The Thiessen Six

Noodle Making!

2009-08-27T18:53:00.000-07:00

I remember a friend of my mom's making spaghetti noodles from scratch when I was young. She had a huge table top spaghetti maker and the noodles were drying all hung over the dowels of a clothes rack. I've been wanting for so long to try this but had no idea how to get ahold of one of those makers. Lo and behold, a friend offered one to me, a smaller version that clamped onto the table and I've been waiting for the opportunity to try it out.

A windy day morning graced us today and I thought "enough with these bored cranky kids! Let's make noodles!" I found some recipes online of course, as well as videos on YouTube and we ploughed right in.

The dough is just flour and eggs and it's super hard to work with. Once we kneaded it awhile it sat for 30mins. We cut it in half and rolled one piece out a bit, just to get it a bit thinner.

The pasta cutter has two parts to it. The first part is simply a roller. It has a dial so you set the rollers at their furthest setting and run the dough through. You run it through over and over setting the rollers closer each time until you get to the last one and the dough is super thin. It's gotten really long by this point so you lay it out, flour it a bit and cut it in half so it's easier to work with.

The second part of the machine has two cutters, one for spaghetti and one for Tagliatelle. (I thought it was a lot like linguine). You run the super thin dough through the cutter and lay the new pasta somewhere to dry. I used parchment paper on different surfaces for drying.

I discovered that once they've dried for awhile, they get crispy so if you do this you need to put them somewhere where you won't want to move them until they're dry.

I made them for dinner, they only boil for a few minutes and we did two sauces; tomato with meat and roasted veggies (zucchini from the garden!) as well as an Alfredo sauce. We were very proud of eating our own hard work. They were good and softer than store bought noodles.

I put the rest of the dried noodles in a container in the fridge. I read that you can keep the noodles in the cupboard for a long time but I just thought with the raw eggs I'd put 'em in the fridge. All in all it was fun! The kids really enjoyed making them. You can use the same dough to cut lasagna noodles, or roll cannelloni or wrap ravioli or tortellini.

This recipe for dough made enough for our whole family for dinner and probably one more meal, so that's quite a bit of pasta.

Dough: 2.5-3 cups flour, 4 eggs + 1 egg yolk and 1.5 tsp of oil. I had to add a bit of water to make the dough workable. I found a million recipes online and they were all just slight variations of one another so I just picked one and went with it.

It seems to take forever to upload photos to Blogger, so click here for an album of all the photos!

Fresh Hurricane Damage Reported in Newfoundland

2009-08-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

Following days of devastation along the coast of Nova Scotia and the Eastern United States, more damage by Hurricane Bill has been reported in the small coastal community of Torbay, Newfoundland.

Carman Thiessen, resident of Motion Dr, awoke this morning to find her sunflower patch completely flattened by Bill, now lessened to a tropical storm. "We have intense storms here all the time," says Thiessen, "we've lost many personal belongings left in the yard as well as siding from our house, but this new devastation is the worst of it all."

Thiessen grew these sunflowers from seed in her house, and lovingly transplanted them to a patch in the backyard when they were a mere few inches tall. "It's not the most protected spot in the yard," she admits, "but they'd done so well so far. I just can't believe this is what broke them."

The sunflowers - many of whose stalks exceed 1 inch in diameter - are all about 4ft tall but had yet to flower. "I've been watching every day because they were so close to opening up. I knew that patch of bright flowers would make me smile every time I saw it"

Now, it will only be sadness she feels when she looks out her window into her garden. She is very thankful though, that the pumpkins and zucchini survived the storm. "The veggies are still in tact and the tomatoes. I believe that is because they lie much closer to the ground, not because they were stronger or more resilient in any way."

The sunflowers were unfortunately pulled out at the roots, so while Thiessen may attempt to pack them back in the ground, she fears the worst. "I think this is the end for them. I may try to stake them up and cover their roots, but I'm not holding my breath that anything will help."

Through the hard times, Thiessen still keeps a positive outlook on the future. "I won't let this ruin me forever, the pain will still be as fresh as the churned earth, but I will try again next year."

The T6 news, Torbay.

The Tragically Awesome Hip Story

2009-07-06T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a long story but it’s such a good one that I have to share and you have to promise to finish it all!

I have to give a little background though to start. I’ll begin by saying that I bought my first Tragically Hip album when I was in grade 7, either 12 or 13 years old. I got sucked into one of those Columbia House Club Memberships, remember those? You got 12 CDs for 99 cents but then of course you had to buy a bunch more at ridiculous prices over the next few years. Then the second you didn’t pay you got a collections letter? I wonder if I still owe them money…

I remember that two of those first 12 CDs (which were, by the way, my first CDs ever - not tapes) were En Vogue and The Tragically Hip’s “Up to Here”. It was only their second album, their first hitting mainstream recognition. They released it in 1989 but I guess it was about a year or two old when I got it. At the time, I’m assuming “New Orleans Is Sinking” was on the radio and that’s how I knew who they were; my parents didn’t listen and I think Clay was in a Van Halen phase…

I was instantly a fan. I loved the entire CD. I remember sitting at the dining room table and looking through the CD jacket memorizing words (for which I’ve always had an uncanny knack) and mom looked at the song list and said “Over Opiated”? Is THAT what they’re like?” I was like “NO! Of course not…” I had no idea what over-opiated meant but had a feeling by mom’s response that it wasn’t good. ;)

So 19 years, 10 more albums and countless concerts later – I am still a fan. I would go so far as to say that much has changed in my life since I was 12 – go figure. My tastes, style, life, family, interests and dreams have changed so much and many times. I am not at all sure why I have never stopped loving their music, they have certainly changed their style many times, their music now sounds nothing like their first albums. But it always seems to fit for me. The only things I have known and/or loved as long as or longer than the Tragically Hip are my own family, my best friend Kathryn and her family, Tolkien and Volkswagen…

I know not everyone likes the band specifically, but I’m sure you can understand at least to a point, having an interest like it.

The last time I saw The Hip was only a few summers ago, here in Newfoundland when they played an outdoor show in Grand Falls Windsor. My friend Sonia, whom at the time I barely knew, and I made the 4 hour trek out with the sixth Harry Potter book (released at midnight that night before we left) to rock out in the pouring rain on a muddy field where tents sold fresh mussels and the Budweiser bus sold disgusting beer. (Sorry but Bud sucks). Good times.

So, that’s the back story… now to the present. The Tragically Hip released an album this year and therefore is touring this summer/fall. Barton was in Vancouver for a conference last week when they played the awesome Orpheum Theatre and was lucky enough to go with friends of ours to the show. The concert here in St John’s would be the day after he got back and so, assuming he’d be jet lagged and having just saw them, I bought myself a lone floor seat to go by myself. After the Vancouver show Barton called and said it was so awesome and was he really not able to go with me?! The only places you could get two seats together were pretty lousy so I didn’t really do anything about it. The stadium is small, so really, no seat is bad. But I was determined this time to get some good photos so I wanted good seats.

At the conference, Barton ran into a friend who we knew from here but who is currently living in Vernon BC. He expressed disappointment that he didn’t know Barton was going to the concert because he could have given him great tickets… someone he knew who knew someone’s brother’s cousin’s wife… you know the drill. Anyway, Barton told him that I was going in St John’s the next week, so see what he could do.

Fast forward a few days and Barton is sitting in the Calgary airport, waiting for a connection to come home and he gets an email from said friend who writes, “My brother-in-law is the head sound guy on the tour, can get you tickets and possibly, backstage passes. Scalp Carman’s tickets and you can go together.”

See? Now you know where the story is going… but it’s still a good one…

You know with stuff like this you kind of shrug and go “yeah, whatever.” It happens so often that someone says something and nothing happens because someone forgets, or the wrong name is given, etc. Not that I don’t trust our friend, but I wasn’t about to go and sell my ticket that very second.

The funny part is that, as I’ve previously posted, the sporting season of the summer has begun. As it stood, I assumed Barton was home the night of the concert and didn’t really worry about all the games the kids had to get to. Now he wants to go and we have to find someone to play with Mattea and do a town-wide-sport-pick-up of three kids. I have a wonderful friend who understood the importance of the situation and actually cancelled hair appointments (only my womanly friends will understand the importance of THAT) to have Mattea over and then take our van out and about to pick everyone else up.

As we’re getting ready to go Barton got another email “tickets are at the gate, need photo ID to pick up.” Okay, we’re getting closer, but I still wasn’t ready to advertise my ticket on Facebook. Plus, I figured, if we had two great tickets plus backstage passes, it might be worth the loss of the cost of my ticket.

At the window, the lady tells us she’s still waiting for the list of names for requested tickets, could we wait aside? Great… here’s where she tells us there is no one by that name on her list.
Then she calls out Barton’s name and passes him an envelope with two tickets and backstage passes. I won’t lie and say a few explicative words were not expressed.

So now to sell my ticket. Rule number one for scalping tickets… don’t have just one. Rule number two: try not to scalp tickets to a show that is not sold out. Most of the people walking by were in groups of two and four and everyone already had tickets. No one wanted my ticket and I was about to give up. Would our MasterCard purchase protection cover the cost of a ticket to a concert I couldn’t attend due to illness? I’d need a doctor’s note… but where oh where would I get one of those?! ;)

Then this guy starts coming up the stadium steps, unassuming, looking a little lost. “Do you have a ticket?” “No.” “Do you want one?” “Who’s playing?” “The Tragically Hip” “They’re pretty good.” “Only the best Canadian band ever.” “How much?” “Well, they were 79, but how about $65?” “Hmmm, okay.”

Buddy gives me $70 and walks away. What the…?

So, off we run into Mile One. This time I was smart, I had my good camera and a jiffy marker. Just in case… actually, I was really prepared. I figured I’d get a pretty good picture, so I actually brought a matte from a frame, thinking I could get the matte signed and then get a photo for my office (more about my office later). The seats, of course, were deadly. We were 7 rows up, just off the stage. The show was, of course, awesome, they always are worth it. This tour is called “An Evening with the Tragically Hip.” It’s only them, no opening band, with two full sets. Tons of old stuff and even a few songs I hadn’t heard live before. The singing ran about 2.5 hours and I’m so glad I have married someone who shares the appreciation!

We noticed part way through the show “my guy”. The guy that bought my ticket was just down from us and he was just standing there watching. At one point, he pulled out his cell and took a picture. He didn’t move much, wasn’t smiling or grooving, just watching.

The show ends and we’re like, “What do we do now?” We sit there and wait and the entire stadium empties out. Then we notice a couple of people hanging around with the same passes (actually stickers) as we had. All in all there were about 20 of us. Someone yelled out that if we had a backstage pass we should line up against the wall. In the hockey box actually. It felt a little weird, a few people cracked jokes about being thankful we lived in a safe country then we laughed at the joke being on us and that we’d be asked to start stacking chairs or picking up garbage!

They led us to a room under the stadium with a bar and we all just stood around; a few people chatted, they obviously knew each other. Then I noticed “my guy”. What the heck was he doing back here?! Why on earth, if he could get backstage or have any connections whatsoever, would he pay $70 for MY ticket?! He seemingly didn’t even know who was playing, so if he didn’t have connections how did he end up backstage? Was he sitting beside Gord Downie’s brother? Would I have ended up backstage anyway? He was chatting around with people and seemed to all of a sudden belong. It was the weirdest thing!!!

I suddenly started to think that maybe I didn’t want to meet them you know? What if they’re jerks?

Then Paul Langlois, guitarist, walked in with his two daughters. He walked over, said hi, asked about the show and introduced the girls. Half the group seemed to not notice the entrance. I’m assuming a good group of those people were family and friends but expected, even if that were the case, a little whoop or cheer for a good show. Nothing. No one even seemed to look over. I didn’t want to take a photo as no one else was and he had his kids and that didn’t seem right. So we just watched. Someone came over and introduced themselves, they had made necklaces and gave some to the girls. Barton elbowed me and said “Why didn’t you bring purses?!” Truthfully, I had considered it, but it just seemed too weird. Gord Sinclair came in next with his son, did the same thing, met some people with a hug, shook some hands and said hi.

It was the weirdest most anti-climactic thing! All of a sudden they were just so normal. I’m not sure if it’s a Canadian thing, a Newfoundland thing or what, but it always seems a little calmer here. Russell Crowe can show up in a bar for Open Mic and sing with the Great Big Sea for fun, Kevin Spacey can be told to take off his disguise so people don’t stare and Elvis Costello and Diana Krall can own a home in Flatrock. I knew I wouldn’t been screaming and hyperventilating, but I did expect some excitement, especially within the group in general.

It suddenly didn’t seem to be the “Can you sign my frame matte”? or “Can I have a photo?” type situation. So we just watched. Gord Sinclair and Rob Baker also came in, along with the keyboardist they have on tour, but Gord Downie never did. It was pretty AWESOME.

Then I noticed a couple introduce themselves to Rob and she pulled out her cell to take a photo. The photo etiquette was officially broken… now was my chance. Most of the band members and their families had already left and I was waiting for this lady to quit her conversation.

The big guy at the door starting telling us to finish our drinks and head out - time was limited… we actually started to leave and then Barton told me I had to either do it now or never again. I went back in…

I walked over to Rob and waited for a break in the conversation. All of a sudden the lady pointed out that I was waiting so I introduced myself. I thanked him for the quote he gave me for Smudge Magazine on an article I wrote about local NL guitar maker Chris Griffiths of Garrison Guitars and we chatted about the guitars, which he still uses but were bought out by Gibson. Then I asked if I could have a picture. I snagged a young guy waiting for a word and got the photo. Then the guys were lamenting that all they had were their cells and so I took a photo of them to email later. We said good bye and off we went. I had no autograph, but an awesome photo and just a super cool memory of how the whole night unfolded. Strange but amazing.

I still don’t understand what happened with the guy who bought my ticket, but it’s not a big town and if I ever see him again I’ll have to ask.

See? I told you it would be long, but so good.

PS - with the money from my ticket we bought concert shirts and a poster. I haven't bought a concert shirt in ages but they're really nice. They're using American Apparel so they actually fit nicely and are soft (and ethical). I got a pink one with swirly sketching on it. If you look closely enough (and please don't, it's right on my boob) you can read "The Tragically Hip" in script, Barton got the tour shirt. The poster is for my office... more about that later.

There's a link to the right of my album of photos. Kind of a lot of the same, but fun and they're bigger than these. You can click the photos in this post for larger views...

Rollkuchen fun

2009-06-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

We decided today that since it's not only half-way to Christmas, but also the last official day of school we'd have Rollkuchen and Watermelon, a traditional Mennonite treat. (it's deep fried dough... some like it with salt (me) some like it with syrup (the rest of the family). I do it in the garage/outside because the deep frying is so stinky. I get out my Value Village electric pan and fry away.

Here's the outcome...

Close encounters of the Moose Kind

2009-06-25T05:00:00.000-07:00

June 24, 2009

We had just left the house and I needed to get gas so we were heading to the gas station. All of a sudden Nikolai was screaming "a moose!! a moose!!" I totally thought he was joking and then there it was, playing in the ditch. I pulled into the gas station and the entire time I filled up it was running around on that side of the road, then it would eat a little and then run around some more. Then it trotted across the road and through the gas station and into the gully behind the station. I didn't have my camera, but Riley did!!!

What happens in Vegas...

2009-06-24T05:33:00.000-07:00

Barton and I have been debating for quite some time on where we wanted to get away to this summer. Barton's parents are coming to visit and while we usually don't wanna leave when company is only here for 10 days or so, they're coming for a month, so we decided it was finally time to take off together, which has only happened once since we moved away.

We weighed so many different options; overseas, national, down south - it was all very hard and very tempting! We came to the decision that for just a week, it would be easier to keep the travel and time change fairly minimal (which from Newfoundland is still always very long anyway!) and that with the dollar being so good maybe we'd look to the States. I of course would be in New York in a heart beat or Chicago where I've never been. I love the idea of walking and looking at buildings and eating good food! Barton strays more towards the whitewater-rafting-in-the-Yukon type holiday. Now, I am not at all opposed to doing that sort of thing, but for some reason, that was not in my mind as the holiday I wanted for our 10th anni/graduation trip. I vito-ed the Yukon trip very quickly which I think made Barton reconsider all the reasons he married me in the first place!

Then we heavily leaned on New Orleans which we thought would be really fun. The flights were very cheap, time change reasonable and they have cute B&Bs and obviously an abundance of excellent food. It was also one of those places you don't think to take kids, which was our other problem, every time I thought of a great place, it was also somewhere I wanted to take the kids.

So, we finally came to a conclusion. One day Barton called and said he wanted to go to Utah! I was like, "Utah?!" I know that Salt Lake City is supposed to be really nice, and I knew that he would like to go biking around in Moab but when you think holiday, does Utah spring to mind?! Anyway, I started looking into it and feeling the guilt that I was ixnaying all his exciting ideas (after forcing him into an all inclusive! :. I discovered that Utah is quite close to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. So... I emailed our travel agent, the wonderful Lois Barbour, and she gave us a ridiculous package deal. For all the wonders of the Internet, there still isn't anything that replaces a travel agent. Sure, it's quick and easy to book your flights online and it's great for that, but when you want more, they KNOW stuff - they have insider tricks.

Our package includes the flights on West Jet with surprisingly only one stop, three nights at the MGM Grand, a car rental and 2 Cirque Du Soleil tickets. When she offered me this, I looked up the MGM Grand and discovered that that is, of course, where they hold some pretty major events. Thinking I might find some Holyfield fight or something (not that I'm a fan, but hey, just to say you did it?) I found... drum roll please... Aerosmith. Playing, in our hotel, right when we want to go. Is that fate? Yes it is. For those of you who have not known me long, I'll tell you that this is now my fourth attempt (but fourth is a charm right?) at seeing Aerosmith. They have a tendency to cancel Canadian shows or playing in Moncton when I'm too pregnant to fly. So, I figure they'll never cancel Vegas and as long as I don't get knocked up (insert nervous laugh here) it'll be fine! Any-who... this is our trip:

We leave on Friday July 24th and that night we see the Cirque show "Ka". On Saturday is the Concert and Sunday I made reservations at Emeril's restaurant which was recommended to me by a friend. We're not gamblers, so while in Vegas we will walk and look at all the hotels, shop a lot at the outlets and go hiking if it's not 41 degrees. On Monday morning we will drive out to the Grand Canyon via the Hoover Dam. We'll spend the day there and then move on to Moab either that night or Tuesday morning. We'll spend some time there and then be back in Vegas by Wednesday evening. We head out Thursday afternoon but unfortunately we have an overnight in Toronto so hopefully we'll be able to see some friends. We arrive back Friday morning. I'm hoping it all goes well, the older kids will be fine but I'm not sure about Mattea! The Thiessens will have been here a week by the time we go so hopefully she feels like she knows them by then.

