Multi tasking

Action Boy's school takes the kids ice skating and asked for parent helpers and I was super curious to see his skills and meet some of his friends.  So this morning I took along the other 2 thirds of "our situation".

The idea is the parents help the kids put the skates on... well you do your best...  Unfortunately Action Boy did end up with ice in his boots!  Despite that he had a great time and is pretty good for someone who has just started.  Little Miss D had fun running around on the ice and Baby A enjoyed chatting to all the kids from his baby prison.

Unfortunately I wasn't allowed to take pics but I'm sure we'll get some on ice while we're here!

Getting 40 odd little people to the rink and then kitted up is pretty impressive.  What I found even more impressive was that the skating rink was actually tennis courts frozen over!  Now that's what I call a multi purpose sports surface!

xx

Sometimes I have to think hard about what to post - while I might find my navel gazing interesting, I don't want to bore anyone.

Well today I didn't have to try hard at all to find something to post.  While waiting for the school bus at the end of the driveway this afternoon a man skied by...  Hilarious!  Only in Canada!

xx

When we first arrived in Canada we thought we'd be singing the YMCA song every time we went to the gym.  We even did a few trial classes and while the facilities were ok and the indoor running track a novelty, it was a bit of a drive and a bit shabby.  

Village People lego style!

Luckily we were put onto a very sharp looking gym just around the corner.  On top of all the "normal" gym stuff, this place has some really great extras - as well as TV and radio on the workout equipment there's also the Internet  (not sure how you'd surf the net while running).  If working out is really a drag they have a theatre room filled with treadmills, bikes and elipticals so you can watch movies in the dark while you work up a sweat!  I think we'll be sticking to group classes.

The creche seems great and is open all day, everyday which is really convenient with a breast fed baby who naps a lot.  You can also leave the kids in there while you do the shopping!  So Fanta Pants and I plan to zumba, yoga, spin and bootcamp our way back to health and fitness...

xx

It's not over

There had been so much talk of a non winter and we haven't seen snow in weeks so I thought (was hoping) that spring was just around the corner.  We'd had such unseasonably warm weather that the snow on the ground was melting, grass popping through everywhere and our roof was completely devoid of snow.

Well I must have been kidding myself because we have just had 24 hours of non stop snow which has left a 15cm thick blanket of snow across Montreal!  It's difficult to describe how beautiful everything looks covered in white.  Bare trees look scary but covered in snow they look magical...

You can see what angle the snow was coming in!  The wind was white!

You could see the path yesterday...  We'll have to get the shovels out tomorrow!

Perfect snow for making snowballs...

xx

Headlines

So while the ALP leadership battle is dominating Australian headlines here are a few interesting headlines from Quebec...

• Daycare workers in publicly funded centres around the province of Quebec have been striking over pay and conditions!  There have been a few days of closures and on one particular day over 300 centres were closed... chaos!
• Two Montreal based cardiologists are on trial for taking bribes to fast track health services.   I was not at all surprised to hear this story.  All parties are being very cagey and more patients who have paid bribes are being asked to come forward - but why would you?  I even read that people put hundred dollar bills under their pillows before going into surgery.  Surely this is a sign that the health care system isn't working so well...
• The Quebec government is trying to put together a loan to restart an asbestos mine which closed last year.  Are you serious?!?!

xx

Bulk

I'm by no means a greenie but I try to do my bit for the planet and one of my biggest gripes is how we are collectively wasting the world's resources with cheap nasty stuff.  (I've just realised that this might sound a little trite considering we've just moved half way across the world so Fanta Pants can locate more resources to pull out of the ground!!).  Anyway I think there is far too much packing on all products from food through to cosmetics and I've often thought it would be great if there was a shop you could take your own food containers and fill them up.

Well I've found it!  Although Bulk Barn doesn't allow you to bring your own containers you can fill up thin bags with the most amazing range of pantry items.  This place is fantastic!  I was actually looking for the raw ingredients for homemade muesli because we haven't been able to find fructose or corn syrup free muesli...  (Canada is drowning is fructose and corn syrup but that's a whole other story!)

