Ready to Sit Still

Wow! What a busy summer so far. We had three back-to-back trips this past little while. Within 10 days, we were in Ottawa, Ontario, Halifax, Nova Scotia and Grand Lake, New Brunswick. I am exhausted just thinking about it.

To celebrate our anniversary, Chris and I headed to Ottawa for three nights. After we checked into the hotel, we headed straight to Ikea. There are none in the Maritimes, so we were excited to find out that there was one in Ottawa. The next day we visited with friends that we met in Rankin who now live in the Ottawa area. They have a little girl the same age as Keirwyn and the two of them had so much fun playing together. On our last full day, we visited the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Wow! What a great place. I recommend it.

We flew home from Ottawa on a Monday and then Tuesday morning we packed up the kids and camping gear to head to Halifax. While we camped in the rain, we visited more friends that we met in Rankin. It was great to see everyone and catch up.

We returned from our camping trip on Thursday, wet and miserable. I washed all our gear that night and then repacked it the next morning. That afternoon, we again packed up the kids and gear and headed to an informal family reunion at Grand Lake. We had a great time visiting with family and watching the kids play. Keirwyn loved the freedom and Akehla never came out of the water. We were there for three nights and it was sad to leave. I wish we could have stayed there longer.

I wish I had pictures to show but I left our camera at home. With all the packing and re-packing, I knew I would forget something but I wish it had been something other than the camera.

The rest of our summer should be calm. Chris is going to start working full-time next week (he is still in the training stage at the moment) and I am lucky enough to stay home with Baby. I have decided that I may take in a few kids. I am debating of opening a pre-school/day care full time in the Spring since I have the ideal space in our basement.

I am looking forward to some time at our home and enjoying the scenery of Fredericton. I have been researching free/cheap activities to do here. I am excited to get out with Keirwyn and Akehla to explore our city.

Akehla the Camper

Here are some pictures of Akehla on her first day of camp. Baby was lost without Akehla while she was away and would run around the house, yelling "Sissy, Sissy!" I took that as a sign that she missed her too.

Summer Update

I have been really horrible at the upkeep of my blog. Since we have left Rankin, we have been in Winnipeg and PEI. We have been reorganizing the house and unpacking the large number of boxes sent from the North.

We have been shopping (I LOVE Kijiji - a website in Canada to buy/sell used goods) to get the things that we needed to make life livable (deep freeze, comfortable couch, recliner, patio set, dishwasher) and more fun (trampoline and power wheel car for Keirwyn).

We have also have had a lot of family and friends over for BBQ and friendly competition (board/card games). Akehla is finishing up a week at camp and we have missed her terribly. We pick her up today and I can't wait to see her.

To make a long story short, we are having a GREAT summer.

The future is a little unknown on the job front. We have been busy applying for jobs and getting ourselves on the Substitute teacher list. I am looking forward staying home with Keirwyn for awhile. One of the hardest things I ever had to do was go back to work, leaving Keirwyn behind. Ideally, it would be great for Chris to get employment so I don't have to leave home. I remember my mom always being home and I want to be there for my children.

We still have much left to do in our summer. We want to landscape the backyard, put up a fence and fix up the house which has been neglected for the last year. Chris and I are also going to Ottawa for a weekend to celebrate our 4th anniversary. I look forward to some alone time. As well, we have a family trip to Halifax to visit with friends from Rankin and a family reunion during the August long weekend. Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

Prince Edward Island

We spent 4 days in PEI and we loved every minute of it!!! This is our second year with the girls and we couldn't have had a better trip. We stayed at the KOA in Cavendish, which was amazing, and we were near all the places we wanted to visit.

Keirwyn getting in touch with her inner Anne

Akehla fell in love with Anne....she asked us to call her "Anne with an E"

Enjoying their Cows Ice Cream. Expensive but worth every penny.

Enjoying the pool (or puddle as Keirwyn calls it).

We went to Avonlea Village for the first time. It was the best thing about our trip. We will go again next year.

Photo Shoot

Keirwyn and her Baby Blues.

Ms. R and Baby colouring away. Keirwyn liked drawing on the floor more.

Baby looking out the window at the dogs.

Amautiq

This past weekend, I decided to amuk (carry) Keirwyn. That will be the last time. She is too big, not to mention too heavy, to be carrying her on my back. She loved it though. She thought beging up high and able to see everything was great.

