Update!

Thought it was probably time for an update on how things are in Canada. We are definitely starting to get into a routine here and getting settled in. I'll give a short update on each person in the fam...youngest to oldest!

Ivy: She's doing really well..hasn't skipped a beat since being here. Her life probably changed the least since she was home with me most of the time anyway. Her room and her schedule are pretty much the same as they were when we left. She is going to bed later here than at home (more on that later) and is sleeping in as well which is nice! It's close to 9am before she gets up most days which is unheard of for my early rising kids. She has been pretty funny with some things she has been saying. She stubbed her toe pretty badly and started calling it a "bloody". Also, instead of saying something is burning hot, she says it's "hot burning". The kids think that's hilarious and now they call it hot burning as well. We are on day 5 of potty training. Wednesday was a cold, dreary day so I decided to just do it. She has been ready for awhile, but her mama hasn't been. So...after I took a look at the cost of diapers here, I decided it was time to get her trained. She has been doing pretty well. Chris has her out on a bike ride right now for her first adventure outside of the house in 4 days so we'll see how it goes. (update: it didn't go well unfortunately...they returned with a mess on our hands!) Really hoping she starts going on her own in the next couple of days. So far it has been mostly me telling her to go. And she's stubborn, so she's not going to go if she doesn't HAVE to go which is annoying to me. But like I told Chris, I will win this battle!



Mya: She is also doing really well and adjusting to life here just like I had hoped. Doesn't hurt that there is a house full of girls that live behind us. She got to go over and play yesterday which she loved. She has been absolutely wonderful about playing with Ivy while I get other things done. Those two are really good buddies these days (except when Ivy decided to bite her the other day out of nowhere!!?) She is still my number 1 kid at being able to entertain herself. She loves her babies...the other day she was having Ivy call her mommy and would get upset when she would call her Mya:)


Max: He is probably the one struggling the most out of the kids. He is such a social guy...he's willing to play with anyone at anytime of the day. He has been watching a lot more TV and playing more iPad than he would have back home, but I'm hoping that starts to change soon. Edmonton schools are finally out for the summer so next week we have him and Mya signed up for a culture camp at a local rec center that he's really looking forward to. He has been an eating fool these days...wants bacon with every meal I swear. I am not a bacon lover so thus I never make it. But lately I've gotten pretty good at cooking bacon just the way Max likes it! Chris gave him a new buzz cut last week too. Normally we get his hair cut by a professional, but this time we decided to do a home cut. It was a cross between how expensive hair cuts are here and pure laziness that we did that. The cut was NOT well received at first, but it has grown on him especially after Tara told him he looked like his Uncle Tony.





Chloe: The kids are loving having Chloe back! I definitely like having her, but I did not miss all of the dog hair and the extra "person" to take care of, feed, let out, etc. She has been a little depressed...we think because we don't let her out in the front yard. The backyard is fenced in so we let her out there of course, but she's used to watching cars and people go by all the time. We let her out in front when we're out there and she does pretty well with staying put. We thought we lost her last week, but she was tucked in under the bed in the guest bedroom! She hadn't gone in there this whole time we've lived here so we didn't think to look. There were some serious alligator tears from Max when we thought we lost her! I caved and am letting her ride in the front seat when we are out on short errands. She is also getting a lot of walks because the trails are so close to our house.




Beth: I'm doing pretty well most days! I've had some ups and downs, but that is to be expected. I miss the support system I had around me in Dubuque. I had so many people I could call and get together with. I also had my little tennis job that got me out of the house once in awhile. I know I will get there, but it's hard for me to be patient. I've had other mom friends around me even when I was on maternity leave with Max. The days are a little long, but next week when activities start up again that should be better. I've loved all of the shopping opportunities and I'm proud of myself for how well I can get around. I pretty much have this place mastered (except for the downtown area which we won't need to go to very often). The long days have been really weird for me. I knew going in that the sun set really really late, and I thought it would be so neat! The only problem is that I never feel like the day is done! Turns out, I need it to get dark in order to feel like the day is done and I can relax a bit. Since we're past June 21 the days are getting shorter and shorter. Talk to me in December and I'm going to totally regret saying anything negative about all of this sun! This week on my list of things to do are to find a tennis club, a place to work out, a church to try out next week and introduce myself to one new person at the park!

