Sarnia Then and Now

One afternoon, I suited up with determination to brave the cold (especially cold on the lake) and get some pictures of Lake Huron and the St. Clair River.  I revisited some of our favorite places that we spent time at this summer.  After returning home I realized that I had inadvertently captured several of the same images that I had taken this summer.  It provided some very interesting "before and after" pictures.  The summer images were all taken in late July and winter images were taken in early January.  I'm considered another outing because since then things have continued to significantly change.  These pictures were taken before we plummeted into sub-zero temperatures and had not yet accumulated the significant amount snow that we now have.  Eventually I may have "after the after" images!

The Seasons of Ontario

I'm very behind on blogging and hope to have some winter pictures up soon.  Until then, I thought I would share our first real experience with the seasons since our move to Canada.

SPRING - April 15th, 2014
Within two weeks of moving we experienced our first snow the week of Easter!  What a way to welcome us to Canada!

The Really Big Christmas Post

I got behind on blogging during the holidays, which happens every year.  So I decided to roll everything into one big monster Christmas post.

Unfortunately, this year we caught "The Christmas Crud."  We obviously have no immunity for the kind of yucky stuff that is circulating here.  Over the month of Decemeber, Brenna caught a stomach bug, a cough, and then a cold.  We did have a couple of uncomfortable days that were filled with kitty snuggles and lots of movies and computer games.  Luck for us she always bounces back quickly.

I Love Snow!

We got our first real snow the week of Thanksgiving and Brenna LOVED it!  There were snowmen, snow angles, and snowball fights.  It made for some pretty awesome school recesses.  Even I enjoyed opening all the blinds and just watching the snow fall.  Before now, it was something that I'd only ever seen in movies, and as strangely new as it all is to me, I thankful for our opportunity to get to experience this.

It snowed steadily for about three days and the accumulation stayed with us for more than a week.  I had to shovel my driveway and use my ninja tool ice scrapper for my car's windshield.   Since that time we've gotten snow flurries on and off through the weeks with some accumulation, but it was usually followed by rain that would wash everything away.  I'm not complaining, because in general its been a mild winter for this area.  We usually drop into the 20s at night and stay just above freezing during the days.  There were a few days we even broke into the low 40s.  That's considered a warm winter for here!

As we approach Christmas, my dream for our first white Christmas is dwindling.  The snow that was forecasted earlier in the week has changed to rain.  Brenna asked Santa for a sled, and unfortunately she may have to wait a while before we can try it out.  While I'm a bit disappointed that we won't be able to run out the back door on Christmas morning and start building a snow fort with her new snow brick maker, I'm not too worried.  There will be snow, we'll just have to wait a little while for it.  January is forecasted to have much colder temperatures.  So for now, I'm satisfied with slowly growing accustomed to our new winter wonderland, since it was already a very steep learning curve!

Brenna's 2nd Grade School Pictures

The Run Down

Here's the run down for Fall.  Lots of Mississippi State love in this one after a great run this season.  Now we're starting to switch gears and look ahead to the holidays!

Canadian Critters

We have the smallest back yard that I've ever lived with.  It's tiny!  But, it has one very big saving grace.  Our home backs up to a nature preserve.  Our back fence is a woven wire fence that allows nature and all its wildlife to visit us!

Since we moved in this past spring, we've experienced a constant array of "friends" that visit our back yard.  We get the usual stray cats and dogs, snakes, and mice.  But it was the uniquely "Canadian" critters that we enjoyed the most.

Our first experience came with the squirrels.  We have all kinds of squirrels that I'd never seen before!  I've named the guy below Grey-Back.  I'm not sure if he is suppose to look this way or if he just had a very bad winter!

First Snow of the Season!

The temperature is dropping at a slow steady pace.  What was once beautiful mild Fall weather that made you want to get out and enjoy the day has now been replaced with cold 30ish days with a wind chill in the teens.  Brenna looks like an eskimo each morning headed to school.  We've bought snow tires for both cars, a snow blower, and an ice chipper that looks like some kind of ninja weapon.  Ready or not, winter is here.

First snow of the season!

Halloween at the Mall

Last year Brenna had a My Little Pony birthday party and was Twilight Sparkle for Halloween.  This year things seemed to fall the same way.  She had a Frozen birthday party and in keeping with that theme she wanted to be Elsa for Halloween.