Even though we are leaving the North, I am keeping my amautiq. If we have another baby, I want to be able to amuk him/her, as I did with Keirwyn. It made life easier when I had to get from one place to another.....well...once I learned how to put her in without us both ending up in tears. :)

Peek-a-Boo!

Chris had a little car trouble today while he was out and about doing last minute errands before he leaves New Brunswick. Luckily, my dad came to the rescue! While Chris was sorting out details with the mechanic, Papa (my dad) spent time waiting with Keirwyn in his car. Dad took pictures of Keirwyn being super adorable!!!

Exciting New Adventure

Chris and Keirwyn are still in New Brunswick, enjoying family time with Akehla. They have a week left and then they are heading back to Nunavut! I can't wait! I miss them a lot. It has been difficult to have them away for so long. Lately I have been missing them so much that I have been looking through pictures of Keirwyn and Chris. I am going through Baby withdrawls!

Some exciting news......Chris and I have made the decision to leave the North. We had been living in Rankin Inlet for 3.5 years. So many good things have happened to us here. I got my first full-time teaching job which has given great experience. We got pregnant in the North and tried to have her born here but had to be sent down to Winnipeg (what an experience!). We paid off some major debt. We bought our first ski-doo and ATV. We enjoyed many land trips and saw some beautiful sights. We made life-long friends. I will miss the North and everything that comes with it.

We are moving to New Brunswick for now. We have a house in Fredericton. We have owned it for almost a year and I have only spent a month in it. I am looking forward to living in my own home. We are applying for teaching jobs all over "Southern" Canada. Hopefully something will come along.
The Reid family is excited for new experiences and look forward to what is ahead of us.

Travelling Baby

Keirwyn and Chris are currently in Fredericton, New Brunswick visiting family members and checking up on our house. Keirwyn has been a little social butterfly, visiting many people in the short time she has been home. Dad sent me some pictures of her visit over the Easter weekend.

Keirwyn posing with her cousins.

Keirwyn watching her big sister and cousin doing an Easter craft.

Papa and Baby

They have only been gone a few days but I miss them a lot! I have enjoyed getting plenty of sleep but now that I am all caught up I wish that they were home. Two more weeks of loneliness until they return.

Little Nanordluk

Keirwyn had a playdate recently with one of her friends, Robin. We took the girls for a ride in the qamutik. They had a great time even though it was very cold.

Spring Has Sprung!

The weather we have been having for the last two weeks has been AMAZING! It has been getting warmer and warmer every day. Today it is -3 Celsius. We are still using the ski-doo but have to stay to trails around town. Chris brought out the ATV from storage and it is now up and running. It is like we are a two vehicle family.....hehehe.....Chris used the ATV today and I was driving around the ski-doo. Keirwyn has started counting. She can now count to three. I now realize that she learned that from me. I count to three after I have asked her to not to do something. She is speaking more clearly and it seems as if every day she is learning new words. It is really amazing! We have booked our tickets home to Fredericton for June 21st. We are super excited to relax in our house and spend time with Akehla. I am also looking forward to going to movies. I haven't been South since last August and I am in desperate need of a haircut, cheap food and a mall. :)

Extreme Windchill Warning

I realized today that I haven't blogged lately. Report card season has come and, as of today, gone (Parent/Teacher interviews were today). I was pretty busy doing that and now I guess I have no excuse. So here I go.....

The weather has been super cold. Too cold to go anywhere or do anything. My life mainly consists of taking Baby to the babysitter's, work and picking Baby up from the babysitter's. That's it. We have had temperatures ranging from -64 to -30 windchill the last few months. Every day I hope that the weather will get warmer.....but it doesn't.

The days are getting longer. The sun is coming up earlier and setting later. Keirwyn was up before 6 am the last few days because of the daylight streaming through her windows. It is the time of year that we blackout her windows with either tinfoil or a heavy/thick blanket.

Our ski-doo has taken a beating with this cold. We have had to replace the starter (not cheap) and it sounds sickly. Hopefully it will work itself out. Maybe it is the cold that is doing it? Again, I am waiting for the warmer weather so that I can dig out my ATV. I feel more safe on the ATV than the ski-doo, so it is my vehicle of choice.

We are in the process of making arrangements for summer vacation. I am looking forward to a break. I have found this year the most difficult since moving to the North. I am thinking it is due to the abnormal coldness or the fact that I haven't left the North since August. This is my first year spending the whole school year in Rankin. I am dying to shop in a mall or eat in a cheap restaurant. So, I am counting the days until I am on that plane heading south.

