Assimilation

Will has signed up to play for the West Edmonton Raiders...

Comments from friends and family:

• "I don't believe it!" (Lynne A.);
  
• "Alec, You look ridiculous." (David B.);
  
• "I bet he has his Cats jumper underneath" (Lisa H.);
  
• "Wow, he so looks the part. Just a shame it isn't blue and white! When you come and visit you will have to give us a lesson on gridiron." (Gayle N.)
  
• "Have you told them that rugby players don't need all that padding crap? Our players are REAL men?!?!?!!!!!!!" (Pip M.)

This single picture got more comments than all postings to date! Thanks! You made Will's day :-)

Cheerleading!

Although Australians (and Canadians for that matter) are cynical about the world becoming too American there are some amazing things like "cheerleading" that are quite special. Despite the make up, the hair, the "image" etc, these girls and guys are amazing athletes! They perform incredible gymnastic feats and the teamwork is truly incredible.

Senior Team from the Victoria School where Will and Sam go to school

Middle school "Pom" team (more like a dance routine)

Elementary School development team
(Sam is at the back on the right)

New Beginnings

It has been wonderful to finally be in our own home, with our own things around us! Even though our household belongings were delivered on February 1st on a freezing -27 degree day!

we didn't move until the 18th Feb... The removalists were great and they had everything in and unpacked by 3pm... they didn't put anything away though, so over the next few days we visited and started to sort things out, and then gradually over the next 2 weeks we moved the items we brought with us in our 12 bags, and the things we have bought since arriving... skis, snowboards, loads of coats, many warm clothes and so on.

Our house has the feel of a "beach house" with the open plan design, light blue walls and light-blue and white kitchen.

Just one thing though... there's no beach, just a back yard still full of snow!

On the day we moved it was so cold outside that the plastic cubes for the esky (you know... the pre-filled ones) were frozen solid! The china was so cold it hurt to touch it and they warned us quite sternly... "DO NOT PLAY THE PIANO UNTIL IT HAS WARMED UP... THE SOUNDBOARD WILL CRACK!" Welcome to Edmonton!

So, the greatest thing about moving into our own place is having our own familiar things around us. Just as the Colletts had said before we left... it finally makes you feel more at home!

Samantha's room is again using the red "hand" chair as the source of inspiration... so off to Ikea we went! Her walls need repainting, but she's happy with the carpet colour... So are we! The blue looks great with red and white.

Will's room is of course, teenage mayhem with a dash of football passion! He has not had time, nor parental input to get sorted out... off to Ikea with him too! He doesn't mind the silver-grey carpet he has, and hey... would we ever see it? So he's going to save us some money too by leaving it down!

Will's Shrine to the Cats

The basement has loads of potential and room! So we're taking time to think about how we might improve that room.

Visitors from OZ

We've finally had some visitors from home! Bringing gifts of Tim Tams, Vegemite and Twisties! It was lovely having friends to stay... even if one person's arrival was delayed two days because he 1. forgot his passport and the 2. Air Canada cancelled the flight on the following day!!!!! Poor Craig!!!

Craig and Paul making dinner

We managed to take our visitors around Edmonton to see the beautiful old architecture of the Glenora neighbourhood...

...watch ice skating on Hawrelak Park

...and a walk over a bridge over the frozen North Saskatchewan River.

They headed off to Banff to ski and attend "a conference" and we fell back into the usual routine...

Life is becoming "routine" as we go to work and school each day, drive the kids to their extra-curricular activities and dig snow from the paths.

Alec is really enjoying working in the Ed Psych department in the Faulty of Education and just loves teaching his students (3rd years, 4th years and Masters students)
... he's been trying lots of new approaches to engaging the students and is getting fabulous results. Alec has also just applied to commence a PhD at the UofA.

Anita is also loving teaching the Masters Level occupational therapy students and has recently applied for a teaching and learning grant at the UofA to look at the use of Wikis in teaching and learning with OT, PT and Speech Path students. Fingers crossed the project is approved.

