Mom and Me Day at Lake Huron

Last year we had our first official Mom and Me Day.  You can check it out here Mom and Me Day 2013.  We had so much fun that I decided to make it a tradition each year just before Brenna's birthday.

This year, what better way to spend it than at Brenna's favorite place; the beach!  So we packed a beach blanket and picnic basket and headed out to Lake Huron that morning.  This was our first real visit to the beach since we moved to Canada.  We've stopped by several times for a quick walk through the waters but never for a full day of fun in the sun.  It was a perfect day with the sun shining bright and clear skies, but a bit cool for us.  That didn't stop us!  We just put jackets on over our swimsuits!  Once we got there and got everything situated, it quickly warmed up to about 72 degrees, which still isn't exactly our typical beach weather but it was warm enough to shed our jackets.

We had the whole beach to ourselves!  It was just us and a goose who stuck with us the entire day!  The lake is gorgeous in the summer with beautiful sparkling blue green water against vibrant clear blue skies.  The shore is lined with lush green trees and grass.  It was beautiful when I saw it for the first time in early March frozen over and completely covered in snow like a massive plain of white for as far as I could see.  I never could have imagined then that it would become so alive and beautiful in a totally different way just a few short months later.

Bahamas Cruise Vacation

Each year following our vacation, I almost immediately start scouting/planning/anticipating the next one.  Planning a vacation is one of my most favorite things to do.  I love to travel!  There has been one particular vacation that I've had on the horizon for the last several years, a Bahamas cruise.  I've cruised the Bahamas before, as a kid, but its was years ago and long before Atlantis was built.  Since Jacob and I have been married I've always wanted to go back, especially to see Atlantis.  But for one reason or another, that particular trip always lost out to others through the years.

Last year our last-minute whirl-wind cruise to Bermuda was the first time we had ever departed from New York.  After getting back I immediately began scouting itineraries and started to consider the possibility of a Bahamas cruise from New York.  The idea was quickly dismissed after bringing it up to Jacob and he adamantly said he did not want to repeat another weary travel day to New York.  The journey to New York was cumbersome to say the least.  It was probably one of the worst travel days we've experienced as a family.  The day went something like this.  Get up at the crack of dawn, drive to the airport.  Park offsite and wait for a shuttle bus to drive you to the terminal.  Then face the usual joys of check-in and security and wait to board the plane for the nearly 4-hour flight from Houston to New York.  After arriving in New York we had to catch a air train to baggage claim to wait for our luggage, then catch another air train to the transportation hub where we had to wait for our hotel's shuttle bus.  Once the shuttled arrived, we had to wait for it to fill before it departed.  A half hour later the shuttle bus dumped us off at the hotel.  By the time we made it to our room (nearly 10 hours after we started our journey) we were tired, dirty, and not in a "vacation" kinda mood!  The next morning we where up early to pack up again and wait for the car service I had arranged to take of to the cruise terminal.  Just to recap….catch a bus, to catch a plane, to catch a train, to catch a bus, to catch a car, to catch a boat!  Even I had to admit it wasn't something I wanted to do again and despite the best of plans there was no way to improve the journey.  So we scrapped the idea.

Fast-forward six months later and we got the word that a move was in our future, so we put a pin in vacation planning.  Fast forward three more months and we were on our way to Canada……very, very cold Canada!  After only a week in Canada I thought it was necessary to know positively that warmth and sunshine was waiting for me somewhere, so we again began to plan our summer vacation.  And suddenly, guess what the closest cruise port to us was now!  New York!  Bahamas, here we come!  We booked a 7-day cruise to the Bahamas on the Norwegian Gem.