Chris: He is doing well at work and seems to really enjoy it. We're all happy his hours have gotten more normal since we've gotten here. He has not had much down time because his honey-do list gets long as I sit here all day! He has Tuesday off for Canada Day so we're going to do something fun that day and leave the house stuff for later. Our neighbors (the only people we knew!) left for 6 weeks to Italy so they let us borrow their "chariot" as they call it and Chris had been taking the kids on bike rides. It's working out pretty well that I don't have a bike right about now:)

Trip to Edmonton (Chris)

There are so many different aspects of taking a new job & moving, let alone doing it to a different country. I’ll focus this on my transition and drive up to Edmonton.

At some point through the planning process, it was apparent we were going to need to get one vehicle to Canada on our own. We also found a house that was ok with us bringing our dog Chloe along, so the thought of driving 1,500 miles (2,400 Km - used a conversion app for that one) was much more palatable because it served a purpose in being a way to get her there. It was never really an option for us to fly her – she’s only been in a “kennel” once along with an overnight stay at the vet when she was spayed. Both occasions ended with bloody paws from her trying to get out and her being skittish for a long times afterwards. So driving her was a much better option.

I had planned to drive myself, and now Chloe. I thought with Sirius XM and my quiet companion it wouldn’t be that bad. Moving closer to the actual date of the trip, that scenario started to sound not as good as I was trying to convince myself of. Luckily, my parents both were quick to offer to join me and they jostled back and forth a bit for who would be the lucky one to ride with us for a day and a half. My dad made a personal visit to the government office to pick up his expedited passport 3 days before we left so he won out.

I left Dubuque on a Friday a bit before lunch and after a crazy morning of dentist appointments for the entire family, picking up a UHaul for our washer/dryer that we were bringing north to the cabin, and packing up the UHaul and car after that. It was a weird feeling pulling away on my own and Beth still being there with the kids. After all the back and forth travels and being away from them, I was sick and tired of saying good-bye and leaving them but at least this was the last time for that in this transition.

Made it to my parents house in Maple Grove around 6 – just about 5 hours of driving. Unloaded the washer/dryer, drove to the UHaul location to drop off the trailer and then headed south again! Had planned to meet up with my friends for the evening and started that off by stopping by Grandpa Bills for some coffee and conversation. Always great to see him and I secretly love those times when it’s a bit quieter and we can just talk. After that, I headed to John and Ben and his wife and new baby! Awesome evening of picking up on conversations that started months/years ago but never truly end.

Saturday I headed up to the cabin for a rainy day and evening – 1.5 hours drive. Found a patch in the sky to mow the grass, let Chloe swim in the lake, get a burger at Bayview and have a fire in our new fireplace! Sunday morning my parents met me there after their trip to Duluth and my dad and I headed up after a delicious breakfast just south of Garrison.

The drive started from the cabin a bit before 11am on Sunday. We drove to Minot, ND Sunday which took about 7 hours. Stayed at a nice hotel that allowed pets and got to watch the NHL playoffs on tv. Woke up Monday morning and got on the road around 8. Drove across the border, through Saskatchewan and into Alberta. Made it to Edmonton a bit past 7pm after 11 hours of driving.

Some thoughts about the drive:

The distance. From Dubuque, I drove 24 hours to Edmonton in total. The last leg from the cabin to Edmonton wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, but that’s likely because my dad and I talked a lot and the time passed by quickly from that.

Crossing the border. Not nearly as complicated as I thought it might be. They never even recognized Chloe, even though we were prepared with all her medical documents. They were more concerned about the Acadia and proof of title and insurance for that than anything else. Never looked in the car once. I’m not complaining, but had I known that I might have tried to stick some bottles of wine in the back since liquor is one thing that is significantly more pricey in Canada.