Aisles and aisles of bulk buy bins...

 I found everything I needed and a whole lot of stuff I didn't know I needed.  Note to self don't go to Bulk Barn hungry!  They stock all sorts of health foods and I was able to buy a massive bag of my fav Israeli couscous and quinoa.  They also had every type of gluten free flour that I'd never heard of before.  This will also be the place to come for birthday cake supplies and party treats.

On the flip side to all this healthiness they also stock every kind of "candy" imaginable and a lot of it is seasonal.  Check out these pastel Easter m&ms!  I'm not sure how clear the photo is but the m&ms are stamped with bunnies.  I don't think I'll be bring the kids here - they would go bananas and I can see it ending in tears...

  

xx

Dear Aunty

I miss you!  That's right besides family and friends the thing I miss the most is the ABC - TV and radio.

I've tried and I've looked but I really haven't found anything that comes close.  I especially miss Playschool for the kids.  Nothing beats Justine, Jay, Lea, Andrew and Alex along with Big Ted and friends for entertaining and teaching kids in a non-condescending, clever and creative way.  I keep trying to watch an episode on iView hoping that there is a small crack in their filter... no luck yet.

we miss you!!!

I miss ABC TV news and the radio - AM, The World at Noon, PM, talk back radio.  I do download pod casts of  PM when I'm really craving some news.  When you're at home most of the day and don't really know anyone to talk to, the radio is really important and I just haven't found a good alternate source of news and current affairs yet.  I've tried the CBC - the radio is quite good but a bit too arty farty and not "daily" enough for me.  The best way to describe the CBC TV news is to say it's followed by "Coronation Street"...

I miss Gruen Transfer, the Chaser Boys, the 7.30 report, the list goes on...  there must be good TV and radio here but I just haven't found it yet...

xx

Out and about

Action Boy had a pupil free day so we thought we'd head downtown and meet Fanta Pants for lunch.  This was only the second time I'd been downtown (the first time I learnt about how Canadians like to queue for long periods in government agencies...).

Despite Montreal being the 7th biggest city in North America, the traffic really isn't scary like in some big cities and there was a handy parking lot under Fanta Pants' building (for the handy price of $17!!).  After struggling to find a pram friendly entrance we headed into the "underground city" for some yummy lunch and a spot of window shopping.  It's pretty amazing down there - 32km of tunnels filled with shops, food outlets and other services.  Most people down there didn't have coats on so probably went down from their office building - what a relief not to have to bundle up.

There wasn't anything photo worthy down there so here a couple of pictures of our new toys!  We went tubing again yesterday and the kids enjoyed not having to walk to get there.  They also enjoyed riding the sled down the hill!  Tubing was super duper fun - I could do that all day long!

Our other new toy is this fantastic wagon - it converts for summer and winter use.  When there's lots of snow out you can swap the tires for sleighs.  How clever is that!  Now the snow is starting to melt we'll stick to the tires.  This is how we'll be walking Action Boy to the bus stop from now on and I'm imagining lots of wagon adventures once the weather gets warmer!

I still haven't mastered photographing three children.  I can never manage to get them looking at me at the same time.  Action Boy thinks he's a rock star a la Adam Levine (you should see him in front of a full length mirror!), Little Miss D never looks at the camera and Baby A isn't sure he likes cameras...

xx

Breakfast with wolves

Our kids love animals and the chance to discover new animals is always very exciting.  This morning Fanta Pants took them to have breakfast with wolves!!!

There is an ecomuseum zoo not far from here where animals from the Quebec region are on show and this morning there was an opportunity to prepare a special breakfast for the wolves!  This is best described in photos...

Delicious?  

On the menu are chicken heads, prawns, eggs, vegies and some sort of larvae all stuffed into a sausage casing - looks like the wolf equivalent of a protein shake! 

Two very enthusiastic participants!

Two very hungry animals!

Breakfast time!