With last years weary journey still on my mind, we made the decision to fly into NY the day of our cruise departure rather than a day early, like we usually do.  This is always a risk, since so many things can go wrong when you think about border crossings, air travel, and NY traffic.  In an effort to try and build in a back-up plan, we booked an early morning flight out of Detroit to NY with the hopes that if we were delayed there were a number of other flight departures that would still get us there in time.  As the vacation approached I decided rather than another early morning wake-up to leave for the airport (which is only about an hour away, not much different than our drive across Houston to get to Bush), we would start the vacation a day early and travel to Detroit to spend the night at the Westin located in the Detroit Metropolitan Airport.  This turned out to be a fantastic idea for a number of reasons.  1.  This eliminated the pressure and rush of early morning travel that first day.  Last years experience told me not to start my vacation off tired and stressed out.  2.  That Friday was July 4th!  While I am enjoying living in Canada, at times I also feel very aware of the fact that I am an immigrant in a foreign land.  Something about the idea of being in the United States for Independence Day made me happy!  3.  The hotel was fantastic, beautiful, and convenient.  This is not our first stay at an airport hotel, but it is the first hotel that was actually inside the airport.  I had my concerns initially, but being a Westin Hotel, it lived up to its name.

When we moved, one perk was the idea that I wouldn't have to worry about hurricanes in Ontario, Canada.  How wrong I was when Hurricane Arthur made an early season appearance the week ahead of vacation, traveling up the east coast and ruining the cruise ahead of ours.  The ship was forced to skip a port and leave the Bahamas a day early in an attempt to out run the storm.  We tracked the storm closely with concerns that it could possibly cause a change in travel plans or at the least some rough seas for departure.  This all made for a tense week, but fortunate for us, he moved quickly up the coast and through northeast Canada before we ever left for Detroit.

So, Jacob took a half day of vacation that Friday and by the time he got home, Brenna and I had everything packed up and ready to go!  It was a quick and easy drive to Detroit without any issues at the border.  After picking up some much desired Popeyes for Brenna we pulled up to the curbside hotel valet who quickly unloaded all our luggage.  The hotel offers a special to Canadian residents that allows valet airport parking for the duration of your travel.  So no worries of parking spaces or shuttle buses!  We walked into the beautiful atrium and Jacob checked us in as Brenna and I admired the fountains and 30 foot bamboo garden.

We had a wonderful time during our short stay at the hotel.  Brenna chatted with the lady at the front desk and she assured Brenna that she a had special room for her.  We were on the top floor and center of the building.  Upon entering the room, I understood what the desk woman had meant.  While the room was nice and clean, the stunning thing was the view.  We had panoramic view of the McNamara Terminal.  I'm not much of a plane enthusiastic, other than the desire the fly verses car travel for anything more than a 3 hour drive, but even I found it very interesting to have a birds eye view of the workings of the airport.  When the closest 757 backed out for departure we were so close that we could see the pilot and co-pilot inside the cockpit.

The Run Down

As I was trying to catch up the blog on the end of school and our summer vacation, it occurred to me that I haven't done a run down since we moved to Canada.  So, here's all the highlights from school functions, Canada Day, Kids Fest, the beautiful scenery, and random stuff that we've experienced since we've been here!

The End of School…..Finally!

This school year was especially long for us.  With some of our friends in the US getting out as early as mid-May, we started to see happy hot summer activities popping up all over Facebook and Instagram long before we could even anticipate the end of school.  We continued until the end of June.  But, those last two week were full of school fun!

Brenna made her stage debut in her classes presentation of Chicken Little!  Brenna was the cat!  The play was highly anticipation, especially since they had been practicing since our arrival in Canada. The class made their own masks and settings for the play.  It was very entertaining to hear the kids practice, get nervous, and excited when the big day finally arrived.  I could not have been more proud or entertained to watch Brenna act out her role!  Unfortunately, I had no idea what she was saying since the entire play was in French!  Lucky for me, one of my new friends sat next to me and interpreted the key parts!  It has been amazing to see just how quickly Brenna is learning the language!  She's even been teaching me.  Thanks to her I can count to 10 in French!  She's also already picked up a bit of Canadian slang that she now uses without thought.  For instance, instead of bathroom it's washroom, you should sit on your bum, and don't forget to throw your trash in the bin!  I laugh only because to me it all sounds so unusually coming out of her mouth.  She may shake off some of this southern accent after all.

