Much has happened since my last entry! We are no longer the "Boltons in Bangladesh", rather, now we are the Boltons in British Columbia.

We departed Bangladesh around midnight on the evening of September 22nd. It was a very sad day saying goodbye to our good friends, and I was quite nervous about the long journey ahead. We had to wake Clara from a deep sleep, and she was not very happy about the trip to the airport. She managed to recover her good spirits while we were in the Singapore airport (her still in her pajamas), as evidenced by the grin below:

Flying into Singapore from Dhaka is like entering a whole new Asia - a clean and quiet Asia! The rest of the 24 hour trip was exhausting, but quite uneventful. We were very happy to see Mark's parents waiting for us when we arrived in Vancouver. We took the ferry from Vancouver to their home in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. Clara thoroughly enjoyed spending time with her Gran and Grandad on the ferry.















After getting acquainted with the British Columbia time zone and catching up on some sleep, we headed east to Ontario to celebrate the wedding of my youngest brother, Stephen. We had a wonderful time getting together with everyone, sharing many stories and much laughter. We came from many parts of the globe for this occasion (Bangladesh, Florida, Jerusalem), and it was a very special, happy celebration for Stephen and Natalie. In the picture below you can see my side of the family (from left to right): Krista (sister in law), my mom, Clara and I, Andrea (sister), and Diana (sister in law).















After the excitement of the wedding Mark, Clara and I spent about 2 weeks relaxing with my parents on their farm in southern Ontario. It was the fall, and we savoured the fresh air, beautiful scenery, quiet and wonderful food....oh yes, and Clara LOVED the freshly fallen apples from the trees!

Mark and my brother James had fun preparing some meat on the barbeque. In Bangladesh Mark and our neighbour Andrew had experienced quite a bit of frustration trying to get enough heat from our barbeque. Here, rather than letting Mark try to fan the flames for hours, James just added some lighter fluid! Quick and effective! (hope you are enjoying the bbq Andrew, Patty and kids!)















My mom and dad have a couple of cows, and this small herd captivated Clara. She was very interested in watching them eat, and was continually pointing in their general direction or walking down to visit them. "Mooooooo" she kept saying.






























We arrived in Victoria about 2 weeks ago. It is a beautiful city, and we are very happy to be in our house. That being said, it is going to take me a little while to feel settled. It is hard to put into words how much I miss my friends in Dhaka. I think that because Dhaka is such a hard place to live, you become very close to people in a very short period of time. I am happy to be back in our country, but also know that it will take some time to develop those types of friendships again.

Clara is walking very well, and we dressed her up for Halloween in a lamb costume. We didn't go out trick-or-treating, but I did dress her up for the day while we ran some errands.














I hope this finds everyone well and I'll update the blog again with newsfrom Victoria!