Another week passed.....

We have been in Canada now for 7 weeks tomorrow and it has flown by.

I have finally registered the boys in school....it didn't take too long, although I did have to make a trip into town to the school board just so they could verify the passports. All in all and easy process. I was given a list of all the stationery they need to take with them (which I was expecting, thanks to Ruth!).... Poor old Brad's bag is the heaviest as he needed almost every item on the list where as Michael only needed half!! Also we needed new trainers, a pair for indoors and outdoors. I told Michael he needs to stop growing though as he is in the same size shoe as me!! School starts on Tuesday 1st, for a 3 day week only, as we are getting an extra day on Friday for the Labour day holiday, at least they will be broken in gradually, I just hope they cope alright with a 40 minute lesson each day in French.... not something that is taught in UK until year 6 and then it is only once in a blue moon.... I know I will be having to learn over again with them just to try and help bring them get up to speed.
At least now they will start to make some friends and hopefully start to feel more at home. I know it has been hard for them both with only having each others company for most of the summer, but I must admit they have done really well and haven't argued too much.

Bart has not been well this week, he seems to have an eye infection, so more expense at the vets yesterday, $100!! This was just for an examination and eye ointment, hopefully he should start to get better now :)
The rest of the week was busy with just the usual everyday stuff of cleaning, shopping etc!!

Mum and Paul are coming over on Tuesday..... so really looking forward to that, really missed them since we have been here. They are staying for about 5 weeks and then I have a 3 day break before Shan arrives for a week! So I am going to be very busy and might not get to post for a while but that is nothing new as I don't post that often anyway :)

So my plans this week:
Monday - Bake cookies for school
Tuesday - Cleaning ready for the Parents and then pick up from train station later :)
Wednesday to Friday - See what happens, no plans yet!
Saturday - At Kim's for 'Pot Luck' end of season party
Sunday - Again, see what the weather is doing and go from there!!

I am going to leave you with a picture of our latest visitor..... Craig was brave getting so close with camera, I know I wouldn't have risked it!!

Quick Post.....

Thursday is here already and another week almost over, Craig has gone to work for the day.... hopefully it won't be too long before he starts full time so we can finally get some income.... I am still looking for work but no luck yet.
The boys have took themselves to the park and won't come back till they want lunch so I should get done what I need to today ready for the weekend...

1)Washing
2)Cleaning
3)Blogging - As I have a day almost to my-self I thought I best do photo layouts as promised....something quick!!
4)Prepare curry for supper tonight
5)Make cookies (yum!)
6)Relax.... (Now I'm dreaming!)

Here are just some pictures of the wildlife we have seen since we have moved to Canada, mainly here in our garden, but there are a few from Westport. I am still working on a few others but will be back with more soon!! If you click on the picture it will enlarge (slightly!)

The Big Move.....

Well it finally happened, Friday 3rd July all our furniture and treasured belongings were tightly packed onto a 20ft container bound for Canada!! The removals company came on the Thursday and started to pack all we were taking, we were left sleeping on camping mats for the night until they put the last few items away the following day. It was the first time we had ever used a company to move us and we have moved many times.... but never a move as big as this.
After all was gone we went to stay with my mum for about 10 days, this would give us time to meet with friends and say our final farewells and relax a little after all the stressing, but as you know things never really go to plan! With just 6 days to go, thoughts continuously going round in my head.... 'Driving Licences', I didn't remember seeing them with all the other paperwork I had to keep aside to take with us, so after a frantic search we resorted to ordering replacements online, at the end of our order it said 'please allow 10 working days for delivery'. We didn't have ten days so the next morning we called DVLA and explained the situation. They arrived to us on the Friday, two days later. So that was one hiccup over, relax now? No! 'Homer' the cat decides to come in from being out over night with a bad limp. It wouldn't usually have bothered me for the first day or so but as we were due to fly I needed an emergency appointment with the vet and as you probably guessed he came out the basket at the vets walking fine! But an antibiotic and painkiller injection was given just in case, but was fit to fly! Now all we had left was our 'see you later' farewells. I don't like goodbye as to me it is almost like you will never see them again so to me it is always 'see you later' no matter where you might be going. Which is always hard to do, knowing you are leaving behind family and friends.

MONDAY 13TH JULY was finally here we were all packed and ready to leave for Gatwick airport. My mum and step dad Paul took us in a mini-bus, which wasn't going to be an easy day..... Lots of tears later we were boarding the plane with a great journey and a new life ahead of us.
When we arrived at Ottawa airport about 6.30 pm (local time) we were sent to the immigration office where we had to answer a few questions pass over our immigration paperwork and within 15 minutes we were welcomed into Canada and sent on our way through to customs to clear our 'goods to follow' and collect the two cats which to my surprise were silent, but all was OK, then it was on to Stu and Ruth's for a few nights. We were welcomed with Champagne and supper and the boys settled right in and went off playing with Adam and Oliver, while the cats found a hiding place in the garage!

A NEW LIFE is beginning but again not without some stress, although we have spent several holidays over in Canada nothing can ever prepare you for a life changing move. Our second day here and we were in our own rented accommodation and sleeping again on camping mats until the furniture arrives..... Our first week was hectic driving back and forth to town for bits and pieces. We wanted to buy a car as soon as we could so we were looking for this also. We didn't want to have to pay for a rental car too long. Luckily we were able to get some Internet connection so we could hook up with the necessities, home phone, hydro, bank accounts etc., and places to check out. The boys were very patient being dragged back and forth but they did get to check out the local sprinkler park which kept them cool :) which they take themselves off to now on a regular basis.
Our furniture arrived last week so we can now live in some comfort, although we have left a lot of it still packed as I really didn't want to unpack just to pack again when we eventually move to our own place.
The wildlife is great lots of different birds, a resident Marmot in the garden along with foxes, squirrels raccoons and skunks! Craig likes to put food out for them all which keeps them coming back for more.
I hope to be back in the next few days with some pictures :)