Since our arrival in Victoria, we have had the opportunity to go back to Vancouver and visit some good friends. In November, Mark, Clara and I enjoyed catching up with Heidi, Graeme and their lovely son Eamon. Eamon is a very friendly little boy, and the two little people were hugging each other and sharing toys by the end of our visit!

















Here the two children are discussing the state of the environmental consulting industry:















We dropped in on Dean and Robyn and their twin boys Nate & Jonah. The boys look very well, and keep mom and dad busy!















It was a busy weekend, and Clara's sleeping schedule was thrown off. Here she is trying to catch up on some sleep while driving through Vancouver.

















Our last stop of our whirl-wind weekend were our friends Martin and Vetina. It was great to catch up with them, and wonderful to all be in the same spot at the same time!

















Life in Victoria has been a whole lot of fun! We have adjusted to a more independent life, and enjoy the little adventures that every day brings. I'm never *quite* sure what each day will bring...and certainly didn't expect to see THIS particular ensemble walk around the corner one morning!
















We have been enjoying going outdoors to walk to the park, or do local errands while pushing Clara in the stroller. We bundle up nice and warm, and visit the local cats, birds, and shops as we complete our "to do" list.

















We recently went to visit Mark's parents in Campbell River to help them celebrate their 40th anniversary. While there we were able to catch up with Mark's brother (David, Kristi and their son Jacob), as well as his Uncle Ray & Auntie Jean. We enjoyed a wonderful time of fellowship, and were regaled with entertaining stories by Uncle Ray, and Gran & Grandad's wedding photo album. Clara enjoyed herself, and looked lovely in a very special dress given by her Aunt Patty in Dhaka.


















This was Clara's first Christmas in Canada. We had a wonderful, unique experience in Malaysia last year, but it was great to spend it in a familiar feeling country, albeit a new city. She was quite enthralled with wrapping paper, and also enjoyed the contents! In this photo you can almost hear her oooohhh and aaaahhhh as she points to the nose, eyes & ears of the soft bunny.
















Mark's company hosted an evening for families with young children. There was food, crafts, movies and Santa! Most of the small children were frightened of this strange, big man in the red suit, and Clara was no exception! She warmed up to him with a little time, but was still very cautious.

















Mark's parents came on Christmas Eve to spend the holiday season with us. We had a lovely time together eating, chatting, playing, and eating. I really like this photo of Gran and Clara looking at the ornaments on the tree.

















We continued our visiting & catching up with friends after Christmas. We headed up to Squamish to visit Alex, Emilie and their beautiful daughter Sophie. It was amazing to see such a wee baby! Mark and I were reminded that 'babies come in small'! We had a terrific time and loved Alex's lattes! mmmmmmm
















That same weekend we went down to UBC to visit Steve and Rosemary. Once again we enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of good friends. We had a long, leisurely chat while Clara slept away the evening. Clara must have had very active dreams because the next morning she thoroughly savoured the waffles that Rosemary made!














Steve & Rosemary generously opened their house to a whole herd of people that we had yet to catch up with since returning from Bangladesh. So we were able to visit with Ryan & Jamilla, Dylan & Carl, Tara & Sasha - it was a Sunday morning brunch that felt a little bit like the house parties of old...it was great fun!

Here's a quick photo of Steve, Rosemary & the happy wanderers!

















A big hug to all of our dear friends whom we were able to catch up with these past couple of months. When we see you again, it seems like only yesterday that we last saw you, and it feels like we are picking up a conversation where we last left off!

Thank you all for your love and generosity, and we look forward to seeing you more frequently now that we are back in the province.

Love and hugs,
Brenda, Mark & Clara

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!