Field Day 2014

We've had the opportunity to enjoy Field Day in Texas.  It's one of Brenna's favorite days and all the kids look forward to it!  Field Day in Texas generally includes sack races, egg and spoon races, water balloon fights, and buckets of water.  It's a fun outdoor activity!

In Canada, it's very different!  Field Day is short for Track and Field Day, as in a real deal track and field competition.  The neighboring Christian schools are bused in and everyone competes in an area meet for a bid to the district competition.  Each year the venue rotates between the participating schools.  This year, we were lucky enough to have Field Day at Sarnia Christian Academy.

The day includes 6 individual events; the 100 Meter Race, the 200 Meter Race, the Standing Long Jump, the Running Long Jump, the High Jump, and the Shot Put Throw.  Brenna has never taken part in Track and Field before.  In Texas that was never an option.  However, ahead of the Track and Field Day the PE teacher did go over all the techniques associated for each event with the kids and give them some practice time.  On Track and Field Day, the kids are broken into grade level groups for the competition and then split by boys and girls.  There was 18 kids in Brenna's competition group.

The entire day is outside, with lunch served outdoors.  I volunteered to help in the kitchen.  Because of that, unfortunately I missed the first event the 100 Meter Race.  I made it to the track just in time to catch the 200 Meter Race.  Because of the number of kids, the girls were broken into heats to complete the race.  Brenna was in the third heat along with 2 other girls.  The race was fantastic!  Brenna and her classmate Leah broke away from the 3rd girl quickly leaving her in the dust.  I knew they seemed to be making much better time than the previous heats, but it was hard for me to judge since we're so unfamiliar with this.  Leah edged in front of Brenna just before the first turn creating some space between them.  By the second turn Brenna had caught up to her heels and began to pull up on the straightway.  Brenna ran hard and if we had only had another 10 meters she could have pulled ahead but we came in second at the finish line by only 1/2 a second.  Once all the heats were completed, Leah and Brenna placed 1st and 2nd overall!  I was so proud!

Waiting for the flag to drop!  Ready, Set, GO!

1st Grade Field Trip

I've been very pleased that we've been able to enjoy all the school activities that I thought we would miss out on by moving schools.  All things that we missed in Texas, we've got to take part in here in Canada!  Like spring pictures, Dr. Seuss Day, class field trips, and Field Day!

Brenna's class field trip was to the Lorne C. Henderson Conservation Area in the adjoining community of Petrolia.  Of course I volunteered to chaperon and enjoy some time with Brenna and her class.  The day was gloomy with the prospect of rain.  The whole focus of the field trip was "Loving the World the Lord Made".  We started our morning out with a presentation from the park administrator about how we can care for our world and preserve the natural habitat of the creatures we share it with.  First, we started outside with a game of bingo!  Each kid was given a bingo card with pictures of animals and different plants.   The kids had to find the matching picture which was hung somewhere among the trees in the common area of the park.  Each match had a letter that they would write into that bingo spot.  The kids who received the most bingos would win and uncover the secret message hidden on the bingo board.  The kids ran wildly from one tree to the next trying to collect all the matches.  It was a fun twist of traditional bingo!

Next we moved on to a maze game.  The kids pretended to be fish swimming in a pond.  The blue tile represented the water.  Chemicals leaked into the pond causing the water to become polluted.  The blue tiles were turned over to gray to represent polluted water.  The fish must find a path through the pollution to the other side of the pond.  If a kid made a mis-step onto a gray tile they were removed to a "fish care facility".  As the pollution continued, eventually there was no clear path across the pond and everyone was in fish care.  The kids enjoyed the activity and I think it was a fun and creative way to help them understand the importance of preservation.

