Two Weeks Away, some photos and reflections.

So we went to Saskatoon.

For my parents 40th Anniversary (last December), my sisters and I went together to get them a hot air balloon ride, and they took it while we were all there. This is one of the beautiful shots my dad got while they were soaring above Saskatoon at 5am.

I was reminded again on this trip what a beautiful city I grew up in. I love all the places I've lived and Newfoundland has the amazing ocean and all that goes with it, but my heart will always be in the prairies. Summer there is just gorgeous.

Photos taken by my brother-in-law, because he has a better camera and is a far superior photographer

G and M had so much fun with their cousins. My 3 nephews are energetic and fun and they gave my girls a run for their money. G did her best to keep up with the two five-year-olds, but there were times when the age difference was pretty obvious. I love that they're all so close in age, though. My sister Sue is having her third baby in October, and that will make 6 grandkids in 5 years for my parents.

The oldest of the grandkids (on the left) lives in Australia, so he has a very awesome Australian accent, and some fun new slang for us. Instead of Tag, they play Tips, where you are not the one who is It, you're In, a garbage can is called the bin, and what you put in it is rubbish, and all candy is called lollies. I witnessed a few moments of confusion between him and the other kids, but mostly playing translates into any dialect.

It was hard to leave at the end of two weeks and I shed some tears over separating again, especially from the kids. G keeps asking about her cousins in the week since we got back ("Why do my cousins all live far away?") and I wish she could live near relatives. But mostly, I miss my sisters and my parents. With one of us in Australia, one in Saskatoon and me in Newfoundland, it tends to be years between visits and sometimes the pain of separation is overwhelming. That being said, I am so happy I live in an era of Skype and email and cheap long-distance phone calls. I can't imagine doing this by handwritten letter.

Twas the Season

So, Christmas happened. We flew out to Ontario to see Paul's family. The trip itself was fantastic. We were blessed by the use of my in-laws (2nd) car for the entire time we were there, so we were able to drive to see a few different friends who live in the area, as well as come and go as we pleased. It was one of the best visits for getting to spend a good amount of time with friends and family without feeling rushed or board.

This was the first year in the life of our family of four where G really knew what was going on at Christmas time. We have made a few traditions in the past, but this year was the first time that she noticed them and cared.
We had the big family celebration on Boxing Day, which was nice. We had our own little Christmas morning together with the girls.
This is also the first year I have really felt caught up in buying presents for my kids. Having a kid with opinions really makes a difference! But we limited ourselves (and I think this will become a tradition) to 3 presents: Clothes (this year it was the dresses in the above pic), a book and a toy. Plus a stocking with a few things and chocolates in it (M was thrilled with the orange in her stocking and didn't care about much else).

The other exciting thing that happened while we were there was M's baptism. Paul's mom, Nancy, is a priest and so it was really special  for us to have her baptize our daughter. When G was born, we were attending an Anglican church, so it was very natural to have her baptized. But with M, we were between churches when she was born and now we attend a Westleyan church, who do not perform infant baptisms. We wanted M to have the same experience as G, so Christmas afforded the perfect opportunity to be surrounded by our family and have her baptized into the church universal. M was a perfectly behaved baby during the whole thing and charmed everyone who met her. She's such a joy to have in our family.


Overall, aside from the not-so-great flights (what is WITH Air Canada? Do they hate people?), it was a fun and relaxing Christmas season.

First Snow Day of the Season

This week, we got winter. I drove home from my Wednesday bible study with barely a few flakes. When I went to bed around midnight, the ground was pretty much bare.
When I woke up at 7am on Thursday morning, this is what I saw:

Over the course of Thursday, almost 30cm of snow fell. The university was closed, so Paul stayed home for the day.

There is something about snow days that makes me want to make them awesome. There are many regular days when I'm at home the majority of the day, but on a day when the snow is so thick that there's not a chance of going anywhere, I want to do fun indoor things.
So, after making a great snowman out of the super-sticky snow:

 We made salt dough ornaments to go on our Christmas tree (going up this Sunday!).

(Eagle-eyed readers may spot the Mario-inspired ornament) 

Salt-dough ornaments are super fun and easy. They turned out better then I thought. G was very excited about them, even when we told her they were not for eating.

(Please excuse my lack of food-photography skills.) 

I made doughnuts for the first time! They were super tasty.  I recently acquired a candy/deep fry thermometer and it made all the difference to this endeavor.

Weekend Trip

We took a bit of an impromptu trip last weekend and it was great to get out of the city.We suddenly realized that with a car and no church responsibilities, we were free to go away for weekends if we wanted, so we packed up last Thursday and rented a cabin in Port Blandford for a couple of days, spending one of the days driving up to Bonavista (which is the end of one of the peninsula's of central Newfoundland).

