It was in June 1996 that my father, my mother (pregnant with my brother), my sister & I migrated from The Philippines. I interviewed my parents for this special piece that tells the story of how we came to be two-time migrants.

On the last weekend of June, we packed two coolers, a couple bags, our camping gear and our dog into the back of our car and made our way to Ontario to visit Justin’s family and the farm. We drove over 3,400km through three provinces across four-and-a-half days to get there.

In mid-August, we visited J’s parents’ farm in Ontario. A long-awaited visit, the warmth, humidity, lush green pastures and utter tranquility was a welcome break from the relentless rain, tourist hubbub and parched mountain air.

I spent my second Canadian Christmas out on the farm with J and his family; the very place where he grew up and started to become the person I now know. Upon arriving in Ontario on Christmas Eve, we were gifted with a white Christmas after all, a mild start to our winter in the west leaving our town a barren, snow-less place.

I want to tell you about this woman; my aunt Juliet, Julie, or “Bibi” as she was known in our family. I want to tell you what I tried to tell everyone at her memorial, whilst choking back tears, my whole body trying to contain all I was feeling to no avail.

I was about to say that I wasn’t sure why blogging has been so hard for me in the last year, but I do know why. It’s hard to believe it’s taken me a year to blog these very precious memories with my brother and sister. My siblings are like pieces of my heart that only came to form after they were born; two of my safest places, they carry the parts of me I often cannot. They know me inside-out and they love me anyway.

This time last year—a hike with my siblings and my friends Bek & Chloe, enjoying our usual dance with winter in Kananaskis Country.

At the start of October, Martin's mother, uncle and brother visited us and the Rockies. Apart from showing them some of my favourite hikes around Banff & Canmore, we were lucky enough to join them up north in Jasper for a few days.

Photos from when my brother & sister visited me during my first year in Canada.

21 years ago I sat with my 3-year-old sister in the waiting room of a hospital in Auckland, New Zealand. I would be late going to school if this was going to take a long time, I thought. I fell asleep. Upon waking I panicked, first checking that my sister was still with me.

On Sunday, M & I left home early to meet my family at Nobby Beach for my father's birthday. It's been a little while since we've had a family day out (or in my case, a day out at all)—with my sister living interstate and me having moved out of home since 2012, opportunities to have a day like this are so rare.

We ended our last day in Beijing touring the Temple of Heaven and the Summer Palace. It was cloudy and a little icy, so much so that even droplets of water on the ground would freeze up.

I've been looking forward to sharing this photo story with you: our day at none other than the Great Wall of China. Again, for some reason, The Great Wall was never high on my list of places to visit.

We didn't arrive in Beijing until about 5:30pm. When we met our guide at the airport, he let us know that he had double-checked our hotel's address and drove past it, only to discover it had been closed for renovations for months.

Our third and final day in Hong Kong was spent travelling to Ngong Ping, the little town on the mountain, via cable car.

Finally, five weeks after coming home, I've finished editing photos from the Hong Kong & Beijing portions of my trip.