An Amazing Day

I can only wish that i trusted my battery for my camera enough to download the pictures from it, because there are probably some great pictures on there, but since our stuff is arriving tomorrow, i guess by Thursday night, this blog will be filled with pictures.

Our day started out pretty normally.. well at least normal for us these days. The girls slept in a bit. After everyone was up and went through the typical battle to get everyone dressed, we headed out. Kat was cranky, so after we picked up Tim's for breakfast, Steph and I decided to take a little detour from our plans.. Instead of doing the mall thing, we headed out of the city for a change of scenery. We head along the coast in Torbay, and then headed to Middle Cove beach. We brought all three girls to the Ocean! I was 27 years old when i saw the ocean for the first time. The girls are very lucky that they were 5, 3, and 1 when they saw the ocean for the first time.

They loved it! That's the easiest way to describe it. They loved it. We stood there, stared out at the vastness, we threw rocks, we searched for pretty rocks, and of course we took pictures. Kat found a tiny starfish that i guess had washed up on shore. We saw 2 jelly fish close to the edge, and one washed up, so Steph got to help it back into the ocean. (which is difficult when you don't want to actually *touch* the jelly fish.).

Both girls got to touch the water, but i think Dani won in that field since the tide rose all of a sudden when she was sitting on the rocks, so she got waist deep in the water. LOL She took it all in stride, and luckily we had clothes in the car that i could change her into. Kat and Ellie got up to the calves wet, and although cold, both loved it, and went back again and again. Ellie of course was testing her limits and seeing how far she could go in. So her pants ended up quite wet on the bottom even though she had rolled them up to her knees.



After that, we headed back to the hotel to get changed, and then almost immediately headed back out. Our intention was to head straight to Kat's school and get her enrolled, but got a call on the way from the Rogers guy, so headed to our house instead. Wandered from room to room figuring out our colour scheme. Got our internet connected - found out the previous renters had taken liberty with the cable and split it in 6 cables. Lawn maintenance guy came by while we were there, and since we haven't officially taken possession, he went ahead and cut the lawn for us. (yah!)
Finally headed out to Kat's school. Got her enrolled, met her teacher, saw her classroom, had the usual comments about Ellie, etc. Her teacher is very nice, and he is looking forward to working with her since she already has a year under her belt (he feels that she will be ahead of several of the students in some depts). She starts school Thursday morning - she was in the afternoon class, but he switched her to the afternoon after clearing it with us so the classes would be completely even with the girl/boy ratio - 6 to 6!! wow!! Much better than the 5 girls to 11 boys that Kat had last year. So 12 kids in her class with 1 teacher and 1 teachers aide, and the classroom is huge with lots of activities to do. She is definitely looking forward to it! :)

We headed to the mall, and were quite surprised that it was SOOO busy there! Like line up busy. After searching the lot for a spot for about 10 minutes, we gave up (we give up easily in those situations), and headed to a McD's for lunch. And then headed to Zellers to pick up some essential kitty supplies before our kitties arrive tomorrow night (thanks again Mom & Dad).

After such a busy day, we headed back to the hotel for a rest, but saw that nobody was in the pool, so a quick change of clothes, and we headed to the pool. Kat is still very uncomfortable in the pool, so while we thought she would eventually warm up, this is the second time in there, and she still hasn't gotten her shoulders wet. Ellie is becoming braver! She is learning to hold her breath and her nose and go under water for split seconds! And of course our little fish, Dani, is happy in any amount of water. Both me and Steph went down the waterslide today. We didn't give Ellie enough credit yesterday.. that slide is fast, and it gets pitch black at one point in there! but it's fun!

And now, Supper is done, kids are relaxing (Kat, Ellie, and Daddy are playing the Xbox.. Dani is listening to the Backyardigans on tv while she plays with a t-shirt and ziploc bag).

Tomorrow shall be busy. Stuff will be arriving between 830 and 9am, and it will probably take all day to unload the truck and get the stuff assembled. Wish us luck that everything was well taken care of.

A good news phone call..