Impromptu trips are fun, but can have their ups and downs.
The cabin was great. It was a cozy little place with 2 bedrooms. We don't own a playpen or anything, so we managed to make a bit of a nest in an open closet for M. It worked perfectly.

I forgot to bring our highchair, but M sat happily on our laps to eat. Parenthood does not have to be about bringing tons of stuff! We managed to bring all the things we needed for the weekend in one suitcase, our backpack diaper bag, a grocery bag and a small cooler. I'm pretty proud of that.

It was an absolutely beautiful drive. No rain, cool, crisp fall weather without being too cold.

One of the major highlights was this amazing playground in Newman's Cove. It had all the fantastic old equipment from our childhood, but the upkeep was great. Teeter-totters, swings, slides... G was in heaven.




Plus the awesome Merry-go-round. They just don't have these anymore. It was a blast. A perfect place to get out of the car and run around.

However, the downs part of "ups and downs" came when we arrived in Bonavista. We stopped for gas and realized that we had left our credit card back in the cabin at Port Blandford, and almost-2 hour drive away. We had already pumped our gas and through a (horrible) comedy of errors*, we didn't have money in our usual bank account. After much back-and-forthing, we finally left them with a license and debit card and a promise that we'd drive back to pay.

*It is quite embarrassing. It was a such an idiot mistake. I transferred money from one account into another in anticipation of our trip and, very stupidly, transferred it OUT of our main account rather then IN. And that amount just happened to be all but $25 of what we already had in our account.

So, despite seeing Bonavista's lovely lighthouse and beaches, it put us in a bit of a bad mood to say the least. We will definitely have to go back when we're all feeling happy (and have cash in our pockets).

Paul made the 4 hour drive there and back the next morning in about 2 and 3/4 hours, with me staying behind and praying that he didn't hit any moose!

In the end despite the frustration, it was fantastic to get out of town and see new parts of this beautiful province. 

Three Years Old

So G turned three years old on Monday. 

We gave her a very large box.

It was a trunk full of costumes.

Like Hats.

And a Superman outfit.

Then we ate cake. On her request it was Chocolate and Chocolate, shaped like a bunny. 

"What did you get for your birthday, G?"

"PRESENTS!"

1922-2011

My grandmother passed away on August 8th, the day before her 89th birthday. She lost her husband, my grandfather, ten months earlier. It was a surprise that she went so quickly after him, but I think she just didn't quite have the energy to fight illness after he was gone. 

Grandma was the anchor, the matriarch of the family. She always knew what was going on in each of her children and grandchildren (and great-grandchildren!)'s lives, and kept us all informed. 

Grandma wasn't one to share a great deal about her past, but I grew up knowing that she'd lost her first husband in WWII before marrying Grandpa. 

She was a dedicated member of the legion, and I'll always remember her and Grandpa on Remembrance Day. I was able to take some pieces of her jewelry, and one of the things I took was a poppy pin, which I plan to wear in their memory every Remembrance Day. 

Grandma seemed like a very practical person, she was concerned with down-to-earth things like getting dinner on the table and making sure to remember every birthday and anniversary. She was at our house many years ago when I was crying over my breakup with a boyfriend and she said "You're young, there's lots of fish in the sea." Frankly, it was exactly what I didn't want to hear, but she was right and that's the kind of thing she would say. 

But she was sentimental too, and a packrat (a tendency I share). She kept every card and letter she'd gotten over the past 60 years, plus. It was neat to glance at a few of the letters my parents sent when they were young parents like me. Grandma was very English as well. She loved the royal family, tea and proper etiquette. Even at 88, she was up to watch the royal wedding earlier this year. 

In short, I will miss her. I will miss them both. Even when lives are long, we cannot help but wish for more time with our loved ones.

Of Tents, Black Flies, Sandy Beaches, and Long Bible Stories

There are so many things to say about camping this week, but over all it was fantastic. We drove out to Terra Nova National Park and camped with my parents for three days. They were in their camper van and we bought a tent for the occasion.
We've been told to prepare for anything when it comes to camping in Newfoundland - sun,cold, rain,even snow- but our weather was perfect. It was sunny and warm the entire trip. We were able to relax, and G loved being outdoors. We brought several toys with us, but she played with a bucket and shovel the entire time - digging up sand and dirt in the campsite and filling the bucket with rocks and pine cones.
Tenting with kids can be challenging, but we tried to be pretty relaxed about it and I think it worked. G slept on an air mattress and I think was the most comfortable of all of us. M slept between us quite happily.
The first night, it was quite hard for G to fall asleep, especially with it being light out. She talked to herself and played in the tent until it was dark and we came to bed. Even then, she had trouble settling, so Paul told her a story. He began with another tent-dweller, Abraham, and continued to tell the story of the Patriarchs from Genesis. He had just made it to Joesph when G was finally asleep!
On Thursday night, we went to the interpretive theater put on by the park staff. We were unsure if it would be worth it to go (especially to keep our kids up late), but it was well worth it. If you ever have the chance to go, do it, it's hilarious.

