Getting into the Groove

We have been in our new home in St. John's for a little over a week. There is still much to be done, but we have definitely made great progress in getting settled in to our new home. There have been a few adjustments already, for example, the metric system and our house does not have air conditioning. Granted, it's much cooler here than Houston, but this is the hottest week of the year so yeah, at the moment an air conditioner would be nice.

The girls are doing very well. Ryleigh has already met a few girls at the park and Avery is as happy as ever (aside from the whole teething thing). Two days ago Avery took her first two unassisted steps. She can point to her nose on demand and loves to snatch any phone within her reach, hold it up to her ear and say "hello". When I say "yaaaayyyy" she claps her hands...she really is just more and more amazing every day. Ryleigh has entered a stage I refer to as "complete make-believe". She is in a constant state of make-believe and always has some elaborate story going on with her dolls and figurines. She seems to always have "a plan" and wants to make friends with every kid she sees walking down the street.

Jeramy is doing well. His job is keeping him very busy and his work continues to be challenging, but I know that he loves it. We went to the beach last weekend and I had to restrain myself from throwing his blackberry into the Atlantic, but I know that he's doing his best to strike a balance. The greatest moment of my day is when he walks through the door and I get to see not only the girls' faces light up, but his as well. We always have dinner together and he always reads to the girls before they go to sleep.

And me, well I'm doing just fine. I've settled into a routine and have gotten to know my new kitchen and my new house enough to feel comfortable. The air is so clean here and the scenery is just beautiful. When I look at the view out of my kitchen window I just can't believe it. The pine trees are so beautiful. Last weekend we went down to the beach and did some wading. That was short-lived because there were jellyfish hanging out just a few feet away. Ryleigh didn't want anything to do with being even within 10 feet of the water after we pointed out the jellyfish, but I couldn't quit looking at them, they were just so beautiful. Then Ryleigh decided to put pebbles in her ear so we had to jet off to the emergency room where we enjoyed sitting in the socialized healthcare's waiting room for four hours to have 4 rice sized pebbles washed out of her ear. Yeah, the perfect Sunday afternoon...:)

Jeramy will be in Houston for a week in November for training, then we will all be back in Texas for Christmas.

All our love and best wishes to everyone back home and elsewhere.

The First Week

I don't have a whole lot to say about our first week except which box is the tequila in??

Our things arrived on Tuesday and since then things have just been a blur of opening boxes and trying to find my way around town. I'm making good headway on both fronts. The house is slowly but surely coming together. Having Jeramy home this weekend has really helped. We don't have cable, internet or phone yet. We're up at Jeramy's office today so I can check my email and do a little blogging. I did get my new ride and she is soooo sweet.

The kids are doing fine. Avery is actively teething and attempting to walk every waking moment of the day. And there are plenty of waking moments since the teething keeps her pretty much miserable most of time right now. The movers broke her baby bed, so we've been attempting to keep her sleeping in the pack and play, something she is becoming more irritated with each day.

Last night we went over to a couple's house, the husband Jeramy met at work. They have a little girl that is Ryleigh's age and they played all night. When we first arrived I told the couple that Ryleigh is bossy and to feel free to keep her in check to which they told me that their daughter is bossy too so not to worry. By the end of the night they had a whole new definition of bossy child. Ryleigh made sure the whole evening went exactly according to her plan.

As soon as we get internet I plan to resume regular posting complete with pictures. I would like to say that we miss everyone, but I honestly haven't slowed down enough to begin to miss folks back home. That's probably not a bad thing.

Some Ups...Some Downs

Our travel day went really well. There were no major incidents and I think that if anyone was acting anxious to not be on a plane anymore at the end of the day, it was me. I really have the most fabulous children ever. They were so well behaved every step of the way. Thank god for portable dvd players!

Yesterday we hit the ground running and immediately slammed our faces into a brick wall. After sleeping in a bit and grabbing an early lunch Jeramy took the girls and I over to our house while he ran to work to grab a conference call. Shortly after being dropped off my realtor called and informed me that we lost the sale on our home. We've had some difficulty getting all our paperwork in. It's kind of hard to get Jeramy and I both to sign documents with him in Canada and me in West Texas. Not to mention the fact that our "relocation expert" is a total idiot. We've learned a huge lesson that I am happy to pass along to anyone considering becoming an expat: don't buy an old house. Since our house is older, it has many things about it that are out of current code. The relocation company is making us fix most of them in order to sell our house because...well....to explain it shortly....they buy from us and the buyer buys from them which is supposed to save us some money. However, it's a whole lot of work and money to get the house to their standards and neither of us have been convinced that it's been worth it. Maybe when we actually sell the house we'll feel differently, but right now, it just all sucks. There, I feel better.

