Remote Blogging -How Cool is That!

I feel almost sophisticated in a techie sort of way; I'm on Cathy's laptop, logged in remotely to Trevor's home computer. No, I didn't set it up - I wouldn't even know where to start setting it up-but still, it's pretty nifty. I should get out more, I think. *grin*

Our visit with Dave and Cathy is just nearing it's end. We'll be heading over to visit Dad and Jill this afternoon, thankfully only a five minute drive. We've had a lovely time with our old friends...they've become, if possible, even nicer, more interesting people since we last saw them. One of their biggest passions is traveling, so we got to see pictures and curios from their latest trips to Thailand and Peru. We've committed to saving up money to be able to go somewhere warm with them this coming winter, they are so fun to travel with. Their little guy will be over a year by that point, so the kids will entertain each other even more than they're doing now.

How did the actual travel go, you ask? Not bad, actually, not bad at all. No flight delays, everything went smoothly, and Connor was so tired by the time we boarded the second plane that when he sat on my lap for takeoff, he fell asleep and slept for an hour. No wailing at all. We figured out that if we put Adara in the middle and she tucked up her feet, he could putter around on the floor, and he was content for almost the whole flight that way. We stopped at a park and let the kids run for a bit, then drove to Petawawa. Even the drive went well, thanks to naps and Timbits.

More to come later!

Calm Before the Storm

It's 9pm and all of my bags are packed except for the few things that will have to be added tomorrow morning. It feels like I must be missing something...but really, I've been packing in bits and pieces since last night, so I guess it makes sense.

Tomorrow morning we're up at 5:30am, leaving at 6:20ish for the airport. The flight leaves at just before 8, but the airport is on the other end of town. We'll have a short flight to Calgary, a little over an hour's layover, and then a much longer flight to Ottawa. Once in Ottawa, we'll pick up our rental car and drive about two hours to get to where our friends and my Dad and Jill live. It will be a very long day. I've tried my best to be as prepared as I can be...snacks, toys, all manner of little things to amuse Connor with his tiny attention span. We'll see how it all goes.

I know that I worry too much about what other people think. For years, I hated being seated near small children on long trips, as they would almost always wail. I remember how much it irritated me, and I don't like to make others suffer similarly. But my Mom had a good point when she told me today: "Michelle, you have good kids. Bring interesting toys, try your best to make it fun, and if they wail every now and then, just remember that that's part of life. Anyone who has had children knows it, and anyone who hasn't had them yet will learn." I'll try to be less hyper-sensitive, we'll see whether it helps.

I'm off to bed; Connor's eyeteeth are acting up and I don't anticipate much sleep. The positive spin I'm choosing to put on the whole scene is that hopefully he'll nap more tomorrow while we're travelling. I'll post again once we return, probably on Sunday the 8th. Adios!

So Much To Say, So Little Time

Things have been moving at breakneck speed around here, what with getting ready for our trip to Ontario, getting all the details of Trevor's new job sorted out, and trying to get as much stuff as possible done around the house because we don't know how soon we'll be moving.

The trip prep is pretty much done. I've got my list done up of stuff to pack, I've picked up the few extra things I needed to buy, and I've assembled my folder of information with copies of our flight info, car rental info, and hotel info, plus mapquest directions, maps, and a list of interesting things to see and do. Trevor told me in an amused fashion that when he mentioned my folder to his assistant, she was delighted to hear she wasn't the only one who did that...I guess her friends and family have been teasing her about her 'travel books' for years.

It was interesting making a packing list for myself - you see, I've become quite girly over the last year. I love wearing skirts (dresses too, but nursing babies make them impractical right now for everyday wear), and I want to bring mostly skirts, but I've never packed the lighter more delicate stuff for a trip before. I think my solution will be to use a garment bag instead of a suitcase. We'll see how that works when I start packing tomorrow.

