Yay its snowing

Well, the snow season is not quite here, but it has started snowing.  We have uploaded a few shots from our day at Silverstar, where we went today.  The official season starts 27th November, but it looked like it had some snow to play in up there on their webcam today so we thought we should at least go and check it out.  Now there was some, but not a whole lot, and our canadian friends were horrified that we would be putting photos out there for everyone to see that depicted so little snow at one of their well known ski hills.  So in the interest of ensuring you do not get the wrong idea back home, this is only after 1 day of snow, and is apparently not the standard level of snow you should expect to see at such a nice hill.  There was enough snow in our yard for the boys to make snow men, but unfortunately the rain the following day has pretty much decimated it by now, and all traces of snow at our house have gone.  Not a lot else to report at this stage, but stay tuned for some more news in the next few weeks, and pics of our first day at Big White (when we get there!).  So basically, all is well, enjoy the extra pics from Silverstar, and the message of the day is - dont judge Canadian snow levels from our pics that are only 1 day of snow old.  Enough said.

Halloween

Hi Everyone and welcome to our post-halloween blog. For all our Australian friends, it is true, just like the movies, kids go door to door and are given candy. Loads, heaps, and tonnes of candy. Check out the photos, our kids did very well on the candy front, and I think it will be a treasured memory for a very long time to come. Nyah, while apprehensive to begin, quickly understood the concept and started running between houses and dragging Raoul up to the door to get her lolly. Very cute and VERY sticky. Elijah dressed up as Indiana Jones, Caleb as Spiderman, and Nyah as a butterfly. We went with another family from Kuipers Crescent, our boys have been regularly playing with them, so lots of fun. Afterwards we had pancakes back at the house with Darlene and Terry, who I'm starting to suspect just hang out with us to laugh at (or I'm hoping with;-) us. They confirmed that the massive pile of candy was indeed alot by Canadian standards. So sugar coma ahead, we let the kids knock themselves out and eat as much as they wanted for one night, that night is over so it is back to being rationed, killjoys that we are. We also really enjoyed pumpkin carving for the first time. Some we saw out were amazing and intricate. For ours, we stuck to a stencil pattern, but had a lot of (slightly freezing) fun.

Update from the Slackers in Canada

Well, we have been hassled enough now to finally get around to updating the blog and letting you know whats been happening the last few weeks.  I just read back through our last post, and whilst we dont feel like a lot has changed since then, as most days have been similar in the fact that we are into a bit more of a routine now, but there is a bit that has changed.

To start with we decided to pull Elijah back to 1 day a week of Gym after they wanted us to only have 1 weeks off in 52, and also give them 36 hours of volunteer work.  No that we would object if we actually lived here full time, but given we want to be able to go snowboarding etc, it was a no-brainer.  So both boys are now doing Gym Monday nights 6:30 - 8pm, which works well.

Indoor soccer had a bit of a delay, and Elijah finally started today, and his team won 5 - 3, which he was stoked about, especially as he assisted with one of the goals.  Caleb starts on Monday, and plays alternating Mondays and Tuesdays at 4pm.  The roster takes them through to the end of March, and is played on an indoor court that is an ice-skating rink the rest of its life (they pull up the artificial turf and put down some water and crank up the refrigeration unit under the slab - all very cool!).  There are 2 indoor fields, which would be similar size (slightly smaller) to the outdoor fields he was playing on back home.

Today Terry (our neighbour), Caleb, Elijah and myself went ski and snowboard shopping, and came across a swap-meet hosted by the Kelowna Ski Club.  Basically everyone who is a member of the club takes their old gear there and put it up for sale.  There is some old rubbishy stuff there, but a lot of it is quite new and still decent condition, with a lot of kids gear that they have grown out of from last season.  Elijah, Terry and I all got a snowboard, bindings and boots for @ 20-30% of what we would have paid had we gotten new gear, which was fantastic.  Caleb got some ice skates and snowboard boots.  He already has a beginners snowboard which he purchased with his allowance from a garage sale a few weeks ago.  So apart from some goggles for Caleb (Elijah got some at the garage sale) and some snowboarding trousers for me, we are good to go!  Nyah even has a cute little purple all in one outfit to go in the snow.  

