Hello! Well, here we are in Fort St John and a little over one week has passed since we arrived (there were some technical issues to delay internet connection... as in our service provider forgot to hook it up!) Anyway, it has been an extremely eventful and FULL two weeks since I last posted...
I never expected it would be so very hard to leave Ladysmith, but man was it. I still get a bit misty thinking about the goodbyes but I am almost through it. I was only in Ladysmith for three years, but I was totally in love, so bear with me. Anyhow, there were many goodbyes... there was the goodbye to the LaFF board, then there was goodbye to Allan's preschool (which was Maria's before his) and goodbye to his little buddies. There was goodbye to Maria's kindergarten and all of her friends, there was goodbye to all of my friends many of whom took me out for one last dinner! The goodbyes to all of the relatives in Duncan, my sister and family on Saltspring and finally were the goodbyes to my closest friend Chantal and my sister, Kathy and her girls... then there was saying goodbye to the house, the town, the island... I think I bawled for days and I didn't stop until we were on the ferry for about half an hour!
Once I calmed down and we set off, we managed to hit the worst in weather - it snowed on us from Whistler all the way up the Prince George (where we stayed overnight) and the next day... until we got about three hours from Fort St John and it turned to rain. I haven't been so glad to see rain for a long time! But yay, it was rain, not snow! There was also very little snow on the ground anywhere up here, just in the odd shady patch... whew.
So the kids were thrilled to be in our new house and they ran around like crazy while the reality of our decision hit Hubby and I like a brick. We took turns doing the "what have we done?" routine for the first 24 hours, all the while trying to keep a good face on for the kids. Once our "stuff" arrived with the movers we had so much on our minds there was no more time for reflection and we started to settle in.
Maria's first day at kindergarten was not good. Maria panicked and the whole thing was not good but it was just a meet and greet with the teacher and kids so it was relatively short. The 2nd day was excellent. Her classmates made her queen of the day and she made friends with several of them and came out with a smile on her face... whew! She has some adjusting to do though as it is a lot more french than she was used to, in fact I don't think the teacher speaks English during class at all, but Maria is a smart kid and I know she will catch on quickly. Maria has also started t-ball which is just across the street from our house and she loves it.
Allan is quite upset to not be in pre-school anymore, but I couldn't get him in until the fall, so in the meantime I have him and Maria in gymnastics and they are both enjoying that too.
The best part for the kids are all the other kids. Our street is absolutely loaded with kids, in fact I think there is only one house that doesn't have kids. Just across the street is a girl Maria's age who is very nice and has been over almost daily since we got here! The kids are rarely in the back yard, they play in the front yard riding bikes and playing all ages together... it is nice.
I am starting to find my way around town now, it took a while and I am starting to see a lot of the beauty of this place, which I couldn't see at first. It isn't like Vancouver Island where the beauty is right in front of you and you couldn't miss it, but it is there, you just have to look for it a little bit. Some of the vista's and valleys and fields are spectacular and once I get my camera going again... I will try to show them to you.
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