Although I am homesick, I usually get sick of the South pretty quick. The traffic and fast-pace life gets to me. I enjoy the laid back ways of the North and how friendly everyone is up here. I am always excited to get home to Rankin in August.

Baby is doing well. She is learning new words every day. She has also become fearless. She has acquired a new talent of jumping. She loves to jump from one piece of furniture to another. The other day she was showing off her new skill. She was having great fun until she missed the couch and landed on a toy. She has a great bruise on her forehead to go along with all the others she has aquired lately.

This morning I was getting ready for work and was distracted for only 5 minutes. It was long enough for Keirwyn to get into trouble. I found her in my room, sitting on my bed with my new People magazine in pieces, spread out around her. She had drawn on every page. I was a little annoyed because reading People is one of my guilty pleasures. I look forward to opening it up and reading the gossip. I hadn't had a chance to read it yet and there it was, ripped up. But I have only myself to blame. I need to remember to keep an eye on her at ALL times. She is a quick little bugger who seems to get into everything she isn't supposed to.

No new pictures for now.....we have hardly any bandwidth left for the month. Everything is SUPER slow. I will try to post some pictures as soon as I can.

Winter Chills

We have been battling the cold for the last month. The wind chill had been hovering around -60 Celsius. Due to the cold and other issues, our ski-doo has been out of commission. We have been walking a lot and, in the extreme cold, we have splurged to enjoy a warm taxi ride. It seems as if today is a little warmer but we are in the middle of a blizzard. But I will take the warmer weather any way I can.



Most week days I walk across town to the babysitter's house with Baby on my back and then do it again after school. Thank goodness for my amautiq!!! It makes transporting Baby so much easier. Most of the time I keep her covered because I don't want her to freeze. She does NOT like that. She wants to see what is going on around her. (To see a picture of my amautiq, click here and scroll down to the last picture.)



Due to the cold weather, we have been mostly staying indoors. We are waiting until the warmer weather hits to enjoy the land. It seems as if this cold has been lasting forever. I am getting impatient for Spring to arrive.



Baby is growing like a weed! She is now wearing size 2 clothing, although it is a little long in the legs. She is learning a big of sign language, such as the sign for more and finished. I love that she is using the signs in the correct context. She has a very independent personality and is stubborn. She and I have had a few frustrating moments since we are so much alike. I am beginning to feel sorry for Chris because he is going to have to live with two strong personalities.

Adorable Photo

Grandma rocking Baby to sleep

Another picture from last summer. Keirwyn had a sleepover at Papa and Grandma's. She loved every minute of it. I think it was because they spoiled her.

Update

Hello!

It has been a long time since I have really written anything on the blog. I haven't had much time except to post a few pictures and comments. I apologize for that. I hope to do better in the future.

Keirwyn started going to a babysitter this month. One of our good friends is taking care of Baby. It is a perfect situation. She has a little girl about a year older than Keirwyn and Baby is comfortable with the whole family. We are grateful to have a place to send Keirwyn that we know she will feel safe and loved.

The weather has been intense lately. We have had extremely cold days where the temperatures would get to -60 Celsius and sometimes even colder. We also have had a few blizzards. Actually we are in the middle of one right now. We have been stuck in the house since Thursday night. Friday we woke up to strong winds, low visibility and bitter temperatures. It seemed to die down but now it has started up again. We are going to hibernate for the duration of the blizzard and enjoy each other's company.

Since Keirwyn has started going to a babysitters, Chris has been available for work. He is on the list for substituting at the schools and has been getting calls. He is also working part-time at the public library in the evenings. He is keeping busy and enjoying working again.

We are looking forward to warmer temperatures so we can go outside more and enjoy our snowmobile. We haven't gone out on the land much this year due to the weather and the threat of polar bears (some have been spotted in and around town). Our adventures have been around town for now but Keirwyn has enjoyed it nonetheless. She loves the feel of the wind on her face and watching the scenery as we fly by.

Here are some pictures that Dad sent to me from Chris and Keirwyn's trip to Fredericton in December:

Akehla, Papa, Keirwyn and Chris enjoying lunch
Akehla, Keirwyn and Grandma Peggy

Dad and Peggy took Akehla to the Santa Claus Parade

Generations

This picture was taken last summer at my father's trailer in Mactaquac Provincial Park, New Brunswick. From left to right: Great Grampie Reid, Papa Sterner, Keirwyn and Grampie Reid. Keirwyn has a framed copy of this picture in her room so she can see her grandfathers.

Happy Birthday!!!!!