The house hunt continues

So our house hunt continues. We have looked at probably 50 or so houses and still haven't found one that feels like home. I know we will find it, but in the meantime we are continuing to look at everything and anything in search of "the one". It isn't all bad though, we have gotten a good idea of where we want to live and what we want. And today, our house hunting ventures led us to another Canadian family!! While looking at an open house this afternoon there was a man, talking to the real estate agent and did not have an accent!! So he and Bryan started talking and turns out he is from Alberta, and here in Perth on a house hunting mission before his wife and two sons move down here with him at the end of July. Ok, now here is where it gets really cool...he and his wife are BOTH working for Curtin University - same Uni Bryan is teaching at...AND they have enrolled their two boys in East Claremont Primary school - Brayden's school. How is that for a crazy twist??!! So we exchanged numbers and they are going to give us a call when they get to town and settled. So we can never forget our dear Country as we seem to find little glimpses of home everywhere - including the kids stores. Check out these rugby shirts I found for the boys last week!!

Other then that things are going well here. We have been keeping busy doing various things. The boys and I went to the Dora the Explorer stage show and they LOVED it. It was actually a lot of fun and seeing their faces light up when the show started was well worth the price of admission.


Bry is getting ready for his first teaching block next week. Brayden is still enjoying school and is no longer the new guy as a new little boy started today!! Dylan and I are enjoying various playgroups, music classes and trips to the park (many, many trips to the park). But we have met lots of new friends and I am loving being home with him.

Happy Birthday Brayden!!

I can't beleive my little man is 5 years old. I vividly remember 5 years ago being up at the cottage for the May long weekend, when Brayden decided he was going to make his appearance. Some days it feels like just yesterday and other days I find it hard to remember a time when he wasn't in our lives. We had a VERY busy birthday weekend down here. Or should I say Brayden and his busy social calendar had a busy weekend. He was invited to 2 birthday parties this weekend for kids in his class, one on Saturday and one today. We had the Canadian Club social this afternoon, and then we were invited over for dinner at another friend's house. That dinner was complete with cupcakes, and singing and birthday presents. Spending the evening with new friends celebrating with Brayden was a perfect end to a wonderful and busy birthday weekend.

The Canadian Club social was a lot of fun as well. About 50 Canadians - adults and kids talking about home, life in Australia, hockey, Tim Hortons! Some people pulled out guitars and fiddles and we had some good east coast music to listen too. It was a really good time. I have to say, I was a little worried about being lonely when we first started talking about moving down here. But we have just been blessed to meet so many wonderful people so quickly - many of whom have already invited us into their homes for meals. It really helps make this new city/country feel more like home. Don't worry though - I am still a Canadian girl at heart and always will be!!

Our arrival in Perth

We are finally in Australia!! After a long flight over here - well actually 3 long flights we arrived in Perth. The kids were amazing on the plane ride over. Seriously I couldn't have asked for more. We crammed our 17 bags of luggage into our rental car (seriously crammed - I was sitting with my legs around my chest because there was a large suitcase at my feet) and made our way to the hotel where we took the kids swimming, ate dinner and passed our by 6:30pm. Needless to say the kids were then up at the crack of dawn the next morning. We found our way to our new home for the next 4 months. A furnished apartment right across the street from a beautiful beach. There are 3 playgrounds within walking distance from our house, and we get to watch ocean sunsets every night at dinner. Not too shabby for the next four months until our things get here.

Brayden wanted to start school right away and has already been to the fire station and the zoo with his class. He wears a uniform which he really likes, and spends more then half his day outdoors as the "gym" and "auditorium" times are all outside. The other moms at his school are all very friendly. I think he is going to be the first one to pick up an Australian accent as he is already repeating words and number games from school with a hint of an accent. It is quite cute and I will have to get it in on video. His social calendar is filling up as he has already been invited to a birthday party, and a playdate at someone's house.

I have successfully mastered driving on the left hand side of the road and Dylan and I have been having fun exploring all that Perth has to offer. This city is very family focused and there are playgroups, kids clubs at the mall, story time at libraries as well as a playground/park on every corner, not to mention the beach. I have met several other moms in the course of my travels and have gotten a few phone numbers - yes I have picked up mom friends ha ha.

Bryan is enjoying his job so far and seems to be settling in. He doesn't have to actually teach until June so he is working on developing a course right now in preparation. So so far we are really enjoying our new city and settling in well. We do miss everyone back home of course and hope to have some more skype chats soon now that we actually have internet at home.
Miss you all!!