As for Trevor's job transfer, Trevor's company is proving itself to be a wonderful one in that they are taking care of all kinds of details for us. Trevor has been set up in a furnished one bedroom suite about a five minute walk from his Calgary office until such time as we all move down there. He's also getting a rental car for the duration. He's quite excited about it all; I must admit that I am rather selfishly not looking forward to having him gone Monday to Friday. I hope it won't take long to find us a new home.

I'm starting to get nervous about the trip - not the visiting part, just the long flight and then many hours driving part. Hopefully the kids will come through as strongly as they did during our last trip. Or, worst case scenario, we'll have what I remember Gary Smalley calling "bonding time"; evidently it's the disasters that unite families. *grin*

I'll try to post again before we leave, provided I have time with all the packing I'm planning. Wish me luck!

Calgary, Here We Come!

On the 9th, Trevor went down to Calgary for a general interview with the Major Projects division of Suncor. Last Friday he went down for another interview with them, this time for a specific job. Today he got a job offer from them, and it's a job he wants. So he has accepted, and his present and future bosses have haggled out a starting date for his new position. It's a lot earlier than he expected - June 18th. That's right, only a week and a half after we come back from Ontario. I had a feeling that when things happened, they would happen fast, and I was right.

Unless the perfect house in Calgary happens to fall into our laps between now and then, it looks like Trev will be commuting. The company will put him up in temporary accommodations in Calgary, and he'll come home on weekends on the Sunjet. He'll have weekday evenings to look at potential new homes, and hopefully things will resolve themselves quickly. If we manage to sell or rent out our home here quickly, Suncor will put our whole family up in temporary accommodations for up to three months in Calgary, although I hope it doesn't come to that.

Hard to believe that we could be out of here at the end of June. It feels like we've been standing on the edge of a cliff for months, and now we've finally jumped. Hurray! I love the excitement and energy that comes with moving, and the fun of getting to know a new city. We told Adara today, and she's very excited about the Calgary Zoo. She's looking forward to family being able to visit us in our new home too. This will probably be the first move she actually remembers in the long term, so I'm going to try extra hard to make it as fun as possible.

Onward!

We had our realtor over this weekend to look the place over, give us a general idea of what we could get for the house, and point out things we should focus on fixing up before we show it. He, being an excellent realtor despite raising my hackles every time we meet, brought up another possibility...he said that with rents being so high, we should consider keeping the house and renting it out through a management company. This is especially attractive to us because if Trevor stays with Suncor long-term, eventually we'll be coming back up here for another couple of years.

We're not sure if it's even financially feasible, keeping this house on top of buying another in Calgary, but it's an intriguing possibility. And it's very exciting to be making the first small moves towards heading south. The waiting is starting to make me cranky, despite the lovely weather and the perennials coming up so nicely.

Just One More Reason to Love Freecycle

We got hooked on the Freecycle concept in Red Deer. There was a big community, and lots of items being given away daily. Up here, there's less than a hundred people in the local group, so there's less activity. Still it has been a huge blessing for us.

We've had several friends and acquaintances tell us we're missing out by giving our things away instead of selling them. I argue that first of all, they are ignoring the non-material bonuses, like knowing someone who needs it is getting it, and the fact that you have people come to your door and carry the stuff away. Secondly, on a purely material level, perhaps we would be if we never got anything in return, but when you add it all up I think we've actually gained more than we lost in the deal.

Tonight, we picked up my best Freecycle find yet - the Little Tykes kid-sized play kitchen and play tool bench, in absolutely mint shape. They even had all the accessories still, all the pots and pans, the tools, everything. Wow! On top of that, the lady asked me if we needed a tricycle (we've been eyeing them in the store, but they're $60 or so) and gave us one that was like new. Plus a bike helmet and pads, and skates that will fit Connor this winter.

I can't even describe how blessed and grateful I feel. I can only hope that some of the people we gave our things to felt this way too - that's what makes this kind of thing so worthwhile.