Spirit Week

A few weeks back we had what I would call Spirit Week.  Each day had a fun theme.  Monday was Twin Day and Brenna dressed like one of her new buddies.  Tuesday was PJ day and Wednesday was Book Character Day where you dress up like your favorite character.  Brenna instantly knew that she wanted to be Stella Starkeeper!  Stella Starkeeper is a main character in a new favorite book series called Lucky Stars.  Two months ago, while Jacob and I were in Canada for the house hunting trip, we missed out on the Spring Book Fair at school.  Mawmaw and Pawpaw were taking care of Brenna while we were gone.  Brenna was especially excited to have them come to "A Grand Affair" which is a special book fair shopping event for Grandparents.  Mawmaw and Brenna picked out a new book from the Lucky Stars series and Brenna has been in love with it ever since.  I especially like the books because they focus on helping others with just enough magic and make-believe to make things interesting and fun!  Stella Starkeeper is a Lucky Star that uses magic to grant wishes to those in need.  So, based on a few black and white sketches and the written description we put together a Stella Starkeeper costume complete with star crown and wand!

School Spring Pictures

We took spring pictures at Adolphus our last week there. In the chaos of the move, spring pictures was the last thing on the priority list and while I was a little disappointed that we wouldn't have any for this year, it wasn't enough to matter. Lucky for us, our second week of school we also had spring pictures here in Sarnia!

Comfort Food

With just more than a month behind us in our new land, the initial shock has worn off and I finally have the peace of mind to stand back and really see what's different and what's not.  For the things that are different, I can honestly say that the good does out way the bad.  There are lots of little things, like the metric system, the French Canadian slang that the locals use, and the different Canadian creatures that visit our back yard (we have a resident woodchuck that Brenna has lovingly named Chuckular, but I'll save that for another post).  With those small things aside, there are four major differences that stand out here.  Those are the weather, the pace of living, the cost of living, and the food!

I'll start with the weather.  It's cold!!! It's cold for me especially because I like it hot!!!  It's mid-May!!! Where is Spring???  Much less Summer!!!!  As I write this its 45 degrees outside and the 5 day forecast says we won't break 65 this week!  I'm tired of wearing a coat!  I'm tired of running the heater!  The locals try to assure me that it gets hot in Sarnia.  I don't think these people have any idea what hot is!  So far this Spring has only made me afraid of what the winter will be like for this Southerner!

The move has dramatically slowed down our pace of life.  Things here are very laid back and easy going.  This pace stretches to the businesses and the schools also.  There's not that much to do in Sarnia, but even it there was it wouldn't open until 10 AM and then it would close at 6 PM.  We do have a movie theater, but it's only open in the afternoons after 6 PM and on weekends after 11 AM.  Having reaped the benefits of the Palladium, which was just steps from our front door, this came as a shock to me.  Coming from Houston, we're used to things being available 24/7, and that's definitely not the case here.

School here runs from the beginning of September all the way through the end of June, but they do get a lot more time off than we did in the States.  Even the school day itself is very "cushy" with playground time before school, two recesses during school, and two lunches.  They even provide swim lessons as part of their PE curriculum.  So, once a week for the last two hours of school, Brenna's class gets bused to the local community center for swim instruction.  Needless to say, Brenna loves everything about her new school!

At work, Jacob also get additional time off with more holidays.  They also have a fantastic benefit called "Happy Friday" where salary employees who usually work more than the standard 8 hour day, gets one Friday a month off to compensate for their overtime!  Unfortunately, Jacob may not be able to to reap the full benefit of "Happy Friday" because of his specific job, but it should at least make for some short-day Fridays!

The cost of living is expensive.  Some laughable examples of this are that everything at the Dollar Tree costs $1.25.  Also, the first time I went shopping, I thought it was odd that the cashier asked if I would need bags, since I didn't bring my own and obviously had more than I could carry.   Then I discovered that they charge you for every plastic bag you use! You learn to bag your groceries with efficiency!  This is specifically troublesome since our grocery list has increased in the base case.  There's not a lot a variation to their food venues here, so we don't go out to eat often.  So, I cook a lot!  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!  Since school doesn't start until 8:45 AM, Brenna has time to eat breakfast every morning (not something we did in Houston).  I also pack lunches for both Jacob and Brenna everyday.  It's a necessity for both because Jacob can't get away for lunch because of time/convenience and the schools in Canada don't have cafeterias.  And finally, I cook dinner every weekday night, and then take the weekends off.