So, how's that for a super long post about nothing? No, I don't give refunds on those 5 minutes of your life...

Iceberg - dead ahead!

2009-06-15T15:39:00.000-07:00

This is probably our final iceberg visit of the year, but this one came in the other day. We saw it from the house like this (left) so we went out to hike down to it for a closer view.

The first view:

After it spun a bit:

Recent pics

2009-06-12T18:45:00.000-07:00

They are digging up a lot in front of us and of course, it's an excuse for everyone (read "the boys") to get dirty!

Mattea at the park.

Blossoms around the yard:

Mattea playing with Bridger's drums.

Update Quicky

2009-06-12T17:47:00.000-07:00

Last night we attended the year-end celebration for the local homeschooling group. It was a great night of awards, talent shows, slide shows and food. Good times! A full year come to an end, crazy how fast it goes. I have decided I will keep the boys home again next year, for sure until we know what we're doing or it doesn't work for us anymore or something better comes along... I'm reading a great book called "The Charlotte Mason Companion." It's a layman's overview of a homeschooling approach 'invented' by - you guessed it - Charlotte Mason. It's inspiring me for next year; new things to try, new hopes for us. I have enjoyed it but now I am looking forward to summer, without the constant "am I doing this right?" fear on my shoulders... I'll sweep that one under the rug until late September.

Riley's exams start on Monday and she's been studying up a storm, she's on track to do very well!

Mattea had a major crash this week. After bruising her right cheek last week, she fell head-first off of Bridger's bed into their open toy drawer, cutting and bruising the bridge of her nose and then the other cheek. She has a nice big swollen shiner and I'm very glad I had witnesses to the event as it looks rather awful. Does it stop her though? No, of course not. Seconds later she's at it again.

I think we've started the road to getting the kids all into bunk beds...

We're looking forward to a visit in one month from both Barton's parents and his two sisters. It'll be SO GOOD to have family around! Let's hope it's not still 6 degrees.

Speaking of 6 degrees, I've been meaning to post photos, but I planted a lot of veggies and herbs and fruit this spring. I did most of the transplants to the outdoors on the May long weekend and we had a good 2 weeks of heat after that. They were doing really well, though I am now worried with this chill. Hopefully we don't get snow... *wince*... I planted:

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Brussel Sprouts, Lettuce, Spinach, Beets, Radishes, Carrots, Peas, Tomatoes, Hot Peppers, Green Peppers, Zucchini, Cucumbers, Pickling Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Strawberries and Rhubarb.

I also did Cilantro, Basil, Oregano and Dill.

I don't have high hopes for the root veggies/carrots and my tomato plants look like they might be giving up. I'm tempted to replace them with a sprout from a local farm/nursery.

I know I've planted too many of the other veggies close together, but I grew most from seed so I wanted to see how they did after transplant and I couldn't bear to throw any out. I'll go Darwin on them soon and pluck some out, giving those that look the fittest the best chance at survival. I mean, how many brussel sprout plants do you really need? Actually, those are the ones I'm most excited about. We did a field trip last year to an organic farm and they told us they can trudge through 3 feet of snow in February and STILL pick brussel sprouts. We'll see about that...

Christmas in May

2009-05-30T08:37:00.001-07:00

Whenever the kids finish a year of school, we plant a tree in the yard - so it seemed fitting that we get Barton a tree. It's a Dwarf Burning Bush (dwarfs not included).

Then we placed his little, fun presents under the tree. When he sent in his Medical School application we wrapped the envelope in Christmas paper, so again, it seemed fitting to wrap his gifts in Christmas wrap!

The tree will go in the backyard and should grow to be 5feet and grows bright red flowers.

And now to find some dwarfs...

The Official Letter

2009-05-28T06:50:00.000-07:00

Anesthesiology

May 28, 2009

Doctor Barton Paul Thiessen,

On behalf of the Royal College, it gives us great pleasure to inform you that you have been successful at the recent examination in your specialty.

We will confirm the result of your examination, by mail, in the near future.

Congratulations!!!!

2009-05-28T06:31:00.001-07:00

Barton heard the word this morning that he passed and is on his way into the real world (are we ready?!)

Congratulations Barton - Dr Barton Thiessen BSc MD FRCPC

Exam Day

2009-05-27T18:50:00.000-07:00

Well, it's all over and done with. Our fate now lies in the hands of the kind examiners... Barton feels very good about the exam and will get the official report card sometime tomorrow (around the same time a cable guy would stop by). The results will show both the written results from April and the oral results from today. If he passes, we have a job here in St John's... if not - well, we'll head out to the boonies I guess!!! As if anyone has any hesitation on how he'll do, still, it'll sure be something to see it in writing, officially and irretractably. (That should totally be a real word). So, more on that tomorrow I guess!!!!

Tuesday update!

2009-05-26T06:41:00.000-07:00

Barton left early this morning for Ottawa - leaving behind a snow storm. Yuk!!! I am 'patiently' waiting for this nonsense to turn to good, old-fashioned spring rain, but it doesn't look like it's turning anytime soon! We have had hot for two weeks, I planted my garden and thought the winter was behind me... I am hoping I don't lose my lovely little plants today.

But, there are more important things to worry about... Barton's exam is tomorrow. He sits the exam at 2pm Ottawa time, so it'll be 3:30 here and 11am in BC. It's an oral exam, so it's all about sounding like he knows what he's talking about! He's usually pretty good at that ;) He will be meeting up with friends from his UBC med class there and they'll celebrate before he comes back home Thursday night. So, this is it! It seems like it's all over, though he has to work a bit before the residency is officially finished. It's been 9 years since he started med school and this day didn't seem like it would ever come. To encourage anyone who is just starting, sometimes it doesn't feel like it, but it goes amazingly fast!

In other news:

Bridger and Nikolai finished yet another session of swimming lessons last week, both graduating into the next level! Bridger will move on to Silver next time and Nikolai to Aqua. Way to go boys!

The year is winding to a close, with activities wrapping up and lessons coming to an end. We have had an interesting year, this first of homeschooling. It's been fun, I've learned a lot and have lots to learn! I wasn't sure if we would carry on again in fall but I was very affirmed this past week to continue on for the next school year. We had our last monthly home school meeting of the year last night and again I realized how much more the seasoned HS'ers know than I. There are a few things I'd like to try differently and maybe by the end of next year I'll feel like I know what I'm doing!! Also at the meeting last night I was voted to join the board as the Director of Physical Education, which means I'll be organizing the differently weekly PE activities we do as a group; swimming, skating etc. I'm excited about the opportunity and hope we can find some fun things to do.

So, that's it for now, I guess I have to go shovel the driveway... no, I'm kidding, it's not that bad. It took me awhile to figure out why the snow looked so weird (aside from the fact that it's May 26) and it's because it's falling onto bright green snow and crab-apple and cherry blossoms. *sigh*

My Weekend in Saskatchewan

2009-05-12T08:16:00.000-07:00

After 5 years of almost no family contact I got to spend 4 days with nothing but! How awesome!

I was so thankful to be able to make the trip out to Saskatchewan this past weekend for the funeral of my grandmother, my mom's mom, in Borden and the surrounding areas. After checking the forecast I flew out early on Friday morning looking forward to a warm and sunny weekend. As we descended the pilot lovingly informed us that it was 1 degree and snowing and there I sat in flip flops.

My dad and mom (and grandma!) arrived at exactly the same time as I, so we met there (mom was also in sandals...) and picked up our car. We headed out for lunch and then drove into Warman where we were going to stay with my Aunt and Uncle, mom's brother.

We had a quick nap and went for a long walk to clear our heads. Mom and Dad were only an hour behind, but my body was 3.5 hours ahead and with only a few days there I wanted to make sure I adjusted as best I could. It ended up going really well, normally I'm hit harder by time changes but I tried a few adjusting tricks and it seemed to work. We walked into town where some shops were and strolled a bit there. We ate a fantastic dinner at my aunt and uncle's and I actually stayed up pretty late. We slept well, though I woke up at 3am (right around the time Mattea would get me up... 6:30) but forced myself back to sleep. Then when I finally woke up, I lay in bed reading for awhile! How often do I get to do that?! Another of mom's sisters and my uncle with my cousin Jackie arrived for a visit and we ate lunch with them. It was fun to catch up, most of my family I hadn't seen in 15 years so obviously things have changed since then! Jackie and I have kids pretty close in age and she was visiting alone from South Carolina so we definitely have a few things in common. After lunch and another attempt at a rest Dad, Mom and I headed into Saskatoon for a little look around downtown.

It wasn't hot and we were wondering if we should do a quick shop for the funeral for which we were inappropriately prepared. The sun came out and it ended up being gorgeous so we took our chances. I did make a 'little' trip into Lululemon (which on a Saturday afternoon was a gong show!) and we got some stuff for the kids in shops I won't see for a long time, (Roots and The Children's Place). Then we met up with more family at the Knotty Monk, a great little pub in Warman, for supper.

Sunday was the funeral service, so after a brunch out on the deck I headed into Borden with Mom and Dad.

I have, very unfortunately, not known this side of my family very well. My mom moved to BC as a young adult (to go to CBC in Abbotsford) and so we only went back for special occasions and the occasional summer trip. Because I saw a few families on my dad's side more often, I grew up seeing the similarities I have to members of those families. It was fun this weekend to spend time with my mom's family and all my cousins to see that I have such roots there too! I'm pretty sure my blood knows that it was half brewed in Saskatchewan because anytime I enter the prairies, by flying in or driving like last summer, I can feel that it is part of who I am. I love it there; the open space, the clean air, the quiet lifestyle. I'm sure it's part of what draws me to life here in St John's. In fact, over the weekend I noticed many similarities between the two places and my mom has often said when visiting us here that it feels much more like home to her too.

I was excited to find that I have one other cousin horribly vomit-phobic like me. I thought I was alone! I also discovered a cousin who was working on exactly the same odd craft project that I was... and made me excited to finish my own. I also have cousins and an aunt who despise wearing socks the way I do... who knew?! I see the sense of humour and love of life that my late-aunt had, in many of my family members and discovered also that the thick hair my grandpa possessed until the very end has been passed on to many of us. Silly things, I know, but having known so little of my family these things meant a lot.

The funeral started in the cemetery, where grandma, who was cremated, was buried into my grandfather's grave. After the burial we headed into the church (where dad and mom were married!) for a short service and then downstairs for lunch. It was really well done and the man who led the service (my mom's cousin) did a really nice job. There were at least 120 people there so grandma obviously left an impression in her time! My family has also had many heart aches over the past few years and so the weekend a mix of devastating pain and joyful laughter. It was wonderful to celebrate someone who had lived so long, had loved life and left many fond memories behind and yet it was terribly sad to miss those who left us early and should have been there with us.

We ended up staying and visiting very late, leaving at about 7:30pm. We stopped for a drink and snack along the way and made our way back to my aunt and uncle's. I had to leave in the morning so we visited a bit and then I packed to go.

It was short and sweet and I'm so thankful I could go. It was a nice break for me, though I thought the kids would have had lots of fun playing there. I'll take them back soon, because I don't want it to be another 15 years before I see my extended family again!

My album of photos is here

Thursday's Alright

2009-05-07T13:43:00.000-07:00

So, my bags are packed and I'm ready to go. I leave atrociously early in the morning tomorrow, though I did opt out on the 5am departing flight... I'm no good at 3:30am! I take off at 6:20 with a very short (like, bags-don't-make-it short) layover in Toronto. Thanks to the time change and the one short stop I arrive in Saskatoon just after 10am! Nice. I've rented a car that I'll share with my parents as their flight arrives about 2 minutes after mine.

I'm starting to wonder if travelling without kids is almost more work than taking them along; making sure they make it to this and that and this is arranged for that etc... phew! Anyway, the funeral service is Sunday and I leave Monday morning so it'll be a quick weekend but I'm really looking forward to it. So many of my extended family that I never get to see will be there, as well as my parents and I haven't had time away on my own since... hmmm... since the fall of 2005? Maybe...

Update Quicky

2009-05-05T18:30:00.000-07:00

Riley plays trumpet with the junior band at school and last week they won a silver medal in the local Rotary Festival. We made it back from DR just in time for the performances and they are excited about their jump up from their bronze placement last year. Also winning silver was her volleyball team, The Tigers, at the Grade 7 Provincial Volleyball Championships. This championship was cancelled last month and unfortunately rescheduled for while we were away. She was missed by her team but had a fabulous year playing with them.

The boys have restarted swimming lessons; Bridger is in bronze (certainly further than I ever got!) and Nikolai is in green. Swimming has been our Friday fixture with the homeschooling group since Sept and just this week the boys said they might be looking forward to the break from lessons over summer! They will also wind up their music lessons in the next few weeks; Bridger has been doing drums and Nikolai guitar since Sept. They are doing very well!

I registered yesterday for the Tele-10, an annual 10 mile race here in St John's on July 26th. It's my pre-half-marathon-in-January training. I'm terrified. I'm trying to follow the 12 week training program they printed in the paper but quickly discovered that a week on holidays (read: "eating and lying around") followed by a lazy week actually causes quite a de-conditioning... who knew?

Also, I will be leaving this Friday morning for Saskatoon for a family gathering to honour the passing of my grandmother last month. I am quite looking forward to seeing all my extended family, my parents and also to having 4 full days without anyone needing me... sorry, was that mean? ;)

Barton leaves in 3 weeks for his final exam and after our holidays has started studying again. These exams are oral so they practise and study a little differently. He treated himself to an I-Touch which basically hasn't left his ear since, as he listens to past exams being asked and answered.

Mattea is Mattea. Busy as a bee, saying a million words and being quite a funny piece of work.

That's it for now!

Our Dominican Getaway

2009-05-04T16:26:00.001-07:00

On April 20th we Thiessen Six jetted off to the Dominican Republic for a week of much needed R&R. I can't believe that I'm writing this a week after getting back home but we hit the ground running and I've barely sat down. Not only did we have to immediately get back into the swing of things but add onto that the mounds of laundry and sand removal and it makes for a fairly busy post-vacation week. (I think Riley is still getting sand out of her hair!) That's always the downfall of travel though, and no matter how much you prep for it, it doesn't seem to help. Oh yeah, and you're feeling cold and slightly depressed to have come back to reality (okay, I speak only for myself but you know what I mean...)

So, we went to a resort called the Holiday Village Golden Beach Resort (yes, it does have the world's longest resort name...) in Puerto Plata, DR. We did the all-inclusive thing and I'm pretty sure it was worth it just to not cook for the week. We have no complaints; we swam, ate, played, ate, drank, ate, read, tanned and did I mention we ate?... and repeat. The resort was fantastic, clean and convenient and the beach gorgeous. Because of 'the sheer number' of people in our family we were required to get two rooms and on the way down I was slightly worried because, although they request adjoined or side by side rooms, there is no guarantee until you get there. But we were very fortunate and it all worked out.

We took a direct flight, which from St John's is rare. It was quite long, 5.5 hours there and just under 5 coming back but he kids did really well, they are seasoned travellers by now though I'm pretty sure that's the longest direct flight they've been on (other than my trip to Aus and NZ with Riley), so they did hit an 'are we there yet?' point. It was getting late, we don't own handheld devices, the portable DVD player had lost it's juice (it didn't even make one movie!) and "7 Pounds" just wasn't interesting enough! But, as soon as there's less than an hour, everyone gains some extra steam and then the city lights come into view. Mattea did pretty well. She hit a point where she should have been sleeping and couldn't that wasn't so fun, but then she knocked off and awoke there bright eyed and bushy tailed, back to her neighbour-charming self.

Because it was a direct flight, all of our luggage made it (yay!) and as soon as we grabbed our bags, we found our transport bus as all the St John's passengers fanned out to different resorts. We went with Signature Vacations (my second time with them - highly recommended) and when we arrived at the bus they already had our room keys and registrations ready. We didn't even check in and I could see from the room numbers that we were side by side! (As an aside, I, in a stroke of brilliance, had packed the baby monitor just in case we were a few rooms apart and it ended up being so handy anyway!)

Our rooms were family rooms, which not all resorts have. Both rooms had a king sized bed and then a little alcove with bunk beds. So cute! The alcove was painted with animals, had it's own little TV and had the entrance to the bathroom. We put the older three kids in one room, and us in the other room with Mattea, for whom they had already placed a crib in the alcove. The rooms had fridges - that were well stocked with pop and beer and huge bottles of fresh water - as well as a safe, closet, desk and TV. Both rooms were ground level with sliding doors and patio furniture which worked out so well because when Mattea napped (which she totally needed after playing so hard!) one of us could just lie out in the grass in the sun. We were also really close to the pool so, I will admit, we may have run to cool off for a second while she slept... shhh, don't tell.

So that was the start of our week and from there on we just played and played. The beach was fantastic and very quiet as far as numbers of people. The kids loved the big waves and spent time on the boogie boards every day. They loved the pool too, so our biggest decision every day was to decide where to start - pool or beach? Yes, it was rough.

We even made some friends! Our rooms were in a little entrance that we shared with another family of 6 in two rooms. They ended up being similar in age to our older kids and they played a ton over the week. They are also from St John's so we could see them again! It was really nice that there were so many other families, big ones too and no one is a stranger when Mattea's around; we met lots of people simply because she has to meet everyone!

The food was fantastic and we ate a lot of it. On top of the regular buffet restaurant there were four themed restaurants that we enjoyed; two on our own and two with the kids. On two occasions we walked into a little mall close by and one day we went on a tour that took most of the day. We went to a coffee 'factory' and a soap carving 'factory' and went on a hike through waterfalls and even stopped by a school. It was a little weird for us to just walk into a classroom, but it seemed totally normal to them! We were fed lunch at a little restaurant in a tiny town and got to see lots of fruit plants and even a demonstrative cock-fight. Yes, you read that right...

It was a wonderful get away. After working so hard all year, Barton was able to just play and relax with the kids which hasn't happened in a long time and we got a little sun that will hopefully carry us over to our regularly scheduled summer.

Photos:

Album 1
Album 2
Album 3
Album 4

Island Hopping

2009-04-21T13:07:00.000-07:00

We have arrived!! From the glorious island of Newfoundland, to the stunning and wonderfully HOT island of the Dominican Republic/Haiti. We left yesterday at supper time on a fairly uneventful flight. Mattea of course, being the busy bee that she is, didn't really want to sit still, but she did good until she got over-tired. Then finally she crashed off to sleep. The flight was 5 hours in total and we arrived in DR at about 9:30pm local time (they're 1.5 hours behind since the most recent time change. Before that they're only 30 minutes behind.) The transfers and check in was swift and organized. We are enjoying ourselves so far and will update more when I can. Just to let y'all know we're safe and sound and having a wonderful time!!!!

Prizes Awarded!