Fighting Off a Cold

I'm not on the computer much these days, as I'm trying really hard to fight off a burgeoning cold...which means I'm grabbing every possible extra moment for sleep. I know it doesn't work for everyone, but the more sleep I get, the stronger my immune system is. So I'm going to bed about a half hour after the kids are asleep, in the hopes that the cold will give up and go away. Hey, it's worth a try, right?

Soccer a la Four Year Old

Yesterday was Adara's first soccer game. It was quite the experience. The coach was a very nice man, the father of one of the girls on the team. He obviously knew a lot about soccer, but it was just as obvious he'd never handled a pack of four year olds before.

The children responded in a variety of manners to this new experience of being on a soccer team. To start with, our field was next to a playground, which meant that three of the nine kids made up their mind before even starting the game that they didn't want to play, they wanted to go to the playground. One of the girls refused to put her green jersey on, because it wasn't her favourite colour, and downright refused to play until the last few minutes of the game when her mother literally carried her onto the field and left her there. Another girl shivered and cried and refused to move whenever forced to leave her mother's lap. She didn't end up playing at all. One of the boys got something in his eye the first few moments of the game and spent the rest of the game running while clutching his eye with one hand. If this is conjuring an amusing mental picture for you, you should have seen the real thing! I spent most of the game chortling quietly to myself while trying to look supportive and enthusiastic.

Comparatively, Adara did very well. She went on willingly whenever she was asked to, she ran about the field, and she tried to follow the ball as much as she could. She didn't seem to really get the idea of taking the ball away, or what she should do with the ball when she had it, but I figure that will come eventually. We did coach her at home a bit and explain the rules, but she's such a sociable little person that she was too distracted by all of the interesting people and their dramatics to really play. On the whole, I think once she catches on she'll do well, as she likes to run and has good coordination. In the meantime, she had fun (despite being confused), got some exercise, and got to interact with some other kids, which is good enough for me.

Seriously, though...if you ever need your spirits lifted, watch a four year old soccer game. Highly entertaining.

Good News for Trev

It's official - Trevor will have a replacement, who will be starting June 2nd. The poor man will be a bit adrift for his first few days since Trev will be away on holidays until the 9th, but I'm sure there will be all kinds of brain-numbing orientation that he will have to go through before he can really start work anyway.

As an amusing side note, Trevor says that two things usually put potential hirees off: the long hours they'll be expected to work each week and the relative isolation of Fort Mac. Trev's replacement was scared off by neither because right now he's working up north (NWT) in a MORE isolated community and putting in even LONGER hours. HE thinks he's getting a great deal!

We're both really glad that this has all finally happened, so that Trevor can now be considered seriously for other positions within Suncor. Hooray!

Little by Little

The last few days have been busy, but not with big projects. I've been focusing on the little things that I've been meaning to do for a while (sometimes a very LONG while) and it's amazed me how much better I felt after getting them done. So far I've:

• put away the winter coats, boots and mitts and brought out the spring coats and sunhats
• boxed up Connor's 18 month clothing, and Adara's size 3/4 clothes from the winter
• brought out the spring and summer clothing for the kids and organized the dressers appropriately
• brought out my own spring/summer clothes and packed away the heavy sweaters (being me, I leave out a few lighter sweaters, since I'm always cold)
• organized my desk in the kitchen so that it still looks nice when I put my laptop away during the day (my new routine, since I can't seem to leave my computer alone otherwise)

The part that amuses me about it is that no one else would really notice that any of these things were done - the house looks pretty much the same - but it's like a load off my shoulders knowing that they've been taken care of.

Otherwise, we're just enjoying the sunshine and being able to play in the backyard. I have a few green shoots peeking through in my garden, and it looks like at least some of the irises and daylilies I planted last year are coming back, as well as the peonies and the hosta. I do like perennials!

Trevor is full of plans of what to spruce up around the house before we sell it, so it sounds like we'll be busy for the next few weekends. He's absolutely right, though, it's the little things that make the sale. We'll likely have the realtor we used last time come by and give us some advice on what to concentrate on. Not that we have any definite plans yet, but if we have it all done beforehand, it will be much less stressful.