Sam is enjoying gymnastics and waxes and wanes around being in cheer-leading.

Will recently had braces put on his teeth and was rewarded by his braces-wearing-friends (as they sympathised with his aching jaw and teeth) with a "join-the-club" milkshake. Sam gets 6 baby teeth out soon to prepare her mouth for braces too! Lucky we have a great dental plan through work!!!

So, the weather improved this week and we had bright sunny days and top temperatures ranging from -18 to -6. Truly heaven after last week's cold snap... even the hardened Albertans were complaining last week!

We'll be moving to our own home in the next few weeks and look forward to seeing our things again. We'll update again after that :-)

Just a bit chilly!

Brrr, we've had our first real cold snap! The "cold" we've felt until now was nothing! From inside the house it looks great out there with constant snow falling, it's just beautiful.
The kids are loving it and have rugged up twice today to head outdoors to play. I haven't stepped outside today as it's too cold and windy for me. I stayed in and baked Anzac biscuits (Happy Australia Day) and we also played a game of Aussie Monopoly (Thanks Hutleys!).

It has snowed all day! Here's the weather situation...

Visions of Edmonton in Winter

Living in the cold and snow has some real benefits... it can be simply stunning! Here are some photos from the Connect2Edmonton "Snap Edmonton" photo competition. Hope you enjoy!

Christmas and New Year in The Rockies

Christmas was very special this year because we spent it at a beautiful place called Jasper Park Lodge (JPL). The brochure says that Jasper Park Lodge is "Nestled in between captivating and majestic mountains and enchanting lakes" and it's true, it's tucked away and fully self contained resort living at its best. There is iceskating on the frozen lakes, the heated outdoor pool, indoor games, horse and cart rides around the lake or... quiet corners to curl up and read a book.

While at JPL we skied at Marmot basin (a 10 minute drive away) on Christmas day and again two days later. Although the locals think it's "not a great season", we Aussies think that a metre of natural snow is pretty OK!

While at JPL Christmas arrived. It was truly a magical, white Christmas just like Bing or Frank might sing about. There were no hot north winds, no "six white boomers", just snow and quiet. We went to a lovely Lutheran service to remember the true meaning of the season.

We opened presents before leaving Edmonton and then some smaller ones at JPL. Of course it was a bit of an electronic Christmas (typical us!) as we all received a cell phone, the kids got a Wii (OT approved of course) and Anita got a digital photo frame so that she can avoid work and stare at photos of family and friends (new photos needed... send today!!!).

A real digital highlight was linking up with family on Skype as they came together on Boxing Day. If you don't have Skype get it NOW! We were able to open presents together and the most wonderful thing is that the kids (Scott, Charlotte and Daisy) just accepted that we were "in the computer". It was so real Sam felt suddenly homesick.

After 6 days at Jasper it was time to move on and the destination was Banff! Well, what a drive through the Rocky Mountains and the Icefields. Every corner outdid the last as we "OOOOh-ed and AAAAAAAAH-ed" for about 4 hours. With four photographers in the car (yep, all the cell phones have very good cameras) there was a constant noise of shutter-bugging.

On the way through to Banff we stopped at various locations, Lake Louise being one of the most spectacular. We really knew we were in Canada when we were there. The lake is frozen and there was an ice castle and horse and sled rides around the lake. It was most picturesque but a bit too busy with tourists for our liking.

In Banff we did a few touristy things... we went on the Banff Gondola up Sulphur Mountain, we played 5-pin bowling with a great family we met in Jasper (John, Mary and Georgia Benjamin) and of course we went skiing. This time at Sunshine Village. Oh yes.. and New Year came around and we had a lovely room service meal with a special bottle of bubbly! Yum!

So, if you ever want to drive through the Rockies take your time, be prepared to be amazed and tell us... coz we'll come too

!