2009-04-20T08:35:00.001-07:00

For prettiest items and quality-not-quantity: First Place to Riley for a Hannah Montana Soundtrack

For most variation of items (shirts, shoes and shorts) : First Place to Nikolai for a Kinderegg and 1/2 shares in an underwater digital camera.

For most creative item (Sister for Sale shirt) as well as most items per dollar spent (he had the most items but gave Nikolai an item upon getting back home): First Prize to Bridger for a Kinderegg and 1/2 shares in an underwater digital camera.

Overall, Nikolai was the winner for sure. He found all his pieces himself, chose items that matched and got the best variety. I will be better prepared next time and do it all in one day with prizes ready. Maybe I'll preplan catagories...

The First Annual Thiessen VV Frenzy

2009-04-19T18:13:00.001-07:00

Seeing as we are heading out of the snow and into the sun , our abundance of fleece and mittens will do us no good. In light of this, it seemed as if a shopping trip would be in order. However, shopping for 5 people (Barton never seems to 'need' anything) can be a) tiring b) annoying c) expensive and d) futile. Not only would we need stuff now, but seeing as the kids are growing like weeds, they would barely fit anymore by the time summer comes here to Newfoundland (if it does...). THEN, since we are going away next January (Disney Half Marathon) another shopping trip, mid-off-season would be necessary. Sounds expensive?

So, I had a thought (they come every now and again). On top of wanting to save money etc, I am also trying really hard to not buy those cheap, crappy clothes that fall apart after three washes and are only available to us thanks to the hard work of a small, underpaid child. They may be cheap, by you can almost guarantee that when something is cheap - someone else pays (yes, I stole that quote). And in the long run, you end up spending more money because you have to replace items that don't last. But, I won't get into that now...

I invented the (First Annual) Thiessen VV Frenzy. If the initials V-V mean nothing to you, you missed out in your teen years on the shopping excursions and long digging sessions in your local Value Village, the joys of which I am rediscovering in my (oh-so-wise) adulthood. The (First Annual) Thiessen VV Frenzy was quite fun and very successful, however, considering the events in the year to come I may have to change the name to Bi-Annual (does that mean twice a year or every two years?? Bi-half-yearly?). Again, I digress.

Riley, Bridger and Nikolai were each given $20.00 and one hour (well, okay, not really but that's what it ended up being) to scour VV for summer clothing that would benefit them on this trip. They already had swim suits so top of the list of necessities were shorts, sandals and beach appropriate shirts and I promised prizes for the winner! The loot collected included top brands like Gap, Children's Place, Please Mum and Old Navy. I even found an unrelated but exciting find in an LL Bean fleece suit for Mattea that was just what she needed. Fits now, but a bit big so perfect in fall.

Here are photos of the summer loot, click to enlarge (prizes are yet to be awarded... hopefully tomorrow if I can get my act in gear...)

For $18: Riley

For $18: Bridger

For $20: Nikolai

And for $19: Mattea

Winners announced tomorrow! (and don't worry, this won't be one of those contests where there IS actually a loser...)

I did also 'play' the game, though I spent a bit more than $20... :)

Lenten Commitments

2009-04-08T18:01:00.000-07:00

We are not Catholic, not even close. But for some reason we have observed Lent as a family ever since the first year we were married. This year was no exception and as the end of Lent draws near (this Friday), I thought I’d share with you my Lenten commitments.

In the past, we have done the usual, typical Lenten sufferings; TV, Coffee/tea, no eating out, etc. But the boy’s religion course this spring included a chapter on Lent and it opened up a new realm of possibilities for me. This book explained that Lent is not only about giving stuff up, it is also about doing things for others. Some of the traditions it mentioned were giving to the poor, making hot cross buns for neighbours (representing Jesus’ cross) or pretzels, of which apparently the typical pretzel shape represented the crossed arms of one praying. We did make hot cross buns and I’ve definitely cleaned out our closets and shelves. I still want to try to squeeze in a pretzel making though...

As a family we gave up listening to the radio. At the risk of aging myself rapidly, songs “on the radio these days” are insanely inappropriate. If the Lenten period is for reflecting on your faith, and other people, it seemed inappropriate to fill our time and thoughts with songs, that if were on regular CDs I would never buy for my kids or allow them to listen to in general. Plus, when you listen to the radio, the songs just come on at random and there’s no deliberateness about choosing what you’re listening to, it's very non-committal - like flicking through the channels on TV instead of sitting down to watch a specific show or movie. Radio ads are just as inappropriate as the songs themselves, as are the show hosts. It’s not like the radio was on all the time either, it just seemed a good thing to do. Instead, we put in the deliberate effort to chose CDs or listen to books on tape/CD... or it’s just quiet.

So that is our ‘giving up’ this year.

That being said, I also chose to do something else for myself during Lent. I had, already before Lent, been trying very hard to be more deliberate about my purchasing decisions, as well as food choices. I also decided at New Year’s that for this entire year (and hopefully beyond) I would not buy any gifts; that all gifts had to be hand/home made. (This is super easy for girls, boys/men are a different story. If you have any ideas, please let me know!) So I was already on the path that led me to my Lenten choices.

I decided that for the period of Lent I was not going to buy anything that, within reason, I could make myself. The ‘within reason’ clause is there because, obviously there are many things I COULD make if I went out and bought machinery or factories or a wheat farm... or a cow... but realistically this was not going to happen. My purpose in this decision was many-fold. I believed that in forcing myself to consider when shopping if I could make an item myself I would: consume less, waste less money, not buy anything for the sake of convenience, I would consider the origins of items (their production values and ethics), go without something if I’m not willing to make it and understand my abilities as a human to make and create instead of just buying and buying. The process itself over the past month has been very interesting.

For one, I have bought (almost) no clothes. I love to sew and if I had all the time in the world I could make almost anything. Unfortunately and fortunately, this means that I cannot shop during Lent. There was a time I had to cave and buy some pants for Nikolai because the ‘within reason’ clause came in. Mattea was sick, I was not feeling well, there was way too much needing to be done and Nikolai was in his last pair of threadbare pants. Other than that, I have had only one or two slip ups, including a larger purchase this week. This has been very difficult for me, I will admit. I am a sucker for fun clothes, especially for the kids. I had already placed a shopping freeze on myself, but I know better than anyone how easy it is to cheat on your own rules and I think that all things considered, I did really well!

Grocery shopping has been another interesting experience. Just the other day Bridger looked in the fridge and said “when is Lent over so you can do a proper grocery shop again?” I really don’t think it’s that bad... but you know kids.

It’s true, when I look at foods on the shelves and think, even if I NEVER will do it, that I can make it, I just can’t buy it. Like crackers. It’s baked or deep fried dough... why would I pay for that? Plus it comes with so much packaging! Everything has SO MUCH packaging!!! Every bread bag and yogurt container sure adds up, so making our own cuts back on that stuff considerably. I skip the bakery section completely but produce is good because I cannot grow carrots THAT quickly! Some dairy is fine. I cannot make milk (and making it from powder doesn’t really seem any different. It’s not the need to PHYSICALLY make stuff that I’m trying to nurture.) I have been making my own yogurt which I have now down to a fine art. I was never a yogurt eater and this stuff is good! I figured since I could eat this now, I tried some of the store bought stuff Barton had and it tasted very chalky. So, I still don’t like it.

Ever since reading Barbara Kingsolver’s “Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” I’ve been wanting to make cheese. We can’t buy the necessary enzymes here in St John’s though so my mom is sending me some. It will be a post-Lent cheese making excursion and I will be sure to share the details!

I make bread, bagels and buns, granola bars and obviously desserts. I also saw a recipe for English Muffins which I thought would be fun so I think I’ll try it. I was also already making my own baby wipes so I’ve continued to do that. I didn’t run out of laundry detergent, but want to make my own of that too, when the time comes. I am trying to find a recipe that does not include Borax and that is not as easy.

Encompassed in this is, of course, the issue of eating out. There isn’t really anything in a restaurant that I could honestly say I can’t make, so eating out is tough. We don’t do it a lot anyway, but grabbing a quick meal when I don’t feel like cooking is out, like say, Costco pizza?! I had to cheat on this once, as there was a going away party and I really felt like I needed to be there. I wasn’t sure how to get around it so I bought something I wouldn’t make at home. I know, it’s not the same...

I did go for coffee with friends and brought my own tea bag thinking I’d just ask for hot water... then I had the brainwave that I can’t make milk, so I had a steamed milk... and hot water. I decided at the get go, that the loophole of letting other people buy things for me was not acceptable, much like giving up TV but taping your favourite shows for after Easter... I will admit that on occasion it has happened out of either accident (it’s really easy to forget when some things are just a complete habit!) or desperation, but on a whole I am proud of myself! It’s very difficult; I will often have my hand on something and then think... “Oh wait, I can’t buy that.”

I would like to carry on with the bread and yogurt because they’re just so good and it is really rewarding to make bread! We are not really packaged food eaters, but I am hoping that the awareness of what we eat and buy for the sake of ‘quick and easy’ will carry on after this and we will consider a little more what could be made at home (which is a million times healthier anyway) by our own hands.

I want to always keep the thought in the back of my mind when I shop “do I really need to buy this?” to avoid over-consuming and being wasteful. You should probably randomly call me on this...

2 Down 1 To Go!!!!!!!!!

2009-04-07T14:49:00.001-07:00

Well, today Barton wrote the second part to the written exam and came away feeling really good. (Yesterday was multiple choice and today was short answer.) He says he feels so much lighter he might need to go buy skinny jeans... hmmm, let's hope not... Anyway, this evening he is off again at another med meeting but at least he's DONE for now! Back to regular work and life - well, at least for a week! I think they will be able to go light until we get back from our holiday. So, that's that, and probably a little anti-climatic after all that hard work!

Ice Photos

2009-04-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

A few posts back I commented on the pack ice (slop ice, slob ice... pick one) that had come into our bay. Barton had gone down that night to take some photos and I am only now getting around to sharing them... but they're pretty cool. You may NOT want to know how he achieved some of the angles, but I'll leave you to guess.

Travel News

2009-04-05T14:45:00.000-07:00

This weekend we made the executive decision to take an all-inclusive holiday! We have been toying with the idea on and off for quite some time. We almost went last year but hit Disney instead, the year before we were tempted and I almost took the kids a few weeks ago in March. At the last minute they decided we should wait for dad... so we did.

Tomorrow is the big day, as Barton's two-day exam starts and in two weeks time, just after Easter Break, we will pack our bags for the sun and surf. On April 20th we're taking off for the Dominican Republic and I CAN'T WAIT! I think we deserve this, all of us; Barton for his hard work, I for mine and the kids for their understanding and (usually) their patience. It will be so wonderful for one week not to worry about ANY every day stuff. To just play, eat, have fun, eat and enjoy life. Oh, did I say "eat" twice? Oops... Shortly after we get back, Barton will be hitting the grindstone again for the last exam and so the trip will be a wonderful mid-way reprieve.

It will be quite the spring of travel actually. I have decided that I will head out to Saskatoon for my grandmother's funeral in May (the 10th), meeting my immediate family and most of my extended. Funny thing, thanks to Facebook I've been getting back in touch with long lost cousins I might not have known otherwise, and it'll be so great to put faces and names to the kids and activities I've been able to keep up with.

In June Barton will most likely head out to Vancouver for a conference and no, I don't think the rest of us will join (sorry!)

Lots of prayers for health and safety during these adventures would be really grand if you can!!!!

Exciting News!!!

2009-04-03T13:41:00.000-07:00

I am very pleased to announce that Barton received a long awaited letter today, assigning him to a date and time for his FINAL exam taking place in Ottawa. He is doing the exam on Wednesday, May 27th at 2pm Ottawa time (11am BC and 3:30pm here in NL) for two hours. Yes, he has to study for a year, pay $3000 and fly to Ottawa for a 2 hour oral exam... oh, and "parking is not available for residents so please find alternate modes of transportation to attend the examination..." Don't get me started! Barton said he'll camp on their front lawn ;)

He is very happy with this date assignment as it is the first possible day of examinations. Most residents received the same letter today so he was quickly in contact with friends away and those here to find out who 'writes' when and who he might bump into there. He does overlap with both local friends and those from UBC so he's pretty excited about catching up, commiserating and celebrating. He will fly out that Tuesday morning and return the Thursday.

You may enjoy our 'to-the-second' countdown at the top of the page! (though... he may not!)

Spring Has Sprung!

2009-04-01T04:59:00.000-07:00

In some parts of the world, "April showers bring May flowers," in Newfoundland, "April ice brings May icebergs." This year we get an early treat, as we awoke this week to the bay packed full of pack ice. The ice, that usually breaks off of shores around in Laborador and the North, covered every inch of water we could see from the window. This ice comes in chunks ranging from the size of a desk to a truck, and rolls on the waves. You can go down to the beach and watch it all tumble and crash. This time, it has packed in so tightly that it looks solid, like you could walk across. Of course, there is always some 'smart person' who does walk across, often dragging a clubbed seal behind him. (No lie, I've seen this).

Today, bullying his way through the pack is a massive iceberg. It's gorgeous, it looks like one of those paper, boat hats you make. I tried to take photos, but where the ice is white, the sky is white with clouds it's not easy to take photos. Hopefully, the sky clears up soon. I did my best...

This is the first one I took, it's a bit far off and the lack of contrast... the second one I cropped and played with the colours to make it contrast more... the last one I got out the long lens and got closer... (you can click them for a larger view)

The Circle of Life?

2009-03-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday night (the 25th) my grandma was admitted to hospital with ‘failure to thrive’. She was very weak and just didn’t have enough energy left to carry on, on her own. The next morning my good friend was admitted to hospital at 34 weeks pregnant with a condition that threatened to necessitate the immediate delivery of her twin babies. I found out about both situations early on Thursday morning and what a weird day it was.

On one hand, I was very weepy about my grandma. It was definitely not a shock that she was failing as she her health had been on the downhill for a couple of years. She had been so tiny and weak - we weren’t sure what was keeping her going – but she kept telling my mom she wasn’t ready. She was a stubborn woman and I always knew that as soon as she decided she was ready to go, she would, and hopefully quietly in her sleep. She had only told my mom last week that she thought maybe it was time; that she was starting to feel ready, so no, it wasn’t a surprise. But still, it is my grandma and more painfully for me, my mom’s mom. I went through this only last year as my dad lost his mother and it’s the same feeling; just thinking about my own parents losing their parents. This time around, it was my last grandparent and to top it all off I feel so far away. Many things like this have happened since we moved to Newfoundland; deaths, seizures, strokes... and it is so hard to be away from family when you know that back home, things are busy, changing and emotional.

On the other hand, while my grandma tried to leave the world, my two teeny tiny new friends were trying to enter it... but much too soon! It did turn out that they had to be delivered on Friday and thank the Lord, and even at 6 weeks early the babies were incredibly perfect. While I knew my mother sat bedside in a hospital watching her mother give way to the end of life, I sat bedside in a hospital holding these perfect, brand new babies and pondering the long life and exciting times ahead of them. I am so very blessed to be allowed to spend so much time with them! (I try not to go twice a day and it’s hard.) They are so very tiny (5-10 and 4-11 before in-hospital weight loss) but I’ve been able to feed them and change them and have amazing, tiny baby cuddles.

Yesterday my grandmother passed away, she was almost 94! My mom and aunt were able to make it for the end and mom said it was incredibly peaceful and painless. I am very thankful that it didn’t drag for weeks and weeks and become a case of suffering, but I am so sad that my mom and her siblings no longer have parents and I really wish I could be with them now.
I am not sure how I feel about death, but I seem to be encountering it a lot lately. I am not certain on what I think it is, was or should be. I am not sure what happens afterwards or if any of the perfect scenes I was taught as a child are actually what I believe to be true. I have lots to think about at a time like this and have been challenged to think more on it by friends with ideas different than my own. I do know that as I watch the beginning of one cycle and the end of another, I cannot change it, stop it or wish it away (and no, I won’t start singing Elton John for you...)

A Few Thoughts and Moments From My Day

2009-03-24T15:55:00.000-07:00

Today was a disgusting day and I felt as good as it looked out the window. We woke up to a snow storm and the wind howled though the cracks and crevices of the house all day. Our morning of school was broken up quite a bit with play breaks and Mattie breaks and, while I usually like to be done by lunch, we found ourselves still working afterwards. After lunch we played for awhile and once Mattea was sleeping we set back to it. We needed to complete a few things in their seats but we then found ourselves needing to do some reading. We are working through a comprehension course for The Chronicles of Narnia and are currently doing Prince Caspian. It was time to read another chapter and since Mattea was still sleeping we left the table and curled up on the couch to read together. Nikolai asked if he could sit in my lap and they both snuggled in close. With the weather outside so frightful, it was a nice cozy spot to be. Quiet moments like that are few and far between and I knew better than to break it. We ended up reading an extra chapter and finished just as the nap ended.

You could research until the cows come home the many different ways to homeschool. There are approaches after theories on all different topics ranging from strict curriculum-following, to the throw-out-all-the-workbooks-unschoolers. I fall somewhere in between, feeling the workbook approach necessary in certain areas (maybe only to make me feel like I'm 'doing' something) and life skills sufficient in others. I have definitely realized, and did so quickly, how much learning comes outside of what we call 'seat work'. Our lives in general seem to provide ample opportunity to learn and grow. It's in times like this when I wonder why I put in the effort to sit the boys down and force work, when left to their defences they seem to teach themselves and each other (and me!)

Prime examples are the times they will sit for very long periods reading through their science magazines (we seem to have acquired subscriptions to "Yes" "Know" Owl" "Kayak" and "Kids Geographic." All very useful!)quizzing each on what they're learning and relentlessly informing me of the new ideas and information ("Mom! Did you know...?" "Mom, did you know...?" "Hey! Mom, did you know...?") These facts, even if it's exactly the same as in a textbook, will most definitely stay put in their spongy brains as they have 'chosen' to read it and enjoy it. Had I read it to them that very morning, they'd quite possibly have remembered nothing.

Two nights ago was a perfect case in point. How many times did I have to ask them to leave the computer and go to bed? Too many to count. But, they're 'surfing' through Google Earth and it's hard to make them stop when you yourself are as keen to look stuff up. We viewed famous spots in Moscow, followed the rivers of Venice and explored Mt Everest all in one shot. Not to mention Disneyworld, the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. What does Antarctica look like from space and can you find a lion on the African Plains?

Tonight was another. During dinner the kids were discussing their heights as Nikolai is determined to be able to ride The Hulk next January in Disney and Riley just wants to be taller than I am. (She's 3.5" away!) When dinner was finished they pulled out the measuring tape and measured each other. Bridger and Nikolai have been obsessed with Yao Ming lately, who even by NBA standards towers at 7ft 6", and so it seemed a natural question to ask how much taller Ming is than they are. To figure this out of course, Bridger had to convert, divide with remainders and subtract. (he hadn't figured out yet that the feet are marked in red on the tape so he was dividing by 12... I wasn't going to tell him!).