The drive. North Dakota was a decent drive! Started to see oil the further north we got but we never passed by any of these major oil shale expansions. Saskatchewan – sorry to say it for anyone with a connection – but there wasn’t much there to write home about. One word to describe it – flat. More flat than Nebraska. There was a lot of land development on the south side with huge mining shovels working in some pits and really big coal plants we could see off in the distance. Lots of oil rigs pumping away. Then, there really wasn’t much besides fields and standing water. Once we got to Alberta – started seeing more activity, more oil.

Technology. I googled a lot of things on the drive. “I wonder how those oil rigs work? Where does the oil go?” Googled it. “There are Bison Transport double long trucks everywhere – do they actually transport Bison? (note – Alberta is known as the stocking location for the worlds Bison populations so that question isn’t as outlandish as you might have thought).” Googled it. “That’s a huge building – never heard of the Company – wonder what they do?” Googled it. Instant education and gratification. My cell service from Bell was unbelievably good the entire time in Canada.

Interesting notes. One fox running along the railway in Alberta was about the only wildlife we saw the entire way. We went through a town called “Max” – thought that was pretty cool and had to take some pictures. Lots of grain silos littered alongside the highway the entire way – two Companies dominated the signage – Cargill and Viterra. My dad set off the lane departure warning beep way more frequently than I did. Since crossing the border multiple times in the last year via air and now land, we are hooked to a Canadian TV show called "Border Patrol" (picture Cops but with officers dressed in formal wear riding horses... just kidding... the officers on the show actually scare us - they mean business). Once we made it to Edmonton, I put my dad to work! Lucky to have such great support which made for a great trip and not such a lonely arrival to our new home.

The house part 1

I took some pictures of the house today and thought I'd do a quick post so you could see! I am very happy with it. Of course there are a few things here or there that I'd love to change, but for the most part, it has been great. We totally lucked out by getting this house. We looked at quite a few houses that just weren't going to work out whether it was the size, the price, the neighborhood or the fact that they wouldn't take dogs. This one worked for all four of those things. Our relocation specialist Michelle was out talking to her neighbors one night and they mentioned that some of their friends were relocating to Toronto just 6 months after they bought this house and were going to look for someone to rent it out. Of course Michelle's eyes lit up and within 2 weeks, we had a lease signed and Chris moved in April 1st! It was definitely meant to be. Anyway...here are some pictures!

The basement is unfinished so we've made a couple of areas for the kids to put their toys. We want to get a second carpet remnant soon because it's June and they're already complaining that it's too cold down there!



Ivy's room. Looks exactly the same as it did in Dubuque!


I love this kitchen. Favorite spot of the house. It's so functional and the appliances are awesome. No garbage disposal though which has been a pretty big pain. We're working on getting one ASAP!


There is a little loft/landing type room at the top of the stairs. It's very common in Canada I guess. We are using it as a quiet play area with books, puzzles, games and of course the Wii. Since the previous owners left their TV in the living room, we put our enormous 60" TV up in this room for the Wii. Way too big in my opinion, but Chris thought it was a good idea:)


Max's room. We have lots of sports "stuff" to go on the walls, but in the meantime he taped some sports paper up on the walls:) He loves having his own room and loves it even more now that we put some curtains up to block the sun that is out until midnight.


Mya's room. She's so proud of her "queen" zebra stripe bed! Don't you love how she decorated the walls with her paper too?!?


Another favorite room of mine is this living room. Although I wish I had more time to sit down, relax and enjoy this room!


More rooms to come in another post...we're working on getting a desk put together from IKEA (Ivy calls it Hy-kee) for our office, so I'll show you that room later and also our bedroom. We don't have bedroom furniture because we gave it to Mya so as soon as we have that, I'll post a pic. My mom was a huge help in getting this house put together as quickly as we did. Besides putting pictures on the walls, we're pretty much done. Errr wait. I forgot about.....

