There's no place like home

We are finally back in Australia and very glad to be here!
Newfoundland was great but there really is no place like Australia!

This is my last post to this blog

Thanks for reading (if anyone did)

September

Hard to believe September has been and gone.

The leaves are starting to change colour and there was frost on the car the other morning. brrrr

September began with our WONDERFUL friends Jenny and Glen welcoming baby John William into the world...he is sooo cute! Holding him makes me even more excited about holding Blister (baby lLister) when he/she is born in March.

Jenna started Grade 1 in the 2nd week of September and she is loving it, she has a great teacher again this year - well this term anyway - we are leaving after term 1. She is doing really well with her reading and I love sitting with her listening to her read ME a story for a change!

1st day of school.

Jenna also started Ice skating again and is now in level 3 which is all about skating backwards, she is doing really well at that as well and can skate backwards and do a jump!

The girls officially became Canadian citizens this month - dont you just love their mug shots!

We had Fun getting lost with the Georges at the Lesters Farm Corn Maze. Abby was obsessed with the Corn and wanted to take it all home with us.

Abby is getting so big, I cant believe she will be 4 in a few months, and believe me she is getting an attitiude to match! We have fun just the 2 of us while Jenna is at school, I think her starting school in February will be harder than when Jenna started...might be a few tears I think - from me not her - she cant wait!

Jenna finally decided she wanted to get her ears peirced - because I told her she wasnt allowed to - gotta love reverse psychology.

September 21st bought with it Hurricane Igor. He did huge amounts of damage throughout the Province and isolated over 50 communities from the rest of the island. I must admit that when I first heard school was being cancelled because there was going to be strong winds - I was a little annoyed, I was quite vocal in saying "Come-on people toughen up it is just a bit of wind and rain" . Let me tell you that when Igor arrived I was bloody glad that I didn't have to go to school to pick up Jenna. We lost our power at 3pm on Tuesday and didnt get it back until about 9pm Wednesday - not fun. When you dont have power it makes you really aware of how reliant we are on it, we had no stove, no hot water, no lights (obviously), all the traffic lights were gone and became 4 way stop signs and of coure there are idiots out there who just dont get how 4 way stop signs work. It was really cold as well and we had no heat - by Wednesday afternoon it was actually warmer outside the house than it was inside the house so we went up SignalHill with coffees and hot chocolates and waited for the sun to go down, then went home to the dark house - I realised it would have been a good idea to get the kids pj's out before it was completely dark in the house...that would have just been too smart. The photos below are of our evening at Signal Hill adn some of the destruction around town. It was amazing to see these huge trees lying on their side...they have such shallow root systems because the ground here is always so wet they dont have to go deep like the trees at home to get to the water. A week and a half later there are still trees down allover the place and aparently it will take till Christmas to clear them all away. Alot of people around the bays lost so much, we were really lucky - all we lost was the power and the phone and the basement had about 2 inches of water in it (but that is nothing unusual)

So now October is here, the girls are super excited about Halloween and already have their costumes picked out! Jenna is going to be a withch and Abby is going to be a unicorn. I cant wait to go trick-or-treating - it will be my first time as well!

I cant believe I am actually going to say this, but I am actually looking forward to the cold weather and I hope we get heaps of SNOW (I am ducking now) because I want the girls to be able to play in it heaps before we go...so let it snow let it snow let it snow!!!

And here is August...

Here is a movie of some of our July adventures

Summer is Over

Well it appears we have had our 3 weeks of summer, it was so cold this morning.... I am not ready to face the freezing temperatures again, I feel like I just thawed out.
I will just have to think of the 40+ degrees I will be heading back to in January and the cold wont seem so bad.
For those who don't know, we are heading back to Perth in January 2011.
We have loved our time in Canada but a few things have not worked out for us as planned and we feel it is best for our family to move back to Australia.
Cathy (Noels sister) and her partner Marco are coming for Christmas so we decided to stay till after Christmas and head back in time for the kids to start school in February.
We are excited about returning home but also really looking forward to the rest of our time in Canada.
At the moment there are whales everywhere off the coast - they are amazing to watch.
It is almost blueberry season and we are enjoying a few more camping trips before the camping season closes for the year.
The summer went really fast. This last week Jenna has been doing a summer camp at the YMCA and she has loved it - she is mad she is not going back next week, and every other week. Next week she is actually going to another camp at a friends church so she is looking forward to that one as well. Abby and I have enjoyed the quiet around the house and in true sisterly style as soon as they see each other they are at it again...aah the love!
Jenna starts grade 1 in a few weeks, she ended the year of school a bit anxious and basically 'over it' as she had been in school since January 2009 without more than 2 weeks break, so hopefully she will enjoy going back to school in September. For the first half of the holidays we weren't even allowed to mention the word 'school' with out her freaking out...but she is actually looking forward to it now, I think going to camp has helped.
We have seen some beautiful parts of the Avalon and some of Eastern Newfoundland while we have been here and hopefully we will get a chance to drive further across the island and see some more.

well that is all for now

Some Summer Fun

The Socceroos in Newfoundland

The girls have started soccer and they LOVE it!
just thought I would share some of the first couple of games
I know my family will get a 'kick' out of it!

We love Abby's little jump kick and Jenna gets in there after the ball every time - no matter who is in her way. It was absolutely freezing during these games - dont be fooled by people in the background in shorts and t-shirts - they are Newfies!