This turned into a game of sorts for the boys all evening. They were measuring everything in the house, figuring out how tall, long and wide all sorts of objects were. (Our ceilings are 8'3" just so you know...)Then they decided that they would set the measuring tape at 2 feet and see how many things were exactly that length. They would look at something, guess and then measure.

This is ALL stuff they have in their textbooks, in fact I know that Bridger was estimating just this morning. You could argue that maybe they wouldn't have thought to 'play that game' if they hadn't previously been asked to estimate in math, but if you know kids and their imaginations you might say otherwise. Kids seem to always find stuff like this to do.

So, instead of spending money of math books, maybe I should have just told them to get out their hockey cards and make graphs, compare size, ratios and who knows what else you could glean from the information on those things?

The Thiessens Turn Ten!

2009-03-24T07:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a little slow on the go with this update... but about a month ago (on February 19th) we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary! We always have a bit of a giggle when we think what we would have said if someone had told us that day that, in one decade we would be living in Newfoundland, with 4 kids and that Barton would still be in school. We would have laughed it off with a "yeah right!" Which brings me to the thought that if someone knocked on my door today and said "in 10 years you'll be..." I wonder what craziness they would tell me?

That being said, what a 10 years it has been! Hmmm, how many kids, degrees, moves and changes have we experienced? Too many to count! I know on our 7th anniversary I said that I hoped the next 7 would be less eventful than the previous... ha! Ah well, what would life be without change and disruption? We are definitely on a slower path than before and nearing the end of grade 25 for Barton. We've had a baby at each university site we've lived at - so I've told him NO MORE SCHOOL!

To celebrate our milestone we did a photo session with the wonderful and talented Charro Benteau of Atlantic Horizon Imaging. My parents were visiting at the time so we got them in on a few. Our family portraits have changed considerably over the years! My plan was to send out these photos and an update letter since I did a fairly shoddy job at our Christmas card/letter/picture. However, sadly this has not happened. Maybe I will eventually get this done. You can enjoy the photos through the slide show at the top right of this page (click on it for a larger set). And these blog updates will have to do as update letters...

On the 20th we had a party at home, because who can make it 10 years without the support of friends? We've been here in Newfoundland almost half of our married years so it seemed natural to share some time with those close to us. We enjoyed a delectable cake from Pam Hynes and an evening of wonderful food and conversation.

Our plan is to continue celebrating later this year and take a trip together this summer. With Barton's schooling the way it is right now, he's in no shape to enjoy a holiday, but once he's done we'll have lots to celebrate. His parents will be visiting midsummer so we will take advantage of that and steal away for a bit. It's always a hard decision though, where to go? We love to travel with the kids so choosing not to take them will be hard. Every time we come up with a possible location we have this, "oh, but we'd love to take the kids there..." moment. We'll figure it out or maybe do something big as a family, which would be just as much a celebration.
So, here's to 10 more! (well, hopefully more than that, but you know...)

PS - Our scanner doesn't want to work, maybe I can eventually get some wedding photos posted ;)

Two Weeks and Counting!

2009-03-23T05:06:00.000-07:00

Today it is officially two weeks until the first stage of Barton's exams when he will write two, 3-hour exams in the afternoons of April 6 and 7. His days are pretty packed with study time right now but luckily he has a good friend with whom he is able to get a lot of work done. They have a strict study schedule all set up and are working systematically through old exams. They meet every weekday at 6am and study until 8am before they go to work. Then on Saturdays they meet in the mornings and on Sundays in the afternoon. Usually evenings will find Barton reading or practising exams, or listening to lectures while he does the dishes. I think they will take the week before the exams off of work and continue a regular work day of studying.

I think at this point they are ready to just get it over with, plus I think they are all more concerned with spending their time preparing for the oral exam in Ottawa in May. In a couple of weeks, with the written out of the way, they will be able to concentrate on that.

There isn’t a lot of “fun time” for Barton these days and I know that he’s looking forward to being able to do things he enjoys without the guilt of knowing that he should be studying instead. Hopefully we can fill this summer with fun and frivolous activities!

Understandably, everything else is on hold until this nonsense gets finished! The kids have been really great, and for the most part, patient. We almost went on a holiday without him, when they all vetoed that idea, wishing instead to wait for him, so hopefully in April we’ll be able to steal away for a bit before he settles back into the grind for exam #2. That exam will be sometime between May 27 and 30 in Ottawa. Once that is done, they just have a bit of resident work time before being let go into the real world.

As far we know things are in place for us to stay an extra year here in St John’s. We still haven’t figured out what we want to do when we grow up, and generally change our minds daily about where and how we want to live, so we’ll hang here and reap its benefits until we know; though many friends have offered to make these decisions for us. Come to think of it, it might be a lot easier to have someone tell us what to do!! Though I guess that’s been the case for the past decade for us... time to make our own decisions.

Date Night!

2009-03-18T06:27:00.000-07:00

I actually wrote this on Sunday, March 15th but didn't hit 'post' until today. You may see why...

I think I am safe to say that Barton and I have been frequent concert-goers and over the years have seen many, many performances. It’s funny though, because as we enjoyed our concert-date-night-out last night, we were trying to figure out the last time we had actually been to a concert TOGETHER. It seems as though we don't remember attending a concert with each other since we drove down to Portland to see The Tragically Hip play in a tiny theatre. Apparently that was so long ago that we can't even remember if we were married yet at the time! (Vic... Mike... help with that answer?) For whatever reason (hmmm, kids?) we have been attending solo for many a year.

It was in early December that I bought our tickets as a Christmas present for two well-seasoned bands; Spirit of the West, 26 years old and one of Barton's favourites, who were opening for Great Big Sea, whom we both enjoy, still playing together at the ripe age of 16. At the time it seemed like AGES away and once the gift was given, it just kind of floated in and out of our thoughts. A few weeks ago we realized that it was coming up soon and were re-excited because we just don't get out that often!! However, over the course of the past 4 days or so it slipped my mind again.

The tragedy off our coast is known, I'm sure, to most by now and the effect it has had on our community and province has been quite staggering. Though we didn’t know any of the passengers personally, so many people around us did. It seems as though every person we know from here knew someone on-board or has been affected very heavily through family and friends. A few good friends of ours are grieving the losses of friends, co-workers and other family members. A great tragedy involving 18 people from a relatively small province has a web of affect that spreads so far; hundreds upon hundreds of people are instantly involved. This morning I read that two of the people on board were from BC and close to my hometown, so now a whole new community and group of people have been brought in.

We are not Newfoundlanders and never will be. In fact, we have been told that even if we stay forever, our grandkids may not even be considered Newfoundlanders! ;) However, we have been a part of this community now for almost 5 years and it didn't take long to learn why it is that way. This province is very tightly knit; families are large and close. When one needs, another provides. When one hurts, they all hurt and neighbours will stop and do anything for another if the need arises. Before Barton and I left to come to Newfoundland for interviews, someone asked us if we had a place to stay. When we said we hadn't yet, they told us just to knock on someone's door and ask. At the time, that seemed like a kind of joke... I now realize it totally wasn't. We were welcomed, helped, befriended and quite literally when we knocked on someone's door, we got a BBQ and a beer! This community and province now surround us.

When a community of people like this is rocked by a horrific incident, there is a deep sense of sadness no matter where you go. And yet, there's a survival mode that kicks in, a sense of support and uplifting within the entire province. Plus, the support that has come in from around globe has been quite incredible.

The idea of a happy and exciting event such as a concert seemed hardly realistic. Who would think to do something so fun? How could something like that still carry on? (In fact, it almost didn't considering none of their gear made it across the ferry!)

A stadium seems like a cocoon at the best of times - a little bubble of people gathered for a mutual interest within a larger, bustling world. Last night it seemed like we were in this weird, joyful cocoon, separated, but still within, a tree of sorrow. As we drove there, we both wondered how either band would handle this situation. With the helicopter crash being only two days previous and there was new, painful news being reported that day we knew they would definitely address it somehow, especially considering Great Big Sea are locals.

We enjoyed the concert over a sea of green - only in this province do we actually celebrate "St Paddy's Day Weekend". It's like a 5 day party! We haven't quite learned to remember that yet, but luckily each of us had inadvertently worn green (see? maybe it's starting to sink in?)

Spirit of the West was on first and Barton was really excited, even though he’s seen them umpteen times. What a great break from the constant studying and exam pressure he’s had! (His own cocoon!) I’ve never seen Spirit of the West perform but they're fantastic live. Lead singer John Mann reminisced that the first time they ever played in St John's was in 1989 and they were welcomed to Bannerman Park "from Canada!" Mid-way through their performance they expressed their condolences for a province they love and dedicated a song in the honour and memory of those lost that week.

"I found my coat
Had trouble with the sleeves
We lifted your box
And bent at the knees
Know what tears the most?
It's the disregard for your holy ghost
You left the world, the world kept going..."

(Rights of Man)

Unfortunately, as is the wont of opening bands, they seemed to be over quite quickly (though of course not without a crowd-rousing "Home For a Rest") and Barton was true to form by scurrying his way through the crowd on the floor to secure himself a set list to add to his collection.

The short break after SOTW ended with the lights going down - which of course brings on the screams – and Great Big Sea came on-stage and Sean McCann took the mic...

"For 500 years we Newfoundlanders have been taking from the sea. Two days ago, She took back..."

They sang "England" in dedication. Immediately following the song the lights went out and they left the stage. After a moment of darkness, they returned and the concert began. It was extremely tactful. It was a lovely way to separate the two events and it almost gave permission for everyone to enjoy themselves from there on. Considering how many of their songs are about death, the ocean or the two combined it seemed a necessary and respectful line to draw. How else could you later sing about “The night that Paddy Murphy Died” and still have fun?

"Should we find Fortune's Favour
And be spared from the gale
We will live off honest labour
With our hearts as big as sails
But if I should die don't bury me
Or leave me to the sea
Please send my bones back to my home
Where my spirit can be free"

(England)

I don't think I will ever hear this song the same again.

As always (my third time seeing them) Great Big Sea didn't disappoint. They are crazy talented and even if you're a so-so fan, the concerts will always be worth it. I always marvel at their ability to swap around instruments, or sing harmony a cappella in a place like that and still sound good. The stadium is small enough that no matter where you sit, your seats are great and the back 1/4 of the floor space was left open, which lent itself nicely to a group of boys who spent most of the concert jigging and forming their own little 7-boy mosh-pit. A few couples had a dance and a few drunkies staggered through. I love Newfoundlanders because they can have such a good time without being idiots, except for the "F*$^ British Columbia" buddies cursing Spirit of the West behind us, but they didn't last long! It was one of those nice evenings where sometimes you just sit back and watch the scene, and sometimes you just have to get up and dance. We missed the kids because they would have loved it. Riley had been to see GBS before and had a great time; the boys would have been very inspired! Maybe next time... 'cause you know they'll be back!

Just when we thought it wouldn't happen - though we hoped it would! - GBS welcomed SOTW back on stage to join them in Old Black Rum. It was a quite a group! Unfortunately SOTW didn't know the lyrics but they somehow held their own on their instruments and what John lacked in lyric, he definitely made up for in dance and energy!

So, that was our date night, a juxtaposition of emotions. It made me realize two things - I miss going to concerts regularly and it's always okay to take a break from real life.

(Oh! And just as I fell asleep last night I thought of Aerosmith... yes, I could crack a joke about that but I will refrain... We had the tickets a few years ago, we were in Montreal and as is the habit of Aerosmith in Canada – they cancelled. So we were very close to seeing a concert within the past 10 years together!)

A long time ago, we did a story on GBS and Charro got great photos – check it out here:

Great Big Sea at the Arts and Culture Centre

The Beginning of the End

2009-02-26T04:32:00.001-08:00

Barton left this morning for Toronto for a resident shin-dig called "Making the Mark." It's a weekend of studying and seminars that help prepare them for the exam and beyond (I think!). Unfortunately, every previous year this has been paid for and held in Banff, allowing a little ski time in between. This year it was NOT paid for and it's in Scarbourough. Party!

Anyway, it does signify the beginning of the end - the home stretch. On April 6th and 7th Barton writes his first final exams here in St John's (39 days!) and then between May 27th and 30th he'll be in Ottawa for the oral exam, the last of the last.

This will be the end of a 12 year journey for him and the start of a regular life of working! It's been a long road for all of us and we're ready to move on to the next chapter and welcome the opportunities it will provide!!! Wish him luck!

Catching Up

2009-01-23T19:46:00.000-08:00

Wow... it's January 24th and I just realized I haven't updated this site since October... oops! I'm pretty sure that if you look up the definition of "blog" in the dictionary it will most certainly refer to some variation on "frequently updated." I will spend some time trying to achieve this over the next while!

For now, we have just welcomed back my parents to Newfoundland; I'm pretty sure this is my mom's 7th trip, 6 for dad. Mattea took all of 10 minutes to warm up to them, having not seen them since last August and already (after arriving last night) they've been able to enjoy watching the boy's swimming lessons and spending the afternoon with Riley, who stayed home after lunch today.

More later!

Boys will be Boys

2008-10-09T12:27:00.000-07:00

"Wow! It broke!!" "Do it again!"

Bridger, Nikolai and their two friends had just discovered the joy of shattering rock on rock.

There is a creek close to our home that reaches from the Torbay Wetlands to the ocean. Part way down its journey, the water falls over a sleek, wide rock into a pool that will eventually drain through the large rocks into the waves.

As boys will do they randomly started throwing rocks at this water fall and quickly discovered the satisfyingly shattering smash of the shale. Not only were they rewarded as the slices burst into pieces, but then the pieces would tumble down with the falling water, into the pool below.

I'm sure this fun could have lasted an hour but it would be a close vote as to whether this was as fun, more, or less fun than putting a stick in the top and following it to see how far it would float downstream. Oh to be the one who's stick makes it past all the falls, obstacles and traps right down to the ocean!

Mattea, always the mover and shaker, was getting cranky in the backpack, but with the warm sunny weather I did not want to be the one to call a time's up on the fun! Did I really have somewhere better to be? My housework wasn't going anywhere that's for sure. Luckily it wasn't I who had to call it quits, but the friends who hadn't told their parents where they were!

Bad Habits

2008-10-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

I LOVE fabric stores. I can spend as much time (and money *cough*) in these stores as I can in paper stores and London Drugs. It's terrible. But I see, in a fabric store, the infinite possibilities for creativity and fun. I can picture making all the things I love, plus new things I've discovered with so many fun types of fabrics. Then there's the add-ons like ribbons and tassels and buttons... oh my! I also LOVE love love the East Indian fabric stores in BC, which I miss terribly (though I'm sure Barton and the bank account are quite happy with this).

So, I have this bad habit. I buy fabric that I love, with a fabulous project in mind, but then when I get home I don't have the heart to cut up the fabric! It's like hanging photos after you've freshly painted - it quite literally hurts. The result is a pile of fabric taking up room on a shelf which is a actually a little pile of unfinished projects staring at me day in and day out.

I have decided that this fall is project finishing time. I'm pretty sure I said that about last fall, but Mattea was pretty little back then so that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Aside from the fabric is the scrapbooking... oh dear the scrapbooking! That's a whole other story.

Back to the fabric...

So I've come up with a few projects that will help me use up some of this fabric. I did make myself a skirt, and Riley wants one too. I made a few baby slings for friends and I'm covering those plastic travel wipes cases in fun designs. Last year I made a bunch of kid's aprons for birthday presents and I didn't use all of them so now I'm selling them. I think they're a tiny bit small now for the kid's friends so hopefully other people will be able to use them. I have a bunch of boyish fabric out of which I'm doing some more aprons (dinosaurs and stuff) and I really want to finish some cushion covers I intended on making ages ago.

This does mean that my spare evening time will be spent sewing but I'm really excited about some of the projects I'm doing and I really want to get them finished. But I do work while I work my way through Prison Break Season 3 while simultaneously watching Season 4 on Monday nights (How did they get...? Wha...? Where did...? Huh...?) At least the TV time isn't completely wasted! (thought I'm sure it takes me twice as long to finish the projects!!!)

What I really want though, is to buy a serger, so I'm looking for one I can afford. I have borrowed a serger to do a few projects that I sold and gave away because it makes it so much stronger and nicely finished. I would like to have my own because I hate borrowing things like that! Then I'd be able to make more 'serious' projects and make them more durable.

For the month of October I am making cute wipes cases that have a pink ribbon on them. They sell for $15, $3 of which will go to breast cancer research.

You can see the projects I'm working on here:

http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=33278&l=3fc3f&id=517954448

Happy Autumn!

2008-09-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's the end of September! How does that happen? Crazy...

The first month of school and unschool has gone really well. Riley is enjoying grade 7 and likes the changing of classes and teachers. She is playing trumpet again, and hopes to join the after school jazz band. She is running in the cross country races for 3 weekends and successfully ran her first race, taking 1st place in her school and 6th overall for grade 7 girls. Her scores from this year and last always hover around 6mins 3 seconds so she is trying to get under 6mins before the end of this session! She also made the volleyball team and looks forward to her practises and games getting regular and serious.

Bridger started drum lessons on Sept 14th and took to it very quickly. He starts by practising on random soft areas so it's not too loud yet! He has very good rhythm and is quickly learning the music theory required. He is doing well in his school work but having a hard time with what I affectionately call "laziness." *sigh* He has been using an Ancient Egypt workbook to learn English topics, Math and Creative Writing. He is also doing long division and angles.

Nikolai started guitar lessons last Sunday and is very excited to get learning. They told me the lessons would have to be on a trial basis because he is so young but he seems to be doing fine. He is trying hard so I think that'll make him succeed (as long as he doesn't get discouraged!). He is also doing well with his work, learning subtraction with borrowing, habitats and mapping. Right now he is doing English work using a new Robert Munsch book each week.

They have both asked me to do some Harry Potter studies, but these aren't really available in the way I want them to be, so I am writing my own. Should be fun! Will keep you posted... maybe I'll sell them!

For activities, the boys are starting basketball next week which runs at the elementary school and will go all year. They also start next Friday a 10 session set of swimming lessons with the other homeschoolers. It'll be nice because the classes will be so small. We also try to go to Judo on Thursday night. Barton is a bit concerned about the violent aspect of the sport... so I guess that will also be on a trial basis!!!

I have been really busy and by the time I go to bed I am completely shot!! It's a good dead tired though... I had plans for the boy's room, I have told them since we moved here that I would paint it! I bought some stuff in Vancouver for decorating because I knew what I was looking for, but now I don't see any time to paint in the near future. I didn't want the things I got to be sitting in piles (trying really hard to NOT leave unfinished projects lying around!) so I decided to everything but the wall painting. That way, at least it'll be fun for now and if I ever get the time, I'll paint. So, it's almost done and I'll post pictures when I'm finished. At the same time I ended up making a few slings for friends and because I had a borrowed serger, I figured I should do a few other projects at the same time. So I have a skirt and the boys have curtains! Unfortunately what happens when those projects are going? NOTHING else gets done!!! Every once and awhile I'll tidy so I can project away with a clear conscience but the rest of the house is getting pretty desperate. I am almost done...