So that brings us to the food!  There's not a big selection of restaurants here, and don't expect to find any international food options.  I miss Papasittos, Papadeauxs, Carrabbas, and PF Changs!  We hear that there is a bigger selection in London (more than an hour away) and Toronto (3 hours away), but that's not helping us here in Sarnia!  The idea of a day-trip for dinner isn't exactly appealing to me, not even on the weekend.  Once again, oh how we were spoiled with the convenience of Houston!  So the lack of flavor has driven me to cook some of my favorite dishes. Things that I may not have cooked as often in the past, because homemade from scratch takes a lot of time and effort and why bother when I could get something just as good from a local restaurant right down the street.  Now there's no more "just as good" or "right down the street"!  So we've cooked a lot of comfort food in the last month.  Things like Taco Soup and Savory Taco Cupcakes (for Cinco de Mayo), Fried Chicken with Basil Cream Sauce, Spicy Mexican Shells, Blackened Mahi Mahi, and Grandmaws Chicken Pie.

Here's something I never thought I would say, but I've enjoyed it!  The days are longer here, which gives us lots of time in the afternoons.  We don't feel as rushed to get through homework, dinner, and bedtime routine.  Brenna helps with dinner everyday and it's turned into a fun time for me and her.  Last week while we were cooking Grandmaw's Chicken Pie, I decided to pick up my camera snap a few shots.

We stared off rolling out the dumplings.  It took a while.  We like them thin and fluffy!

Easter

Easter was a low key affair for us this year.  Things were still a little out of sorts.  We haven't settled into a church yet, but for Easter we went back to a church that we had already visited with.  The service was nice, but it made me miss our church and our pastor back home.  There were other incidentals that weren't quite with tradition this year.  Brenna always dyes Easter eggs with Mawmaw.  Because of the move, we didn't catch them for a Spring visit this year.  Also, we usually put up a Easter tree, but again since I had just managed to get everything tucked away where it was suppose to be, we didn't get that out either.  Since our old neighborhood had an egg hunt every year, Brenna was disappointed that our new area doesn't do those kinds of activities.  I know this is all just a part of the change and next year will be different.

On Good Friday we started the day by dying Easter eggs.  Since Brenna usually does it with Mawmaw, this was my first time in several years to do it with her.  We did have lots of egg hunts, but mostly inside because it was just too cold to get out.

Dr. Seuss Day

I was a little disappointed that I missed out on Read Across America this year.  For those that don't know, Read Across America is celebrated in March across the US in honor of Dr. Seuss's Birthday.  I've taken part in Read Across America for years.  It was one of the first "extracurricular" activities that I became a part of when I first started at ExxonMobil.  We partnered with elementary school's across the area and served as guest readers.  After reading to countless classes over the years, I was very excited to finally get to read for my own child's class.  So excited that I ended up leading the program last year for the kindergarten's.  It was a lot of fun for them and me and I looked forward to doing a similar program this year for our first graders.  Unfortunately, Read Across America was the same week that Jacob and I were in Canada on the house hunting trip, and without a volunteer to lead the program it was dubbed as part of the spring book fair with no special hoopla.

So, I was thrilled to hear that Canada has a similar celebration called Dr. Seuss Day, where the kids get to pick their favorite Dr. Seuss character and dress up.  I tried to talk Brenna into Sam I Am, since Green Eggs and Ham is her favorite Dr. Seuss book, but she asked to be The Cat in the Hat.  Then, just two days before, she decided she wanted to be Sally!  I thought that was a great idea, so we rummaged through her closet until we found a very Sally-ish outfit and completed it with her classic top-of-the-head bow.  However, before we left for school we had to winter-proofed the outfit.  She's the only Sally that ever had to wear a snow bib and snow boots, but we made it work.  Here's some pics I snapped before school!  Pickles always gets in on the action!

Canada, eh!

