pintrest...

I'm far too active on pintrest...  I just love it!  What a brainwave - so many amazing ideas on the internet and this is such a clever way to store and share them.  While I'll admit there is much time wasting, I have found some really great things to do, make and buy...  Par exemple,

With the help of my little sous chefs, we made this over the weekend.

Strawberry Lemonade Bars
http://www.kandktestkitchen.com/2011/06/strawberry-lemonade-bars.html 

These were delish!  While they're probably more a summer treat we have the most amazing berries here - strawberries, blueberries, blackberries...  Totally delicious and so cheap - 500g of massive, sweet blueberries for $3.  There is a downside - food miles.  With the weather the only Canadian fresh produce we get here is milk and those gross carrots.  Blueberries from Chile, strawberries from Mexico, cucumbers from Spain, broccoli from California.  We'd starve if we tried to buy local...

This is another great pintrest find.  The kids love doing this!  Some of them are actually really tricky to do.

xx

Village life

The weather was a mild zero with virtually no wind so we headed down the road into our "village".  We've been meaning to get have a wander for a while but it's been tricky trying to go for a walk when it's super cold.  I've been told that while it's ok for kids to play outside until minus 20, babies can only cope with up to minus 10...

Baby A all rugged up!

The "village" is quite pretty and has lots of little shops, a great cafe/patisserie a few restaurants and other delights yet to be discovered...  They don't look like "typical" shopfronts, more like houses.

The walk home...

Squirrels everywhere...

"I'm outta here!"

Squirrel footprints.  Excellent wildlife tracking in the garden!

There's work to be done!

Shoveling snow is still a novelty...

We finally made a snowman, or snowblob...

The carrot didn't last half an hour with cheeky squirrels around!

xx

Same but different...

We've been living with in a bare house with no curtains and very dodgy furniture.  The container ship with all our goodies is probably still two weeks away but today we started thinking about how it will all come together.  We desperately need curtains for the lounge and our bedroom and lights for the dinning room and playroom which don't have any...  what?  Fanta Pants hadn't told me that bit.

So we ventured a bit further out today (between swimming lessons, preschool and the supermarket I don't go very far!).  We headed 15 minutes down the number 40 highway to find a familiar place (after going half way to the centre of Montreal on the number 20 highway Fanta Pants realised we were on the wrong one!).

From the outside Ikea looks the same everywhere and of course the furniture is the same but it was still quite different.  Firstly, most everybody was speaking French.  Secondly, Swedish meatballs do not taste the same across the globe!  I was certain they would be the same but Canadian Swedish meatballs are actually made in the USA and they've taken all the spice out and made them rounder and smoother...  

Luckily the landlord is happy for us to do whatever we need to 

Our little trip took twice as long as planned.  It seems that everything takes twice as long - I'm not sure if it's the weather, the extra clothes, the fact we don't know where we're going, a bigger population or the fact that Canadians seem to enjoy waiting in queues.  Everywhere we go there are long queues but no one seems to mind so no need to do anything to shorten them...

Carrots are also same but different.  Sounds crazy huh but they are.  Carrots are one of the only fruits or vegetables that are locally grown but they're not tasty - they're bitter.  We love carrots in our house and eat a lot of them but these ones are only good for cooking.  Plus Fanta Pants think they look like witches fingers.  Luckily you can buy these cute, stubby pre-cut and peeled baby carrots that are perfect for lunch boxes.

One of the fun parts living here for me is occasionally being able to speak French and getting to watch French language tv.  The other night I watched Le fermier dans le pré which is Quebec's cookie cutter version of A farmer wants a wife.  Hilarious!  It was exactly the same - set up, styling, props etc.  The only thing different was the farmer's broad Quebecer accents!

xx

ps - At long last Baby A cut his first tooth!  He's not a tiny baby anymore..

foot prints

We have many little creatures that live in our yard.  Most of them are very hard to capture in a photo but they do leave behind traces of evidence.  