Last few weeks in Sudbury

Its been an interesting few weeks here in Sudbury. Our furniture was moved out two weeks ago which means we have been living with the bare minimum and camping out in our house. I am talking air ma tresses and eating on camp dishes on the floor. I make my tea by boiling water in a pot and then pouring into my cup. But all in all it hasn't been too bad and we have made it through pretty well. Our house is still for sale which is a little stressful but we are trying to stay positive about it. At this point it doesn't look like it will sell before we take off.

We got the word yesterday that our things are on their way to Australia. Unfortunately they could not fit everything in the shipping container but instead of calling us, they just randomly left boxes out including ALL of the kids toys. I am really confused as to why no one felt the need to pick up the phone and ask us what items they should remove. We had a couch and love seat that we debated not even taking with us and told the movers that we would leave it behind if there wasn't enough room but they assured us it would all fit. Still waiting on answers back about what communication channels broke down and what we can do about it. Thankfully the remainder of our things are in Mississauga and we are going to Toronto next week so we can retrieve them if we are not able to get them shipped out. Talk about an added frustration that we didn't really need.

I had my last day of work today which was sort of surreal. I have spend my adult life thus far working for Sudbury Regional Hospital. Bryan and I were not even engaged when I started there...lots has happened in the past 8 years. It was a wonderful job to start my career - I am going to miss it. But perhaps not too much once I am relaxing on the beach in Australia!! :-)

I took pictures of the movers loading our stuff and our house in boxes which I will post soon. We have a few more days left in Sudbury and then we will be in TO until the 30th when we fly out.

Countdown is on

Well we are T minus 8 weeks to departure and things are starting to happen. Thankfully our Visa's were approved very quickly so we were able to relax and enjoy our family cruise and trip to Disney (pictures to be uploaded later, they are on the other computer.) Now we are back and the holiday is officially over. If anyone has ever put your house on the market before you know how challenging it can be to try and keep it clean for showings at any time. Now combine that with 2 small children, unpacking and laundry from vacation, and trying to figure out what to pack for the next 4 months to live with since we are hoping to ship our furniture next week. Can you say STRESS! I am trying to take it all in stride and just take each day by day but you all know I am a bit of a worrier. We have lists upon lists of things we need to sell, things we need to cancel, people we need to notify. And I am sure the next few weeks are just going to fly by. I welcome advice from anyone who has gone through this (namely Kath, Katrina and Jen - come on...spill your secrets)

Feeling nostalgic already

We watched the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last night. It was very emotional for me to watch my country hosting the Oympic games, and feeling a sense of pride to be Canadian, and knowing that we are leaving this country for a few years. It was quite a range of emotions that I was going through. We might be taking this girl out of Canada but you will never take Canada out of this girl!!

We met with the moving company yesterday to talk about the logistics of moving our things down to Australia. Apparently it is going to take at least 3 months so our plan is to move our stuff as soon as possible, live with the bare minimum here for a while so that when we get down there we don't have to wait too long to get organized. We also talked to our real estate agent today about listing the house which is very hard for me. I love this house, this neighbourhood, this street... if we were staying in Sudbury I would have no desire to live anywhere else. I am likely going to cry when we put the for sale sign on my lawn. But despite all the range of sad emotions that I am going through right now, I am also excited to get down there, meet my new neighbours, check out Brayden's new school, go to the beach, take a picture of Brayden and Dylan standing with a Kangaroo and put it on the wall beside a picture of them beside the big nickel! ha ha

Feeling official now!

Things are starting to feel very official now. I know, we signed the papers and officially accepted the job, have submitted our visa application and told our respective employers. But it really didn't feel real to me, until last night when our bank where Bryan set up an account for us, called to ask us some questions about the account. I don't know about you, but we get calls all the time from Royal Bank, TD bank, Scotiabank...mostly call centres asking us whether we are satisfied with our banking. You know you are officially moving when a bank in a whole other country starts calling you. Anyway, that is what made it real for me.

Bryan has had a very productive time down there. Scouted out some good neighbourhoods, a great school with partial french immersion so Brayden can continue on learning to parle en francais!! He even found out about a mom's group for me!

I have been busy making lists, what goes, what stays, who we need to call...all that fun stuff. Time is going to go by very quickly I think.