Grey-Bruce Kids Winter 2021/22

popularity continues today. Then, in the spring of 2016, we
added Huron-Perth Boomers to our suite of publications,
and now publish all three every quarter, and still offering free
distribution to our faithful readers.
Above: Amy gets to know an elephant at a sanctuary in the
jungle of northern Thailand. We spent a night frolicking in the
grass, mud and river with the five resident elephants at the
no-electricity sanctuary, in November 2019.
Below: Dwight finishes up the Spring 2020 issue in our
hostel’s restaurant on the Thai island of Koh Lanta.
GBK AROUND THE WORLD
In July 2019, we took our magazines on the road, as our family
embarked on a one-year trip around the world as part of a
sabbatical program offered by Dwight’s (other) employer. The
beauty of technology – as well as help with magazine delivery
from family and other community members – meant we could
prepare and publish three issues simultaneously, even as the
four of us backpacked through 12 countries – the U.S., western
Canada, London, UK, Paris, a Kenyan safari, various Indonesian
islands, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia and Sri
Lanka.
Unbeknownst to many, we completed our Fall 2019 issue from
a hostel in Nanaimo, B.C., not having been home for six weeks
at that point. It was a challenge to focus on our Winter 2019/20
issue while experiencing the mind-blowing and tongue-numbing
flavours found in the street food and the stifling humidity of
the cities and jungles of northern Thailand that November. Our
Spring 2020 issue was fine-tuned with feet buried into the sandfloored
restaurant at our hostel on the tiny Thai island of Koh
Lanta in February 2020, with final edits completed in a swaying
hammock.
Unfortunately, on March 16, 2020, after 18 days of fresh fruit
smoothies made with produce from the stand next door, and
surfing morning and night at our quiet beach, we scrambled
to catch one of the last flights off the island of Sri Lanka. The
COVID-19 pandemic had finally forced us home, our year-long
travels ending three months early.
While our kids experienced the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes
of international travel during our nine months as backpackers,
the Summer 2020 issue was a completely different experience –
for one, we were stuck in our house, during the early days of the
pandemic. It was the also first of five issues of Grey-Bruce Kids
that were only available online, and we’re very happy to be back
in print with this, our second issue since the pandemic brought
the world to a stand-still.
We are incredibly fortunate to own a business that could be
operated from some of the most stunning – and sometimes
rustic – places in the world. And I apologize if I took a while to
respond to your email… you’d be surprised how little wifi there
can be on the savannah of the Maasai Mara in Kenya, or during
a two-day boat ride down the Mekong River between Thailand
and Laos, or at an electricity-free elephant sanctuary in the Thai
jungle...
THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT
I sometimes pause to consider there are readers out there who
first picked up Grey-Bruce Kids when they were raising a preteen
or full-blown teenager and are now grandparents! I hope they
picked up at least one nugget of information that made them
a better parent then, and a better grandparent now. I also hope