One photo-a-day for MAY

Day 121: Ivy is crying and running towards the bus trying to get on. I'm sure she would get on if I let her.
Day 122: My and a few of my happy house girls having a fun night in Minneapolis!
Day 123: Happy 90th Birthday to one of the greatest men I know, Grandpa Bill.
Day 124: On our way home from MSP, we drove through Decorah and had to stop at the Whippy Dip, despite having a very grumpy Ivy on our hands.


Day 125: Mya was home sick today...pretty sure she wasn't really sick though! So a sick day meant a lunch picnic for two girls instead of one.
Day 126: Seis de mayo fun for Ivy. Found this one on my phone later in the evening which is always a fun surprise!
Day 127: Patriotic Princess Ivy on her plasma car before school!
Day 128: Some serious jump roping going on with Max, Mya and Maggie.


Day 129: Bunco going away party! Such a fun night with an amazing group of people!
Day 130: Forgot to take any pictures on this day so this was my last attempt and M&M hid their faces!
Day 131: Happy Mother's Day! So blessed to have these three kiddos in my life.
Day 132: Ivy had some serious curls this rainy, humid day and also some ice cream and ketchup on her face!


Day 133: Time to embrace moving to Canada...purchased this book "How to move to Canada" on Amazon today to get prepared!:)
Day 134: A playdate with some of the best kids around. My friends have a lot of children:)
Day 135: This was a great day! Met my friend Emily in Madison (she lives in Milwaukee) for lunch! And the whole time we kept asking ourselves why this was the first time we met there!!
Day 136: Sun was out, Ivy wanted to paint, but it was still so dang cold that she had to wear a hat and a coat.


Day 137: The kids have figured out how to do wheel barrow races and they love it!
Day 138: I took this picture of Max up in the tree at Asbury park and then yelled at him to get down!
Day 139: The moving truck came this day:( The packing and craziness began.
Day 140: My last day I had TV for awhile was the perfect day! My favorite dancing with the stars pro Maks finally won the mirror ball trophy!



Day 141: A different truck came to load everything and drive it to Canada! I was confident we would fill the entire thing, but when it was all said and done, it was a little less than 2/3 full
Day 142: One of our favorite places to go in Dubuque was Cherry Berry so we had to get one last lick in before we left!
Day 143: When all of your toys are gone, this is what you play with! Suitcases and empty tape rolls.
Day 144: Today I got to celebrate one of my besties Meg receive an innovation in nursing alumni award at the Luther nursing pinning.



Day 145: My niece Olivia learned to ride without training wheels! She was ready...took her about 2 minutes!
Day 146: I told Max and Mya to go get Ivy up from her nap and I came in to find this! Three monkeys in a tiny bed.
Day 147: There were a couple little girls who were pretty happy to see their daddy walk through the door!
Day 148: Today was Ivy's last day of Dubuque Montessori. Here she is with one of her favorite teachers Miss Rachel.



Day 149: My friend Sara found a pond near our house that had baby ducks! We went to feed them and I couldn't believe I had never been to this pond until one week before we left!
Day 150: We had a virtual baby shower for Tara and Tony over Facetime at the Browns. Before the shower, my kiddos got some good jump rope time in with my cousin Kelsey just as the sun was setting.
Day 151: My uncle Tom Grady with my nephew Grady Huinker. Warms my heart to look at this picture:)

Alberta Healthcare experience #1

I had been having a sore throat off and on for a couple weeks along with some overall achiness. I needed advil daily and it seemed to do the trick. After the craziness of the first 2 days here, I crashed. And my throat was extremely sore along with my neck and upper back which usually means I have strep. Great, I needed to go to the doctor in a new country and I didn't have my Alberta healthcare card yet.

So Chris found this little medicenter and it was a walk-in, we called to make sure they'd see me and we headed out. When I got there the lady was pretty nice and said it would cost $150 since I didn't have an Alberta Healthcare number. Then when I gave her the credit card she asked me if I would like to process (with a long o) it when I got closer to seeing the doctor. I was confused. But then she explained that it was a lot of work for her if I was just going to leave the doctor's office. I said no, that I would be staying until I could see a doctor because I was not feeling well at all.

