We drove all night to Toronto and arrived the next day. We spent two nights there, crashing at Chris' aunt and uncle's house. We enjoyed spending time with family and relaxing. But the time came to an end and we had to go again. We were supposed to go to Timmins but took the wrong exit and ended up in Sault Ste. Marie. We spent the night in an over priced hotel to give the girls a break from the car. The next day it was off to Thunder Bay and another over priced hotel. Keirwyn was super hyper that night and I don't think we got much sleep.
The next day we headed to Winnipeg. We arrived earlier than expected and it was nice to check into a great hotel with a great price! We spent two nights in a Marriott owned hotel for only 80$. The pool was great (a pool and with a splash pad feel) and the free breakfast was amazing. We were able to spend time with an old friend and her daughter, as well as go to dinner at my sister-in-laws house and see my nephew.
We left Winnipeg (sadly) and arrived in North Battleford in the WORST hotel ever. I was not impressed. But we were there for only a few hours so I suffered through it. The next leg of the trip was to Edmonton. We were glad to arrive there. We were able to stay at my step-sister's house. It was great. She has three children, two of them girls around Keirwyn's age. She has so much fun playing with them.
While in Edmonton we did some major shopping. We hit Ikea to buy some essentials for the house. We spent way too much money but we got some great stuff. I can't wait to go to Edmonton at Christmas to do some more Ikea shopping. :)
Well, the day arrived that we needed to be heading to Peace River. We said our goodbyes and loaded the kids into the car, hopefully for one last long car ride. We drove 5 hours north to Peace River. We were surprised by the size of it. It isn't a big town but it is spread out.
We went to Wal-mart to do a little more shopping...it was tough getting everything in the car. We started on our way to Cadotte Lake, which is about 45 minutes away, to check out our new home. Chris decided to call to let them know we were arriving and that is when we found out that the house wasn't ready for us and we would have to stay in a hotel in Peace River. Since we were on our way, we decided to check out the house and drop off our stuff and then head back to town.
The house was not what I expected - I was surprised and disappointed by it. It is a big four bedroom duplex, with a finished basement. There is so much space. At the moment, we only use two of the bedrooms and the main floor of the house. The basement will eventually become Chris' "man cave" but with limited funds that will have to wait. The house needs work though - flooring needs replaced, walls need to be painted and a few repairs are needed. That is why I was disappointed....I didn't know how I was going to do what needed to be done with three kids.
We spent 5 days in town at the only hotel that had a pool. Keirwyn loved every moment of it. Chris took several loads of supplies back to the house in Cadotte to ready the place for our arrival. It took awhile, a lot of money, but we are now settled in our house.
We now have a couch, love seat, two end tables, a coffee table (my 7$ Salvation Army find) and, of course, a TV in our living room. I was able to find two swings and two jumperoos off of Kijiji so the twins have what they need for the next little while.
Upstairs is very empty. We bought a bed for Chris and me and a playpen for the twins. Keirwyn is sleeping on an air mattress for right now (her bed is hopefully arriving at the end of the month from Ikea). BUT Keirwyn is the only one in the family that has a dresser, which she loves. The other day I couldn't find her and I finally found her in her bedroom. I asked her what she was doing and she said she was playing with her dresser. Poor kid....she is a little bored.
We can't really afford to buy anything more so we were going to survive with what we had. But we have been blessed with generous people who have offered to give us things. We got a couch from another teacher (which is residing in the basement for Chris to use in his "man cave" and a huge deep freeze from our neighbour. As well, there is a couple from the church we attend in Peace River that is giving us a kitchen table (which we really, really need), a bed, a dresser (the twins clothes can finally be unpacked) and a few other things. The house is slowly becoming a home. :) It isn't perfect yet, but it will get there.
I just realized that I wrote too much. There is so much to say but I will do that another day. There isn't much to do in Cadotte so I will have plenty of time to keep up with my blog. :) Here are some recent pictures of the girls
Makensey, 12 weeks old
Kyleigh, 12 weeks old
. Keirwyn, with her kool-aide mustash, playing with a shoe lace.....really have to get this kid some toys. :)
