My name is Melanie. I am in my mid 30’s, married and have 2 amazing kids. Lucky for me I was born and raised on the fantastically beautiful Vancouver Island. I have loved living on the island my entire life. Mainly because I love being outdoors (when its not 30+ degrees 😉 ) and I adore the ocean. The ocean is my true love, aside from my husband and kids, we’ll talk more about them later don’t worry.
Why start a blog? I’ve decided to start this blog as a bit of a love letter for our little family and to time stamp our incredible journey across the Great White North, Canada. But also for my very large, beloved, supportive and wonderfully wacky extended family. This way they can come along with us nearly every step of the way. We are a big family, but a close one too. So the more I can share and stay connected…the better.
We leave BC in search of adventure. But before we get to far ahead, lets go back a bit to where I came from. I grew up in Qualicum Bay, which will always be home to me. It is the place that raised me. My Nana and Grandpa were just down the ‘trail’ from our house. My Uncle and Auntie lived across the road, with another set beside us, which meant cousins EVERYWHERE. When the family got together…it was about 40 people. No joke! It was absolutely wonderful. As kids we had a family birthday in the summer for allll the cousins because there was so many of us. Growing up like that was not only fun, but incredibly fortunate. Our days were filled with make believe, the biggest kick the can games(hide’n’seek), laughs and of course good food made by Nana and the Aunties.
Qualicum Bay is also home to “Our Beach”. It’s mostly rocky, but who cares that’s where the crabs hide! It has the BIGGEST tide pool to explore, sand when the tide is low and oysters just a quick dive away. Plus mere minutes away from the mouth of the Big Qualicum River. We’ve found clam shells, geoducks, chitons and even sea urchins at our beach. Just a few reasons why I fell in love with the ocean.
Now for the husband; Chris. We are complete opposites. He is mister serious, and I am miss sunshine and rainbows. We have been together for what feels like forever…in a such a great way 🙂 Our opposite nature makes us work really well together. Chris is the strong silent type, prides himself on being a provider and is a very hands on father. He is nearly a full blown Islander having relocated here when he was 4 from Ontario with his Dad, Mom and older brother. We met camping when I was 18 and he was 22 at a friends birthday (I know, so long ago). But we have been together ever since.
Chris and I have talked and dreamed of moving to the East Coast almost since we met, but I was scared to move that far away to be honest. We have stayed on the Island for the whole of our relationship: from dating, getting married, having both our kids and buying our first home. And we have loved it. Exploring, camping, beach combing, and day to day living. But as much as we do love it, the island has changed for us and recently the east coast called.
In just a few days of discussing rising costs and what the kids future would be like if it continued…we thought maybe it was time to move on. Canada has so many beautiful places, maybe we should go find a new one. Leaving the island we can set ourselves and the kids up for a more sustainable future somewhere else? Because lets be real, Island living comes at cost. One that we are no-longer willing to pay for. The moment we started our discussion: to contacting our mortgage broker, reaching out to our realtor and everything else that entails a big move like this…it all fell into place, too easily actually. And before we knew it we had listed our house…and it sold…and now we really are moving. Not only moving, but from everyone and everything we’ve known.
If you’ve read up til now you must be wondering where exactly are we going, am I right? Now that you know me a bit more, you now know I love and need to be by an ocean. We are all packing up in the jeep (or the jalopy as Chris calls it, he who drives a camaro), shipping our belongings and driving from the West to the East Coast and setting up in Nova Scotia. From there TBD!
Wish us luck, and I look forward to keeping you updated along the way.
xo Mel