In 8 months, Barton will be done! It's insane how quickly that has gone! We are still trying to make the huge decision of life after school ends (What? School ends?) and it's starting to drive me crazy. He's doing well though! He's working at the smaller St John's hospital right now, which means an easier schedule and home call instead of overnight in the hospital. His emergency shifts were great because he had so many days at home and with the boys home they got lots of extra time together. He has started studying with his classmates so they're getting serious! No turning back now... After having his old (favourite) bike stolen in Kelowna (strike one for Kelowna!) he received an insurance payment and bought a fast new bike. He has been enjoying his rides to work since picking up the bike this week.

Mattea... what do I say about Mattea? She is something else! She's hilarious and brings constant joy to everyone in the house. The novelty has not worn off for the older kids so they still love paying attention to her and always tell her how much they love her and how "they can't stand it" that she's so cute! She's walking all over now and getting into everything. She's such a climber, so I'm pretty sure she'll be the one we find sitting on the fridge! The other day she picked up an onion peel and opened the cupboard and put it in the garbage which I thought was really funny. She still says "bobbi" all the time, with all the different intonations that it can be used for. She has a few other words though. Bobbida, bobbiya, mommy, daddy, hot, and the kid's names.

Well, I guess that's it for now! Have a great weekend!!

Back To Basics

2008-09-06T17:24:00.000-07:00

At some point I said I had more to say and here I am almost a week later! I can't believe it's been a week since we arrived back on The Rock. So much has happened in so little time! This week marked the start of Riley's first year of Junior High, I started homeschooling the boys (more about that later!) and Barton did a bunch of shifts in the emergency, his current rotation. In and amongst that we have unpacked almost everything and have found 'almost' everything! We've semi settled back in and almost feel normal again.

It was very bizarre to come back home after being away for 2.5 months. In fact, it still feels weird to say we're 'home' after 2 months in a place that houses all of our family and most of our live's memories. When we got back we just kept wandering around the house going, "this is so weird!" The colours looked off, the smells, the stuff. It was really odd. Anyway, I think we've settled back in. We've mostly cleaned up our stuff but it seems like there's always something I can't find, or something else to throw in the laundry.

So here we are. Ready for another year and counting down to the end of Barton's long years of training. He is 9 months from finishing grade 25 and has a lot of work to do this year in the shadow of a very large exam in the spring.

Like I said, I have the boys home from school this year, so we have a lot to learn and adjust to. I'm really excited about it though and am really hoping it goes well. Pray for us!

Riley started grade 7 at the junior high this year. I am pretty hesitant about the whole process but we'll give it a go, at least until Christmas.

Mattea started walking this summer and is such a climber! She climbs EVERYTHING. Luckily she has also learned how to back off of most things...

So, that's the nutshell! I am going to write about my decision to home-school, that'll come soon!

Photos

2008-09-02T08:31:00.001-07:00

Our photo albums of the return trip are here:

British Columbia

Alberta

Sask

Man

US

Ontario Part 1

Ontario Part 2

Ontario Part 3

Quebec

New Brunswick

Nova Scotia

Newfoundland

NORTH SYDNEY TO PORT AUX BASQUES AND HOME - AUG 30-31

2008-09-01T13:58:00.000-07:00

We got up early and (learning our lesson from last time!) called to check the punctuality of the ferry to Newfoundland. Once again it had been delayed, so instead of needing to get to the terminal at 8:30, we should arrive around 11. That was nice, our morning was more relaxing and the kids braved one more swim in the freezing pool. We arrived at the ferry and played around a bit before Mattea napped in the car. The boys went for a bike ride to pick up bagels for lunch and we ate in the lineup. We loaded at left by 1:30pm. The small glitch we encountered was our van not starting, of course right when they were trying to load our lineup. While the entire production of loading and unloading the ferry is one of the least organized and efficient things you'll ever see, clearly they have many people with dead batteries at the last minute. All of a sudden a truck was there and we were off! They gave us some space behind the van so that at unloading they could send the line around us and then give us a boast at the other end. Upon landing we had at least 2 or 3 crew ask if we needed another jump but fortunately we didn't.

The boat ride was 7 hours. I must say that it is one of my least favorite things to do. There is quite a rock to that boat on the best of days and I don't have much for sea legs. Like I said last time though, it's worth every penny to book that cabin, there's even a shower so you can freshen up before de-boarding. If you plan on doing it, call long in advance.

We docked at 8:30pm and though it is advised up and down not to cross Newfoundland at night - at this point we just wanted to get home. So the kids fell asleep and we drove. I took the first shift, though considerably shorter in length. Barton drove the rest, once again hopped up on Red Bull. The driving was slow and unpleasant. Rain either intermittent with or coupled with fog made it less than ideal. There was one long clear stretch where thanks to our high beams we saw two moose grazing the middle of the road long before they launched over our hood. They were quite beautiful, does their coat change through the summer? That was the only close call and the roads were dead empty. We arrived home sweet home at 6:30am. The kids had slept all night as did Mattea so we were the only ones desperate to sleep. Barton earned the first shift in that department so I did some van emptying and tea drinking.

It was very strange to be home! It was 2.5 months that we were gone. Everything just 'looked' weird. Like the colour of things in the house, or the arrangement or the smells. Funny. There really isn't much like your bed though (although some of those hotels had darn awesome beds!) and all in all it was good to be home.

I count this trip as a success as the first thing the kids said when our van touched solid ground on Saturday night was "That was an awesome trip!" We were already discussing options for our next adventure and that has to be a good sign. We all learned so much and some day the kids will realize how grand of an adventure it truly was. For now, they just think we went on a cool holiday, not realizing the true uniqueness of the whole thing.

Well, I have more to say and I will keep this blog going as a family thing but I should go have dinner with my birthday celebrating husband!!! I have our photos ready as well and will get all those links up shortly.

Thank you for following along with us on our epic journey. It was truly a blessing to have this opportunity with our family, but I also know that your prayers and thoughts and sometimes your literal food and bed, kept us going the whole way. We were safe, healthy and happy.

WE DID IT!!!!

Kelowna BC - 0 (about 350 from Abbotsford)
Banff AB - 501
Oyen SK - 999
Broadview SK - 1795
Winnipeg MN - 2255
Fargo ND - 2728
Menomonie WI - 3236
Chicago IL - 3765
Bancroft MI - 4268
Oakville ON - 4694
Ottawa ON - 5238
St Jean Port Joli QC - 5792
Waasis NB - 6292
Pictou NS - 6765
Deer Lake NL - 7306
Goobies NL - 7796

MONCTON AND NORTH SYDNEY- AUG 28-29

2008-09-01T13:50:00.000-07:00

Well, we did make it all the way to Moncton!! It was a long day but we were ready to get on with things. We arrived in the evening and had a swim and snack. We definitely had our smallest room yet, but no one complained! In the morning we were late getting going but headed down to the Hopewell Rocks to see the tides. It was raining but we walked down to the lookouts and watched as the ride rolled in. Unfortunately we missed the super low tide and didn't get to walk around the ocean floor, but we did see it at it's highest.

While in Moncton we figured out that our plans for Halifax were not quite panning out so we decided to make a run for it and bump our ferry sailing up one day. We drove all the way to North Sydney and found a cute little motel close to the ferry terminal. We ate a really nice dinner there and had another swim. It's always worth finding a place with a pool as the kids can burn off some steam and get a good sleep. The bad side is you're always dealing with wet bathing suits!!!

We definitely had intended on camping more. We realize now that we should have ditched some of our superfluous belongings to make room for mattresses and pillows etc. The only problem with camping is you want to show up early enough to set up camp, but in the evening when everyone is getting sleepy and it cools off is always the best time to drive. We were always keen to push on a little more, so it would just end up that we'd show up somewhere at 10pm. Our plan for the next time (we'd go again if we moved and take more time to go one way) is to be more intentional with that.

The trip was quick and uneventful. New Brunswick is very beautiful so it was a lovely drive. It was cooler which is always nice for driving and ending at Cape Breton Island was gorgeous.

KINGSTON TO OTTAWA TO RANDOM STOP IN QUEBEC - AUG 27

2008-08-28T05:36:00.000-07:00

We spent time outside in the morning, playing in the pool and with all the toys outside. It was a beautiful morning and it was great to see our friends! (I'm so excited about all the potential for pen pals for the kids from this trip!)

We left around 11 and drove the 2 hours to Ottawa. On our last trip through we missed the Parliament Tour and I erased our photos from the city, so we really wanted to go back. We parked downtown and immediately noticed how many more people there were strolling the streets of Ottawa this hot day in late August, compared to the post-thunder shower day in late June on our previous trip.

As we walked up to Parliament Hill we passed by the Ottawa Locks on the Rideau Canal and were just in time to watch them guide someone's boat through. Not only was it fun and interesting to watch but the boat pilot had a parrot! Okay, that's not really that exciting but the kids though it was funny, like he was a yacht pirate or something!

We made it exactly on time for a tour (which are first come first served and run 4 times an hour for free) so into the Parliment we went. It was really gorgeous inside, a lot of amazing stone work and stained glass. The library was beautiful and we learned lots about the House of Commons and the Senate (most notably that Royalty cannot enter the house of Commons and could lose their heads if they do! =) Always the fun facts...) We ended the tour with a trip up to the clock in the Peace Tower and then a look at the memorial books.

From there Mattea was at the end of her rope and we needed to get going, so we walked back down to the car and drove out of the city passing by the Prime Minister's house at 24 Sussex Dr.

From Ottawa we just wanted to get going and see how far we'd get. We weren't sure if we'd make our way back to Quebec City or not so we just started in the general direction. We did end up bypassing it, going on the south side of the river and stopping just across for the night.

This is a beautiful spot, if anyone is interested... we're at the Hotel Bernieres, in Saint-Nicholas.

Today (the 28th) we are setting a course for New Brunswick. I don't know if we'll make it all the way to Moncton but we're hoping to catch the Hopewell Rocks this time around.

TORONTO TO KINGSTON - AUG 26

2008-08-28T05:30:00.001-07:00

We hit a bit of a kink in the plan this week and had to take our van in for servicing in Oakville. the breaks were seized so it was definitely something that needed to be dealt with. We spent the morning playing and doing laundry before heading into Toronto, $1000 poor-er because of the van.

We parked downtown and tried to do a tour of the CN Tour but the line was really long and we only had so much time. We took pictures and touched it... then walked to the Hockey Hall of Fame. There was way more to see and do there than we expected and all the kids were thrilled to be able to touch the Stanley Cup! Even the building, an old bank, was stunning.

Walking around downtown was fun, I love the big cities, but Barton does not so he couldn't get out fast enough! We drove out via a visit with some friends that moved to TO in June. They've had a baby since so it was awesome to have a very quick catch-up and a little cuddle.

Out of Toronto, we drove 2 hours to Kingston where we stayed again with friends that just moved here.

INDIANA TO MICHIGAN TO ONTARIO – AUG 25

2008-08-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

After breakfast at the hotel we were en route again, heading for Michigan, which would take us up past Detroit towards the border. It was a beautiful drive without incident with really pretty landscapes that are all very much like the Canadian prairies. A few more roadside runabouts and a stop at the Target in Flint, Michigan and we were all of a sudden crossing the bridge over Lake Huron into Sarnia, Ontario! Back into Canada with another smooth border crossing!

So, we’ve got quite the collection of maps going! Do you need a map? We have now been through 10 provinces and 7 states, including our shopping trip to Washington… but we didn’t get a map!
We stopped in Sarnia at the beach on Lake Huron... we were meant to dip our feet but somehow (are you shocked?!) both boys ended up soaked and covered in sand!

We made our way back to Oakville, Ontario where we stayed again with our cousins there.

MINNESOTA TO WISCONSIN TO ILLINOIS TO INDIANA - SUN AUG 24

2008-08-28T05:21:00.000-07:00

We went through 4 states today!!

We crossed the Mississippi River today as we skirted Minneapolis. Did you know that Minneapolis is practically on the border of Wisconsin? We didn’t! As soon as we were past the city we were headed into a new state!

Southeast through Wisconsin took us all the way to the bottom corner and into Illinois. We had lunch in a really nice rest area (all the State rest areas are very nice!), and had dinner at Culver’s where Mattea had her first taste of ice cream! Well, it was frozen custard but she was a monster once she’d had a taste!

We came through Chicago at night and it was so beautiful! We didn’t get any time to explore, so I guess I’ll have to go back! The city lights were awesome and we passed by the massive O’Hare Airport and then Wrigley Stadium, where unfortunately we missed a baseball game, just hours earlier!

A future tip for anyone passing through, there is the equivalent of about $5 in random tolls along the way, have a bunch of US coins ready.

We wanted to get out of the city before finding a place to stay so just passed Chicago we crossed into Indiana - State #5!!

We DID have a wonderful, restoring sleep (and confirmed no wedding parties!) in Hammond, Indiana.

WINNIPEG TO NORTH DAKOTA AND MINNESOTA – SAT AUG 23

2008-08-28T05:14:00.000-07:00

We slept very late in the cool, dark basement, even Mattea made no peep until 9:30! It was a slower start than planned, but we repacked and got going. We picked up Becky and headed to the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. We did a tour there and learned a few interesting things, like that particular mint makes coins for quite a few other countries (including Madagascar!) and that at any given point, about 40% of people around the world are carrying coins in their pockets made at the Winnipeg Mint. We all held a gold bar worth $500,000 and also learned that they don’t transport their coins in armoured cars, but random company semis like Safeway, McDonald’s etc. That made our semi-spotting a little more interesting along the drive since! Unfortunately, because we did the tour on a weekend, the machines weren’t running. That’s a note to self... go on a weekday.

We dropped Becky off and said our farewells, for much longer than 2 months this time. From there it was south to North Dakota… huh?

We had no trouble crossing at the border, which was a blessing as we were not keen to take everything out of the van! We made a quick pit stop and I discovered one of the smartest things I’ve seen in a long time! At one of the rest stop bathrooms, they had in the stall a pull down seat, made exactly lie those pull down change tables, (but small) with a harness so you could strap your child in and go to the bathroom!! What a novel idea!

We had lunch in the car (making sandwiches on the road is quite a task) and stopped for supper in Fargo. Almost immediately after that, we crossed into Minnesota.

In Minnesota we drove south/east through St Cloud and spent the night just on the outskirts of Minneapolis. We found a Hampton Inn and Suites and got a steal on a great room. It was quite a beautiful hotel with a pool and it included breakfast for all of us. We settled into our kushy beds for what we hoped would be a long, restoring sleep.

At 1:30 we were awoken with a clatter and Barton sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Unfortunately, it was not an early surprise visit from ‘you-know-who’, but a mass of drunken idiots. Is that fair to say? Sure… so, after repeated bangs on our door, slamming of other doors, shouts and miscellaneous other ruckuses, we had to make a call… and then another. A take-charge kind of woman with a big mullet (I’m saying that only because it made her seem so much more serious and not the type you’d mess with…) came up and started yelling at them all to get to their rooms. It was the third warning and after that, apparently the cops get a call. At 3:30 am, I fell asleep hoping ‘this’ would be the time they don’t come back. We found out the next morning that there were TWO weddings in the hotel and we happened to be on the same floor as one. There were also many red-eyed patrons at the continental breakfast… the kind people at the desk covered the cost of our room and though we wouldn’t hesitate to try the same chain again (the beds were awesome!) we have learned our lesson now that even if it’s a Motel 6, we’ll be asking if they’ve got a wedding party staying the night!

WINNIPEG - FRIDAY AUG 22

2008-08-28T05:11:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Winnipeg in the afternoon on Friday and went to Barton’s sister Becky’s house. Twice in two months, that’s pretty good! Her garden has flourished since we were last there producing zucchinis the size of baseball bats and yummy tomatoes, squash and kale. We had a short visit while the kids played in the fish pond again and then I headed over to the house of old family friends, the Koslowsky’s, where we would spend the night.

Plans, but not details, had been laid beforehand, so with the help of a family member we ‘broke in’ and got ourselves settled. We needed some cool, quiet-time, Mattea desperately needed a nap and I needed to sort the disgruntled food box. Once we were all ‘realigned’ we headed back to Becky’s for supper where we made pizzas with her garden veggies. Yum!

We went back to the Koslowsky’s house and settled in, watching some Olympics and heading off to sleep. Becky picked up Barton late from the airport and dropped him off.

Saskatoon to Elkhorn, Part 2 Day 5 - Aug 21

2008-08-22T15:58:00.000-07:00

On Thursday morning we ate breakfast and did some laundry. I cleaned out the van a bit, repacked the top box and was ready to go.

Reuben is a Saskatoon Police Officer and he took us to his Department and gave us a tour! It was really fun and the kids thought it was really cool. We got to see the jail cells and hear a woman kicking the door down to try to get out =). They showed us where they take all the dispatch calls, all the computers with the maps and grids as well as the interview rooms. We even got to watch someone dusting an alarm box. We left the station discussing who would now be the paleontologist and who would be the police officer. The boys liked the idea of being in the communications department where their lives wouldn't be in danger... I guess they're not 'there' yet. =)

From there we drove south to the outskirts of the city where we went to the Western Development Museum. The kids loved the car museum and I have a new goal in life - to own and drive a car from the 1910ish era. SO COOL! The museum is set up really well with a whole indoor town and then an antique farm machinery museum. Some of the shops are even working, you can watch a blacksmith, eat in the cafe and have your picture taken 'western style' at the photographers. We left at closing, 5pm and drove for eastern Saskatchewan... or so we thought...

We made it to Regina for supper and enjoyed 'calling' the houses along the river and main road. It's really pretty, old with big trees and Victorian houses.

Out of Regina the goal was to get to Wapella and hopefully stay somewhere near there, or in Moosomin if necessary.

It was Golden and Oyen all over again! All along that road the hotels were full and all of a sudden my gas light was on... we found gas in Broadview right at closing and ended up crossing the border, switching our clocks to midnight and finding a motor inn in Elkhorn, Manitoba. It was 50 bucks and just what we needed to sleep and take off again! (you can take that whichever way you'd like!) Luckily we were kept entertained the whole drive from Regina by an incredible lightening show!

Now, you may be sensing a pattern here of not finding places to stay right? I'm just not sure how else to do it. If you book ahead you are limited to stopping there, or pushed to make sure you get there. Where one stretch might be further than you thought, another is all of a sudden closer and you end up plugging on. In both cases though, had it not been me by myself, Barton and I would have definitely pushed on to the next stop.