Working back through the past few weeks we have celebrated Thanksgiving with our neighbours Terry and Darlene (and daughter Britney) which was fun.  Big turkey, lots of food, and no real reason other than they just do it because it is an excuse for another day off!  Though just to ensure people dont think they are copying the States, they have it a month earlier - go figure.  We have been attending 2 churches - New Life of a Sunday morning, and Trinity Baptist of a Saturday night.  Both are quite contemporary, and I am also attending a mens breakfast study group with the Baptists every Wednesday where I have met a few new people which has been good.  Wednesday nights I am attending a mens group from New Life, so it is an interesting day, with many varied people to talk to.  Last post we mentioned the couple with a daughter similar in age to Nyah.  Their names are Micheal and Emma Donley, and are really nice.  Mike is a rock star (I hope he gets to read this :P), no seriously - he is the guitarist for a Canadian band called Sled Dogs - and they rock!  Seriously, check their website out - sleddogs.ca I think, and listen to their songs on You Tube.  They gave me their latest CD and a tuke (I think thats how you spell it) which is what they call a beanie.  We ended up going to a place called Montanas Steak house, which had great ribs - not so sure about their steak as I didnt have one - though I dont hold out great hope, so far every steak I have had here has been aweful - we are very lucky with our meat in Tassie!  Speaking of meat - Lamb is hard to find (and expensive) and Pork roasts are tiny, and dont have the crackling!!!  RIPPED OFF - we have asked a few people just to get confirmation that we just havent looked hard enough, but seriously, nobody has heard of it!! So we are going to see if we can find a good butcher, who might be able to cut it specially for us to have at christmas time.

I digress a little, but some of the things over here are just unbelievable!  

Mike has kindly loaned me a telecaster to have a play with whilst I am here which has been great.  We have also been having movie nights of a Friday night, and have just completed the Lord of The Rings trilogy.  We had a few other guys around (Terry, Me, Mike, Aaron and his son Liam) to watch it, and it was a lot of fun - Diabra is dreading he upcoming Star Wars set that we are planning :).  

Our pool has now been winterized (half tide, with extra chamicals and a cover to prevent freezing and damage) and the temperature range is between -2 in the early morning to 13 degrees or thereabouts through the top of the day, so is cooling off quite quickly.  The official ski season starts on November 27, so we are told it will snow here very soon, which we are all excited about, and the locals all just think we are crazy.

Last week we went to Bertram Park with our neighbours Marshall and Vesna.  They have 2 young boys - 4 & 2yo, which was a lot of fun, though with the current temperature, we only stayed for @ 45 mins before having to head back home.  Another item on our weekly agenda is to go to Terry and Darlenes place every Sunday night @ 5pm to watch the new series of the Amazin Race, over an informal tea (supper).  It has been a great way to end the week, spending time with friends and preparing for the next week.

 

Today we went to the 20th annual Okanagan Apple Fair where the boys got to paint a birdhouse each, got a toffee and caramel apple each and carved an apple person head thing that will dry over the next few weeks, which they enjoyed.

I am sure there is more I could add, but right now, (11:30pm Saturday night) my mind is starting to tell me I should be asleep, and I am sure Diabra will add some more soon as well.

We are missing everyone a lot, though phone calls have been good, and make it feel a bit like we are just around the corner (though we have to make sure we time them right to avoid waking people up in the early hours of the morning.  Love this technology.

Beautiful Kelowna

Well, we thought we should give you all an update of whats been happening in our lives for the past couple of weeks. We have settled in quite well, and other than a few minor hiccups, things are going relatively smoothly. We have met our neighbours on both sides, and all seem nice. We have also met some neighbours just over the hill who are also really nice people. Brodie who is 10 (lives just over the hill), has made our place his second home after school, hanging out with Elijah playing xbox or swimming in the pool, or chilling in the hot tub which is great. The boys have both got mountain bikes now, so every night we try to take them out for a ride around the neighbourhood, whilst Diabra and I walk Nyah and say G'Day to the neighbours as we go. The neighbourhood was completely demolished 5 years ago in a big bush fire, so all the houses here are brand new and quite large.

We have been out for meals with neighbours and have had neighbours over for meals this past couple of weeks, and have even introduced some of the neighbours to each other (even though they have lived near each other for 1 year or more, it took some strange talking people to introduce them within their first 2 weeks here!). Caleb caught a frog in one of their yards and kept it for a pet for a few days (catching crickets and other insects to feed it until Diabra could not take it any more). We have also seen a few chipmunks in our backyards, but no deer or bears as yet, though apparently there is a deer who lives and walks around our street close-by.

The boys have just started to get into Gymnastics over here, and they are loving it. Caleb is going every Monday night from 6:30pm - 8pm. Elijah's course is pretty full on and goes every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 4:30pm - for 3 hours each night! He is also meant to go Sunday 2pm for 3 hours, but we said no. The gym they are going to can house 150 students at a time, and the coaches are all quite relaxed and easy going. There are obviously high expectations as they have had world gym champions train there, so the equipment is also well laid out, and everyone who is there seems to be quite self motivated to do well, so we are hoping it will rub off onto our young hoodlums.

