Book Worm

Along with all of his stuffed animals, Ethan has decided he wants lots of books in his big bed.  I love when he shows interest in books so I have a hard time telling him no.  His afternoon naps have been longer than normal so I wondered if he might be reading some more after I leave the room.  One day, I went back up to check on him and this is what I found.

Ice! Ice! Ice!

We decided to check out the Ice on Whyte Festival here in Edmonton this weekend.  We went on Saturday which was the 2nd day of a 3 day ice sculpting contest.  It was hard to visualize most of the sculptures but it was fun to watch the sculptors at work. 

They did have a few finished sculptures that weren't part of the competition.

 They also had several ice slides which Ethan thought was pretty fun.  We didn't know what to expect and didn't dress Ethan appropriate so he only got to go down a few times before he started to shiver and we had to stop him. 

New Toys

Ethan had a whole suitcase of toys to play with before our stuff arrived and I tried to include several of his Christmas presents (mostly small things).   He was so excited to pull all his toys out of the boxes and play with them while I've been unpacking and I was able to convince him to set the new toys aside for later.  With most boxes unpacked, this week we finally started to get out a few of the new toys and boy has he been having fun.

The Truck Arrives!!

We were so excited to finally see the truck arrive with all of our stuff.  Wade meet the truck and driver at customs to complete some paperwork first thing in the morning.  Once customs cleared our things, the truck driver went and picked up help at their warehouse and then finally arrived at our house.

Of course it snowed the entire time they were unloading the truck but the temps were at least decent and right around freezing all day.  A little over 3 hours later, the house was full of boxes and the truck was gone.  We started unpacking in Ethan's room, and setup his "big boy bed".  He insisted on putting all of his stuffed animals on the bed with him.  He has been doing great sleeping in the bed.

 The first thing Ethan said the next morning was "Open Boxes".  He remembered a couple of the boxes that we told him were labeled "toys" the day before and of course wanted to start with those.  I meant to take a few photos of all the boxes but forgot so I'll try to remember on the next move.  It's been a busy week of unpacking boxes and everything seems to be fitting into the new house well. It's funny how sometimes the little things can be so exciting, like cooking a meal and eating it at the table, sitting on the couch, or having a closet full of clothes to pick from. 

The weather was really nice all week with temps even up to 40F one day so Ethan and I did take a little break from unpacking to go and play in the backyard.  As expected, he wasn't to adventurous but he did have fun.  We painted the snow a little bit but his favorite part was having me make snowballs so he could throw them into my footprints or as he would say "throw balls in holes".

Saturday night was the annual Engineered Air banquet here in Edmonton.  Wade's boss volunteered his teenage daughter to babysit for us.  She had no babysitting experience but did okay until bedtime.  Ethan got a little scared and then refused to go to sleep so we had to call it an early night about 9:30.

We also made a trip to IKEA this weekend to pick up a desk since we left Wade's large antique desk back in Kansas.  Wade swore he would never set foot into an IKEA again after our trip last year in Denver (it was very busy and past Ethan's nap time so it was a disaster).  He even suggested IKEA since he knew it would probably be the best place to find a desk for the next 3 years.  I'm looking forward to going back again on my own to look at some of the smaller things.  

A New Car

We are officially back to a 2 car household (well if you count Wade's other vehicles we've never been a 2 car household but you know what I mean).  We signed the lease paperwork and picked up our new 2013 Honda CR-V on Saturday. 

 I would have to admit, I didn't have much input in the decision but I'm okay with it.  It is kind of ironic that I wanted to buy a CR-V six years ago and after Wade talked me into driving an Accord, I changed my mind.  It wasn't Wade's first choice in color, but it's even the same color as my Accord.  I'm also sure Wade will point out at some time that we have now bought two cars together and I didn't drive either of them before we bought them.

The other big news is we have heard from the movers and we are meeting the truck at customs on Monday morning at 7:30am.  After customs releases our things, the truck will come unload at the house.  We have been counting down the days till we get our things.  The air mattress and borrowed bag chairs are getting old not to mention the prepared food.

Wade was able to get a ride to work a couple days this week so Ethan and I could have the car.  Shopping still seems to be a bit of a chore...finding which stores carry the brands we like and have decent prices.  Ethan and I checked out a small portion of the West Edmonton Mall.  I think Ethan was a little disappointed that we didn't find cars or horses to ride like there was at Oak Park Mall when he went with Grandma Carol and Grandpa Charlie a couple weeks ago but there was still lots to look at and see.  