We woke up in the Elkhorn Motor Hotel to absolute pouring rain and cold weather. We jumped in the car and took off, eating dry cereal as we went! It was a short easy but wet drive to Winnipeg, arriving at about 3:00.

Kindersley to Saskatoon, Part 2 Day 4 - Aug 20

2008-08-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

We left Kindersley at 12pm. We drove the short distance to Saskatoon and stopped for a break. We were a bit early but our hosts were ready for us so we made our way to Warman, to my cousin's house. Vicki, her husband Reuben and their daughter Kiara welcomed us there! Reuben was picking crabapples from the front tree and was already at about 7 bags full. Mattea enjoyed nibbling at one and I made a mental note to take some for the road - they would keep her busy for quite awhile!

We walked around Warman and played at the water park and then had a huge hot dog roast/BBQ and I got to catch up with the whole family! (uncle and aunt, 4 cousins, spouses and kids!) It has been so long since I've been here, since Riley was about 5 we thought. Hopefully it won't be so long before I see them all again. Thanks everyone!!

We visited late and crashed all over the basement. It was nice and cool and dark down there and once again we slept way too late!

Calgary to Kindersley, Part 2 Day 3 - Aug 19

2008-08-22T15:37:00.000-07:00

We took our time in the morning and left around 10:30. I needed to stop for diapers and contact solution and wanted Mattea to nap once the errand was done. As I left Dana's the van was making a very strange sound. I got a bit nervous and was just about to make the executive decision to have it checked out when it stopped. Weird. We were out of Calgary shortly after and on the road again!

This time we were heading a short jaunt to Drumheller, the Dinosaur capital of the world! We got to the Badlands of Alberta and enjoyed a trip through the Royal Tyrrell Museum. It was fascinating and of course, so much to see in a short time. The kids loved the massive dinosaur skeletons and I liked seeing that there were tiny little creatures from that time as well. You always hear about the big common dinos but never the little ones. After the museum we walked around outside a bit. It was really hot and we weren't up for the hikes that are around the museum but they would be really great on a day when you're prepared, or not so hot, or not carrying a baby. I have the backpack for her, but already she's feeling too heavy. We left Drumheller in the late afternoon and drove on towards Saskatchewan.

Starting around Youngstown we started looking for food and lodging. You may remember our experience in Golden on the westbound trip? Where every hotel was full? Well, we encountered that again. Apparently during the week there's all kinds of crews and workers filling the hotels. In the middle of nowhere there was a huge, new Super 8 and we thought "surely..." It was full! So, at the very least we got food for supper that way, if I had to, I'd just carry on. We ate at the Oyen Family Restaurant. The pizza was awesome and it was just the place a bunch of kids could be loud, and watch the Olympics.

From Oyen we tried a few other spots along the way and ended up in Kindersley Saskatchewan. This was frustrating because we are now 2 hours from Saskatoon. It was 10pm and showing up at midnight somewhere seemed less than convenient for our hosts, plus if I got a hotel then I would be carrying deadweight sleeping kids into who knows what kind of place. So we made the stop and got the literal LAST hotel room in the city. Conveniently enough it was a suite, with a bedroom, fridge and micro and a fun pool.

We relaxed a bit, had a great sleep, swam in the morning and ate breakfast there. It was a bit of a splurge although they gave me a deal, I think they felt sorry for me travelling alone!

Kelowna to Calgary, Part 2 Day 2 - August 18th

2008-08-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

What a rough night!!! The Kelowna Hospital keeps a small house for doctors temporarily working at there and Barton was able to use this house for the last two weeks of his stay. We arrived there in evening and it was SO HOT. I guess because Barton had been away for a few days in the stifling heat it became it's own little hot box. There was no breeze and only one fan so the boys slept with their heads up against the patio screen door (but wouldn't sleep outside for some reason!) and Riley had the back room with the window wide open. We didn't have a play pen and so Mattea had to sleep with us which never works well. Because she can crawl, walk, roll and knows how to climb off the bed trying to get her to sleep without a four-walled contraption is near impossible. It took forever, because always just as she's drifting to sleep she'll open her eyes a tiny bit and start talking to you, or kicking her legs or just squeaking and chatting. It's SO frustrating! Then all night, most likely because of the heat, she woke up constantly. It wasn't great... but we got up in the morning and headed down to the beach. The nice thing about the Kelowna hospital area is that it is only a few blocks to the lake and there's a fantastic beach with ziplines into the water and a playground. We played there for a bit and had a swim (I say that like I did!) and then around 11am it was time to head out. We left Barton in the driveway and headed East for home.

Our plan was to stop in Revelstoke because they have this great rec centre and on the way west we had told the kids we would stop there on the way back. After that, I would head on to Banff and then Calgary.

One thing to note is that if you're ever in need of a camping spot in the vicinity of Sicamous, the Mara Lake area was really pretty. I don't know much about it but it looked like a nice place to stop.

I found my way to the pool, about 2.5 hours from Kelowna, and if you're ever in the area, the Revelstoke Rec Centre is the perfect stop for a family. The pools are great, including a tiny baby pool, a huge but shallow kid's pool and then a regular pool with diving board, waterslide and a climbing wall that falls into the water. It's also all salt water so when you're done you don't have that gross chlorine feel or smell. It was a refreshing break, even if we hadn' t been on the road too long. If you have the time, bring a picnic because across the road from the pool is a picnic area overlooking the river and it's quite stunning.

If you ever find yourself uttering the words "We'll stop for a quick supper in Banff" you may as well have said "I'll just hop into IKEA for napkins" or "so and so and I are going to have a quick coffee, I'll be right home." It was a total gong show. First of all, the drive from Revelstoke was a bit longer than expected, so we arrived hungry to the point of tears. (peanuts and beef jerkey only get you so far!)

Between the bad parking, the huge lineups and the lack of employees, it took TWO HOURS to get 'fast food'. If you are looking for work, apparently Banff (and I've heard the rest of Alberta as well) is the place to be. One Subway was shut down because they didn't have enough people to run it. The other was run by two people and two people were manning the McDonald's. Had I taken the time to park and walk it would have been better, but I was trying to be 'quick'. Considering Camrose was 15 minutes down the road we should have plugged on. Note to self (and you!) eat in Camrose or Golden before or after your drive through. That being said, Banff is really beautiful and I'd love to have a couple of days there with Barton to stroll and explore. There are lots of great shops, and it's a beautiful setting. I was tempted to stay a bit but it would have had us arriving in Calgary later than we were already set for. We left Banff at 9:30pm.

The drive to Calgary was smooth sailing and we got to my cousin's around 11, after a little roundabout jaunt thanks to the GPS! My cousins Norm and Dana and their sons Jared and Blake put us up for the night and treated us to a crepe breakfast in the am, after we woke up at 9, thanks to the time change. It was really nice to catch up with them- it's been waaaaay too long.

Today's The Day! Part 2, Day 1 - Kelowna

2008-08-17T09:15:00.001-07:00

Well, the day has arrived for us to turn around and head home. I'm not sure how the summer went so quickly, but isn't that always the way? Never enough time... Our plan today is to drive up to Kelowna this evening where we'll leave Barton and head on to Calgary tomorrow. Barton will be flying to join us in Winnipeg so for the next week I am driving solo! We'll be updating the blog again so please follow us along and join us on our journey!

Our Odometre in Kilometres

2008-08-17T09:01:00.001-07:00

Just moving this over from the sidebar to make space...

Torbay NL, June 18 - 0
Goobies NL - 170
Deer Lake NL - 660
New Glasgow NS, June 19 - 1210
Moncton NB, June 20 - 1698
Saint Jacques QB, June 21 - 2164
Louisville QB - 2662
Gananoqe QB, June 23 - 3317
Niagara Grimsby, June 25 - 3820
Sudbury On, June 26 - 4390
Marathon On, June 28 - 5238
Sault St Marie On - 4710
Upsala On, 5696
McHunn MB, June 29 - 6158
Brandon MB, July 1 - 6658
Regina SK - 7032
Canmore AB, July 2 - 7927
Medicine Hat AB - 7512
Pritchard BC, July 3 - 8479
Abbotsford BC - 8830

As Our Time in BC Wanes

2008-08-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Happy August!

Unfortunately, our BC time is quickly coming to a close and it's time to update you before we leave on the final leg of our cross country tour. We have had an amazing time her, it's been so much fun catching up with old friends, spending time with family and doing a little sightseeing in our home province.

We had the chance to camp with friends in Peachland and enjoyed some water-skiing/wakeboarding as well as making up silly games on various flotation devices. Riley went to a 5-night Bible camp in Peachland and had a blast making new friends and learning some new skills.

The boys got to go to Mayne Island with Grandma, Auntie Melissa and Uncle Dan for a few days of golfing, exploring, digging, looking for snakes and deer and playing tennis. The older kids also enjoyed time at "The Tower" in Vancouver with their Nana and Papa, riding the skytrain, seabus and buses, going to Science World and spending hours and hours on English Bay. I spent the night there once with mom and set up their tiny condo like a refugee camp with all 4 kids sleeping here, there and everywhere. We took the little water taxis over to Granville Island and strolled the marketplace there.

Barton and I took in a Bard on the Beach a few weeks ago with Clay, Nadine, Kris and Kathryn which was great. We've also enjoyed a couple of other dates which is a nice opportunity!

I've caught up with old friends meeting babies and kids galore and even taking in the wedding of my second oldest friend. The older kids and I had a great day at the Trans Canada Waterslides in Chilliwack last week with Grandpa, Rachel, Caleb and Elijah. Though 'they' called for a 36* day, it didn't end up getting that hot and was perfect. Mattea enjoyed a bonding day with Grandma.

While I have been playing, coffeeing, shopping and on Tuesday I go for a massage, Barton has been working his tail off. I don't think I ever fully explained our purpose for being here this summer:

As part of Barton's training, he was given a couple of months to set up his own work terms to either fulfill missing gaps in the program or do further work in areas in which he's interested. We turned this into a triple whammy by setting these months up close to home so we could visit, and also in places we'd be interested in living; to scope out the work scene and see how we feel about the general area and work environment. He spent the month of July working in the Abbotsford, though unfortunately their spanking new hospital doesn't open until August 24th. He did get the grand tour and was able to play with the machines. He had a very good experience with the staff here and enjoyed the work. For the month of August he is working in the Kelowna hospital and so far has also had a good experience there. The hospitals are very different but each offer their own assets, though commuting to Kelowna on a weekly basis from Abbotsford is not ideal!

We have spent a little bit of time checking out the areas and housing and though it is extremely painful to look at the housing costs here, we think we have found a couple of spots that we'll keep our eyes on. It does look promising but we're not announcing anything yet! Barton has now less than 10 months left until his final exams are over and we can't quite believe we've come this far. All of a sudden it's all within reach, though Barton has a lot of work and study to do before the end!

We have totally lucked out with the weather here this year. We fully anticipated frequent rain and cooler days and have had almost nil of either. I believe it's rained two days and was cooler and overcast maybe one or two others. So that whole extra hockey bag full of rain and cold weather clothing has been sitting unopened under Mattea's crib... and to think of all the extra space it took up in our van!!!! How were we supposed to know? I have worn pants once, so the two pairs of jeans and two pairs of pants have been 'really handy'! Well, fortunately I did intend on leaving quite a bit behind - we have little warm weather left in St John's so it won't be necessary to bring back too many summer items. Plus the kids have outgrown half the stuff we haven't used, so that can stay too! That's also lucky since we've been shopping... =)

Now, as we prepare to leave once more, I am also preparing - mentally - for Mattea's birthday. I just can't believe she is going to be one! It has gone so quickly. She has 8 teeth, says lots of words, somehow got blond curly hair and although she's taken lots of steps, she's refusing to walk. I'm sure 2 more weeks in a carseat won't help that. But that's OK, I'm not ready to chase her yet! She is definitely reminding us of Nikolai and when we look at his pictures from this age, they are almost identical, though he was much fatter!!!

There was a lot of other things I wanted to tell you but I didn't write it when I thought it so now, of course, I've forgotten. As we head out on our journey once again I will keep the updates coming.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous summer!

Photo Update

2008-07-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

I finally got my BC photos and the second album of Ontario photos posted, the links are on the main page. I still have to convert all my Quebec photos which are all RAW, so I'm doing my best to get those to you quickly. Hope you're having a good week!!!

The First Few Days

2008-07-06T22:14:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a fantastic first few days back home. First of all, we arrived on Thursday afternoon and the kids were so excited to be here. They kept saying "I can't believe we're here!" and then on the way to my parent's Bridger said he was so excited he felt like he might cry. We enjoyed our first evening with my family for dinner and then we've just been spending quality time with them and friends. We are staying at Barton's parent's place because they have moved themselves around a bit to give us space that will be our own. We will go back and forth a bit but this will be home base. They are still on the road coming home from Manitoba so we won't actually see them until Wednesday or Thursday.

Today was an exciting day for wildlife! We saw a coyote run through the backyard, and then a pet rabbit on the loose in the front... it's a good thing they didn't cross paths!

Mattea learned a new trick today! She was playing in the grass and doing her usual crouch/squat when she decided to stand right up on her own! She had this wide sumo stance which was quite funny but was then able to stand quite a while, even while flapping her arms and clapping. It's only a matter of time...

The first thing I'm noticing (other than the large trees and RULES everywhere for everything!) is how much easier it is to be outside. No wind, no bugs, no cold. You can always just step out with your lunch and enjoy it outside - of course it helps that both of our parents have amazing outside areas! The kids also just come and go and run around and bike in the cul-de-sac. Nice.

The Travelling Thiessens' Anthem

2008-07-05T11:07:00.000-07:00

Loving Arms
From "The Story of Harmelodia" by The Rheostatics
Performed by Sarah Harmer, written by Dave Merritt

It takes a trip, a step away from your own home
To see more clearly what otherwise you wouldn't know,
Like what makes a seed--sewn in garden fabric--grow.

Leave it up to the sun to shine, the rain to fall around.
Leave it up to the earth to lie down and lay the ground
For something like love.

It takes a trip, a step away from what you know
To trace your family back as far as time can go,
To see what made it and will forever let it grow.

Leave it up to the loving arms to carry it along.
Leave it up to the beauty of love that's travelled on.
It didn't go it alone.

Leave it up to the smallest pieces everything is made of.
They didn't go it alone.
They hang on with loving arms.
Leave it up to the loving arms.

ARRIVED

2008-07-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

More details to come but just wanted to announce that we have arrived! We are safe and sound at home in BC!!!!!!

I hope those last few notes made sense, they were edited on the go and I'll have more pics to come. I realized that if you are getting these updates through Facebook or email you may not be getting the photo links. Just so you know, they're on the main page of the blog.

Ok, more later including an odometre counter!

BC - LAST DAY!

2008-07-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe that today is our last day of driving! It has gone so quickly! And it’s funny how a 5 hour day of driving seems so short to us now! We’re so close to home and will leave after an early breakfast.

We pulled a VERY long day yesterday. We left our Saskatchewan campsite yesterday at 8:45 and arrived in Revelstoke at 12, 1am in the previous time zone. So that was very long. We stopped a few times, so it wasn’t all driving but still… we are staying at the Powder Inn in Revelstoke.

I also just can’t believe how well this trip had gone, I was not nearly optimistic enough about it before leaving. It has been so fun and so shockingly easy. If our success in this trip inspires even just one person to do it, I will be so happy. I have decided that it is absolutely necessary for everyone to do this in their lifetime, but, you need to do it for the purpose of experiencing it, not getting to a destination on a time frame - there’s so much to see and we have missed so much.
We have done a lot of travel as a family, but nothing like this, but look how we’ve lived to tell the tale! I am so happy that Barton and I can take a trip like this without biting each other’s heads off and I love it that the kids have been talking, playing, singing, making up games and asking a million and one questions… exactly why they don’t have video games in the car.

Well, it’s time to shower everyone to remove the layer of grime from yesterday’s confinement and eat and GO!!!!!

Alberta and BC - July 2

2008-07-03T15:55:00.000-07:00

We camped at a fantastic little campground in Gull Lake, Saskatchewan, just west of Swift Current. It was cheap with clean bathrooms and nice level sites. We had a great sleep, did not get caught in thunder showers and were packed up and on the road by 8:45. We needed to stop at the next grocery store for breakfast food … so we ate in Medicine Hat. Oops. For future reference, there isn’t a lot on that stretch of highway… BUT now we’re 9 provinces down, 1 to go!!!!

We ate breakfast in a park in Medicine Hat (at lunchtime) before ploughing through the rest of Alberta. Once again, I’m sorry. Do not be offended. It’s interesting how when you get this far, all you want to do is get to the end, you know that feeling? Like the last hour of a flight?
Unfortunately, that means that the Maritimes will most likely get the same treatment on our way home. We did take a one hour pit-stop in Canmore, Alberta where we stopped to see some friends and stretch our legs in our park there. We were so very excited to hit the mountains just before Canmore! It’s so beautiful and we could feel that we were that much closer to home.

Canmore is a stunning little spot if you’ve never been… We drove through Banff and Lake Louise before FINALLY crossing the border into BC with many a cheer and whoop! We were greeted close to the border by an elk which was so nice of you, you really shouldn’t have! We (again) tried to find food and maps etc but it seems as though small towns like to shut down early another thing to keep in mind for next time. We ended up in Golden for supper at 9pm our time, switched back to 8 of course. We’ve been searching around for a camp that was recommended to us but we can’t find it anywhere. We tried all the hotels and motels and every single place (even the dingy ones) were booked full. Maybe it’s the fall of Canada Day and Independence Day this week, but thanks to whatever event is causing people to book up Golden BC, we’re on our way to Revelstoke!

Unfortunately we will miss Roger’s Pass, passing it in the dark but the outline of the mountains is still visible in the night sky. It’s darn dark out here though.

Okay, so we just passed a sign that says we should changed our clocks back. Oops, apparently you don’t change your clocks as soon as you cross the border into BC which would explain why everything wass closed… but still, we’ve noticed that a lot along the way (even where we’re NOT near a time change zone!)

We just hit a huge chunk of tire in the middle of the road, but it looks as though the van is ok. Yikes, breaking down here would not be good.

There’s Rogers Pass!