The zoo has other animals including bears who are of course asleep at the moment.  We'll have to go back and see them in summer.  Here are some of the favourites...

Otter

Fisher

Artic Fox - apparently it has the warmest fur in the world.

So many white animals!

Check out the size of his feet!

xx

Ikea take two

Last weekend we headed to Ikea to pick up a few things to help make this house feel like home.  While we were there I noticed a few more things that I'd put into the category of same but different...


Did I drop my kids off in Smaland or did I order Japanese at a food hall?  The drop off protocols are a bit stricter at this Ikea and they even give you a timed beeper to wear and when it goes off you'd better get there ASAP!

Entrance into Smaland isn't on age but on height just like going on a ride at an amusement park.  After a good run in the ball pit the kids have always loved a hot dog and an ice cream, well here it's a frozen yogurt which is tots delish!

Who needs toys when you can make a suit of amour out of an Ikea box!  There are still plenty of boxes around here so plenty of potential toys....

xx 

squirrel watching...

We have amazing large windows in this house which provide lots of beautiful light and a great view onto the outside (not so fabulous for the oil heating bill though).  Through these windows we get a get to see what's happening outside when it's too cold to go out or the little kids are sleeping.  It really is nice to watch the world walk by when you're at home a lot (I sound like an old infirm lady!).  You can even see people admiring our discount Valentine's decorations!

I'm not sure how many squirrels call our yard home but at a rough guess I'd say around 12.  (From the action we've seen I think that number might grow in the spring time...).  Squirrels are the craziest little critters and are so active even when it's super cold.  They are really enjoying the warmer weather today - it's a very mild 3 degrees here!  Didn't even have to zip up my coat coming home from playgroup this morning!!

Thought the kids might like these pics...

In my mind winter is almost over - snow flurries are predicted then never happen and the snow on the ground is melting with these warmer temperatures.  I don't know if I'm kidding myself but I'm hoping to ditch the kids' snow pants in a few weeks.

xx

ice skating

Canadians love ice and snow and any form of activity you can do on it.  Our landlords kindly gave us some hand-me-down skates and so Action Boy started ice skating lessons today at school.  In Australia some schools might have swimming pools,  well in Canada some schools have outdoor ice rinks!  

Action Boy had a ball!  He was so excited and although he said he fell over a bit, he really enjoyed it and is super keen to do it again next week.  Unfortunately I didn't get a photo but I think I might take the little ones down next week for a sticky beak!

What I did get a photo of is a backyard ice rink - that's right backyard ice rink!  Ice hockey is not only the national sport but it seems it is also the national religion.  Apparently it's quite common for super keen hockey families to build their own rinks for the boys to practice on and I found this one just a few streets away from us.  They've done an amazing job!  You might not be able to see but there are quite a few hockey sticks proudly standing along the side.

xx

Valentines

So it's Valentine's Day today and it's a pretty big deal here.  Lots of talk on the TV and radio, special activities at school and preschool and lots of people decorating their houses.  We've been so busy with boxes and colds so didn't go all out but here's a little look at some of the things we did...

Heart shaped ham and cheese sandbos for Action Boy

Some of the Valentine's inspired activities the kids were doing at school

I spent $5 at Dollarama for some decorations for the front window

Action Boy with his loot from school!

I was wondering how it all worked at school and if it became a popularity contest.  Then, the kindy teachers sent home a letter asking that if we were sending in cards please do one for each child in the class with a list of all the names!  Action Boy now has a bag full of red lollipops and love heart shaped chocolates...  He's pretty pleased about that!

xx

Getting dressed...

After 10 days or so of quiet mild temperatures (hovering around zero) we've had a super cold weekend with double digit minuses and some serious windchill.  So I thought you might like to see how we get dressed to face such weather...

xx

Apples

We're planning a trip to the Big Apple soon so we started to talk about it with the kids and how we'd be going on a small plane and how the ride would be short compared to what we've just done.  I was explaining that it's such a small plane there wouldn't be a television.  No TV?!?  What?!?  They were aghast!  (These kids have a disorted view of air travel due to the luxury of business class on an A380!).