In addition to our friends, Mark is also sad to say goodbye to our beloved car. Mark's love affair with Toyota station wagons has continued here in Bangladesh...after saying goodbye to his Tercel wagon when we got married (four years ago!), he had moved on to an exotic right-side drive Corolla wagon here in Dhaka. It was quirky (i.e. it always started well but didn't stop when the key was removed so we always had to stall it to turn it off) but solid. I made good use of the car when Clara and I went to singing group and the baby socials and came to enjoy the chaos of Dhaka driving. If you look closely at the pictures, you'll see that it was quite banged up like most other cars here - the traffic is quite slow, so the driving can sometimes be like one big game of bumper cars!

We have ensured that the car went to an appreciative new owner and we'll miss our little white wagon. However, Mark is excited to meet our next Toyota wagon when we get back to Canada. After surfing the web and sending some emails, Mark found a 2nd hand Camry wagon and convinced his parents (with phrases like "if we have a car then Clara will be able visit her grandparents more") to pick it up for us. They were very kind and we appreciate their help very much. Let's hope the new wagon is in better shape than the Corolla was!

Hello everyone!

We are fast approaching our 1 year anniversary celebrating our arrival in Bangladesh. It is hard to believe that time passes so quickly! Clara has grown so much, and we have had the opportunity to explore this part of the world, and Mark's project has gone very well.

As many of you know, we will be moving back to Canada September 21st. We have been very blessed to have had this opportunity as a family, and will sorely miss some of the people we have met here. Before we arrived, Mark told me this, he said, "You will cry twice - once when you arrive in Bangladesh, and once when you depart." I have definitely cried at least once since our arrival, and will cry again when we say goodbye to friends.



We are looking forward to moving to our permanent home in Victoria, and are excited about returning to the comfort and safety of Canada.


Clara is now walking! Within one week she went from taking one step, to taking 5-10 steps in a row. It is amazing to see the development. This next picture is for Uncle Stephen - please note the WAY too long outfit! :-)
















Last weekend we bought some burgers and sausages and grilled them on our barbeque. We shared good food and good conversation with our friends, the Trevett family, who happen to live in the same building as us! Clara and their 3 children really enjoy each other's company, and it is really funny to see the 4 of them playing together.















We hope that this finds everyone well, lots of love from all of us

Photos from Clara's birthday - July 14th

Here are some photos from Clara's birthday, July 14th, that we celebrated as a family. We spent a quiet day around home enjoying the balloons, boxes and memories of a blessed year.

Lots of love and hugs from the Boltons in Bangladesh. We hope that this finds you all well!

Clara's First Birthday

This past weekend we celebrated Clara's first birthday! We had a birthday party on the 13th, and shared a quiet family day on her actual birthday, July 14th.





Clara shared a birthday party with another little friend, Jip, at our apartment on Friday. Jip and Clara have many friends in common, and their birthdays are only 7 days apart, so we decided to 'co-host'. We had a lovely time, and there were lots of little people underfoot. As Jip's mother, Nicolienne, said, "You know you are a grown-up when you are hosting your children's birthday party!"

We put up some balloons and streamers around the apartment, which captivated Clara, and the other little children. Clara is pointing at objects that interest her, and Mark spent quite a bit of time following her finger from one balloon to another.

Clara is at the age where the container is the most interesting component of any object. Here she is closely inspecting (with carrot in hand) a rather large box! She is wearing a Shalwaar Kameez, traditional Bangladeshi wear, that Mark picked out for her special birthday outfit.
























We even managed to track down a birthday hat for Jip and Clara....although it didn't stay on their head for very long!















Nicolienne baked a lovely carrot cake for the occasion, and there was a lot of excitement about the candles and icing sugar...unfortunately (or fortunately, as the case may be!) we don't have any photos of the air-conditioner blowing out the candles, or of the little children getting their hands into the icing sugar, so these photos will have to suffice! ;-)

Clara had a lovely afternoon, and the party ended before it dissolved into sniffles and screams... perfect timing!

Mark and I had a wonderful day celebrating with Dhaka friends, but we couldn't help but miss our family and friends in Canada. Thank you for all of your thoughtful birthday wishes - Clara has received many warm, long-distance hugs and kisses from you all!

Lots of love from the Boltons in Bangladesh!