THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life ~ June Edition

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." May was one of those months where I was fortunate enough to live out one of those big decisions. One of those big life adventures. I spent almost the entirety of the month on the other side of the world exploring new places, making memories, and having exciting experiences. I am extremely grateful for all of it! This entire blog entry is going to end up being a run-down of my 25-days of travel - and it's going to be very picture-heavy. I'm still going to put up photo albums with even more details and more photos in them, but for now you guys get the sneak-peek highlights! Our first destination was Auckland, New Zealand! It took three flights to get there. We immediately loved the city very much - maybe because it felt very familiar and a lot like Canada (it gave us tons of Vancouver vibes). We stayed in an area called Ponsonby that was super hip and awesome. We fit in tons of activities including going up the Sky Tower, a sunrise hike up Mount Eden, the Hobbiton Movie Set Tour & Evening Banquet, and a drive to gorgeous Piha Beach. (Did you know that they drive on the other side of the road in New Zealand and Australia? Tim had to re-learn how to drive in order to operate all of our rental cars!!) Overall, I think that Auckland was probably my favourite city that we went to! I'd love to visit again someday.

Our second destination was Wellington, New Zealand! Here we rode the Wellington Cable Car, did the Wētā Workshop Tour, and experienced the Kiwi Night Encounter at Ngā Manu Nature Reserve (we weren't allowed to take photos but it was so amazing to see real live kiwi birds!).

Proud Capricorn over here!

Our third destination was Sydney, Australia! Unsurprisingly, Sydney felt like a massive metropolis (it has a population of 5.5 million). We stayed right on Bondi Beach which was great and let us live the beach life while we were there. We did all the tourist things like checking out the Sydney Opera House, of course we went swimming at Bondi Beach, and we did the thrilling Sydney BridgeClimb across the Harbour Bridge.

This mural is made of LEGO!

My favourite meal of the whole trip was at Three Blue Ducks in Sydney.

Also in Sydney, I celebrated the seven year anniversary of my food blog; Erika Eats Everything. Very proud that I'm still working away at it! Appropriately, I was traveling around and literally eating everything.

We celebrated Mother's Day at The Fullerton Hotel for their fancy Mother's Day Afternoon Tea and it was so lovely!

We were also in Sydney when we learned that Tim's mom had passed away, which was incredibly sad. I made sure to let Tim know that I was supportive of whatever he needed to do and that if he wanted to leave the trip to go to London, that I didn't want him to feel trapped. He did not want to leave and he didn't think that his mom would have wanted him to do that either. She was cremated and the funeral is taking place on June 22nd. There wasn't anything that needed to be done urgently or immediately. It's very hard to imagine getting together with the Golems at Christmas or in the summer and that she won't be there. Our fourth destination was Brisbane, Australia! We drove up to Australia Zoo, checked in to The Crocodile Hunter Lodge, and lived at the zoo for multiple days!! This was probably the highlight of the entire vacation for me. It was the most magical experience with so many memorable encounters with animals. I was in heaven! I highly recommend this to anyone who can go, especially if you have kids! It's like the Disneyland of zoos!

After that we had one day in the actual city of Brisbane and we had a great time fitting in some sights like the Mount Coot-Tha Summit Lookout, The Wheel of Brisbane, and Fish Lane.

Our fifth destination was Sigatoka, Fiji! This was on Fiji's main island and we stayed at a resort called OUTRIGGER Fiji Beach Resort. We had our own Beachfront Bure that was super cute. The resort was quite lively with lots of different things to do. We enjoyed living the beach life, taking in some of the Fijian culture, and Tim and I even had a Romantic Discovery Package at the spa which was wonderful.

Our sixth destination was Savusavu, Fiji! This was on a smaller island and we stayed at a resort called Koro Sun Resort. We had our own Edgewater Pool Bure that was excellent for jumping straight into the ocean! This resort had a much smaller and quieter vibe. We visited a pearl farm and ate oysters on the boat, visited a cocoa farm, and went snorkeling & paddleboarding.