They quickly realised everything would be ok because they could play on the iPhone and iPad.  An argument quickly ensued about who would get which device.  Oh dear, I guess this is a modern dilemma...

Speaking of our various electrical devices, I was carrying a glass of water up to bed the other night and spilled some on the baby video montior!!  Unfortunately this meant the end of the monitor.  Doh!  It's actually the fourth monitor we've had - what a terrible record!  So rather than spend more money on something that's destined to break/be broken I thought we should try and use some of the technology we already had.  I'd heard about iBaby so I downloaded an app for $2.99 and voilà!  Problem solved!

Baby A enjoying sleeping in his cot again...

xx

boxes

Yippee!  Two months after we packed up (well the kind removalists) packed up all our stuff it has arrived!  It was a pretty chilly minus 12 degrees when the trucks rolled up but the sun was shinning so everyone got to work!  The five removalists were all French speaking with varying English abilities.  This led to some funny moments of miscommunication and interpretation.  I'll admit my French is pretty good but one of the guy's Quebecer accent was so strong I had no idea what he was saying and of course he had zero English!

So now we're drowning in boxes!  All the furniture is in place and the tricky business of finding a home for all our stuff begins!  The kids were super excited to rediscover their toys and we were all very pleased to sleep in our own beds again.

While I still love my white on white decorating style we figured it wasn't going to work so well with lots of wood trim so we're adding some colour.  We've got new covers for the old couches and will add some more colour with new curtains and cushions etc...  We're going for blue with touches of pink.  (I say we but Fanta Pants doesn't get much of say in it and doesn't seem to mind!).  If you think blue and pink sounds a bit fruity check out http://www.absolutelybeautifulthings.blogspot.com/ for where the inspiration came from.

If you look carefully you'll see Baby A sleeping on his mat.  He's still got a cold but he has always been so good at  staying asleep from the car after we drop Little Miss D off at preschool.

xx

#$@!!?&@@

Dear Canada

Your health care system leaves a lot to be desired.  OMG!  WTF?  I can't believe a first world, resource rich country thinks it's ok for sick babies to wait two hours to see a GP.  I can't believe people think it's ok for an adult to wait 4 to 6 hours to see a GP.  What's going on here?!?!?

I could rant and rave about this for hours.  In Australia my family was very fortunate to have an excellent GP, 5 minutes from home, where we never waited for longer than 15 minutes and the children were all covered by medicare.  Driving 25 minutes over shockingly maintained and cracked roads to wait 2 hours in a room full of very sick kids is frustrating to say the least!  As I'm sure you can tell I'm struggling with the health care system here...  I have to let it go because there's nothing I can do about it except try and keep us as healthy as possible and spread the word about how there is a better way to do front line health care!!!

Baby A before he got sick - he's becoming a very chubby bubby!

So poor Baby A has a virus and had a fever and a goopey eye which needed to be seen to.  Luckily not serious and should be back to his happy self soon!  

xx

One month

So we've been in Canada for a month now and slowly starting to get settled.  I must admit this moving your family across the world business has not been easy.  I had no idea about what we were in for and couldn't even comprehend what the weather would be like.

Eating snow...

There are great moments and really crappy moments and I'm embarrassed to admit that there have been a few too many tantrums from mama!  Fortunately I think the really hard stuff is behind us and we only have one more moving step to go - our container is being delivered this week!  While I'm looking forward to having all our stuff I'm not looking forward to unpacking 212 boxes and pieces of furniture...

Besides the tiredness, the cold and the associated challenges have been the hardest things to deal with.  Making sure everyone is warm and dry takes a lot of layers and not everyone is happy with so much outerwear!  Little Miss D has "issues" with her clothes right from her knickers through to mittens.  Poor Baby A isn't super keen on his get up either.  Luckily Action Boy is pretty happy with all his gear and can put it all on by himself.

Having too much fun to worry about niggly clothing...