Amazingly enough, our stuff will be arriving tomorrow morning. WOOHOO!!! So we will not be changing hotels, but rather toughing it out here until our stuff get unpacked. Sounds like a good deal to me. And considered they estimated the earliest time would be the 6th, they are a whole day early.

And it's a good thing too.. Ellie slept horribly last night, just could not get comfy on her bed, so was up pretty much on and off from 9pm til midnight, and then again once at 4am. But she is awake and happy this morning, so we will see how long it lasts. And i would love to get Dani from our bed again, and into her crib (there is literally no room for a playpen in this "suite" so in our bed she stays).

Now onto a fun and exciting Tuesday!!! :)

Why buildings should not be built in days

The soundproofing in this place is just horrible. It's 9:17pm, and we can hear people in the halls, we can hear kids in the pool, we can hear footsteps on the ceiling. We can hear kids running in the hall, even yelling in the hall. God, i can only hope that i never become a parent like that. I don't care if you are vacation, it doesn't mean your kids can be loud and obnoxious in the hallways past 9pm. My young kids go to bed by 830. They are absolutely exhausted, and need their sleep, and the only thing we can do is hope that the noise does not wake them up.

And as for the title of this post : we found out today that this was one of those buildings... one day it's not there, the next : Poof : it's there. Built very quickly, so maybe they just missed a step - like insulation. ;)

We are no longer homeless

though we continue to be "stuff"-less. We drove around today. The girls were not that excited as i had hoped they would be, but i guess in the mind of a 5 and 3 year old, the pool in the hotel is much more exciting than trees and mountains and houses. But Kat got to see her new school (just the outside and the playground).

And we got the keys to our new house!! :) House has new carpets throughout, and unfortunately slightly to our disappointment, no painting has been done. But we are getting all the paint for free, and some sort of credit for the labour, and bonus of course we get to pick the colours, so the girls get to have pretty pastel walls rather than white. So I guess that means more house renos in our future, but painting is better than flooring any day.

All three girls are exhausted as are mommy and daddy. So i imagine there will be no movie night tonight for the family. And despite the size (horribly small), and the lack of soundproofing (we were hearing kids in other rooms, in the pool and in the hall until after 11pm), we are staying in this hotel (Super 8) for another night. We will decide in the morning if we move to a different hotel. The girls got to enjoy the pool this afternoon. Ellie was the brave girl and went down the 80ft Slide!!! OMG!!! She went completely underwater at the bottom because she was going too fast and too awkwardly for daddy to catch her. She recovered very quickly though, but wouldn't go down again. Kat went up the stairs 5 times, but came down via the stairs 5 times. Dani would have loved to go down the slide, but much too narrow to fit daddy and her. But our little Fish, Dani, had a blast as usual when she is in water.

Now, off to figure out supper.

A new city.. A new hotel..

Nearly 3000km later, we are in St. John's safe and sound. We had a few bumps along the way, but nothing that us experienced calm parents couldn't handle - yeah right, who am i kidding. ;)

Started the day with the girls awake by 8 - early start to a long day.. Had our Timmies, and got the rooms empty one by one. The girls got to ride with just seatbelts in the taxi van - you can just imagine how happy they were about that. Two airport trolleys to carry all the stuff - 2 huge suitcases, 1 small suitcase, 3 carseats, 2 backpacks, 1 briefcase, 1 stroller, purse, camera, and 3 kids!! It probably looked like we were moving with all that stuff. Got everything checked except the stuff coming on the plane. Definitely lightened the load quite a bit. And having the stroller with a babe that would rather walk makes carrying all the goods easy - put it all in the empty stroller.

The girls got to watch the plane we were going to board land, and then watch all the baggage get unloaded. You would never think a sight that simple would keep 2 little girls completely amazed for so long. Too bad the littlest one could care less, and she would rather go her own way.