Other highlights of the trip included picking shells off the beach with G, discovering an actual SANDY beach up in Eastport and seeing some more of this big beautiful island we live on.

There were also a few lowlights of the trip as well! G got carsick on the way out which involved a bit of a detour to get Gravol, and a bit of a stink in our already hot car. The mosquitoes weren't too bad, but the black flies were awful (in the evening). Poor M got bites on her head and G got bites around her entire hairline. I counted about 30 bites when we got home, poor thing!!
The other sadness was that I forgot the memory card for our camera, so I have no pictures of my own! My parents took plenty, however, so when I get some from them, I'll stick a few here.

Whales!

When we moved to St. John's, we had one goal: see some whales.**
 This week, we totally accomplished our goal.

(there are no whales pictured in this picture, but there is a hilarious sign of a guy falling into a wave)

My parents have arrived, driving all the way from Saskatoon to St. John's in their camper van (you can read about their travels here). So we went out to Cape Spear with them on Wednesday and saw several humpback whales swimming off shore! 

It was amazing to see them, and so very exciting for Paul and I. Neither of us had ever seen whales in the wild before, and it was one of things we had been looking forward to about living on the ocean.

Today, we went one step further and took a boat tour from Bay Bulls NL to see both the puffins and the whales. We forgot our camera (boo!) but we did see both! Tons of puffins, who are very cute and, as someone described them to me, like little flying potatoes. Unlike some of the soaring sea birds (gulls, etc), puffins flapflapflap their wings like crazy. It seems like they are constantly panicking that they'll fall from the sky. The colours on their beaks are very cool and G was very, very impressed.

But, of course, nothing can compare to the whales. We watched two humpbacks surface and flip their tales at us from about 20 feet away. It was exhilarating to see such a big animal so close, and fantastic to watch G get very excited. While others were oohing and ahhing and asking questions about white markings and fins, G asked the most important question of all...

"What are their names?"

**Note: we actually had many goals.

Snow Day/Beach Day

We woke up on Friday morning and it looked like this outside:

Not pictured: whiteouts and 100km winds

MUN was closed, and the city pretty much shut down, so we were all stuck at home. Paul had a paper due, but the deadline had changed to midnight, so he was free to spend the day with his family!

So, we did something I've been wanting to do for awhile. Beach day! We set up the living room with a tan blanket for sand, and a blue tarp for water...

added a couple of umbrellas, a bucket and some egg carton cups for shells.


A dolphin even stopped by to say hello!
We had a fantastic time, all dressed in our beach clothes. M got to wear her bathing suit for the very first time.
We had a picnic lunch on the floor, listened to the Beach Boys and generally just had a great day.

In the evening, G went fishing. We cut up some cardboard fish and I made a fishing rod out of a pen, string and paperclip. She tossed her line over the couch cushion and I put a little fish on it to go in her bucket.

Snow days can be pretty awesome. 

Of Christmastime and Thereafter

So, Christmas happened, and New Years and Epiphany... and now here I am, it's January somethingth and I'm officially at home with TWO girls. So far, it's been good. M eats and sleeps and poops and spits up, G eats and sleeps and talks and talks and talks...
Christmas was a great and relaxing time in Ontario, even though we did spend a good part of it sick with the flu (we were asleep before midnight on New Years). I'm really glad that I had time with my parents here and then two weeks with Paul's parents so that the adjustment to a new baby at home alone was after a full month. Having two kids is definitely an adjustment, but it's also so much easier since I feel much more confident this time. I am not stressed out to leave the house without M. In fact, it was fantastic to go to the grocery store by myself yesterday.  It's also great for Paul to get a chance to be at home with the girls by himself, even if it's just an hour.
Not that it's all sunshine and roses. G seems to pick every time I'm feeding M (which, granted, is often) to want to do something that requires my hands. She'll ask for a snack, a story, for me to play with her in exactly the way she wants to be played with and get a bit frustrated when the answer is "in a minute". But, I keep congratulating her when she's patient and playing with her when I can.
Her new toys are great for distraction. She got a very fun new play kitchen for Christmas, and we got her an adorable fake sushi set, so she makes dinner in her little kitchen while I'm making mine.

