until death to us part. That we will stand by each other in sickness and so on. This made us so happy that we are now husband and wife for the rest of our lives! It was so nice and such an intimate wedding...just the way we wanted it. The ceremony was finished at around 1.15pm. After that we went around the property to have some pictures taken while the hosts of Griffin Lake Lodge served some drinks to our guests. After all of that it was about 2.00pm and we headed back to Mara Lake. Of course we stopped on the way at "Askews", the store where we ordered all our trays and cake. We stuck it all in the car and went back to Mara Lake where we set up all the food in the cabins. Everybody could go around the tables to get whatever they wanted to eat and then we would sit outside under the willow trees with everybody. Everything tasted so nice, the food was really good. Everybody enjoyed it. The cake was also wonderful and had a great taste. We were happy the way everything turned out...we wouldn't have wanted it any other way! We ended the day with a bon fire and a nice chat amongst each other. A perfect day came to an end and Michael & I were now husband and wife! That felt so fantastic and we look forward to grow old together. For a slide show of our wedding pictures please --> CLICK HERE

What a beautiful day that was. We had such a good time and will never forget this day. I think we went to bed just after midnight...we were quite tired after the excitement of that day and had a good sleep. On Friday it was time to start packing our stuff as we would leave Mara Lake early on Saturday morning with my mom and brother + family to explore the Canadian Rockies for a few days. Michael's parents would head back to Vancouver on Saturday morning at the same time as we head for the Rockies. It was time for all the goodbyes again and enjoy a nice evening with everybody until the next year!

A few of our wedding photos with the family

On July 16th we left Mara Lake. Michael's parents went back to Vancouver and Michael, myself and my family went to Golden where we would stay for 2 nights and explore Yoho National Park, Lake Louise and Moraine Lake. Boy, those Canadian Rockies are always so beautiful, no matter when you go there. I can't get enough of them! It seemed that some people in the party didn't enjoy it very much or weren't very impressed with the Rockies?? I don't know why, people come from all over the world to see this beautiful area. The Canadian Rockies are so well known for their beautiful mountain scenery and the bright blue lakes and of course for the wildlife you can see over there. This area is very stretched out and the setting is so natural, there are only a couple of small towns. Well, I don't understand why some people can't appreciate such a beautiful nature phenomenon. I love nature and I love mountains very much...so you can drop me off at any place in this world that has mountains...I will be in heaven!
There are so many beautiful places in this world and I appreciate the beautiful of all the places I have been to, whether it's Canada, Europe or the USA. Each area is unique in its own way and has so much to offer. I don't understand why people can't appreciate the beautiful of other places, especially the Canadian Rockies which is on the wish list of many people to visit. Anyway, it's too bad that some people know how to ruin a beautiful holiday and a beautiful honeymoon. Because of some stressful moments and having the feeling that we might be seeing too much in one day during the trip with my family we had to miss several spots in the Canadian Rockies that we had never seen before. Not very nice when you have to compromise things on your own honeymoon. Let it be a lesson, don't take your family on a honeymoon. But none the less, Michael and I enjoyed our honeymoon as much as we could. We still think the Canadian Rockies are awesome and so beautiful and we don't care what other people think!

Finally when we got back to Vancouver everything was so beautiful and great...???? How can Vancouver and its surrounding area impress you so much more when you just got back from the Canadian Rockies which did not impress you??? Seems a little strange, don't you think? Not that Vancouver is not nice, Vancouver is beautiful as well...but I think the Canadian Rockies are just more impressive. I don't get that part, but anyway...I'll think mine of it! And another part that bothered me is that some people can be so ungreatful after so much was paid for by other people and so much efforts have gone into making it a nice trip. I guess some people are just miserable and love to put down anything and everything. It seems like they enjoy it when they can put down others and the things that others enjoy...how can one be happy when you have to live like that. For me it's much better to be happy for someone else and for the things they have and the things they do. I would say "good for you"...you deserve it! And it's so much nicer to be happy about life and everything else...you only have one and it can change from one day to the other (my dad is a great example of that). Life is what you make of it! Michael and I sure are making the best of it everyday and every moment we have together! At least our wedding day was a perfect day and nobody can take that away from us. My mom had such a good time and enjoyed the Canadian Rockies very much. She loves Vancouver as well and loves to go to all the nice places in downtown and to Stanley Park and such places. Well, the time came very quickly again for my family to got to Belgium. It was sad to say goodbye to my mom and I would miss her so much again. But we can stay in touch via phone frequently thankfully and that helps a lot! I hope she'll be coming to see us again within the next year or 2...we'll see! I hope my brother and his family also had a great time seeing all the beautiful sights and I hope they enjoyed Canada a little bit. I tried to show them the most beautiful spots in this area as well as the most beautiful spots in the Canadian Rockies and as most of you probably know after reading all my stories here I can never get enough of this beautiful Canadian scenery! So, I hope they liked the places I showed them and I hope that they have some nice memories from this trip! I sure have some fantastic memories of this trip!

A few photos from our trip through the Canadian Rockies:

And a few photos in Vancouver:

After my family left we went back to our usual routine and we both had to go back to work soon after. My mom and I still keep in touch at least once a week, and sometimes more than once a week. It’s always so good to talk to her and I really enjoy that hour we have to chat about everything and anything. In this part of the year not much has happened. There is one girl at my work that I really got along with so well, she lives in Maple Ridge, which is about a 20-30 minute drive from our place. She invited me one day in November to go to here place and go for a walk on the dikes in Maple Ridge and to see Pitt Lake. That was so much fun. We had lunch, we went for coffee and spent a great time talking about all sorts of things when we went to the dikes and Pitt Lake. She also lives in a really nice apartment with great views over the mountains. For the rest we had a great Christmas with Michael’s parents who made a great dinner. New Year was excellent as well and we were able to see the beautiful fireworks from their place with a wonderful view over the river.

Please visit my next post "My life in Canada (January 2006 - December 2006) for the rest of my story!"