25 days. 11 flights. 3 countries. 6 cities. I am beyond happy with how well everything worked out! We didn't run into any issues, all of our plans were pretty seamless, and the weather was generally wonderful. What an adventure!! Coming home was weird. We felt like foreigners in our own house and it took a few days to remember what our normal life is like. But we were quickly swept up into the hockey mayhem! We made it to the Watch Party for the final game of the 3rd round and watched the Oilers beat the Dallas Stars! It's onto the Stanley Cup Finals once again!!

May was certainly not a month that I'll forget any time soon!

Life with Archie: Of course Archie had a really big month of adventures and new experiences. I love getting to show him the world and helping to foster his sense of exploration. I do not regret taking him out of school for this! Here are some of Archie's travel highlights from his perspective: New Zealand: Archie was dressed up as a Hobbit when we went to Hobbiton - and boy was he a hit! Other tourists asked to take photos with him because he was a Hobbit! I'm pretty sure that he's famous in Hong Kong now.

Australia:

Fiji:

Archie learned how to crack open a coconut with a machete and he tried glass blowing!

After this trip Archie has now flown a total of 71 times!! Not bad for an 8 year old. At this point he's a well-seasoned, very good traveler. It's so much fun to live this life with him. <3 Another sad thing that happened while we were away is that Archie's hamster Marshmallow died. A friend was looking after her and one day they found that she had kicked the bucket. Archie seemed sad about this but also wanted to avoid talking about it. We buried Marshmallow in the backyard and told Archie that he could get a new hamster if he wanted to. After thinking about it for a few days he said that he did want a new hamster and that this time he wanted a Robovski Hamster. So he got one and named her Pebble!

Archie is also very excited about all of the hockey fun!

Now it's June and it's time to start wrapping my head around the summer. I spent so much time and energy planning this massive vacation and hadn't looked at anything beyond that time. I should probably start doing that. This month Tim and I are going to Chartier's Read | Eat | Drink Book Pairing Dinner because they're featuring Anthony Bourdain's book Kitchen Confidential. The whole dinner will be themed around the book. We obviously couldn't miss it! There will surely be a lot of hockey festivities and Watch Parties as we cheer on the Edmonton Oilers in the final round of the playoffs against the Florida Panthers (yet again). Hopefully a better result this year!! Father's Day is happening and Tim said that he wanted to have dinner at one of his favourite restaurants; La Petite Iza. So that's what we're doing! Then Tim is off to Montreal for another work trip. From there he'll be flying directly to London to start getting things ready for his mom's funeral. Archie and I will be flying out a few days later. I'm sure that the reality of Theresa's passing is going to become a lot more real. But I hope that we're also able to celebrate her and everything that she meant to all of us. We're not going to stay in London for very long because we want to get Archie back home in time for his last day of school. But yes! It's hard to believe that the school year is already coming to an end and Archie will be finished grade 2! It's also me and Tim's 12th wedding anniversary at the end of the month! We are going to have dinner at MSSM which is a fairly new Japanese restaurant that I'm excited about! They serve an edomae-style omakase menu curated by 2-Star Michelin Chef Masaki Saito. There are two locations in Toronto and one in Edmonton! Looking forward to a fun date night! I'm BACK. I'm getting myself back into real life. I'm getting our summer sorted out. And above all, I am very appreciative of the month that I just had!

THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: June 14th is Amy Bull's 17th wedding anniversary!

Congrats to you and Ray on 17 big years! I hope that you get to do something special to celebrate! Cheers! June 20th is Laura Mitschke's 10th wedding anniversary!

Congrats to you and Matt on 10 big years! I hope that you get to do something special to celebrate! Cheers! June 24th is Sarah Turnbull’s 43rd birthday!

Wishing you the most special and wonderful day in which you feel extremely celebrated! You are always very close to my heart. I can always count on us having some type of wacky adventure in the near future and I love that about the friendship that we have nurtured over the course of many, many years. You are a determined powerhouse of a woman and I am always so proud of you. Love you always! <3 June 30th is my 12th wedding anniversary!

I am always endlessly glad that it's me and Tim. I'm so glad that we chose each other. I know for a fact that we make each other better and balance each other out. I love our life so much and I know that there's only more amazing adventures in store! I am so grateful that he's my person. <3