Into Saskatchewan - July 1

2008-07-03T15:54:00.000-07:00

Getting to this point in our trip was pretty major and had the realization that we had really only 3 or 4 days left of travel. I knew that Ontario would be a long stretch and because I’ve done the BC-Man route before, I figured once we were on that road it would go very quickly. For such a short amount of time you really don’t need much, so we did a serious repacking, keeping only one small bag out for me and the kids. It’s now much more easily accessible and there’s less stuff to fuss over at each stop.

if I knew then what I know now about this trip, I would have packed so differently. Isn’t that always the way? When we went to Florida I had each of the kids pack a backpack which was a mistake because it was just too many bags to worry about. So this time, I put all of our stuff into one bag and this too has been a mistake. I thought of it last minute, that pulling the hockey bag down from the roof top box might be a pain, but we stuck with it unsure of what was the best system. Now I realize that one small bag per two people would have been best. I did do a few smart things though, I packed one hockey bag full of stuff that we are not opening or touching until we get to our final destination; nicer clothes or other items I knew we wouldn’t need. That bag is at the very bottom of the trunk. Also when we were in Florida, I bought a bunch of nylon drawstring swim bags for $5 at the Nike store. They were very useful as swim bags and are now even more useful. One is a jammie bag, so that at the very least, it is easy enough for a quick night stop to pull it out and I’m not scrounging around in the dark trying to find everyone’s night wear. Another one is an underwear bag, in which each member of the family has a large Ziploc with clean underwear in it. This bag is only for removing underwear to wear and I am the only one allowed to put underwear back in. This is working well, because you know how dirty underwear inevitably gets mixed back in and then who knows what everyone is wearing? The final drawstring bag is for dirty laundry. Luckily we’ve been staying with people along the way and have been able to do laundry so we only need to have one small bag to get us from place to place. But that way, anything wet or dirty can just be put in there to deal with later.

Ziplocs are definitely my friend. One for plastic cutlery, one for baby wipes, another for the first aid items in my ‘car kit’ etc. To go with the drawstring bags we have two toiletries bags with tooth brushes, contact stuff etc so that quite literally, if it’s a quick stop we can pull out that and the jammie bag and that’s all we need.We discovered that used Gatorade bottles, the ones with the closable squirt tops, make great bottles for skim-milk-powdered-milk. Squirt it over your cereal and away you go. If you reuse them for water (yes, I know you’re not supposed to do that…) they are good for refilling bottles etc because of the squirt feature. The new ‘cereal bowls’ that General Mills put out are good for cereal on the go. I wouldn’t normally buy those because they are expensive compared to buying boxes of cereal for at home. Consequently, they are cheap compared to breakfast out! Plus you can rinse and reuse the bowls for dividing other snacks later. We also have a cooler that plugs into the cigarette lighter and that has been fantastic. It fits between our two front seats so it also doubles as an arm rest, cutting board or tray as well as laptop stand for watching movies. I’m not sure who designed the cooler but they put stretchy cords across the top so that’s where our information booklets and maps go. Thank you Canadian Tire! Also, to put in the cooler, water or Gatorade bottles work really well for freezing and using as ice packs. By the time you’ve exhausted your water bottles they’ll be melted enough to use. Just for your info, Gatorade expands considerably more than water when frozen! Take a big swig before freezing.

Back to the travels…

After repacking and doing some laundry we got away late, just before noon, and burned off the rest of Manitoba before getting to the Saskatchewan border. We wanted to make it to at least Regina if not further that day. When discussing our trip with others, we noticed that most people made the comment that all of the drive would be interesting except The Prairies. I happen to think that the prairies are quite beautiful. Considering most of the other times I’ve driven through Manitoba it’s been brown, it was lusciously green and lovely. It’s also so much less stressful driving here, the road is dead straight, little traffic and not a lot of danger, resulting in no tense shoulders watching for moose, no fog and much less fatigue. We did of course see countless road-kill, officially seeing many more dead deer than alive.

I hate to say this, but we completely burned off Saskatchewan. I’m really sorry, this is not for any reason other than time. I had wanted to see family in Saskatoon and stomp around their grounds but time is not allowing. It is looking more and more like we’ll be heading back this way so we will prioritize this part of the county for our return trip. I would like to say though that the long fields and pockets of farms and trees are so peaceful, we really did enjoy the drive through. It’s also fun to count trains and watch hawks chase little birds and vice versa. We actually saw a little bird riding a hawk, no lie.

Steinbach and Winnipeg - June 30

2008-07-03T15:53:00.000-07:00

The following day we all headed out to the Mennonite Heritage Village Museum in Steinbach, to explore some family history and enjoy the yummy food. Having spent 4 years in Newfoundland with very little Mennonite culture it felt really good to be there. The village is gorgeous and the weather was amazing. We learned lots and ate lots! After that we headed back, played around, hit up the water park and then got ready to go visit my oldest, bestest friend’s parents for dinner. I must say that we have pretty lousy timing; we were early in our itinerary - but so was the grandchild they were expecting! Even in their excitement, fatigue and special family togetherness, they threw together an impromptu pizza dinner with all the other kids and grandkids. Thanks so much! It was so wonderful to visit with them all - I don’t think I’ve been there since I was just a year or two older than Riley is now. Once we were back and had put the kids to bed we went over and spent some time with Becky before turning in.

Dryden to Winnipeg - June 29

2008-07-03T15:52:00.000-07:00

We found a warm place to lay our heads and even go for a swim at the Best Western in Dryden. Definitely not the ‘best’ western but hey, we can’t complain right? We left there in the am after breakfast and a swim. The landscape changed again dramatically after Dryden, tapering into rolling hills and then very flat plains. It was very green though, and quite beautiful. We crossed the border into Manitoba and I was very excited to have a flood of good memories from many childhood summers spent there. Falcon Lake, Bird’s Hill Park, Portage Place, The Forks etc. We went straight to Barton’s sister’s house where she and his parents were working hard renovating and gardening. It was another hot day and the kids were very excited to hear that the following day, the park across the street would open their water park for the summer. We brought down the kids bikes and they went for a bike around the neighbourhood and along the Red River. We ate dinner at the house where my inlaws were staying and stayed the night there with them. It’s a beautiful house with a yard that slopes down to the Red River, where you can watch paddle wheelers and motor boats go past. After dinner, a few of Becky’s friends joined us for dessert and it was really great to meet some of her friends and we feel very reassured that while she’s far away from family, she’s in very kind and loving hands.

Drive to Dryden, June 28

2008-06-28T21:47:00.000-07:00

Once again we had a breakfast feast (I know, you want their number don’t you?!) and then we found ourselves packing once more. It was pouring rain so that made packing a little more difficult.

We left Manitouwadge heading towards Manitoba. Manitouwadge is 40 minutes off the highway and then about 3.5 hours east of Thunder Bay. It’s a beautiful drive all the way through Ontario, but it’s been slow going since we left the TO area. The speed limit is often 70-90 and there is so much construction. So, it was slow again along this route. The last 100kms before Thunder Bay are called the Courage Highway, a monument to Terry Fox, whose journey ended there. At Thunder Bay you hit the shores of Lake Superior and once again, it’s massive and beautiful. We stopped to dip our feet, it was more accessible than Lake Ontario, and took some photos. It is quite incredible that you can drive for hours and still be along its shores.

The landscape changes dramatically after Thunder Bay. Throughout the former portions of Ontario it actually slightly resembled Newfoundland with a lot of jagged rock and brushy forests. The trees are bigger of course and there seems to be more variety, but it has that very rugged feel, not lush like the Mainland Atlantic Provinces. Immediately after Thunder Bay the rock disappeared and the trees became more sparse, the fields more bare and the ground looks quite marshy.

Along this stretch we entered the “Arctic Watershed” which means that all the rivers and lakes after that point drain North into the Arctic Ocean, which is kind of cool. And then we passed the Central Standard Time Zone line so we moved our clocks back. We joked to the kids that we had gone back in time and that any mistakes they had made over the past hour could be redone - The Thiessen Time Machine - they took us a bit too seriously for a minute! We are now 2 hours ahead of BC and 2.5 hours behind Newfoundland.

Around 9pm we were treated to perhaps the most incredible sunset I’ve seen. Because we’re so far North and travelling West we seem to be chasing it and it doesn’t quite want to go away. That’s fine with us, it’s a beautiful driving back drop… or front drop I guess.

Our moose count is climbing! The moose here seem to be much darker and if possible, even bigger, than those in Newfoundland. I don’t know if that’s a seasonal thing, like molting or something, but they’re pretty tough to see. Only one was on the road - that was on the stretch to Manitouwadge. He was taking his merry time across the road, but they are almost impossible to photograph.

So, as it stands it’s 9:48pm and we’re about 50km from Dryden. We had initially planned to stop in Kenora but we’re aiming for Dryden instead. Actually, I think the itinerary says Upsala but we’re a few hours past that. Man, there is NOTHING up here. It’s so big and open and beautiful. The sun is still trying to set, the road is long and even. If I was sitting on a clock I could say that I see the sunset from 10 o’clock to 5 o’clock, almost all the way around me. It only recently stopped raining, lots of rain today. We lost our ‘moose mangler’ because I had to stop and attempt photos of the sunset. There’s no one else out here. Three quarters of the kids are sleeping and the temptation to plug on to Winnipeg comes again. We are so excited to get to Winnipeg (yes, that’s right, excited to get to Winnipeg!). Barton’s sister is there and his parents are visiting her as well! But, we’ll stop … There’s a sign, 48km to go.

Manitouwadge, June 26 and 27

2008-06-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

Our stay in Niagara was unfortunately very short. The morning, as always, came too early and we were eating breakfast and repacking once more! I can’t wait until we can go awhile without repacking our bags every single day. I must say that we are getting much more efficient and knowing what I know now, I definitely would have packed differently.

We took off once more for the longest stretch of our journey – 15 hours to Manitouwadge, Ontario, to stay with friends there. Our intention was to get to about Blind River, part way between Sudbury and Sioux St Marie, which is a pretty long day of driving but would make the next day a little shorter. We actually made it “The Sioux” and were faced with the dilemma of stopping or ploughing on. The drive would be another 5 hours, but the kids were falling asleep and it would mean having the entire next day to relax and play. Stopping would mean spending on a hotel and then not getting out to our destination until probably 3pm the next day. *Some people* have a hard time getting up in the morning and then there’s breakfast and repacking so it’s usually 10 before we can pull away. We called Jeremy and Loreal, our friends there, and decided that since we would be staying in the house next door and not disturbing anyone showing up in the middle of the night, we would plough on. I of course got the wickedly foggy stretch! Barton took over just before Wawa and at 3:40 am, 15 hours plus rest stops after leaving Niagara Falls, we pulled into Manitouwadge. We found the house no problem and crawled like dying turtles into our beds.

We were treated to a pancake feast the following morning with Loreal and their 5 adorable boys. Us girls were fairly outnumbered and had to stick together! It was already scorching and the boys dragged Barton out for a bike ride. The little ones were left behind and Loreal and I visited and played. The boys showed up a few hours later soaking wet and waving their underwear like white flags. They had gone to a bike park and somehow ended up swimming in the local lake. Barton made them all tie their underwear to their handlebars, so they fashioned themselves a bit of a gang. We had some lunch and naps and headed back to the beach with the whole group for a swim. The boys, in typical boy fashion found some mud… it started innocently with just a few rocks tossed in. You know what’s coming right? Then they moved in a little… eventually every single boy plus a few locals were covered head to toe in black mud. Once everyone had been thrown into the lake and made their way back home, Jeremy showed up with BBQ. The bugs were quite bad so everyone was nursing some constellation of bites on their bodies. We had a great evening playing, visiting and more of the same in the morning.

Niagara Falls and St Catherine's, June 25

2008-06-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

I am starting to completely lose track of time… I am having a lot of trouble remembering what the day is and where we are in our schedule!!! I think that we’re a bit ahead of time which is actually good because Barton would like to be in BC a bit earlier than we had initially planned. We’ll see how it goes but at least now we do have some time flexibility along the way.
We had a pretty relaxed morning on the 24th. I spent some time uploading photos, we did laundry and packed. The kids played with the cousins a bit more (they got to stay home from school another morning!) and were introduced to Rock Band... it was so great to get to know this family and hopefully we can keep in touch!

We left Oakville around 2pm and set a course for Niagara Falls. It was a leisurely drive as we were already outside of Toronto. We drove along Lake Ontario for awhile and had to work pretty hard to convince the kids that it was actually a lake, not the ocean as it looked.

Niagara was incredible of course. We were told by many that they ‘only’ way to see it was on the Maid of the Mist so we did. It was awesome, we got soaked and got an up close and personal look, it’s quite shocking really, how much water is there. The day was scorching so that was perfect. We walked around a bit and then headed up to my Uncle and Aunt’s in St Catherine’s.

We arrived just in time for supper, but put it off a bit so that everyone could take a dip in the pool. What a great day! We feasted on chicken, corn cobs and baked potatoes, with cold Pepsi and then ice cream with strawberries for dessert. That meal had ‘Baerg’ written all over it! I am 30 years old and this was my first time to their house, terrible I know. It was wonderful to finally see them there and my cousin joined us too from Hamilton. (but she’s not ‘from’ Hamilton, I’m sure she’d like me to clarify for you…) The older kids got to sleep in the tent trailer while we slept with Mattea in the house. We are so thankful for the blessing of so many beds and roofs provided for us on this trip!

Northern Ontario Update

2008-06-27T18:38:00.000-07:00

HI! We are safely in Manitouwadge, Ontario. We did a 15 hour drive yesterday! I will update more later, just wanted to let ya'll know. We left Niagara heading for Blind Lake or the Sioux and ended up going all the way. The kids were sleeping and it gave us the entire day here today. It's been fantastic, we're staying with good friends and their 5 kids. It's beautiful and hot, the kids went pond swimming and atv-ing!

More later... leaving tomorrow, will stop over night before going to Winnipeg.

Also, I'm having some issues with the Quebec photos... I've got 'em but I won't have them up right away.

Photos

2008-06-25T09:17:00.000-07:00

OKay, I think I've updated all the photos for now... you can tell where we burned through and didn't stop much, not without regret though!

Toronto, June 24th

2008-06-24T22:10:00.000-07:00

Well, of course as we packed up the tent in Ottawa, it started to rain again. With a bag full of wet, sandy clothes and a soaking packed tent, we took off for Toronto. We had hoped to stop in Kingston to meet up with some friends from NL but we were unable to make the connection.

It was a long day of driving straight through to Toronto, but it was beautiful. We had the full gamut of weather, starting with thunder showers and more lightning followed by hot sun and finishing with more rain in Toronto. Unfortunately, during this ride I realized that, to make a long story short, I deleted my photos of us at the Parliment Buildings in Ottawa. I was really upset, but it's turned into one more reason to come back this way on our return trip home (as opposed to through the States.) We'll see, there's lots of time to make that decision.

It was lots of fun pulling into the outer limits of Toronto waiting to catch a glimpse of the CN Tower. Many times the kids thought they saw it but it turned out to be a crane or water tower. Finally, there it was! We had arrived in the big T.O!

We zipped through on 7 lane highways and made our way past into Oakville where Barton's cousins live. We thoroughly enjoyed the city limit signs through the different suburbs, figuring out how the populations compared to ours at home. Mississauga has more people than all of Newfoundland and Labrador, while the 'smaller' suburb of Oakville still has more than St John's. Every few exits was a new city, with still more people than we've seen in a very long time! Even so, the traffic was great coming in and we arrived just before 10pm.

Once again, we were welcomed in by a generous family! Don and Brenda and their four kids let us take over their basement. We were up pretty late catching up and then crashed like never before. When we got up this morning, the kids said they had had the best sleep EVER (of the trip). We ate breakfast on the porch and watched Barton and the kids set up the tent to dry it out. We threw in some laundry and packed up for Canada's Wonderland.

Though our drive to Wonderland was stunted by a bit of a 'traffic issue', we arrived at lunch time to Wonderland and the kids began their day of speed-demon ride obsession. The lines were pretty long but they got a few good runs in before a quick lunch and the water-parking it for the afternoon. Then it was back to more rides for late the afternoon and evening when we shut the park down at 10:30pm. We almost all took a turn on the new ride "Behemoth" (me too!) (http://behemoth.canadaswonderland.com/public/fun/videos.cfm) and a few others became faves. Nikolai loved "Dragon Fire" and rode it by himself at the end of the day. He and cousin Adrianna are the same age and had a great time in the kids area, while the bigger kids rode the rides with higher height restrictions. It was a fantastic day with a huge gang of awesome kids including one of the cousin's friends who brought our kid-total to 9!

Now everyone has completely crashed but we're looking forward to a relaxing morning, with no rush to get out to Niagara for the day.

CarDiscipline

2008-06-24T21:57:00.000-07:00

Someone needs to write a book about CarDiscipline... what's that? You think I should do it? Oh stop! (oh do go on...)

All of the regular tricks and systems for discipline kind of go out the window at 120km/hr when you're all strapped into your seats for a week straight. The whole "when we get home " is a bit useless, what - am I supposed to keep a log of offences for mass punishment on arrival? Where can I send you for a time out? We don't have any handheld electronic devices so I can't even take anything but crayons and workbooks away! It's also a little hard to ground one person in the car from watching a movie when it's 6" from their face. So, Creativity once again must be enlisted for help. We've taken Nikolai's lips away a few times when he gets so darn loud, he has also been grounded from using pens after he decided to give himself a mask and write all of our names on his legs and arms. (okay seriously, how do you effectively 'punish' when you can't stop giggling?). We decided to think of a few other time out options for future times of need, do you have any ideas for more?

- Must plug ears or not get headphones during movie watching
- For more severe punishments, plug ears and watch movie in subtitles.
- Cannot participate in car games
- Car counting for lengths of time deemed appropriate for offence
- Grounded from any flavour of Tim Bit except Vanilla

No but seriously, it's an interesting twist on misbehavior. We're stuck in the front, they're stuck in the back and really, when they've been in a car for a week, can you really blame them for lashing out? Maybe we should start a point system?

Ottawa! June 23/24

2008-06-23T10:51:00.000-07:00

I love campgrounds with Wi-Fi!

We left Montreal yesterday at 12:30 started out towards Ottawa. We FINALLY got to eat at a sugar shack. We were actually able to hit up the one Barton and I went to almost 3 years ago called the Sucrerie de la Montagne. It’s so awesome! If you’re ever in the area it’s so definitely worth it. It’s beautiful and delicious.

I wrote a story about it ages ago… http://smudgemedia.blogspot.com/2008/02/true-sugar-shack.html

Lunch was long and relaxing so we arrived in Ottawa just before 6pm when we found a camp ground and set up our tent. We brought out tent and sleeping bags but NOTHING else! (This is where Nikolai would correct me and say “Not NOTHING else!”) Just after we had everything set up and taken out of the van we heard some loud cracks of thunder… so everything got packed away again. We left the tent up and tried to cram everything else into the van.

The boys and Riley were out riding their bikes around the camp ground and within 10 minutes we found them, looking like drowned rats riding bikes. Nikolai was terrified, the thunder and lightning were so close! They jumped in the van soaked completely through and Bridger had a new gash across his chest where he tripped over Nikolai’s bike when Nikolai dropped his bike and ran for the hills. “That which doesn’t kill you…”

So we drove into Ottawa soaking wet and were unfortunately too late to actually go into any buildings. However, it was warm enough so we walked around the Parliament Buildings and some of the downtown. It’s very beautiful, especially along the Ottawa River. The kids really enjoyed the ‘eternal flame’ in front of the Parliament Buildings as well as looking for all the guarding gargoyles.