Indoor Soccer starts next month and Caleb plays alternating Mondays and Tuesdays at 4pm - 5pm, and Elijahs will be Saturday mornings. Season starts in the first week of October, so it will be interesting to see how they hold up, (especially E with so much Gym time).

We have been attending New Life church the past couple of weeks and have met a nice couple who have a baby the same age as Nyah, who we are going out for supper (thats what they call their evening meal) on my birthday. That's right, another year older this week (18th for those who may want to shower gifts in my direction - dont use Canada post as they apparently take 2-3 months to ship via their snail mail system to Australia - sorry Mark, your present may turn up in time for Christmas :( ). Thanks Mum and Dad and Nardene and family for thinking to send cards in advance - I got them today thanks :)

Diabra and I have basically settled into the routine of working / cleaning / homeschooling as we were at home, and having a place to get away to do work at home has been an absolute God-send. There is enough space for us all to be separate, yet close enough to enjoy breaks together. I have had a reasonable amount of success and am on-track with our plan to make work really work well over the time zones.

Now that I have given you all the bits and pieces, I will finish up with a few facts about the place we are in so you can sound that bit more like a local if you make it over here.

There is a new Wal-mart store being built in Westbank (just over the river) that will be the largest single floorspace for any shop in the Okanagan Valley - it will be the equivalent of 5 soccer fields all put together under one roof. Highway 97 is called Harvey Avenue, and most streets are referred to by only their first name, ie if you want to get to Canadian Tire (similar to Mitre 10 with a car servicing section) from downtown, you need to take a left on Harvey and continue until you get to it on your right hand side just past Leckie.

Vancouver and beyond

It has now been a week since we crossed the border, no we didn't get locked away by customs, but it sure did take a while for Mr 11515 to 'process' our immigration papers, or Raoul's to be precise. Apparently it was the most complex he had ever done. The kids and I amused ourselves by making a game of 'beginning with the letter ' whatever'' out of the confiscated items display. After a few (too many) hours we made our way into beautiful Vancouver. We unfortunately could not see it through the heavy rain, but it was nice to be over the border and getting ready for the next bit of the adventure. It has felt a little like treading water this week, we are really ready to be out of hotels and begin cooking and cleaning again! We did manage to go to Stanley Park, which is truly beautiful and very large. We have seen one squirrel (from a great distance), two deer, and signs warning us about feeding raccoons and a recent sighting of bears. The boys have been go-karting, but most of the time we have been doing practical things like getting phones and Raoul organizing business meetings. On Friday we travelled over to Kelowna, about a 5 hour drive. Again it rained, very heavily, but we still saw some big rock faces towering over us which was pretty cool. We also saw a semi-trailer on its side and a SUV with its side window smashed, we think from a rock fall. We are considering encouraging winter visitors to fly straight into Kelowna. Did a drive by the house we have rented over the internet, and heaved a sigh of relief, it looks really nice, and so does the area it is in (soccer field close by, and signs saying "slow down, our kids are playing"). Tomorrow we are visiting a church, which has Elijah excited and Caleb a bit nervous. On Monday we move into the house and real life here begins, Raoul will start work (although it is labor day over here, so he might not be able to get everything done that he wants to), and the rest of us will start schooling again. All in all a strange week for me. I have felt quite homesick, I think it has been the first time I have had much of a chance to think. The rest of the trip felt a bit like survive the day by comparison, this week felt like biding our time until the real part began. Two more sleeps, one more hotel packup, until then, see you later and we miss you heaps.