Playground Fun

Trev came home from work at noon today, so after Connor's nap we bundled the kids up and hit a wonderful little playground at the local Christian school. They built it new last year (the playground that is, not the school). As far as I can tell, the biggest drawback to homeschooling so far is that we have to wait until the evenings or weekends to play at the best playgrounds. *grin*

They have a really cool firetruck with all kinds of areas to sit and dials and buttons and things to push:

a bouncy teeter-totter that has a little motorcycle seat at each end (which Connor thought was just fabulous as you can see):

and a few neat structures for sand or water:

All in all, a big hit with the little ones. This summer is going to be even more fun than the last; we have the swing set and the castle set up in the back yard, Connor's old enough to toddle about and play at playgrounds, and both kids love being outside and being active. Connor has developed a little routine right after I get him up and dressed - before he even has breakfast, he picks up his little sandals and tries to give them to me, showing me he wants to put them on so he can go outside. When that doesn't work, he goes and taps on the french doors leading to the deck, hoping he can go out there. And when THAT doesn't work, he gives up and eats breakfast. What a cutie!

Doesn't Make Sense Till You're There

There are so many things in life that you can hear about over and over but that don't really sink in until you experience them yourself. I'm finding that particularly true in parenting.

I've often heard others talk about how hard it is to watch your child have their feelings hurt...but until this year, Adara really wasn't old enough to notice snubs or other remarks. This year she is, and I'm amazed at how my mother bear instinct makes me want to seize people and shake them about until they're nicer to her. She didn't have many playmates this winter as the last of the moms I was close to when we moved here left town just before Christmas, and Connor is really still too young to play with her. She's a very social, chatty, outgoing little girl (must get that from her Dad) and while she didn't complain, she missed having other kids to visit with. So now spring is here and she looks forward to going to the playground because there will (hopefully) be other kids there. But the problem is that this town is a 'clique' town; mothers go to the playground in their own little groups, and not only will they not talk to anyone else, their kids do the same.

It's remarkable how much it hurts to watch her run up to kids and greet them and try to play with them, only to be ignored, or dismissed with "You're too little" or "We don't know you". Today was a little better, there were two other girls her age that were playing together but let her play too. She was so happy afterwards.

She'll start playing soccer in a few weeks, and I think that will help. But I'm really hoping we can connect with some like-minded families in Calgary, so that there are a few children she can play with regularly. I don't want to place too much emphasis on having friends, as I think our culture has made a real mistake supplanting family ties with peer loyalties, but it would be nice to have a 'playdate' once or twice a week to look forward to.

I do recognize reality. I know that there will be mean, unfriendly and rude children everywhere, and that she has to learn that not everyone will be nice to her or want to talk to her. I wish I could shield her from that, but I know I can't. I just want her to have some positive experiences too. And I don't know how many positive experiences I can find for her here, with a small community that has (as far as I can tell) no homeschooling group, and virtually all of her peers in some kind of a preschool program. I'm glad we're moving.

Leaving On a Jetplane

We've finally got our flights booked to head out to Ontario and visit my family out there at the end of May. We gave up on waiting for Trev's job situation to resolve itself and just went ahead and booked it. It's been more than five years since I last saw my little brother and his lovely wife (I probably shouldn't call him my little brother when he's bigger than me and also has twice as big a family but I can't help it), and almost that long since I saw my Dad and Jill. Craziness. We're all really looking forward to it.

As an added bonus, dear friends of ours that we've known since our university days are living in the same area as my Dad and Jill, so we'll be able to visit with them and their baby boy. It'll be a confusing trip for the kids, visiting three homes and three sets of 'new' people in a week, but they were real troopers during our last two long trips so I think they'll handle it well.

My list maker instincts are going a little wacky, thinking of everything I want to organize between now and the end of the month. It's all so exciting!