We were back to the camp ground and as we were all tired and wet and we had no lantern or campfire, we all found some softish object to use as a pillow and were all sleeping by 10! We woke up to the sound of light rain on the tent which is always a nice sound, especially when you’re dry and warm inside.

Mattea’s first night in a tent was a complete success! She slept very well and the other kids were great, they can sleep anywhere! We tried our best to manoeuvre ourselves into the van and change without getting too wet, most just ended up staying in what we slept in. We left the tent, hoping it would stop raining and at least partially dry out while we were in the city. When we found parking we changed into what we could and ate what was found in the car!

We went to the Museum of Civilization in Gatineau which is absolutely amazing! I cannot believe the detail and work put into it. You have to go if you’re here. There’s a huge kids section and all the other museum sections are so amazing that you can’t help but enjoy it. We ate lunch there and just returned back to the campground to pack up the tent. I’m not sure how dry it is, Barton’s dealing with that!

We unfortunately don’t have time to go for a tour of the Parliament which is something I would have really liked to have done. Maybe next time we drive across the country…

The kids were surprised at how French it still was here and were excellent at communicating at the sugar shack and the museum in French.

I forgot to tell you about the deer I almost hit in Fredericton! We had no wildlife encounters through most of the latter part of New Brunswick. I pulled into the city limits of Fredericton, was driving through major traffic in the industrial section and of all places, THIS is where a deer decided to boot it across the road. I had a semi to the right and barricades to the left. I really had to slam on the brakes that time, it was a bit frightening really.

And Mattea has two new teeth! One is French, one is English. I woke up today to discover a brand new tooth on the bottom, completely out! Who knew?! So that one came out somewhere in Quebec. Her new one is just poking through now, so that will be an Ontarian tooth. That makes 6! She also has totally stood on her own a few times and yesterday in the camp ground we thought she might teach herself to walk because she DID NOT like the feel of her knees in the dirt.

The lightning along the way has been so cool!

OK, that’s all for now, I should probably go and help the 'tent situation' and I'm still working on time to upload those photos…

Doing the Captial Stretches! June 22nd

2008-06-22T07:44:00.000-07:00

We arrived in the Kanawake Reserve last night around 9:30 where our friends Ojistoh and Jamie live with their 4 kids. Ojistoh was a fellow medical student of Barton's at UBC and we have always kept in touch. At the time we arrived, the local lacrosse team (of which Jamie used to be a part) was playing another local team at the arena. Ojistoh is the team trainer and deals with the game injuries during and after play so we stopped by there and Barton, Bridger and Riley caught the last part of the game. We went back to their house where they surrendered a few bedrooms for us and we slept like logs again. Once again, Barton was sure he heard the trains that run through the reserve but I heard nothing.

It is so hot!!! The kids are outside playing with O&J's kids. They have a ball hoop and lots of space to run. Finally too, there are girls Riley's age! They are so funny though, they were all excited to see each other but once we got here they all stood around scared to say anything. I think the ice is broken now though, so we'll let them play for a bit. It's sprinkling a little but so warm. What a treat!

The kids are doing awesome! They are being amazing travellers. We've had a few scraps here and there but all in all they are being excellent. Mattea loves hanging out with the kids so much. So far they've only watched 3 in car movies, which for a 4 day trip doesn't seem so bad! I think they were a little relieved to hear that Ojistoh and Jamie don't speak French at home! =) But all the way through the rest of Quebec and into Ottawa we can keep the French train going.

Ok, well, we're all eating breakfast and I'm being a little anti social so I should go! Jamie just brought home a traditional Sunday lunch...

We're going to Ottawa today and I think we'll spend the day there, maybe camp tonight. The next few days we'll be in the GTA area going to a Jays game, Canada's Wonderland and Niagara falls.

Happy Summer! Quebec on June 21st!

2008-06-22T07:40:00.000-07:00

The hotel served us breakfast in the morning and after attempting to repack the van a little, we were again on our way. We couldn’t quite figure out how we could have more space at this point and are wondering if that’s a good sign that we’re learning to pack better or a bad sign that we’re leaving stuff behind!

At 11am we made our way to the Quebec border at which point we banned the kids from using any English. At first our ride was very quiet… but they finally got more comfortable with it. Quebec City was next on our stop and we got there early afternoon. We went back to the Plains of Abraham where we enjoyed the Carnaval Du Quebec earlier this year. Instead of trudging through 3 feet of snow, however, we walked and biked in tank tops through the park, past friends and couples lying in the grass enjoying the sun, sharing a bottle of wine or throwing a Frisbee – a slightly different scene! We enjoyed the area immensely. I loved the way it felt there. The whole area was alive as they prepared for a big festival to celebrate the 400th birthday of QC, and as it was Saturday, there were prom parties doing photographs and picnics in abundance.

After that we were off again! What a whirlwind! Out towards Montreal were started, trying to find a Sugar Shack for our supper. Our attempts were constantly foiled so we ate sandwhiches in the grocery store parking lot… we will try again tomorrow! We did get some pretty awesome looks from people coming and going into the grocery store =). Lots of French muttering and a few "Bon Appetite!"s. We have just pulled into the city limits of Montreal as I write this, we will be spending the night and morning with a friend and her family on the Kanawake reserve just outside the city. More tomorrow!

New Brunswick and PEI, Friday June 20

2008-06-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty uneventful trip through Nova Scotia on Thursday. We were heading towards West Amherst because Riley’s good friend from school moved there last year. We rolled in around midnight and they had graciously set up their trailer for us. We knocked out pretty quickly and slept like logs. Barton thinks he heard a train but I didn’t hear anything!

Maitland’s property is beautiful, set back in trees and dead quiet. We had some breakfast and a cup of coffee OUTSIDE. Yes, that’s right. After months and months of scarves, mitts and toques, we enjoyed our breakfast outside before 9am. Even the bugs were out! It was short and sweet and we were on our merry way by 10am.

West Amherst is on the order of New Brunswick so we shortly thereafter made our way into our third province of the trip. We couldn’t decide between going to the Hopewell Rocks or PEI. We opted for PEI to be sure that we would hit every province along the way. We also have to come back through NB anyway, so we’ll hit the rocks on our way home.

It’s pretty quick into PEI. It was about an hour to the Confederation Bridge and then half an hour into Charlottetown. PEI is very pretty. Picturesque and green with lush red fields. After trying to garden on The Rock we both thought it would be pretty awesome to sink our fingers into some of that dirt! We went down to the waterfront and had a picnic and threw around the baseballs. As we headed back to the bridge, we stopped at the little market area for Moos ice cream. Yummy!

Back into New Brunswick we headed. I found New Brunswick to be completely stunning. It was so so so green. Lush and full of rivers and rolling hills covered in green trees. We didn’t stop for much along the way except for supper in Fredericton. After supper we took one last stretch out into Edmonston. It is very close to Quebec and as we made our way closer and closer it became more and more predominantly French. I always knew that NB had a large French population but in the last 100km or so, the signs slowly transferred from English with French to French with English. Eventually there was barely any English at all. We crashed at a Days Inn around 11pm.

Some things I have found interesting at this point in our trip:

We have a great, great expanse of beautiful land in this country that is almost completely untouched. I was especially struck by this through NB. Just so much space! Also, so far, the other provinces are so far beyond Newfoundland with respect to recycling that it’s silly! It’s a minor thing to notice, but every public garbage can has 4 compartments, garbage, recycling, paper and compost. Pretty impressive. The other thing was the rivers! I love the rivers.

The First Stretch - Wednesday and Thursday June 18/19

2008-06-22T07:31:00.000-07:00

We're off the boat and have two provinces under our belts! Wednesday got off to a good start. The boys had their last day of school, so while they were away we had the final packings and sortings to get finished and then the task of finding spots for everything in the van.
Riley's teacher called with the heads up that they were on their way from the St Pierre ferry and so we tried to gage the rest of the day to their timing.

Riley's teacher called again and they were way ahead of the schedule we were expecting so we were all of a sudden packing in a frantic hurry and literally throwing things into the car, assuming we'd be able to make space for Riley later! We dashed out the door at the 4:30, much behind this new schedule. We did our best to get to Riley as quickly as possible but when they called from the meeting point we were still 3o minutes away.

We finally arrived, I felt so bad! We scooped her up and said good bye to her friends and teacher. We were off!!!

Riley had a fabulous time in St Pierre. They were very busy with all of their activities and learned lots, including the fact that in France, kids can 'legally' smoke at 13 and drink when they are 15 or 5 feet tall!

Barton drove the stretch to Clarenville where we stopped for a quick supper.

We had told the kids we wouldn't be eating out anymore until we were on our trip so we hadn't been out in months! They were thrilled to finally get to eat out!

From Clarenville I drove and the weather was good. I hit a really foggy patch along the way but all in all in it was quite uneventful. The forests along the road were incredible with amazing shades of green. There was no one else on the road and it felt like we had the whole province to ourselves! I suppose a Wednesday evening isn't the most popular time to take a drive across the province! It got dark around 10:30 and we had a good 4 more hours to go. It is not recommended to drive through Newfoundland at night because of the moose, but we really didn't have much choice. I positioned myself behind a nice big truck to use as my moose catcher and away we went. I saw two moose on my driving shift and only once did I have to really try to slow down for it.

At Gander we switched and Barton did the driving, hopped up on some energy drink. The fog lifted and the moon was full, which made for gorgeous driving. We saw about 4 more moose. We made it through the infamous Wreckhouse stretch with little wind. *phew!* (Google it!)
We arrived in Port Aux Basques at 3:30am. We parked ourselves in the visitor's info lot and tried to sleep until morning. At 7am Barton drove down into the ferry line up only to find that the ferry was not arriving until 11am! (We were set to leave at 8:30.) So, back into Port Aux Basques we went. We got breakfast at Tim Horton's and then the boys pulled their bikes off the back and we went for a little excursion.

At 9 we headed back down to the ferry. They said that even though it arrives at 11, by the time it would be unloaded and loaded back up it would most likely be closer to 1 that we would be leaving. So far, our 'itinerary' was getting very messed up! So, we got ourselves to the ferry lineup and hung out at the terminal for the morning. Mattea napped in her car seat and so I tried to sleep as well, feeling very gross from the lack of sleep the night before. At 12:30 we boarded the ship.

We found our way to our little cabin and we were pleasantly shocked at how great it was. Four bunks with tucked bedding and bathroom with a shower! We explored the boat a bit before everyone but I went down for a nap. I stayed outside for awhile. In the fresh air. It was very cold but it was getting quite wavy and it made me feel better to be outside.

The kids slept a good long time and when Barton got up we traded places. There weren't many people on the boat so it didn't take long for most people to recognize Mattea and for her to make some new friends. The kids got up around 5 and we were treated to a complimentary dinner because of the delay in sailing. We showered and it was time to get off the boat. Not too horrible.
Now we're heading to Riley's friend's house in Amherst Nova Scotia. We will stay the night there and move along in the morning.

Safe and Sound

2008-06-21T04:54:00.000-07:00

HEY! I have loads to tell you but haven't found the time or proper connections to upload my writings and photos. I just wanted to tell you we've safely made it through Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick. We stayed last night in Edmonston on the border of Quebec and are heading into QC and will end up in Montreal tonight.

3 To Go!

2008-06-15T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well, we leave for BC in 3 days and arrive in 3 weeks... it's a bit twisted, really.

Riley left for St Pierre bright and early this morning. For those of you who did not know this, there is a French island just south of Newfoundland called 'Saint-Pierre and Miquelon'. From the cars and architecture to the voltage, Euro and language, it is France. It is very, very small! Every year in Riley's school, the grade 6 French Immersion class (and often some English students) go on a trip there to use their language skills. Now that grade 6 is the last year of elementary school it is also a great send-off for the kids moving on to junior high. The kids have been looking forward to this for year. Riley was so excited until yesterday when she started to get nervous! All of a sudden she really didn't want to go, but we worked it through. They take a very nice coach bus for 5 hours to the ferry terminal and then the ferry ride is 1.5 hours. I didn't get any calls and the phone tree just informed me that they have arrived in France safe and sound. Their time there is jammed packed with French activities and many, many croissants! (It's a good thing they'll be walking a lot!) They are to be arriving back on Wednesday evening and we'll leave early, meeting the bus at the junction of the main highway and the highway to the ferry. It will at least save Riley about 3 hours in the car.

Yesterday, in anticipation of the heat and humidity of the majority of our fine country, I hacked off all of my hair. Well I didn't, but Tara at the Hair Connection did. I've done it many times before, but it always takes awhile to get used to! The boys will also get a visit from Mr Clippers tomorrow. (it was supposed to be tonight, but, well, it didn't happen.)

Today I ran a bunch of mundane errands, those lame things that need to be done but take up so much of your valuable time. *sigh*. I also had fun putting together the work sheet binders I've made for the kids for the trip. Lots of Canada puzzles and activities as well as activities for each province. My hope is it will turn into a great memory book that some day they can open up and enjoy with fond memories, not memories of mom making them do 'homework' the whole way!

Tonight I am sorting and packing clothes, tomorrow is cleaning-the-van day (and maybe the fridge?). A friend has graciously offered to have the boys after school and with Barton and Riley out of town, it's just me and Mattea. (Any takers for her???;) She's really good and naps perfectly so hopefully I can do some power prepping throughout the day.

Speaking of sorting clothes, I guess it's calling me now.

New Discovery!

2008-06-12T11:35:00.000-07:00

I discovered something really brilliant today! Okay wait... that's giving myself way too much credit! Let me try again - I read something and then tried it and then discovered that it works really well!

My Carschooling book said that for long trips you should put a twin sized mattress pad or fitted sheet over your car benches/seats to protect them from the obvious long-journey messes. You cut slits in them for the seat belts and then at any time you can shake them out or wash them. I think this is quite smart for ANYTIME with kids, really. So I got a fitted crib sheet that fits over the back 2-person bench (just the seat part) of our van and then used an old twin-sized fitted sheet on the middle 3-person bench and it actually fits right up and over the back too. I'll slit holes for the seat belts, position-adjusting handles as well as for the head rest poles. I think it'll save at least a little wear and tear off of the upholstery in our van. I do have a twin sized mattress pad that I might try on the middle bench. If it saves just ONE juice spill...

The thing I think is so fun about this is, if you did it just regularly (considering how cheaply you can get sheets) you could go neutral to match your car or play with all kinds of colours!

Anyway, just thought I'd share! (Did I mention we have 7 days to go? Barton leaves tomorrow morning for the next 5...)

One Week to Go!

2008-06-11T11:42:00.001-07:00

In one week we will be embarking on a 6 hour ferry ride. To tell you the truth, that is the part I am most nervous about. I figure once we get off that boat (and our sea legs wear off), I will be much more excited about the journey. It's not so much that I think the boat will sink, or that we'll hit an iceberg (although... now that I think of it...) but just that after each pregnancy my susceptibility to motion sickness has increased. I'm thinking 6 hours of nausea - or worse - is not that fun! I will be packing much Gravol and maybe something a little stronger. My prayer concern for the present is calm seas and sunny skies. I know I'll be better if we can hang out on deck. However, we have booked our own cabin; 4 bunks and our own bathroom. It will be great to have a place to hang out or sleep or barf. I've never spent that much time on a boat, nor been on a boat in the open North Atlantic...

My piles have started. I have a to-pack pile going on the couch, eventually there will be nowhere to sit! I have some audio books and summer gear as well as books about Canada. I have also found some great resources for turning the trip into a semi-educational adventure. I figure, if I decide to home school next year I'll have Geography, History and Languages covered for the whole year!! I found a book called "Car schooling" that is FULL of super fun and creative travelling games. The whole book is broken into subjects and the games actually meet curriculum requirements!

Barton leaves this Friday morning for Halifax to a big conference, so I'm on my own for the weekend. Riley leaves with her class on Sunday morning on their trip to St Pierre. (She could probably tell you how many hours until they go!) Barton is back Tuesday morning and we will leave Wednesday at lunch. Riley's class is coming back in the direction that we're heading (there aren't many options when you're on an island!) so we are actually going to meet her in Goobies (seriously it is, look it up!) and snatch her from the school bus. It'll at least save her a few hours of backtracking.

Ok, that's all for now...

Getting Closer

2008-06-09T11:14:00.000-07:00

T minus 9 days... *eek!*

We had an impromptu visit from a cousin this weekend and it was awesome! Although she decided to escape a 37* heat wave, I'm not sure she was counting on a 30* swing... overall, the weather was quite lovely. We had a great weekend sightseeing, walking a lot and participating in our many family activities. We did find a few icebergs but the whales completely let me down, I'll have to go have a chat with them.

Now it's time to crackdown.

I have discovered a serious market niche and have decided I'm the one to fill it. I won't tell you about it now but I will warn you - if my posts seem incredibly frequent and ridiculously detailed... I have a reason. ;)

I have decided to spend my time sorting, organizing and packing and not do any cleaning. I'll probably do one good clean over today and then it's going to the dogs (Though no longer literally. They should make an expression, "it's going to the kids."). I am going to have someone come in AFTER we've left to clean and get the house ready for the sublet-ers. Why I think I'm too good to do that, I'm not sure, but there's a heck of a lot of other stuff to do instead.

So, today the serious list-writing begins (as opposed to jotted lists that get lost) and piles are going to be started all over the house. Why, then, am I sitting here? Well... OK, I'm pretty good at procrastinating... but I'm going now. Really.

Getting Ready

2008-06-03T07:25:00.000-07:00

It was April 2941, in a little place called The Shire, where a quiet and unsuspecting man named Bilbo Baggins found himself in the company of an old friend and 13 dwarves. Without so much as his hat, walking stick or money he found himself rushing from his home on a journey that would prove he could be more brave and capable than he ever imagined. Bilbo returned home with more than gold and jewels; discovery, friendship and personal growth changed him forever.

We're two weeks away from our Great Journey! I am not even close to ready... getting ready for a two month trip has proven to be much more difficult than initially imagined. Not only do we have to pack very lightly because of 'space issues' in our van, but we have to pack enough that we can function for 2 months away from home! We also have to get the house ready to be empty for awhile as well as inhabited by sublets; considering food left in the cupboards, which appliances to leave on and who will get the mail. Barton and Riley will both be gone the weekend before we leave so we should have as much done as possible beforehand. As it stands, we will be leaving St John's on June 18th, catching the ferry from Port Aux Basque on the 19th.

Thankfully, we have the time to get ready, I'm sure it will all come together in the end and hopefully we won't rush out the door without anything important! I am pretty sure we won't be encountering any dragons or trolls and I know we won't be coming home with treasure and jewels, but hopefully we will find ourselves growing, experiencing and becoming more than we imagined together. It's definitely a trip to change our lives!!!

"There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself."