Daylights Saving Time... grrr

I hate daylight savings time... Well I don't hate it after the fact, I just hate the change-over... Anything that robs me of an hour of sleep is evil...

Which is another good thing about Fort Saint John... they don't change their time back and forth. They stay on daylight savings time all year long. Which means that yesterday when Michael got off work at 6:30 it was only 5:30 here... but today it will be the same time... and it means that by moving there, I won't have to lose an hour of sleep for a long time... well not because of a time change anyway.

Coastal Limbo...

Well, as we are still on the coast for nearly another two months we are taking advantage of the fact that it is pretty much spring here... Today I spent some time outside photographing the flowers that are blooming ...

"Did you hear me Fort Saint John? The flowers that are BLOOMING... You might have them but you wouldn't know as they are still under the snow..."

Also taking advantage of the fact that we still have a family doctor (who diagnosed me with pneumonia and Allan with Bronchitis - crap!) I don't know what the GP situation is up in FSJ but I did notice that there were several walk-in clinics which I am assuming means that there aren't enough GP's to go around... but that is pretty much a Canada-wide issue not just a northern one... I am thinking that we will keep our family doctors here since we will be coming back quite a bit (that is the plan anyway).

Michael is doing well up north, he is tired and still getting to know the ropes but he seems positive and is looking forward to us all being up there.

I have also been contacting a bunch of different sports clubs/organizations up in FSJ and it seems there is a plethora of things the kids can do to keep busy... baseball/soccer/gymnastics/swimming and just about any other activity you can imagine... even for Allan!

So we are still in limbo, but we are starting to get healthy again and we are going to enjoy our limbo as best we can... in springtime weather

Germs and Goodbyes

Well, I think I mentioned that I got sick while we were up in FSJ last weekend... really sick... more sick than I recall being for a long time... I started feeling better, a little anyway. Now Allan has it, the poor monkey. Yesterday he had fevers all day and night, they finally broke at 4 this morning. Today he has a nasty cold still, but not the fevers, thank goodness. We are just hoping that Maria doesn't get it.

The goodbye was to Michael. He had to go start his new job up in FSJ today so he left two days ago (it takes that long to get there!) I miss him, it is going to be a long two months...

Whirlwind

Well... it is probably easier to say what didn't happen since I last posted! We didn't win the lottery... I didn't grow...

However... a few (read a lot) things have been going on. Hubby and I had the first real trip away from the kids since we had kids - where did we go?? Oh right, I already said we were going to FSJ (apparently that is the common usage)

So after riding a ferry to take the kids to the in-laws then taking the ferry back home, catching an airplane before dawn the next day to then get to Vancouver and wait for an hour or three until the flight to FSJ. Arriving in FSJ driving around to get bearings, meeting the realtor, touring four houses (all of which were large but one was officially gigantic), debating and waffling and deciding and waffling some more to decide on which house, driving past the new place of employment, driving up to see brother-in-law and family, driving up to see friends, getting sick as a dog, finally deciding on a house, placing an offer, getting the counter (these people are not making it easy to buy this house) making another offer which is finally accepted about an hour before we leave to catch a plane from FSJ to Vancouver and then finally to Nanaimo... I would have to say that it was not the best get-a-way I have ever had... although probably one of the most memorable!

The people who currently own the house that we are buying SUCK. There really is no way around it - they suck and we are suckers and I don't wan't to talk about THAT anymore. However, the house itself is lovely and looks like it will be a nice place to call home - it is also three houses from a huge park. I think it will be great.

Our New House

We also checked out Maria's school and got her registered while we were up there (I forgot to mention in my above ramble) The school is awesome. I am so impressed. I think I had my bias brain showing, I was expecting it to be kind of half-assed since it is up North - but I was very wrong. The place is amazingly bright and artistic and friendly and well-equipped (the teachers are not only immersion teachers but also with fine arts background, and the computer lab was excellent) All the doors are painted with different murals, there are paintings and art all over the place... It is a big school, there are about 400 students, and I must say that the secretary seemed to know all the students names! We met Maria's future teacher and she seems great - very bohemian... dreadlocks, overalls, scarves, and very French Canadian. The amount of french that she was speaking to the students seemed a lot more than what Maria is currently getting here - so hopefully it won't be too overwhelming for her.

Part of the Playground at Maria's New School

Anyway, a lot more has been going on too, but that is probably more than enough for now... The big news for today is that Michael has left... He is driving up today and tomorrow and starts work on Monday morning. We are hoping that they will double up his shift during training so that he can double up his time off too (8 on and 12 off) which would make him able to come home during his days off but Monday will tell...

Busy times.