Chase is AWESOME!

Chase recieved a recognition award from his teacher for being just plain aWeSoMe!!!! We are so proud of him! The first video is of him walking into the gym, seeing Andy and I there and being embarassed. (you're welcome)

Our trip to Andrew's Scenic Farm

Yummm-eeeooooo

Chocolate dipped Oreos......yum. And, they are supposed to be owls but with all that chololate I almost forgot what they were.

Happy Birthday...to you!

A little bit of Mini golf, little bit of cake, little bit of ice cream, and a little bit of Rock Band equals a whole LOT of fun!!!!
Chase turned nine and with this blessed occurance came the all to grown-up request for steak and baked potatoes for dinner........Steak?!? Really???? What happened to pizza or hamburgers? I know he is bound to grow up sooner or later, this just seems a bit premature. Oh well. I guess I'll just be greatful he still likes to cuddle....(which, for a nine year old boy, is a miracle).

....and then school started

A visit from the Foxes

A little slice of heaven

We went exploring the other day and found this gem of a "park". They call it a park, but it's more like a reserve. It is a 180+ acre park surounding the Credit River here in Mississauga. It is beautiful! There are biking trails everywhere, lots of picnic pavillions and big patches of grassy areas and playgrounds. It is open for catch and release fishing, too. We actually saw a guy reel in a two foot salmon, huge! AND...it's only 15 minutes away. Anyway, it was an awesome find for me when I really needed it. It really reminded me of the beauty back in Utah and I am now convinced this may not be the worst place ever. (I was having a "why did we move here" bad attitude day and this find relieved some of my anxiety.) I can't wait to go back soon.

Take me out to the Ball Game!

So we decided to take the kids to a Toronto Blue Jays game today. There is a shot from where we sat, right down the third base line. It was awesome!!! The Jays hit 8, that's right EIGHT home runs today and most of them were in our direction. We didn't catch any balls, but we had a great time. If that weren't enough, they were having a Junior Blue Jays day and let any kids under 14 go down on the field and run the bases. We got to see the dug out and Ace, the Blue Jays mascot. Needless to say with 8 homeruns, the Jays won and we all left happy!

A Painful Meeting

Avery, meet the coffee table....coffee table, Avery's foot. "I'm sorry" says coffee table "what was your name?" and she then RE-introduces her foot to the coffee table the next day. OUCH!!! The swelling has gone down a little but it still looks pretty yucky. She has been diligent about having me refill the ice pack, less diligent about actually putting it on her foot. Diligent about asking for the grape flavoured Tylenol, less diligent about laying down with her foot up. Diligent about hopping on one foot to the bathroom, refridgerator, sink for a drink and anywhere else she needs to go, less diligent about hopping when she needs to chase after her brother....which is followed by a whimper, as she's reminded of an injured foot. Pooooor Avery. It's hard being five!

Biggest Mall Ever!

Ok. I don't know if it is literally the biggest mall ever, but it is HUGE! There are over 285 shops including Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Armani, Guess, Bebe and H and M just to name a few. (not that I can afford to shop at any/all of them) It is an all-inclusive shopping experience. There is something for everyone at this mall. Lots of fun eat-ins and ice cream parlors, which are a must for the children you have to torture by bringing them along. Way fun! When you come visit this will be a destination on our to do list.

More fun

We got to go to the Royal Ontario Museum. It is a big museum with lots of things to see. The main attraction hosted there now is the Terracotta Army Exhibit. WOW! It is pretty impressive. If you haven't heard of Emperor Qin and his warriors, it's worth looking up. There were also the standard dinosaur and mammal collections but both Avery and Chase were really impressed by the gems and mineral exhibit. They had every gemstone you could imagine. First, they were shown in the natural form, then, polished and shaped as you would see in a jewlery store. They had gold, silver and even diamonds. They also had asteroids and meteorites that were very cool. It was a fun day, and we learned some stuff too!

CN Tower

The second tallest tower in the world. Not recommended for the faint of heart, or those who, like me, tend to get a little dizzy looking down through the glass floor (1100+ feet up). Ugh! Not a good feeling. The kids and Andy enjoyed teasing me as I kept asking if the building was swaying or if it was just me. Then we went up a little higher, which is 1465 feet up. Awesome views just don't look down!

Toronto Zoo

This is probably the best zoo ever!!! Surprisingly clean, huge open area for the animals and a giant splash pad for the kids to cool off in! It is amazing!

The Weekend

Here it is, our temporary housing. It is on the 19th floor, smack in the middle of downtown Toronto. It has a modern decor, as you can see, and is very open. We are a few blocks away from the local grocer, Rabba's, where everything is ridiculously overpriced. That's to be expected. It's still just a little shocking when it's time to whip out the debit card. That's when it hits..."we are not in Utah anymore".
Anyway, we have worked out all the computer glitches and are officially online. I think it's a bad sign that when I can't connect to the Internet for four days I completely have a meltdown. Dependency? Maybe, but I hope that, for my emotional well being, the wireless/computer issues are permanently solved.
The kids seem to be handling things very well. We have been out every day exploring our surroundings and have seen some interesting things. PATH, the underground walkway and shopping plaza, has been fun for me. The kids think it's torture. Chase has enjoyed seeing the old buildings with gargoyles. He thinks they're pretty neat. Avery, oh Avery. She hasn't been impressed with anything except her ability to tease her brother. We definitely need to find her an activity.
We are off houses-hunting tomorrow. I will keep you posted!

Au Revoir, because goodbye is just to hard.

So, here I sit bags packed, boxes packed and house empty. For a while I thought that if I didn't talk about it, it wouldn't actually happen but it has. As I anticipate our weekend at a hotel before we fly off I thought I would take this blogging opportunity to thank all my wonderful friends and family for all the love and support you have shown me and my family these last few years. Who would have thought we would grow to love a ward/neighborhood so much, so easily. I wish you weren't so great so it wouldn't be so hard to say goodbye. But, enough of that! We will be back to visit and I promise to pester all of you when we do. So for now, Au Revoir!!

Leaving...on a jet plane.....or something like that.

So our house was officially put up for sale this month. It was a sad day for me. I know this move is a good thing, but the reality of it all is a little depressing. So as it stands Barrick will be buy us completely out of our house, even if we get an offer. The moving truck will come July 1st to pack up our stuff. From there it will go who knows where until we meet up with it in Toronto in a couple weeks. We will be flying out with Andy on the 4th of July and there we will stay.(for a while)
So, my fellow bloggers..look forward to more frequent updates as I will no longer be working and probably be bored out of my mind.