After that wonderful conversation with our realtor the girls and I walked over to the park across from our house. There were a couple of other girls there that looked Ryleigh's age and if you know Ryleigh, you know where this going...she now has two new friends. Little R lives across the street from us and Ryleigh has been begging me to invite her over since we left the park. Even as we were both walking back to our respective homes the girls were yelling back and forth at each other about getting together later. So far, no mommies though. Both of the girls at the park were being kept by older family members....so no friends for me..:( There are bound to be some stay at home moms in my neighborhood and I will find them!

After we left the house we attempted to get insurance for my car that I haven't gotten yet. Apparently we needed to have gotten our complete driving record from the TX DMV before we left so now that's ordered and should be here, oh, hell, who knows. The dealership did loan me a car for the night, which was nice of them, and we've got the name of an agent that might be able to help us out until the records come in, so maybe I can get my vehicle today. There's another expat tip for you. Take driving records with you.

So, what did we learn yesterday....don't buy an old house, take driving records with you, when you order tea in Canada it will come in a tea kettle and no matter how bad your day is, hot chicken wings and ribs make everything better whether you're in Texas or in Canada. Cheers!

Preparing for Departure

Our bags are packed and the girls are in bed getting some good sleep before our big day tomorrow. So much is running through my mind. Things like, will the children behave on the plane tomorrow, did I pack enough diapers for the trip, will we have time to have breakfast in Houston before our next flight and what the hell have decided to do. Oh god, what have we done! I think what is most disturbing is that I'm leaving Texas. I will no longer live in Texas. So much of who I am has to do with living in this state. My wonderful friend Kathleen got me a charm of Texas with a heart cut out in the middle. I've been wearing it around my neck and it will serve as a reminder that no matter where my things are, my heart is always here.

Speaking of our things, they are currently somewhere between here and there. The truck might make it to St. John's this week but I think whether it makes it or not, I will be staying in the house instead of a hotel. I don't care if I have to get us all blow-up matresses, I want to be home. I want our family to be together in a home with a fridge and a stove.

So, off we go tomorrow and there have been tears shed all the way around. I have really enjoyed this time I've had in Monahans. I think that being in between homes has allowed me to make this truly my temporary place to live. I have felt so Present since I've been here which has helped me to just Be in my parent's house. (how am I doing Michelle?)

Think of us tomorrow as I attempt to make three flights and two layover with this adorable face:

God Bless This Town

Today I went and checked out one of the latest attempts made by this town to join the 21st century...their very own Asian Nail Salon. Yes folks, even in Monahans you can "pick ya culla" and get your feet scrubbed and painted for the bargain price of $20. It's about freakin' time. I would rank the place pretty average, and I know my Asian nail salons. The place was clean, despite the fact that the same building has been used as a Churches Chicken, a Subway and a coffee shop in years past.

I also mailed a contract in to our relocation company which allows them to accept an offer on our house. Yes, we have an offer!! We've dropped the price quite a bit since we first put in on the market. Not exactly how we wanted it to play out, but the feedback that we were getting pretty much told us that it was too expensive and if we wanted to sell it fast, that's just what had to be done. We've got a bit more to do paperwork wise, but I really hope that we can be completely out from under the house in the next few weeks. Woo-Hoo!!!!!

Ryleigh hung around the house all day and tonight she skipped her bath and just took off last night's pajamas to put on tonight's. I'm a good mom. I think that we all just needed a day to recover from yesterday's day in the sun.

I'm sitting here trying to break up the fog taking over my brain that is the Olympics. Michael Phelps is totally infringing on my ability to get some good sleep. What do you you have to be so good??? It's just not human. It's nearing 11 and the swimming is over and I can go on living without seeing the gymnasitcs, so off to bed I go.

A Day in the Sun

Balmorrhea totally rocked. We didn't get there until a little after noon, but that just meant that we optimized our chances for skin cancer. (there was sun block all the way around, especially for the children) We strapped Ryleigh's floaties on and off she went and jumped right into the 20 ft. deep end of the pool. Mom, PaPa and I swam around with her while Nana watched Avery.

Oh, what a horrible, dreadful job for her...she was just eating that child up. While we were swimming my phone rang twice and my Nana told me that both times Avery heard the ring, put her hand over her ear and said some variance of "hello"! Oh, and I wish that everyone could have heard that child talking to her Daddy this morning...I really think that she brightened his day with her jibber jabber.

The little fishes nipped at Ryleigh's feet and made her giggle, but she loved it. We played like we were sharks and tipped over Grandma. We tried out a diving mask and used Papa's swim noodle as a water launcher.

For lunch we had a feast of sandwiches, chips and homemade brown sugar cookies...mmmmmmmm, mmmmmmm. After a little more water play, we headed home for the evening. All in all, it was a fantastic chance to spend some quality time with Ryleigh and my grandparents and my mom.

