Happy Birthday

Happy birthday to me!  Snow with no wind, so it settles softly on everything!

Family Day

Canada has an official holiday for Family Day.  Most businesses close for the holiday to allow the employees time with their family.  Imperial, of course, was not one of those companies.  We did have a great day though.  The local mall held a Family Day event that kicked off with a My Little Pony Equestria Girls Live show.  Brenna was so excited and loved dancing and singing with the show.  It was a perfect fun event for her.  Next we wandered through the mall taking part in the many YMCA events; super slides, an indoor swim meet on rolling body boards, face painting, life sized jenga, and balance beams.  I've been very pleased with our mall.  Since Sarnia is such a small community, the Lambton Mall seems to be hub of happenings for the area.  So far, we celebrated Halloween, Family Day, and some of Spring Break there.

Sunset in the Backyard

It's amazing how it can be a clear bright sunny day with no clouds in the sky and still be below zero.

Winter Storm Linus

We got our first snow of the season on November 1st.  From then, it would snow on and off, stick around for a few days, and then eventually melt, since we still maintained a temperature just at freezing.  After a snowless Christmas, it started to snow at the very end of our winter break on January 4th and I haven't seen my back yard since!  Through January we continued to get colder.  We would have snow showers of an inch or two every other day or so that slowly accumulated.  It was just enough snow to enjoy all the winter activities, but not so much that it would be a problem.  Jacob would plow the driveway in the morning and it would be good for a few days.

Then on February 1st Winter Storm Linus came.  Over the day the storm dumped snow across Sarnia.  We had areas of snow drift that were as deep as 4 feet.  That's when we learned how hard it really is to deal with winter.  Jacob couldn't even get the snow plow out of the garage because of the mountain of snow that had drifted between our front door and driveway.  He spent the pre-dawn hours trying to dig our way out of the house.

Our back patio is built about 1.5 feet off the ground due to the basement.  Because of the way the snow drifted there was about 3 feet of snow on the back deck and you couldn't tell where the patio ended.

Brenna's First Sled Adventure

In early January once the snow had accumulated, Brenna insisted that we try out the new sled that Santa brought her.  Despite the fact that it was 5 F with a wind chill of -13F, we visited the sledding hill located in a park not far from our house.  When we arrived there were two boys with sleds and snow boards enjoying the runs.  After Brenna watched them go a few times, she was ready to give it a try.  It was fun, but very cold that particular day and we only lasted about 20 minutes.  We left with the satisfaction that she had tried it and the promise that we would do it again on a better day.

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!