Fanta Pants went out the other night to put the bin out and found a little visitor helping itself to a stale pitta bread from the bin.  Unfortunately he was gone by the time Fanta Pants ran back inside to get the camera.

The next day the kids and I spotted the evidence - footprints in the snow and a bread bag on the gazebo...

I'm sure our little friend will be back so when we get a pic of the raccoon I'll be sure to post it!

While I was out taking photos, I thought I'd take a pic of the pool - well I think that's where the pool is.  You can see a diving board so I guess there is a pool under a layer of snow!

xx

PS - Does this happen in your house?  I laughed so hard I cried when I read this.  

"Non-winter"

Photograph by: Steve Wertman, Abbotsford Times

There has been a lot of talk about how mild the Canadian winter is this year.  People on the street, on the train, on the radio are all taking about it.  It got to plus 5 last night.  All these plus temperatures means not a lot of snow and what snow is left is melting.  This is from www.canada.com (my go to for Canadian news and info).

"We are the second coldest country in the world and the snowiest country in the world, but what we've really seen is a total lack of winter everywhere," climatologist David Phillips said.

"It's been like a missing-in-action winter and we're seeing that both in Canada and the United States," said Phillips, Environment Canada's senior climatologist.

Apparently the snow season hasn't started and non refrigerated ice rinks are melting!!!  Of course the next part of this conversation is about climate change and whether this is a result of global warming or just an unusual weather event.  I guess this remains to be seen...

xx

PS - Who'd be a third child?!  This poor little guy has to sleep on the go and luckily he seems happy to go with it.  I  couldn't imagine Action Boy falling asleep in the car, being carried in and napping on the floor for an extra hour!  Amazing!

what lies beneath...

Our new home is a very big, old house.  I haven't been inside any other Canadian houses so I'm not sure how it usually works but underneath our house is a basement.  It's almost as big as the footprint of the house and while the ceilings aren't very tall it is quite spacious.  

One of the major roles of the basement is to house this baby...

I'm not sure how it all works but this monster is very hot to the touch, maybe 35 degrees.

Somehow it works with the tank below to keep the house warm.  We just had this thing filled with 730 liters of oil at a cost of $926!?!?  I almost fell over when I saw the bill.  Fingers crossed it'll keep us going for a while.  Luckily it's a "mild" winter and today it's positively balmy outside - plus two degrees so that should help keep consumption down.

There are other rooms down there including the laundry, cedar closets, a wine cellar and a food store.  The laundry isn't pretty but it's practical.  We've got a massive washing machine which takes twice as much as my old one.  The exposed hot water pipes are great for drying clothes on!  Exposed pipes and electrics are a specialty in this house...

If you look carefully you can see the tap that we're supposed to leave running...

xx

Hockey

Our landlords dropped by today to inspect the fallen tree and they kindly brought along some skating and hockey gear their kids have grown out of.  Our kids were so excited about it all.  Action Boy looks the part - all he needs is a mask, helmet, some gloves and a Montréal Canadiens jersey.  Oh and maybe some skating lessons!!!

Skating is big here - people skate where ever they can.  I even saw some kids skating on the river across the road from us today.  There is a good rink next to our local pool which I need to investigate.  Even Fanta Pants is keen to give it a try.

xx

Winter Icebreaker

At swimming last week I saw advertised a "Winter Icebreaker" organised by our local council.  Not sure what it was I checked online and found it was a family fun day and despite it being minus 15 degrees, we bundled up and went along.

It was cold - very cold - but totally worth it!  Look at what we got to do!  It was so much fun and although the dogs were getting tired they still went pretty fast.  We will definitely try and do this again but with huskies.  (Little Miss D is obsessed with huskies!!  She had a pretty good time chatting to these "puppies").

Poor Action Boy looks all squished!

The kids loved it and Little Miss D was shouting "Go faster puppies!  Faster!".  At the end she told them all what a good ride they did!