One of her new toys is a doctor's kit, which she loved - in fact, it was the hit of the family Christmas, most of her cousins also played with it. The best part is that she will take the stethoscope and go around listening to people's hearts, except she heard heartbeats as heartbeeps, so she'll put the stethoscope on your chest (or any other random body part) and loudly say "BEEP!". It's pretty hilarious.

A followup to our new 12-days of Christmas tradition - it went quite well. I divided two boxes worth of Smarties into little origami boxes, which were in her shoe outside her door each morning. I don't think G really got the meaning, she was just excited to eat Smarties before breakfast, but it's the beginning of something she can expect every year. I think in the future, I'll try mix up what they get every day, so it's not just the same thing. I don't want to add too much extra stress to future holidays, so my hope is to keep it pretty simple.

What's on the horizon this month? Buying our very first car, since the bus strike continues (2 months and counting!).

2010, Quite the Year

As we come to the end of 2010, I can't believe how much has changed this year.

At the start of this year, we were feeling like we would be moving in August to whoever accepted Paul into a PhD program. He had applied at 10 different schools, so we were pretty optimistic. It was a difficult time as the rejection letters started coming in. We had heard from almost everyone and started making alternate plans - to stay in Winnipeg, to travel, for Paul to find some temporary work -  when we finally heard from Memorial University in May. We went from "we're likely staying" to "we're definitely moving to St. John's" within the span of a week. It was an overwhelming time!
In the midst of this, we decided we wanted to have another child - a sibling for G that was close to her age. I assumed that it might take some time, but pretty much the moment we even considered trying, I was pregnant. We were (and are) thrilled, but in the future, I may plan a bit better then December!

If I could choose a word to describe 2010, it would be bittersweet. Leaving our friends and our church in Winnipeg was incredibly hard and emotional. Selling all our stuff (except what would fit in 11 boxes and 5 suitcases) was very hard, but also very freeing. It was painful to let go of our books, and those are the possessions I miss the most. We had brought together our two libraries when we got married, and had built it up over the past 6 years to over 300 books. We kept about 60.
I left my job of the past seven years with the library to move to St. John's. It was difficult to do, but it was a decision I had made years earlier when Paul started to pursue graduate work - so it's not a decision I regret, but I do miss the work and my co-workers.

Of course, this year also had the death of my grandfather, which I wrote about on this blog. I continue to mourn him, especially at Christmastime. One of the Sufjan Stevens Christmas songs that we play often this season has a line "Call your Grandma on the phone, if she's living all alone" and this year it made me cry. I have gone from three living grandparents to one in a very short time. 

In the "sweet" part of bittersweet, the birth of M was a wonderful event and as I wrote earlier, ended up having perfect timing. Being pregnant and now having a newborn has helped in fostering new friendships in St. John's. I went to the drop-in gym last week and two moms were very excited to see me with the new baby.   It has also been sweet to see the temperature in the prairies dip below -20C, while we were still sitting at a balmy +10C!
We have also found that God has been amazing at providing for us - we were shorter on money then we expected when we moved here, and somehow there were multiple small blessings to get us through. From finding a perfect apartment to our caretaker suddenly showing up with heaps of clothing for G to unexpected funds from various sources to our new church being extremely welcoming and friendly, we are in awe of how God provides and gives us more then we need.

And now, on to 2011, hopefully more new friendships in our new city, raising two girls and hopefully buying a car (and some freedom) soon.

Merry Christmas!

Tomorrow is Christmas! We are visiting (most of) Paul's family in Ontario and it is beautifully snowy here. We traveled at the perfect time - just missing big windy storms in St. John's.

As Paul wrote in the previous post, it's complicated to make our own traditions when we are always visiting someone else's house, but we are trying to be active about what we want Christmas to be. One of the things we do every Christmas day is go for a walk as a family, a fairly simple tradition, but a necessary one to help us be just our core family. Our other tradition (decided a few years ago on one of these walks) is starting this year. We love the church year and the feasting/fasting aspects of that, so we are making sure that Christmas does not end on Christmas day. There are 12 days of Christmas starting on the day and lasting till Epiphany (the visit of the Magi). So, our tradition for our children (starting with G this year) is that they will get a tiny gift in their shoe every morning for the 12 days of Christmas.
We're really excited to start that tradition this year! It will be really simple - just a chocolate or two, but it will be a reminder that Advent has come to an end, and the feasting season of  Christmas keeps going.

Anyway - from our family (now of four!!) to you, Merry Christmas!