We waited awhile and every 5-10 minutes a "nurse" would come out and call names to come back. Each time she called 3-4 names before someone was actually sitting in the waiting room. Apparently people just got up and left if the wait was too long. Eventually I got called back and I sat in the room and waited for the doctor. It wasn't 2 minutes and the doc arrived. He first dissed the USA by saying that it was too loud there and politics was too big of a deal and then proceeded to take my blood pressure, look in my throat and listen to my lungs. That whole thing took 2 minutes. Then he said he would be right back with my prescription.

I thought maybe they had a different word for prescription or something because he hadn't even swabbed my throat or looked in my ears. 2 minutes later he walked back in, and handed me a sheet of paper with 2 prescriptions. One was some cough syrup with codine (I didn't tell him I had a cough) and the other was an antibiotic. I was very confused. How did he know I had strep?? So I said, "Do I have strep?" He responded with this, (in your best Indian voice) "Do you want me to swab your throat? Because it would take three days to find out if you had strep. You need to decide if you want to wait three days or if you want to take the pills?" So as crappy as I was feeling, I decided to take the pills. The pharmacy was attached to the medicenter (or medicentre if you want to spell it "right"). I waited 10 minutes and walked out with some cough syrup and an antibiotic that I've never heard of. And all the while I was thinking....no wonder we are becoming resistant to antibiotics!!!

Anyway...to make a long story short, I'm pretty sure I had strep because after 2 doses of the antibiotic I felt like a million bucks. Very very strange though and interesting that a test that normally takes less than 10 minutes in the US doctors offices could take 3 days in Canada. Just glad it was me and not the kids for our first doctor visit.

Time for a serious update!

Whoa. May 18th was a long time ago! That was my last post. Let's see how I can do this without making it too long that you'll want to stop reading mid-post! Here goes my best shot:)

May 18th: ran around the house trying to gather everything we would need for 3 weeks. We kept 4 suitcases with all of the clothes/shoes/toiletries we would need, 4 pillows, 2 sets of sheets, the kids' lovies, some plastic silverware, paper plates, everything from our refrigerator, some of the food from our pantry, all important documents for traveling, 2 bikes, a tricycle for Ivy, a plasma car, 2 scooters, a basketball, the wifi equipment, iPads, and a few bottles of wine. Believe me, I needed the wine:) We borrowed Uncle Jeff's futon mattress for M and M, some blankets, a pack-n-play for Ivy, a toaster, car seats, a mattress for me, and I'm sure more that I can't think of right now!



May 19-21: The packers came Monday May 19th. There were 4 guys and they were really nice. By far our best packers we've had in our moves. They worked all day Monday and were most of the way done with the main floor and had the capped garage done. Chris was home part of Monday which was nice because he answered lots of their questions. May 20th they came back to finish up. Apparently they had a little more to finish than they originally thought because I could tell the pack job got a little shaky by the end. I tried to help. When they were at lunch I packed up a few boxes only for them to come back and re-pack. Apparently either I need a lesson on packing or they were very anal. May 21st the truck that was going to bring our stuff to Edmonton came and a small crew from the quad cities drove up and they loaded the truck. It was 85 degrees and I felt terrible for the guys. They got it all loaded and out the door by 4pm. When the kids came home from school, I was really scared that they would be upset, but they were giddy. An empty house is apparently a kid's dream.



May 22-23: The kiddos and I learned to live with only the necessities. It was actually really nice for a change. Every item in our house was something I needed. The kids were fantastic. They played with emtpy tape rolls that the movers left for hours. They raced them, they built towers with them, they colored them, etc. The weather was great so they played outside most of the time they were home from school. I really couldn't have asked for a smoother transition with minimal stuff. In fact, it makes me want to get rid of half the stuff we have. I just need to locate a goodwill one of these days and find out how many bags of garbage I can put out on garbage day:)



May 24-25: We spent the weekend in Decorah. The kiddos had lots of cousin time, I got some help with the kids, got to see some of my favorite cousins that I never get to see and I honestly can't remember what we did the rest of the time!