There was also free hot chocolate, ice sculptures and bouncy castles (no need to remove shoes like we have to in Australia).  I saw all these kids eating a strange looking amber substance on a popsicle stick.  Apparently you dip a stick in maple syrup, roll it in snow and then you eat it!  How Canadian is that?!?  Too sticky, gooey and messy for my liking...

Before all this winter fun I escaped to the shopping mall to explore a bit.  You all know I'm fond of internet shopping but now I don't need to.  All my fav shops are just 10 minutes down the road - Gap, Old Navy, Forever 21, Zara and there are a heap of others I don't know yet!  I was accosted in Sephora by an enthusiastic sales girl but I think we found something to help my snake skin.  Can't wait to try it all out.  Sephora was fun, lots of fun!!

xx

Things

We're starting to get settled now with regular activities and so I've got a little more time to think about things.  Some things here are so similar and some so strikingly different (the weather).  Some are just plain wacky - like the bags of milk!

Service au volant/drive thru

I bet you've seen drive thru ATMs in American movies.  I'd always thought they were a classic example of laziness but I was so wrong!!  When you need cash to pay for Zumba at preschool and it's minus 20 degrees outside and you've got three kids in the back this is fantastic.

Note the ice stuck to the window...

L'eau/Water

Growing up in a place where water is so precious you don't waste it so we were shocked to receive a letter from the local water authority asking us to turn on a tap in the basement and not turn it off until further notice!!?!  Apparently it's to stop the water pipes from freezing in the extreme weather.  We've had this tap running for over 10 days now and it feels so wrong!  Whenever the kids go into the laundry they ask why we are wasting water.  I guess a lack of water isn't a problem in a place where the electricity is supplied by Hydro Quebec...


Sec/dry

You may think that everything would be wet and soggy in a place covered in snow but inside it's the opposite.  The central heating, wind and extreme temperatures play havoc with your skin.  My face and hands are so dry they've turned scaly.  I'm planning a trip to Sephora this weekend to see if I can find a miracle cream!  (Excited about going to Sephora - alone!!)

The heating has also dried all the curl/wave out of my and Little Miss D's hair.  Gone, vanished...  I wonder if it'll return in the summer when it's a bit humid?

Les magasins/shopping

Unregulated shopping hours are fantastic!  Around here most shops are open until 9pm and some supermarkets are open until 10pm!  Plus everything is open on Sundays and banks are even open on Saturdays and 'til 8pm some nights.  This is all great for our family as I can quickly nip out after the kids have gone to bed to get supplies without the rigmarole of getting everyone dressed in outerwear.  Not sure if it's too good for Canadian family life though...

Bonjour/hi

Where we live English is by far the dominant language and many people don't actually speak French.  However there are still the Quebec rules on language and so wherever you go you'll be greeted with "Bonjour/hi" and then you choose which language you'll use.  It's funny to watch other people swap between English and French in the same conversation, even sentence without blinking.  Even mothers speaking to their children with mix French and English in the same sentence.  For someone who studied languages for so long this is interesting stuff.  Because of where we live I don't get to use French a lot and I've only been downtown once so I'm not sure how it works down there.  Fanta Pants is surrounded by French speakers at work and while he needs to pick some French for himself it hasn't been a massive problem so far.  The Quebecois accent is a whole other story...

When it's on paper, everything is written twice - once in each language.  It's handy for Fanta Pants to help increase his vocabulary!  All documents - government pamphlets, council rubbish notices etc are all written twice.

xx

Wild winter weather

Not only does a Montreal winter involve lots of snow, below zero temperatures and freezing rain it also brings strong winds.  Last night was an excellent example of that.  Winds were 60km/h with gusts up to 90km/h!!

There was a lot of crashing and banging but with the double glazed windows we didn't hear this fall...

Luckily it fell into the garden rather than the other direction onto the power line to the house.  Now that would have been a hassle!

It was minus 12 with a windchill of minus 22 when we were taking photos so poor Little Miss D's nose was as pink as her coat!