Carlsbad Caverns and Scorpion #4

Scorpion #4 decided to go walking across the living room floor on Sunday while the girls and I were watching television. I'm very seiously done with seeing scorpions! This one was sick like the others, but still, not exactly what I want to see where my kids play. Come to think of it, those not from around here probably think I'm crazy to let my kids play and sleep in a house where scorpions tend to rear their ugly tails. Out here though, it's just something you get used to. At least at this house we don't regularly run into rattlesnakes like at our old house across town. I can remember about five or so snakes that came up in our backyard when I was growing up.


Sunday afternoon we headed up to White's City (http://www.whitescity.com/) to stay for the night. We planned on seeing the bats fly out of the cave at sunset, but first we let Ryleigh play at the waterpark by the hotel. You can see the pictures of the waterpark on their website. After a while I talked Ryleigh into riding down the big blue slide on my lap. She really loved it and went down in my lap several times, then PaPa Steve's lap a few times, then finally she went down by herself. I walked up to the top and my parents stood at the bottom to make sure she was okay. She came down alllll smiles! Then, she headed right back up. PaPa Steve finally talked her into going do the black tube (enclosed) slide with him. But we were totally shocked when she went back up to the top and came down the black slide all by herself! After getting our kicks in the water, we got dressed, had some dinner and headed to-the-bat-cave. My parents grew up in West Texas and raised all their kids in West Texas, but none of us had seen the bat flight. It was so totally cool. You can find several videos on youtube.com, but you're not really supposed to film the flight. I highly recommend if you are ever in the area.

Today we just hung out around town. Tomorrow it's off to Balmorea to go swimming.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/balmorhea/

And you people thought I grew up in a barren wasteland where the only thing to do was drink and go parking.

Yeah, so did I.

Scorpion #3

The third scorpion showed up yesterday. We think that he crawled in under the front door and commenced dying in the entryway. My dad bombed the house a few days before we got here, so any creature that we've found is either dead or dying. This scorpion I found when I slid my shoes off and almost placed my foot upon his body and up-turned stinger.


I've been stung twice before. Once I had one crawl into bed with me and sting me on the finger. The second time one crawled into my jeans and stung my knee - six times - after I got my pants, socks and shoes on and then knelt in front of a mirror. I wouldn't decribe either event as pleasant. I hate the little bastards and the fact that I'm still here after finding three of them is sort of amazing.


On Thursday night we went over to the Pyote pool for a friend's birthday party. I hadn't been to that pool since I was probably in elementary school. It looked pretty much the way that I remembered it. Ryleigh had a blast, especially since the shallow end was only 3 feet deep, shallow enough for her to stand up in.

On Friday the girls and I went over to Odessa to visit my grandmother and aunt. I think it is of the up most importance that my children seize every opportunity they get to know each of their grandparents and great-grandparents. I was blessed to know 6 of my great-grandparents with the last one passing just last year.

It was a great visit. Ryleigh and grandma played store and Ryleigh served us all tea and cake with the tea set that was at the house.

When we got back home I made some Chinese food and we watched the opening ceremony for the Olympics. I think that watching the games unfold in Beijing is totally awesome. I feel so proud for Chinese and thouroughly enjoyed their opening ceremony. If you didn't get to see the lighting of the flame, I highly recommend hunting it down on youtube or some other means.

My parents are out tonight and I'm sitting up in this big creepy house all by myself. What I would have done 12 years ago with an opportunity like this!

Livin' it up Country Style

We've been at my parents' house since Sunday night and so far it's really been a blast. We've spent a lot of time with my grandparents and my parents. Last night we all headed out to the Monahans Sandhills (http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/spdest/findadest/parks/monahans_sandhills/). On Sunday we plan on going to the Carlsbad Caverns (http://www.nps.gov/cave/) to watch the bats that night and then walk the caves on Monday. We're also hoping to make a trip to Ft. Davis before we have to fly out on the 17th.

We had such an excellent time at the sandhills last night. It's so strange to watch your little four year old daughter out on the dunes doing what you did with the sand just a few years back..okay, maybe something like 20 years back. My Papa was out there with us and showed us all up by walking out over the dunes the farthest. Then we all had some homemade ice cream!

So, we've only seen two scorpions in the house and one snake (not confirmed as a rattlesnake) going across the road. Ahhhh, gotta love the land of creatures. And, Ryeigh got her first ant bite. She still freaks out when she sees a fly, but I think that might change before we leave here. Buggies! just totally freak her out.

I'm going to make a strong attempt to go work out with my Papa in the morning. That means that I need to get to sleep very soon. 8am comes early for me these days!

Keep Jeramy in your thoughts. He's living all alone up in St. John's and having to spend his nights in a hotel room. I think that we're all ready to get set up in our new house, though I absolutely dread all the unloading that will commence once our stuff arrives. But hell, what else does a housewife living in the great northeast have to do with her days!