Happy New Year... Where has the time gone!!!

Following our Vancouver adventures, we traveled east to Toronto. After a 4.5 hour flight we arrived

to the welcome sight of Craig’s brother Andrew, his partner Alex and daughter Sophie who is the same age as Naomi. When the girls last saw each other, they were inseparable. That continues! We stayed a couple of days in Toronto, setting up our house and relaxing (as much as is possible with 4 girls running around!). Andrew took Sophie and Naomi to the Toronto zoo which was a great adventure. Naomi quickly learned what it was to be cold. Ellen took Emma and Hannah to the local playground where there was a small pile of snow/ice. Didn't matter; they thought it was fantastic! We also ventured out to our new home in Milton. Once we got the cars and insurance sorted  out we began our trek north towards Ottawa where Ellen’s mum Camilla, brother David and his wife Chantal and son Adrien live (who is also the same age as Naomi).  It was a long drive (4.5 hours) but thankfully the van has a DVD system (and table!) which made it much easier.

Upon arriving in Ottawa, the girls got a better taste of cold and snow. We had a grand snowball fight in the back yard.  Even though the snow was a couple of weeks old, it was still fun. Because it was already dark, the video and photos didn't turn out so well. 

The next day we went to Mt Seneca (a lump at the end of Seneca St) and went tobogganing. The kids had a whale of a time! Someone had built a little jump at the bottom of the hill which they all took turns flying over.

Christmas Eve we went to the local United Church where Ellen’s family attends.  We enjoyed traditional French Canadian Tourtiere (*really* good meat pie, for all you kiwis) and then opened the presents with the kids in traditional Norwegian fashion. It was a tad chaotic as all the kids were all very excited.  They all received some very nice gifts.

Santa came that night as usual and left some porcupines for the kids and lots of gifts under the tree for each.  Sunday morning we attended the Catholic Mass at Notre Dame Basilica in Ottawa. It reminded Ellen of some of the churches she saw in Rome earlier in the year. That evening we had a lovely dinner with Chantal’s family. After dinner we drove around Taffy Lane to look at some of the lights. The kids had never seen such displays!

In the following days, the snow melted so we found indoor things to do. Ottawa has many, many, many museums and indoor activities to keep one occupied. We went to the Agricultural park one day then the aviation museum the next. Naomi loved the aviation museum because of all the YELLOW HELICOPTERS!!! The Labrador was her favourite.  It was a rather poignant visit as a local children’s choir and local vets reenacted the Christmas Day truce of 1914.

It remained cold enough to go skating on one of the outdoor ice rinks. We rented skates and took them over. It was freezing but all the girls did really well. Hannah said she wasn’t done and wasn’t going to be done for a long time (i.e. until she got the hang of it). Before long, both Emma and Naomi were cruising around the ice with relative ease. They had such a good time that we’ve enrolled them in skating lessons in Milton.  To get them all off the ice, we bribed them with a good old Canadian Beaver Tail (like a hot, fresh flat doughnut covered in sugar and cinnamon or nutela or other good things!). 

Since the container was still delayed, our intention was to stay in Ottawa until the 3^rd January. However the weather looked like it was going to turn. Without snow tires, we didn’t want to be traversing Ontario in bad weather so we packed up early and arrived back to our home on the 31st December. We had a quiet new years at home (on the floor with no furniture etc) and spent the weekend setting up the house as best as possible so that the kids could be ready for school. We did all the important things like locating the closest ice arena, grocery store and LCBO! We also bought skates and electronics (TV etc) so Craig can watch hockey.

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The snow that was predicted came and we had great fun walking over to the grocery store and back.

We played on the frozen pond outside our house and even built Olaf the snowman.
However, then came the freezing rain and warmer temperatures which didn’t last. Overnight it dropped to -12c with 50km winds making it feel like -22c. The weather report said“snow squall watch” which if you don’t understand what it means, think skiing on Ruapehu on a typical day – sunny, blizzard, wind, cloudy etc all in an hour.…  It was like that for most of the week. Thank goodness for central heating, insulation and double glazing!

Do you want to build a snowman!!!