The trees out the front are the home to many little squirrels so I'm hoping none of them were hurt as it fell.  When we went to investigate we didn't see any but we did see lots of tiny footprints.  We have many squirrels who live around our house.  If you ask Little Miss D she'll tell you squirrels are her favourite thing about Canada.  They are very funny to watch - they move very fast and often play chasey with each other.  When they move from tree to tree it's almost like they are flying.  They spread out and glide.  This little fellow looks pretty cold to me - I'm not very good on the habits of Canadian wildlife but I had always thought squirrels hibernated.  Maybe they should consider doing it...

Squirrel on back fence seen from kitchen window

Despite the cold and wind, we have had a fair amount of sunlight which is really nice.  Last week it warmed right up to plus 2 degrees so with a bit of sunlight the snow began to melt.  The snow started to melt off the roof but before it was all gone the sun went and it became cold again and icicles formed!  Crazy!

You often see icicles on the front bumpers of cars which I think looks like snot dripping!

view from my bedroom window

xx

It's still cold...

Yes it's still cold and apparently it's cold by Montreal standards!  Our new motto is "rug up and carry on!" 

Moving to a new country means discovery of all types.  Discovering our new home, a new language, a new environment, some personal discovery and discovering the local supermarket and all the new products.  Some are the same just packaged differently....

The relocation agent had put this bag in our fridge when we arrived and we had no idea what it was...

Open it up and there are four bags of milk inside!!

Bags of milk are tricky to handle so the Canadians have designed a special jug just for these bags of milk.

So weird!  I have since discovered that you can buy cartons of milk but I think this is so funny that we'll keep buying them.  Our local supermarket also stocks TimTams!!  

I've also discovered that you shouldn't drop your car keys in the snow at night after there has been 10cm of snow fall...  This was almost a major disaster but fortunately with the help of a torch and a broom Fanta Pants found them.

xx

Brrr, it's cold!

I know, another weather report but the cold here is really cold!  Today was -18 and the windchill was -27! We're still trying to set the house up and so had a long list of things to buy so braved the cold to go shopping.  Even with all our warm jackets and boots it was still very cold outside.  The car was so covered in snow and ice that one of the sliding doors on the minivan wouldn't open!!!  Despite all this coldness there were people everywhere - running, walking, shopping etc.  The only thing I didn't see was kids playing or babies in prams.  I've read that you shouldn't really play out when it's less than -25...

When all the snow falls the roads and driveways get covered but the Canadians are very prepared.  An army of snow blowing tractors appears and clears it all away.  The main roads and footpaths are cleared by the council and many people employ someone to clear their driveways.  So everyone knows which contractor needs to clear which driveway, there are big coloured markers at the beginning of the driveway.  It seems that when it's snowing the tractors just drive around blowing snow making driving easier!  If you're wondering what these guys do when it's not snowing, they mow the lawns!

Even though it was super cold today the sun was out all day and this is the sun rising over the lake melting the ice on the window.

View from our bedroom window

Everyone knows that Action Boy has always been a very early riser but we've had a week of sleep-ins.  I don't know if it's the late sunrises, lack of kookaburras, separate bedrooms for the kids or just massive tiredness but we're enjoying sleeping in while it lasts.

xx

Online...

So we're finally online!  Yippee!  The telecommunications guy braved the snow this afternoon to install the internet and the cable TV.

We've been in Canada for a week now and it sure has been a busy (exhausting) few days.  There is so much to tell you about but I'm so tired so here are a few pics to start with...

The kids playing in snow for the first time last Saturday.  We'd practiced making snow angels in the sand at the beach.

Since we've been here people have been telling us how mild the weather has been but it looks like the "real" winter weather has started.  We had 15cm of snow yesterday and it looks like there should be another 10cm overnight.  The weather has hovered around -5 which has been ok.  Thank goodness for our coats and boots!  The suit we'd bought Baby A wasn't thick enough so now he wears this when we go out with mittens and a beanie underneath!

