An Amazing Life

We have purchased 4 acres of trees and bush. Not just a little bit of trees but thick rows of tall trees. The work we have ahead of us is tremendous.  The first thing that J did was make paths from this house to our property. It's a short walk but across a hay field and through some brush... its a walk that you wouldn't do without long pants, sturdy shoes and bug spray - lots of bug spray. This past week J has been gathering Intel... where water pools and runs, how far and long the cut lines the surveyors created are, what the vegetation looks like, and what garbage and refuse we have to dig out from where.  I set to work gathering clippings to try and identify what we have growing on our property. The more we know the better off we will be. We sure found some interesting things... Time to roll up the old sleeves and get to it... there is a lot of work ahead of us.

We have been spending our days as lazy of days as possible for the first little while. We all need to reset and get our systems back on track. Our sleep was impacted from the time change, our eating was impacted from living in hotels for almost a month and we were all a little weary from being nomads. We can now all recalibrate and settle in for a while. We have to quarantine for 14 days - 5 days in and we are relaxing, taking our time and not putting pressure on ourselves to do too much.  It's weird not seeing people, but almost everyone has stopped by to at least say Hi and drop off some groceries, beers or presents for the girls. It will be nice to deliver hugs and have good visits once we are done with this quarantine.  Slowly, slowly, the house is gaining order and our things are finding a home. We are trying to be practical with how much stuff we are purchasing before we have a house of our own, but we will need to get some things like bookshelves and shoe racks and some...

On a previous blog, I always did a "10 things" list after a trip of any magnitude. I thought it would be fun to continue the tradition with this blog.  Ten things about travelling across Canada 1. Road signs that aid in where to go and how to get there, varies from province to province. Ontario gets a big fat F - no signs for road side turn offs or if there's a sign, it doesn't tell you how far it is or any real information. New Brunswick gets an A+. 2. New Brunswick also gets an A+ for the type of road side turn offs. There are gas stations, coffee houses, hotels and resturants a plenty. Again, Ontario gets an F for this. 3. Manitoba has the most roadkill I have ever seen. We saw everything from skunks, porcupines, deer and even a baby bear cub. The deer was bloated and stiff as if it had been there for days. GROSS Manitoba, just gross. 4. Road conditions very a lot, not only from province to province, but within the province. Worst roads, Mon...

We started out this morning super early. Neither Justin nor I could sleep, Ruby was stirring and Sally was sort of awake. We decided to just get up, get caffinated and get going. We were on the road by 6am. A quick stop for fuel and coffee and we were off.  The New Brunswick border was a non-event. We drove up and were asked where we came from, where we are going and to have a nice day. Smooth sailing.  New Brunswick is very forest dense. We stopped a few times for the kiddos and for fuel, but mainly drove straight through eating sandwiches made from the cooler, fruit and snacks. We did have coffee, lots of coffee today. The roads were smooth and not as rough as 90% of the roads in Canada - thank God for that! Its been a bumpy ride and I am thankful that we are in a luxury vehicle with AC and not a covered wagon. I spent quite a bit of time imagining folks in the olden days bumping along a Dusty trail on a wooden bench in 35 degree heat for months on end. Our journey seems pos...

We had a light driving day today, only getting 250kms down the road. We stopped in Degelis, just West of the New Brunswick border. We will need to do New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in one shot due to border restrictions right now, and that is just over 800kms. Tomorrow will be a long day so because of this, we took it easy today and tried to have a good family day outside. We got to Degelis shortly after 3 after we slept in a bit and took our time getting going. With the time change, it's been hard to get to sleep early and so we all were happy for the later sleep in. Once here, we went for a delicious late lunch and then went for walk to see some sights. There is a beautiful church from early 1900s here, St. Rose, that was beautiful but not opened. We then went and walked down their path system and found an amazing splash park and play park. We spent an hour here cooling down from the 27 degree heat (with humidity). A stop at Tim Hortons for a frozen lemonade and cold b...

We started out in Ontario this morning and by 1pm we were past Ottawa and heading into Quebec. Bienvienue à Quebec! We decided not to hit Montreal at rush hour so we pulled off the highway in Kirkland at a play park. We made sandwiches and had snacks and played for a good 2.5, almost 3 full hours. It was nice to be in the sunshine and a lovely and manageable 24 degrees. Sally had the biggest smile and she could have played all day there.  One stop before hitting the road for gas and an icecream and we were back on the road shortly after 6pm. We planned on missing the rush hour traffic and were pretty successful. Once through Montreal, I understood why J wanted to skip the bumper to bumper traffic - the roads are awful! I dont know that I've been to a place that had such awful roads in such a major city. Before we were through the Montreal nightmare, both girls were konked out - thank God, because it was so nerve wracking that both of us needed to concentrate. On to Quebec City, we ...