The first flight went completely uneventful. Daddy got to sit beside never ending questioning Kat. And Mommy sat with Dani on her lap and Ellie beside her. Dani fell asleep nursing shortly after take off.. Ellie fell asleep about 40 minutes into the flight.. So mommy's one arm was holding lying down Dani fast asleep.. her other arm, stretched out across the seat to Ellie - who had both arms wrapped around mommy's arm, and her head nestled nicely just above the elbow. Mommy was quite stuck.

Play time when we landed, and got some food in everyone. And of course, leave it to our girls to meet a new friend during the short time between flights. A little girl, probably a little older than Kat played with them, and then ended up sitting infront of us on the plane.

Can i just add here, that we had absolutely perfect flying weather. it was a shame that the girls (especially Ellie) were too short to really enjoy the fabulous view from the plane, but Kat enjoyed it every time we turned.

Second flight.. Had doubts that it would go as well as the first.. Dani refused to nap, and at several points refused to even nurse.. I'm sure if she was the boss she would have been touring the aisles talking to everyone that smiled in her direction. Too bad mommy wouldn't agree to that plan. But finally got her to sleep about 50 minutes into the flight - phew. unfortunately, that was just the start of the fun. Starting to descend, and oh poor Ellie belly.. The gravol just didn't last long enough. Threw up.. not once.. not twice.. but three times. Poor girl! The flight attendants were great, and had dry and wet napkins there quickly. And luckily I had a sweater in her bag so as soon as we landed, got her out of the tshirt, and into a clean dry sweater.. The pants would have to wait though.
Then the next pit fall. Got two carseats, and one suitcase when the whole carousel stops. Completely! we had time for 2 bathroom breaks (Kat and then Daddy), and then get the car keys for the rental before the rest of the baggage from the flight was delivered by HAND to the carousel. So it was a long wait. But luckily the first suitcase we got had the girls clothes in it, so i was able to get Ellie out of the stinky clothes.
Finally have all our stuff, and out to the van.. Yup, VAN! To those who know Steph well enough, this is basically a prison sentence to him. This will be the one and only time that we get to enjoy the space of a van.. Unless they change an SUV into a van that is. ;)

I cannot emphasize this enough - before leaving the airport, make sure you know where the hotel is, and how to get to it. LOL Enough said about that. We did make it though, me posting makes that obvious.

What a disappointment this hotel "suite" is though. They call this a suite.. but really it's the size of a normal 2 bed room, but with walls built around the second bed to make it into 2 "rooms". So one room has the bedroom (double bed), livingroom (tv center), dining room (table with 2 chairs), and very little space to walk between any of them. The girls "room" has the bunk beds (2 single), and a desk, with no space to walk. Then of course the bathroom. I would definitely not call this a suite. We will probably scout other hotels to see if we can find a bigger suite to allow some space so we don't go insane with absolutely no personal space to be found in this one.

And now, even though the laptop says 1030.. i believe it's nicely past midnight, and it's time to hit the sack.

We get to go to our new house tomorrow (today?), and get the keys!! So another exciting day tomorrow!!

Bye for now! ;)

Exploring the Capital

5 years old, and in awe with all the buildings around her. Asking questions left and right - "what's that building"; "How old is it?"; "Can we go closer?".

3 years old, and while amazed at the buildings, she was more interested in the blocks on the sidewalks.

and finally the youngest of the bunch... alternating between happy in the stroller, and wanting to walk.

All three were amazing. We started from our Hotel, and went down to Wellington, and then to the parliament buildings. We saw the river, we saw the statues. We went to the Rideau center for lunch. We saw the Canal, and the locks in action. We walked back to the hotel via Sparks St. Dani napped the entire length of Sparks, and woke in the lobby of the hotel. The older two got to get a treat in the Quickie in the lobby of the hotel, so now, they are on a sugar rush in the room with still close to 2 hours before supper. Sounds like fun. LOL

Unfortunately the pictures will have to wait. I still have 117 pictures left on my camera to take, but it looks like my battery charger probably got packed with the house stuff rather than the hotel stuff, so until we get to the new house, i have to save my battery power, or I may miss important things. But i will get the best pictures up in relation to our hotel stays as soon as I can.