He doesn't really enjoy wearing this and can't really move his arms but it's necessary!  It's not much fun for a baby who has just mastered putting things in his mouth!  In the pram he has a fleecy blanket sleeping bag as well.  The lady at BabiesRUs said it's fine to go for a walk with babies up to -10!  I've seen people do it too!  People don't stay indoors just because it doesn't stop snowing and it's super cold.  They walk their babies and dogs and go running!

I tried to take a few photos today of the snow falling but it's not easy.  The camera doesn't want to focus on all white!  Not only did we get a lot of snow we also experience freezing rain.  It's just like rain drops that froze on the way down.

View from kitchen window

View from lounge window

All those little white spots are little snow flakes.  It really is turning into a winter wonderland.  Sounds very romantic doesn't it?  I'll talk more about trying to go out into this winter wonderland later...

xx

We're here!!!

So we're finally here! We are still getting set up so dont have internet at home so I'm sitting at the local Maccas using their free wifi. Unfortunately it won't alert me upload any photos!!! So the plane to LA finally took off and we got to LA to find our next flight was delayed.... Anyways the a380 is lots of fun to fly, especially in business class. We all had fun playing with our beds and watching lots of movies and Action Boy had so much fun playing a robot game he had to take photos of it!! The Air Canada flight was not nearly as flash but it got us there in the end. Overall and despite the delays the trip was OK - it was very tiring but the kids managed quite well (except in the Maple Leaf Lounge when Little Miss D was being so wacky the lady at the desk asked if she was drunk or just really tired!!). Poor Baby A had the hardest time and seems to forgotten that he sleeps all night long! His cicadian rythm is way out of whack. Fingers crossed he figures it out tonight. The new house is great, warm and spacious! Everyone seems happy with their new rooms (except Baby A). There is plenty of snow on the ground and it keeps falling. The kids have had fun playing in it and Action Boy learnt an important lesson about putting your face directly in the snow - it hurts and even burns! I don't think he'll be doing that again. Action Boy will start school on Wednesday which he is really looking forward to and Nick will probably go into work on Thursday so our new life will be starting. Lots more to write about - some crazy stuff here eg, out of control waiting times to see a family doctor, abundant water, extended shopping hours. Will be back soon with photos. Tomorrow we're off to get social security and Medicare cards and if it's like the queues at immigration and the medical clinic I think we'll be in for a LONG day. It appears Canadians enjoy queuing. They must be used to it because they come prepared for it with food and entertainment. More on that later!?!? xx

Take two...

Well we're not in Montreal yet or even LA.  We're still in Melbourne.  Thanks to a fuel pump problem our flight was cancelled but not before we got a trial run on board the A380. 

Being onboard was fine - the plane is amazing so we just pushed the chairs back into beds, watched TV and waited for the food to arrive.  Unfortunately collecting the 10 pieces of checked baggage and trying to get them across the road to the airport hotel wasn't so much fun.  Luckily the kids have been troopers and Qantas quite helpful with food, accommodation etc and it's all behind us now!

Here we go again....

xx

And we're off...

Moving to the other side of the world requires you to undertake some major logistical challenges and the last challenge was actually getting the five of us to Montreal.  And here is most of what we are taking with us - in the checked baggage there are five suitcases, three carseats, a pram and a portacot.  On board we have four roll along mini cases, two backpacks and a baby bjorn!  Unloading it all to go through security checks is interesting...  We must look a real sight walking along - Action Boy pulling a case, me with baby A in the baby bijorn as well as wearing backpack and pulling a case and Fanta Pants wearing a backpack and pulling two cases with Little Miss D sitting on top of one because she can't walk any more.



So we've made it to Melbourne and are enjoying the Qantas Club lounge and it's free wifi.  Even though no one got much sleep the flight went well and the kids were little champs.  We were all very disappointed when we got on to find out we were on an ancient plane without individual TV screens.  Luckily for us the movie on the big screen was "Puss in Boots" which was a hit with everybody.  Fortunately we know we're on the A380 next so we're assured of all the bells and whistles!!!  Fingers crossed everyone will sleep in those big beds...

xx