Oh my, where to begin?  Way back in October we received our first indication that a job transfer was in our future, expected sometime in early 2014.  Based on several factors, we initially thought we would be headed east to Baton Rouge.  So, for 4 months I searched the Baton Rouge real estate and researched schools with the anticipation that we would finish out Brenna's first grade year in Louisiana.  Christmas came and went with no further word on the new assignment.  Just when we were beginning to think that things may be slipping into the summer (which would have made for an easier move) we got the call.  Well, I got the call after Jacob got "the talk"!  The first day of February we got a big surprise!  We found out that the South would longer be our home!  Jacob was transferred to Imperial Oil in Sarnia, Ontario, Canada!  In 2013 ExxonMobil obtained 70 percent ownership of Imperial Oil and it falls under ExxonMobil's international trade name Esso.  Jacob was appointed as the Operation Manager of the Imperial Oil Chemical Plant effective March 1st!!!

And then our world was turned upside down!

To be honest, my initial reaction wasn't great!  All of you know I'm a planner and Canada was no where in my plan!  But, God knows better than I do, and oh boy did He have a plan for us!  After I had time to let the reality of the situation set in, I had no doubts that He was putting us where we needed to be, but this has been a practice of faith.  Between Jacob and me, the oil and gas industry has taken us from Mississippi to Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas, and Texas.  But, this would be our first time out of the Southeast United States and the culture that we knew.

When we moved to Houston, Brenna wasn't even 2 years old and still very much a baby.  That move had no impact on her.  We've always been very honest with her about the fact that one day we would have to move.  With Jacob's job, movement is inevitable and while its not the kind of life he or I knew as children, it's the life we have.  When we broke the news to Brenna, of course her initial reaction was no better than mine!  LOL!  Can't really blame her for that!  But after talking things through she quickly picked up a positive attitude about the change.  Her biggest concern was leaving behind her friends.  We've grown so close to our "extended" family in Houston and I knew saying goodbye would be hard for both her and us.  But, we tried our best to look ahead to the new exciting changes that were coming.  Brenna has never seen snow and her favorite place is the beach.  Sarnia provides the best of both worlds for her.  Sarnia is located on one of the Great Lakes, Lake Huron.  So summers will be spent at the beach and obviously our winters will provide plenty of snow!  We even stopped in for a hockey game at Memorial City so Brenna could see the new (to us) sport of hockey.

Initially, there wasn't much we could do until Jacob's Visa was approved, so the first few weeks after we found out were spent preparing for the move.  It was a crazy race to purge the house of all unnecessary things.  The old saying is true, everything is bigger in Texas, especially the houses!  I knew that a portion of our stuff would have to be stored while we were away in Canada and that we would likely be downsizing.  After giving away, donating, and selling a ton of stuff, it was all to make room for a new bulky winter wardrobe!  My shopping suddenly included snow boots, snow pants, parkas, and insulating base layers!  Most of our winter clothes are now rated for 40 below!  And its a good thing too, because when the Visa was finally approved Jacob and I paid our first visit to Canada.  It was very cold and snowy!  It was a hectic week, but we manage to find a house and a school and get the basics set up for our permanent return in a few weeks.

Houston Rockets Basketball Season

It was another great basketball season at the YMCA this year!  Brenna sure will miss Saturdays with the Sanfords!  She did great and its amazing to watch the improvement in her.  She loves athletics and continues to improve her speed, coordination, and ability with each season we play.  This year we were the home team, Houston Rockets!  Here's a few of the highlights from the season.

The Run Down

1st Grade Hoedown!

I'm a little disappointed in myself.  I'm moving into my 5th year of blogging and I've never missed a month until February!  The "why" is a big deal and something I want to save for a post all on its own.  That will come a little later.  But, before I miss another month I want to catch up on what's been going on here!

Brenna had her first ever school dance, the Adolphus Rocking Rodeo Hoedown!  She may have had more fun that I did at my Senior Prom!  There was dancing, hula hoops, jump ropes, limbo, and games!  Brenna got all dressed-up in her cowgirl duds and we had dinner with friends and then headed to the dance!