For Justins Birthday, he got to drive 540kms. The bonuses? He only had to stop for 3 "emergency" potty breaks and Ruby didn't cry for an hour straight. I would consider that success??  We drove to Pembroke today, it was a stunning drive. I know why my friend Kara dreams of living in Ontario - it is beautiful. One thing we have noticed is the humidity has ramped up. AC in the hotel is a welcomed relief and the AC in the car is imperative.  We have noticed the time change in a different way. Even after driving all day, we are still up at 1:30am. It could also be the coffees at 430pm- those new Tim's cold brews are delish!!! Either way, crossing two time zones has thrown our internal clocks off a bit. Tonight we have a Comfort Inn booked in Pembroke. We are going to stop a little early tonight to play and get a good rest. Maybe find somewhere nice and eat supper off plates - not a bed or our laps. Feeeeeelin' faaaancy!!! Happy Birthday J! 1697...

Ontario continues to be the most visual part of the drive, it's been pretty lovely and scenic. We are taking the northern route to try and avoid some of the traffic and because Justin has never done this route before.  We drove for a fair bit - close to 650kms and found a lovely camp site for our first camp of this journey. We found Macleod Provincial Park campground and set up shop and went right to bed. We woke to Sally saying...."We're in the trailer, we're camping!!" She was so excited. When we woke up, Justin made breakfast, including bacon, and we spent some time exploring. We found the lake and dipped our toes in it, everyone including Ruby. Sally went for a full on swim. She is such a water kid. We packed up and hit the road around 2... we gave ourselves a break and tried to run out the Littles before continuing on our way. It was such a nice break and totally worth the stop in action. Back on the road, we managed to get to Iriquois...

We have officially begun. We pulled out yesterday around 6pm, the girls were pretty content and we were able to make it to Medicine Hat.  We buttoned up the house and got it to the point where Peggy was pleased and everything was secure and hopefully warmer. We will see the impact on our bills, hopefully. Today we hope to make it through Saskatchewan. It's pretty uninspiring driving today... the smoke from the wildfires in BC is pretty bad, the head wind is pretty fierce as well. It will be slow going with the trailer but we have the tunes on and eachother to entertain ourselves. We hope to make some miles while Ruby sleeps and Sally is still entertained by her games on her phone. Slow but steady is the order of the day. We are on our way and that's super exciting. I am sure by day 4 we all won't be as excited. Hahaha. We are moving forward and that is the most imortant thing at this stage.

We blew through Saskatchewan - it was not very inspiring although it wasn't as flat as advertised. There are more coulees than I expected. We spent the night just outside Moosimin Sask - we needed to be close to the border of Manitoba as we had to go through it all in one day so we didn't have to quarantine. We saw the world's biggest moose just outside of Moose Jaw... check! I was shocked by the amount of salination in the fields in Saskatchewan... I hope this is something that they are working on fixing. The lack of rain this summer sure hasn't helped I am sure. Manitoba was not very interesting either and the roads are not very spectacular. The smoke has progressively worse as we got closer to Winnipeg. It was probably the bumpiest road I have ever been on and I hope Lulu the car wasn't negatively impacted. We zipped through the province and made it to Ontario early in the evening. The smoke from the forest fires was pretty bad well into Ontario. ...

Has arrived!!! It arrived Tuesday morning, as promised (finally) so we got to work right away... Glenn our neighbour helped unpack and move the pieces. It's pretty light and compact, and so the hope was that it would go up quickly. J needed some supplies so I zipped out to the hardware store with a list and he went back under the house to finish insulating the pipes.  I returned and he finished the insulating - finally - what a horrible horrible job that was. He then took out the window from the house to see what supplies he needs when he replaces it.  Once the other burning items were accomplished, he set about building the shed. 90% of it went up Tuesday. Today, Wednesday, he got an early start and put on the roof and doors. We now have a shed to store all our stuff in - Yahoo!!! He is off doing a hardware store run for supplies for the window and then that goes in today.  I am hanging with the girls... watching Sally play at the park. She is current...