Seattle

Hi. We are all glad to be close to the end of the driving part of the holiday. We travelled 6+ hours to Medford, swam, ate chinese (massive containers arrived, we could only get through about one quarter of it), slept, drove 5ish hours to Portland, swam, ate not great teryaki, slept, drove, finally reaching Seattle.
Yesterday we went into the city for the day, starting off at the Science centre. We were slightly underwhelmed, as it appeared to be very similar to the Imaginarium back home. After looking at the 'speed' display we went on the dukw. Yes, a tour that drives you around Seattle and then takes to the water, in an army dukw (the model number of the craft we were in). A real hit with the boys. The tour guide was very noisy and funny (added in by E), playing loud music and changing gag hats to suit his jokes. The boys thought it was great. Oh, I forgot to mention that they sold quacking toys to many (MANY!!) of the kids on the tour. So as we quacked, sang, and generally yelled our way around Seattle, Nyah slept and we learnt a little of the history of the place. The city centre is constructed of non flammible materials after the fire of 1889, apparently even the water pipes were made of timber before then, and as such is very dense looking. It is also extensively tree'd, so quite pretty. They have a policy where 1% of all building costs must be spent on public art, so there is lots of art. One of the funnier sculptures in a rock (a la natural), and 10 foot away is a sculpture of the rock. That was at one of the new millions of dollars baseball stadiums, and probably cost 100's of thousands of dollars. Another one was of 6 figures and a dog, waiting for a now non-existant train. The sculpture had so much trouble with a local politician, that he put the politicians face on the dog. Once on the water we enjoyed looking at all the house boats and homes on water. They only allow 500 homes on water, and they are really plush. Our guide pointed out the apartment and home used in Sleepless in Seattle. Caleb's favourite thing was all the water planes flying and landing near us (apparently Lake Union is the only officially recognised water airport in the world). Seattle is beautiful from the water, much more like I imagined it, rather than where we are staying, highwayed suburbia (a little note telling us about the dangers of the are tucked in to the hotels compendium). After the tour we went back (reluctantly) to the science centre. We watched an Imax movie on the local Mt St Helen, which erupted in 1980. Elijah just wants to see lava, but alas, like NZ's mud pooles, there was only dust and ashes. It was really interesting. Finally we discovered the rest of the centre, and had a great time. We made patterns, looked at dinosours, enjoyed the northern hemispheres stars at the planeterium (with a short look at the southern hemisphere at our request - most people did not know about the southern cross, as they cant see it - they only see "the North Star"), played in the tiny tots area (Nyah can now slide all by herself and climb up stairs quite easily - getting down stairs is another matter!) and went in the butterfly room. Heaps of fun. We finished the day with a quick drive past Microsoft, for inspiration :-) Today we are driving to Canada, only a 3 hour drive (we think). We are staying in Vancouver for the next week, before heading to Kelowna next weekend. Seattle is definately on our list to explore more on the way home.

San Francisco

Well, I thought I should give you a quick update on where we have been / what we are doing. After leaving Disneyland, we headed North via the I1 highway (up the coast). We stopped at Santa Monica Pier for lunch, then proceeded up the coast, going through Malibu, up through Santa Barbara, and ending up at Lompoc for the night. The coastline is absolutely stunning, with lots of cliffs, beaches and RV parks. We spent approximately 5 minutes looking around Lompoc, and came to the conclusion that there is not a lot there, and appears to be a military accommodation city, as all the houses literally are the same - with 2 different shades of beige as a choice of exterior colour (Vandenburg Air Force base is a few minutes North). We found out afterwards that there is also a large "Mens Colony" (we refer to them as prisons!) there. After a night at Lompoc, we headed up to San Francisco. We got in @ 6pm and easily found our accommodation near Stinson beach after driving over the Golden Gate bridge. After a quick dinner at a nearby restaurant, we hit the sack ready for a big day the next day.

That brings us to today - we started out by heading into Fishermans Wharf via the Ferry. It was a foggy morning, but cleared after lunch time. Fishermans wharf was fantastic, and after watching a street performer, we headed to a cafe for a seafood lunch, which was unbelievably fantastic. Overlooking the 300 odd sea lions who gather a pier 39, with Alcatraz in the background eating clam chowder was slightly surreal, but a lot of fun - it was probably the first meal Nyah was entertained (by the sea lions) enough to stay in her high chair the whole of lunch time. After lunch we took a 2.5 hour guided trolley tour, which was fantastic. The tour guide was an old dude, who was a Russian immigrant with a thick accent. When he introduced himself as Igor, we had to laugh, as he looked and sounded like an Igor, even before he told us his name. He had obviously been there a long time, and gave us a lot of cool info about the places we visited, and apparently we hit on one of the few days where you could see the whole of the Golden Gate bridge (apparently 80-85 days a year is all the blue sky they get). We then headed back to the ferry, and back to our hotel for the night, and the boys had an obligatory swim in the pool, even though today has been the coldest day so far (we had to buy jackets at the wharf it was so cold).

All in all, we LOVE San Francisco - the atmosphere, the scenery, the history, everything here we have experienced would put San Francisco into the "most desirable place to live in California" category (despite its 800 earth tremors every year). Almost every house has a view (and no yard), very low crime rate, beautiful properties (which are apparently among the most expensive in the world, with small 1 bedroom properties > $1 Million, and small 3 br terrace houses >$4 Million. If we had to pick a place to live over here - San Francisco would be it (if we could afford it!). If you only had a few days in California, I would fly into San Francisco rather than LA any day of the week.

Tommorrow we head to Medford via the Napa Valley, then to Portland and Seattle for 2 days before getting into Vancouver on the 23rd. Until we get our next post done, we hope you are enjoying reading about our adventures, and look forward to receiving any comments / emails etc asking anything (in case we forget stuff) and letting us know what you guys are doing back at home. We are all missing everyone back at home, and look forward to hearing from you as well.