I was concerned about how we would manage the cold for trick-or-treating.  In Texas, we never had to winterize a Halloween costume.  Unfortunately for us, a storm blew in that day bring 35 mph winds and sheeting rain.  Cold really doesn't even begin to describe it.  What was fortunate for us, the local Lambton Mall was hosting a Halloween event with trick-or-treating, face painting, and fun.  Cold and wet versus warm and dry…….it was an easy choice!  Brenna was a bit disappointed at first that we wouldn't be going door to door, but I played it up as a fun new way to experience Halloween.  Basically this whole year has been "a fun new way to experience (fill in the blank)!" So why not this too!

I have to admit, once we arrived at the mall and were waiting to meet up with our friends, my mind wandered to Long Meadow Farms.  I missed the annual meet-up at our house, pictures with all the kids, and visiting with all our friends and neighbors:  2010, 2011, 2012, and 2014.   Somehow, wading through a herb of strangers at the mall wasn't as appealing to me, but as with all our other Fall traditions this one was re-born too!

Brenna had a great time.  At least 95% of the mall stores participated in trick-or-treating.  The kids raced from one store to the next looking for the painted pumpkin that indicated the participating the stores.  In effort verses candy, this was by far our most efficient Halloween.  Within 45 minutes we had a bag full of candy after only a short walk through the mall.

Brenna wasn't interested in the Elsa wig, so we went with a traditional side braid and attached a blond braid onto her dark hair.  Due to the dark hair, side braid, and blue dress we were mistaken for Jasmine more than once.  Which might not have been a bad thing since there were so many Elsa's.  I stopped counting after about 20.

After the mall we braved the weather and enjoyed a dinner out with friends.  When we got back home we did have a few trick-or-treaters, mostly neighborhood friends who wanted to show off costumes, more Elsa's!

Continuing the Fall Traditions

Before Brenna came along, Jacob and I didn't have a lot of traditions outside of the normal holiday celebrations.  But, once Brenna was born we discovered that if she found enjoyment in something, we kept going back.  That seemed to especially be true for Fall traditions.  After more than five years in Houston, there were several Fall activities that we always enjoyed with friends and never missed; the Fort Bend County Fair 2011, 2012, 2013, and Dewberry Farms 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013.

We were pleased to discover that we could keep those traditions alive here in Sarnia!  We joined some friends, which just happened to be another expat family that moved here from Houston, for a visit to the Brigden Fair and Korny Korners Farm.  And so, it began the re-birth of our Fall traditions!

One afternoon we drove off into the middle of nowhere for the Bridgen Fair.  Sarnia has a very small-town feel, but it is a hub for surrounding areas.  The area around Sarnia is a mass of acres and acres of agriculture.  Fields as far as you can see of corn, wheat, soybean, and a few plants I can't identify.  And the Bridgen Fair is located way out in the middle of one of those wide open spaces.

The fair was every bit what we would expect in comparison to the Fort Bend County Fair, just on a smaller scale and with a northern twist.  Instead of booths filled with cowboy hats, they sold fleece jackets and tights in beautiful and intricate patterns.  Instead of a rodeo, they had motor-cross, and instead of funnel cakes and fried snickers, they had french fries with gravy.  The kids loved it all the same.  They rode rides, toured the barns, played on some very large farm equipment, and enjoyed the motor-cross show.  We also browsed the craft booths and took in some hotdogs and kettle corn.  It was a fun way to take a old tradition and enjoy it in a new way!

Fall Fun!

Fall here has been amazing!  The colors are so beautiful and the weather has been great.  Brenna was especially excited about raking leaves!  It's something we never had to do down south.  I didn't even have a leaf rake, I had to go buy one.  Our backyard was completely carpeted in brown, orange, yellow, and red leaves.  So, one afternoon me and Brenna got to work and raked up our small backyard into a very large pile!  I was surprised by how much there was!  A friend shared with me that he has no less than 100 bags of leaves each Fall from his yard!!!

After the last leaf was raked onto the pile, the leaf jumping commenced!  Oh, the fun she had!  Happy Fall from Canada!

Class Field Trip to the Greenview Aviaries

One of the things I love about our new school is all the extracurricular activities that it offers.  Its not the standard cookie cutter school that we've grown accustomed to.  As a private school they have to ability to offer so much more!  The lower elementary students take swim lessons, cross country, and track and field, just to name a few of the fun activities.  Last month our school held the Terri Fox run to support cancer research.  The whole school, kinder thru 8th (along with a lot of volunteers), ran/walked roughly 2 miles on a nearby nature trail.  The kids loved it.  They encourage each other along way, the big kids helped the little kids, and they all had a clear understanding of why we were doing it.  Last Friday again the whole school took the the afternoon for kite flying!  They broke into teams with representatives from each grade and built a team kite!  It was a great lesson in teamwork!