Everyday we come across new and surprising things - sometimes I'm amazed at how different Canada and Australia are and sometimes I realise we're mostly just the same.

Here are a couple of things I have found most striking...

• Doctors/medicare...  we've only had one visit to the doctor for a suspicious rash but I could go on and on about the apparent inadequacies of the Quebec health care system.  Long story short there is no such thing a a family doctor, instead you have "walk-in clinics" where there may be 50 other people waiting to see one doctor!!!  I'm not kidding!  Generally the wait is between 4 to 6 hours.  I couldn't believe my eyes when I walked in to see so many people, some wearing face masks.  They come prepared too with food and entertainment.  Don't ever complain about waiting 20 minutes to see "your" GP!  Fanta Pants' work provides us with top notch health insurance but from what I've been told it won't do us much good as there's no such thing a private health service.  I'm sure I'll have more to say on this topic.
• Baby girls seem to get their ears pierced between 6 -12 months - ouch!!!
• The roads are in a shocking state of disrepair - I know it's cold but surely they could be  better maintained.
• Canadians are outdoor adrenalin junkies!  It seems snow = excitement.  Sounds like fun!!
• In our house we like bacon and eggs on the weekend however Canadian bacon doesn't have much meat on it.  It comes as long strips of fat with the occasional fleck of meat.  We're on the hunt for some back bacon....
• Everything is highly flavoured and scented- lattes, washing powder, antiseptic throat spray etc.  Baby A is teething and so quickly went through our supply of baby panadol and we can't seem to find a sugar free, colour free alternate.  I need to find some flavour free, colour free, additive free medicines, food and household products.  No idea where to start looking...
• Canadians seem really nice - very friendly and helpful.  They're always happy to help and make sure you're ok.

xx

ps - I was reading an article on www.canada.com about the success of pintrest and thought this quote was hilarious!   "It's like Etsy and Pottery Barn had a baby and made a scrapbook of their cute little family." 

Island hoping...

Montreal is actually a small island in the Saint Laurent River and today Fanta Pants and I put our snow pants on and headed to the tiny island of Saint Helen's with the children for La Fête des neiges (festival of snows).

We were super lucky with the weather - although it was minus 6, there was no windchill and the sun was out (Fanta Pants even got sunburnt!!).  With appropriate clothing we were all toasty warm!  We had an amazing day enjoying the snow and getting lots of fresh air and vitamin D!  There were so many activities on offer and everything was so well organised.  There was even a warm room for feeding and changing babies in!  

We started with some maple syrup on snow - just like the name says, you pour maple syrup on snow and wait for it to harden.

Then you use a stick to roll the syrup up.  The sticks are the same ones doctors use when they ask you to open your mouth and say "ah".

As you can imagine this is a very sweet, gooey mess on a stick!

We like sweet stuff in our family but this was even too sweet for us and we couldn't finish it.

Street performers in the most amazing costumes were interacting with the crowds and as you can image many of the kids including Little Miss D were totally freaked out by the intense costumes!

The real highlight of the day was "tubing".  This was so much fun!!!  You really do race down the hill - it went much faster than I expected.  Fanta Pants and I tag teamed between Baby A and the big kids.

There are so many ways to play on snow!

Other activities on offer were ice skating, snow shoeing, ziplineling, horse drawn snow rides, ice fishing... There just wasn't enough time to do it all!

While the festival finishes this weekend, some of the activities will continue on the island until the end of winter and we will be back!  We're all super excited about going tubing again!

We picked up lots of tips on how to make the snow work for babies and more importantly make it fun for them.  There were sleds and sleighs of every variety on display and the little ones were loving it.  Amazingly the babies were even sleeping in the sleds.  The larger sleds even came in handy for carrying winter essentials such as ice skates!


We are definitely getting a sled but now we need to figure out if we should get a single or double.  Fanta Pants is very taken with the wooden ones.  The other option is a wagon that has removable skis so you can put tires on when the snow melts!  I'll update you on which way we decide to go!


xx