Small towns for ya... we have already spent more time with our across the street neighbour's, Tanya and Glenn, than we ever did with any of our neighbour's in Calgary. It has been so nice to be able to get to know the people who surround this house we plan on making a home. Today, Sally, Ruby and I wandered across the street, kitty corner to our house, to see if the kids that invited Sally over on Friday were still there. Turns out 2 little girls, aged 5 and 3, live there. It is perfect. They spend part of their time at their mothers house but most of it in Coleman. They are polite, delightful little girls who seem to have good imaginations and play ethic. I think Sally was excited to have little friends that were so close, AND... they have a huge outdoor pool that Sally played in until she turned blue.  The Dad, Lance, and I chatted as Ruby cooed and slept. He seems to be a nice man who married the wrong lady. He sounds like he works hard and has lived in the pass ...

Well, the stupid shed isn't coming until stupid Tuesday. Stupid. So, we took yesterday off and decided to head out camping. We got the cooler packed, the trailer sorted and we headed out to the land use area with our permit and a hope that there would be a place for us in the mountains on a Friday at 5. We drove a bit and found a spot, turns out a gentleman was going to cut down trees at that exact location. He gave us the details of a great place to camp for the night... just a little up the road. We'll, it was the bumpiest road the Lexus has been on... never mind towing a trailer. Lulu - the Lexus - made it brilliantly. J parked the trailer and we settled in for the night - its a shame we couldn't have a camp fire. The trailer worked really well, it was cozy and warm inside. It kept really dark in there until Justin opened the doors in the morning. I was thankful for the protection from the bugs as we were right beside a bubbling creek, which we heard all nigh...

So, there are many of you that know about the Coleman house purchase, but there may be some of you who are wondering what is going on... well, we bought a house in the mountains.  "Aren't you going to Cape Breton?" You ask. Yes, we are going to Cape Breton just as soon as we have everything sorted out with the Coleman house.  Here's the plan, folks. We have a lady who will rent the house in Coleman for the next year. We are doing some quick fixes for her so that she is super comfy. We are also building a shed to store our stuff in for the year. When I say "We" here, it is Justin who will do the work. I have two bambinos to tend to, so that limits my function here.  Once we are done with the house here, we are hitting the road and driving across Canada to Cape Breton. We will spend a year working on clearing the land, getting septic and water on the property and what ever else comes... maybe the driveway? Perhaps our Yurt?  In a years time, we wil...

Sally Ruby and I have spent a couple days getting to know the community. We have been to the post office to get our postbox for mail, we've been to the Municiple building to get our services changed into our name, and we've been on walks in the evenings as a family to explore. It has been no getting to know this area - all while getting tasks checked off the list. Justin has been working on securing the foundation and insulating the floor. The amount of garbage that was under the house has been unreal he said, so it's a good thing the next door neighbor has a heavy hauling business where he can haul all the garbage to the dump. All the sod J pulled up to put the pad for the shed, all the branches from the pruning I did and all the garbage we have been extracting will all go in a load tomorrow. These neighbours have been wonderful as they are the type that have everything! The visit with the Lethbians went well - everyone was happy to meet Ruby (she stole the sho...

Possession day was good. We went to the house, got the all clear and then spent time at the splash park beside the world's largest piggy Bank.  Work commenced the following day with Justin putting in a pad of stone pavers for the shed that's coming to hold all our belongings for the year. The shed package hasn't arrived yet, it was supposed to be here already, but we figure it's delayed because of the remote location. We will wait until Monday, it should be here then. Until then, there is so much to do. Justin is going into the crawl space to check out the foundation and put some insulation in so the floor doesn't lose so much heat and so the pipes don't freeze. There's a window to replace and some faucets to re-caulk. Door knobs to change out and a screen door to fix. J will have a busy day or three doing some maintenance so I am going to occupy the girls todat and take them on a trip to Lethbridge to visit my Grandma and...

Our move has begun. In the early hours of the morning (we slept on the floor of the San Fernando Place house for one more night) we packed up the girls, stuffed the only food we had into our faces - oranges - and we hit the road. Justin was pulling the loaded down Lexus and beyond stuffed trailer along with our two girls. I followed behind in the blue Subaru that was so packed I think the suspension will need to be re-done. After 3 hours of driving and only 1 stop to feed the baby, we made it to Coleman.  It was a beautiful day in the Crowsnest Pass, sunny and stinking hot. I had tears of joy as we were pulling into the town - we get to live here, in this beautiful part of the world. I am so excited. After we dropped off the trailer, Subaru and re arranged the Lexus, we headed for Tim Hortons and the Park. Blairmore (7 minute drive from our house) has an amazing park that has 4 separate play parks in it. Ruby and I found a spot under a shady tree and Sally ran around making new fri...