May 27-May 30: May 27th Chris flew home to finish up a few things, say some good-byes and get the car ready to pack and drive to Edmonton. May 28th we had our last cook out with the neighbors. We cooked out hundreds of times in the years that we lived there. Some planned, some not planned. The last one was definitely bittersweet. I'm going to miss the times when it's 6pm and none of us have any idea what we're doing for dinner and then all of a sudden, we're having a cook out. May 29th, Chris said good bye to his buddies. May 30th all 5 of us had dentist appointments and he took off with our Acadia full of anything extra we had in the house that could not fit in 4 suitcases and 4 carry-ons.



May 30-June 1: Spent the weekend in Decorah again. Had a really nice virtual shower for Tara at Tony's parents house on Friday. On Saturday my cousin Kelsey took the kids to the pool and then that night we were able to see lots of family members for a nice dinner! Chris drove up to the twin cities, was able to see a few friends, picked up Chloe from his parents house and spent one night at the cabin. Sunday June 1st he met his parents at the cabin and his dad and he took off for Canada! I am so thankful that he had someone to ride with and share the driving with. According to Chris it was a great trip and some good bonding time for him and his dad.



June 2-5: The kiddos last week of school. Lots of fun things going on at school, lots of artwork and other goodies coming home in the backpacks that I didn't plan for, lots of "I'm going to miss this" going through my head. Wednesday June 4th our shipment arrived in Edmonton and Chris and David were the lucky ones that had to start the unpacking process! Thankfully, David built some shelves for our storage room and the two of them got a lot of the prep work done so that when the kids and I came, things were somewhat in order. That day back home, I was a mess. Had my last glass of wine with the neighbors, the last time my kiddos would play capture the flag in our backyard, etc. It wasn't fun. June 5th my dad came to Dubuque bright and early and we worked the whole day trying to get the house packed/cleaned up. I did manage one last coffee date with a friend downtown, to get my paperwork for my license in Canada, to forward my mail and have lunch with some friends:) After the kids got off the bus we had one last goodbye with a bunch of people and lots of tears. We planned to leave around 4:30 and it was around 5:40 when we eventually pulled out. Very tough to pull away from the house that had so many good memories. (That's all I can write right now! I'm tearing up just thinking about it so need to move on) We headed to Decorah that night.



June 6th: the big day was finally here! We got up really early (5:15) and pulled out of Decorah at 6:15. My dad took the kids, my mom and I to Rochester to catch the Rochester Express. It took us to the airport where we would be catching an 11:30 flight to Edmonton. We got to the airport with plenty of time to spare and were very thankful there were no delays with our flight. When we got to the gate, the attendant at the desk was asking for 9 people to take the next flight at 5:30pm in exchange for a $500 voucher. I was very tempted. I called Chris and he said no, I asked my mom and she said no as well. About 15 minutes later, the lady bumped it to $600/person. Again I was very tempted, but didn't do it. Chris was waiting for us in Edmonton and was very ready for us all to be together. About 15 minutes later the lady went to $800/person and I immediately took it without really asking anyone. I figured....shoot, we can hang out in the airport for 6 hours extra in exchange for $4,000 worth of vouchers, right???!!? So we hung out and I know someday when I book a bunch of flights for free, it will be worth it:) Thankfully, my mom was a really good sport and helped out a ton with the kiddos. We even got vouchers for dinner and my mom and I spent the whole $10 on alcohol. Eventually we got on a plane at 5:30 pm and got into Edmonton around 7:45pm Mountain time. After waiting in the customs line for what seemed like hours, we got through okay and went to get our bags. Except 3 of the 5 bags didn't show up!! Probably because of the flight bump I'm sure. Anyway..we got that all squared away, stood in line at immigration for a long time, got a visitor record put in my passport so next time we fly in, we can go right through customs as if we're Canadian citizens. Phew! We met Chris and headed to our new house.



That's it for now! Stay tuned to hear about my initial thoughts on Canada, and my first experience at a doctors office. It's a doozy!