We were very excited to get our first utility bill in the mail on Friday!  Yes, I know that sounds odd but it meant we were able to apply for our health insurance cards and get our Alberta driver's licenses.  Both of these along with the car tag had to be done at a Registry Services Location (no DMV here).  These locations are privatized and then their computers interface to the government.  We also needed proof of residence to get library cards so Ethan and I need to make a trip to the library now.    

The weather did turn colder later going into the weekend.  We have had four days with the highs being in the single digits.  The lows have been around -20C (-5F) or lower.  Monday and Tuesday are suppose to be above freezing though so we might have to take a break from unpacking to enjoy the weather.

The Remainder of the Long Drive & Arrival in Edmonton

Our internet at our new house got hooked up today so here's an update on the remainder of our trip.  

Day 3 of our Drive - It had snowed a little overnight in Regina so we decided to wait to get on the road and go get our new cell phones first since our US phones weren't working very well in the rural areas we were driving through.  We got back on the road and was glad to see the sun by lunch time.  Oh and I finally had to admit defeat to the cold that I had been fighting.  Some friends in Calgary were nice enough to feed us a home cooked meal and their son shared his toys with Ethan for the evening.  Ethan was pretty happy and is still asking to go back to Eric's house to play with the trains, cars, and blocks. 

Day 4 - Luckily it was just a short drive from Calgary to Edmonton and we arrived before lunch.  Our trip clocked in at just short of 1900 miles and about 31 hours.  First thing on our agenda was to pick up the keys and check out our "new house".  We decided to go ahead and camp out at the house till our things arrive so we also went and bought a few things to help us get by. 

Our first few days - Wade went to work on Friday but he didn't get much work done since he had to put his own desk together and setup his computer.  By Friday, I was finally starting to feel better but Ethan and I still just took it easy.  Ethan was really excited to see a "digger" and dump trucks out our window as they removed the pile of snow from the cul-de-sac.  It was a good thirty minutes of entertainment for him as they loaded seven dump trucks of snow. 

Wade's boss had us over for dinner Friday and Ethan was excited to play with their son, dog, and they even got out some trains.  Another of Wade's coworkers invited us over on Saturday but Ethan was  a little disappointed that they didn't have any trains at their house.  I think after the first two houses we visited had trains, Ethan was beginning to think everyone in Canada had trains.  Ethan still will only refer to the house as the "new house" and if we say something about going home he will clarify that we are going to the new house.  Wade went car shopping yesterday and we hope to get something finalized this week so we will be back to a 2 car family.  I think the weather is being nice to us and trying to give us a little time to adjust before it gets really cold.  So far the temperature has ranged from about 32F to 18F.  It was snowing earlier today but it didn't accumulate to much. 

Wade figured he'd made the neighbors curious by going out to shovel the deck today.  The deck had about 18 inches of snow and he thought shoveling it would be the only way we could get our grill and patio furniture out there when the truck arrives.  He also wanted to check out the shed with hopes of putting the mower in it.  We had mentioned to Ethan earlier in the day that he could help dad shovel and of course he remembered this about 4:30.  So if the neighbors didn't notice the first time, Wade and Ethan went out again to "finish" shoveling the deck just as it was getting dark.  We didn't think to bring Ethan's boots and snow pants in the car with us so they didn't stay out for long but he had a blast and didn't want to come back in.

The Long Drive - Days 1 and 2

Day 1 - It seemed appropriate that we left Kansas in the snow.  Although we wish we could have said goodbye to a couple more people, we thought it would be best to get on the road ahead of the snow that was predicted for Kansas City. 

We made it on the road about 9:00, and drove in snow for a couple hours before the roads cleared out.  Since Ethan is getting over a cold and I'm possible catching the same cold, we weren't sure how far we would drive but we ended up driving further than expected and finally stopped in Fargo, ND.   We have over 600 of the total 1800 miles out of the way. We weren't very excited about the -8 F temp in North Dakota and weren't very interested in the New Year's Eve celebration at our hotel but we were glad to be out of the car. 

Day 2 - The roads we pretty empty first thing in the morning New Year's Day.  The paperwork at the border went smoothly and we quickly got back on the road.  We managed to drive a total of just under 600 miles to Regina, Saskatchewan.  The roads weren't bad until the last hour or so when the sun went down and the snow started to blow around a little and it also started to mist.  On the positive side, the temperature is much warmer than it was in Fargo last night and was still in the upper 20's when we stopped for the day.  Ethan is almost over his cold and I'm sure I've caught something although so far it hasn't been as bad as what Wade and Ethan had.