Another fun perk is class field trips.  In our public school in Texas, we were only allowed one field trip per year.  Here, we have one field trip per term!  So, three trips a year!  And we didn't have to wait long!  Our first class field trip came within the first month of the new school year.  We visited Greenview Aviaries and Zoo.  In their current science unit the kids were required to chose one bird to write an animal report about.  The field trip allowed for the opportunity to further their research.  The kids really enjoyed exploring the grounds.  While the park had the normal lions, tigers, bears, zebras, and monkeys, it also had some more usually animals like timber wolves, buffalo, albino raccoons, and lots of birds!

After exploring all the animals, we had a picnic lunch and then spent the rest of the afternoon on the massive play area.  The kids enjoyed zip line races, the spider climb, and an array of different swings!  All around it was a really fun day and we can't wait to see what our field trip will be!

First Day of Second Grade

We're already off to the start of another school year.  I'm having a hard time saying that Brenna is in 2nd grade.  Somehow that seems so much older than 1st!  Brenna was excited to get going with her new year and that is an answered prayer, considering she has started a different school every year since the beginning.  When Brenna turned 4 we chose First Baptist Rosenberg for preschool to help her begin her transition to a classroom setting.  Then, when she turned 5 and officially started school we moved to Frost Elementary for Kindergarten.  After being re-districted, we opened the brand new school in our neighborhood, Adolphus Elementary, our first grade year.  Then of course, we had the move and now Brenna is at Sarnia Christian School for 2nd grade.  I'm aware that to some this all may come across as bad parenting!  Looking back on all of it, I can assure you that school hopping was nowhere in my parenting plan, but God has thrown us some curve balls that we've learned to trust Him with.  I also believe that God knew his plan for Brenna and blessed her with a personality and outlook on life that has enabled her to easily navigate and manage these changes.  Through it all she's never missed a beat and has openly embraced her new surrounding and friends.

As of this writing, we are a month into the new school year and we're off to a blazing start!  We've already had our first class field trip, a new basketball season has begun, and Brenna joined a girl's club at our church called Girl's Alive!  We've only been here 6 months, but we're already tied in and connected to so many things.  We're quickly settling into a comfortable routine.

Here's Brenna on her first day of Second Grade.  She was also very proud of her new school shoes!

The Run Down

This is a very much belated wrap up of summer!  Summer felt all too short here due to longer school year, but we made most of it with trips to the beach, soccer, tennis, library fun, and lots of friend time!  Here's our Summer Run Down and all the fun!

Lemonade Stand

All summer Brenna patiently waited to have a lemonade stand.  Immediately at the start of summer I told her that we would, but there was too much going on with school ending and preparing for the vacation.  Once we were home from vacation, I delayed again saying that we needed to prepare for her birthday party.  After her birthday, my excuse was that we had to wait for a hot day.  This was really the reason I had been waiting all summer.  I thought that as the summer continued the temperature would rise and a lemonade stand would be much better suited for a hot day.  We didn't get any hot days here!  I'm not complaining at all, because the weather was fantastic!  This mild summer allowed us so much outdoor time that it was hard to keep us inside.  But it didn't really lend itself to the "tall glass of cold lemonade" feel that usually leads to us dragging out the lemonade stand.

So as a last ditch effort, on the last Friday before school started (just like last year) the kids whipped up four gallons of lemonade and went to work.  It was only about 75 degrees and a little overcast, but thanks to our neighbors and social media, we had a good turnout.  They peddled lemonade at 25 cents a cup and even though the kids drank most of their inventory, they still managed to make $38!  Which should tell you we have some very generous neighbors!  The kids were very diplomatic and decided that they would donate their earnings to our neighborhood's playground fund!  Just beyond our street is a clear grass area that's reserved for a playground/park.  I was very proud of the their selfless decision after all the work they (and even more so me! My kitchen was smeared with sticky lemon juice/peels/seeds from one end to the other) had put in!

Turns out it was worth it to drag that stand all the way from Texas!  I've stored it in the garage to be ready for next summer!