Québec City Road Trip with Kids

On Day 1 of our family road trip across Eastern Canada, we drove 9 hours (plus stops) from our home in Southern Ontario to Québec City.

Family Road Trip Across Eastern Canada

I grew up in Southern Ontario and although we took several family road trips to the U.S.A. during my childhood, it wasn't until recently that I ventured outside of Ontario within my own Country. My curiosity about the other provinces was first peaked as a child, when I read Anne of Green Gables and read L.M. Montgomery's romantic descriptions of the beauty of Prince Edward Island. When I learned more about the geography of our whole country, I found myself with an unspoken bucket list item, to visit the coasts of Canada someday. This year is Canada's 150th and it seemed like an appropriate time to take that leap (or drive, in this case) and visit Eastern Canada with my family!

If you're following me on Instagram, you already know that we began our journey on the first of this month. Now that we have returned home, I have so much that I want to share with you about our experiences and what we learned about road-tripping across Canada with kids!

August 2017 Sharing Time

I look forward to seeing some patriotic ideas in this month's linky!

Welcome to the August Link Party!

Current Giveaway:

This month I posted our review of the Douglas Mattress- including a video unboxing, showing how a queen sized mattress could fit into this little box! There's also a mattress giveaway on that post, so don't miss your chance to enter it!

Donating Hair!

When Talia was 4 years old, she got her hands on some scissors and cut her hair. She only cut the front of her hair, and had enough left at the back to donate her hair. Nearly two years later, her hair had grown enough to donate again. It's been about 5 and a half years since then, and both of our girls' hair has grown quite long again, so they decided to donate together this time!

Here are some more photos of before & after:

Douglas Mattress Review & Giveaway

Ken and I have been trying out a new mattress for the last month. I waited to make sure we'd had some good time and experience with it before I shared our experience with you and I'm excited that it's finally time to tell you about it! (and to show you how a Queen sized mattress can fit inside of such a tiny box! Keep scrolling for a video... )

Our Mattress Backstory: 

We had been sleeping on our mattress for 8 years and I know, from my past as a furniture saleswoman, that we're right around the time when we might consider replacing it, depending on its performance. We LOVED our mattress when we bought it and for many years after, but recently we have both been waking up feeling stiff and sore. I've had a sore neck and shoulder and occasional back pain; he has had back problems, and we had suspicions that these could be, in part, improved by a new mattress.

Mattress In A Box

I had heard about foam mattresses that get delivered to your doorstep, squished and rolled up all tiny, inside a box. I had heard that you could try these mattresses for a decent period of time before deciding whether or not you wanted to keep them, and the company would refund you if you didn't like it!

I had already started to research this concept when I found out that Novosbed was interested in partnering to share their new brand, "the most Canadian mattress in Canada", the Douglas mattress.

Gooey Marshmallow Brownie Recipe

All you need are some marshmallows and chocolate chips to take your regular brownies from good to amazing! I'm impressed by how the marshmallow layer on top of these brownies stays soft even after the brownies are cool. We love adding some extra deliciousness to a simple brownie mix!

Here's what you'll need:

Brownie Mix & required ingredients
(our mix calls for vegetable oil, water, and an egg)
Marshmallows
Chocolate Chips