"Little Pink houses for you & me"

Just a quick post to say that we close/take possession of our new house today. I will be posting later when I get some pictures -- especially since the leaves have begun to turn here -- it's beautiful! We are very excited to finally see OUR home & to walk around in it knowing that it's where we live. We aren't going to move in until tomorrow (RKZ still has to work, of course!) but we will get to run around in the empty space for a bit after 12 noon central time. We cannot wait!

"Anticipation's making me high"

The coundown to our new home is on! We close/take possession on Friday at noon - and we haven't decided if we'll move in that night or wait until Saturday morning. We just can't wait.

Just normal dull things have been happening here. I thought I'd include a few excerpts from an email to a friend of mine to sum up the last few days:

Buck is still not wanting an afternoon nap & so he doesn't sleep as well at night. Woke up screaming at 4am - RKZ decides to bring him into our bed (after I told him to leave Buck until 6) - of course, the baby didn't sleep but flopped around crying on our bed. Once RKZ put him back in his crib, he slept until 6:30. So "mommy-the-zombie" is the character I'm playing today. I'm thinking of making this my halloween costume.

Thank God we'll finally be getting our stuff this weekend. I cannot wait to move into a house that is larger than the dorm rooms at Franciscan U (our condo now is feeling quite small). We move into the barren house on Friday or Saturday (our choice) & then begins the waiting for cable people & furniture etc. I was able to buy a new kitchen table and chairs at Pottery Barn. The chairs were the floor models - and I got them at 1/2 price! But RKZ still commented, "Do we always have to buy the top of the line for everything?" My response was, "well...YEAH." But I felt a little guilty. I will probably send that man to an early grave, I swear. The good news is that we'll have a table and chairs in our barren house. I guess we'll have to sleep on those :)

Lastly, I have decided to end my posts with a segment I like to call "Bad Mommy." These are the mistakes I make which Buck will use for a list when he is grown and speaking with Oprah about his sad life. Here it goes:

BAD MOMMY - while shopping with a new friend, she explained that she had her son's feet measured and bought shoes for him at a shop we passed. Since I have never measured Buck's feet, I decided to take him in to copy her example. It turns out that Buck's feet are a full size larger than the shoes I have been putting on him. No wonder I couldn't get any of his shoes on!
See? Bad Mommy.

"Will you still need me? Will you still feed me?"

An early morning post to intentionally thank God that RKZ is back safe from Toronto. Yes, he spent the weekend facilitating the move of most of our earthly posessions. Anyone who knows me knows that it was better that I wasn't involved -- I am basically a stress-magnet & all stressful situations are only intesified by connecting to my emotions. It's not something I'm proud of, mind you, but it is better that RKZ went back to TO alone.

The move went well, as we were excited to get the same driver who moved us from California to TO (we're using the same company). His (Gord's - I couldn't make that up) reaction was simply, "You guys don't stay put for very long, do ya?" A sentiment echoed by many of our Canadian friends. This is ironic, of course, since RKZ & I lived in California for 13 years a piece - about as long as I've ever lived anywhere.

Buck & I spent the weekend near the rental condo. It was an exciting time as I realized that my life has broiled down to wiping baby snot onto my jeans (and being thankful that I don't really care about those jeans) in lieu of having a tissue. I spend a lot of time wiping my hand across Buck's face because it continues to be covered with drool &/or milk. Now that he has a cold, the snot is a new addition. When did I (who considered myself a lovely, accomplished woman) become the expert on all thing liquid & disgusting relating to babies? When not wiping, I am singing every nursery rhyme song imaginable. If it is catchy & annoying - I know it. Buck still loves to dance - and the songs are a happy distraction. It was 4 days of wiping, singing, and "finger walking" where Buck walks around the house while holding my fingers.

This is why I'm thanking God for RKZ coming back. He already let me sleep in this morning -- an amazing man, really. And he fed Buck & changed a few poops. Yes - you might be jealous of the glamour -- but it is nice living a real life with 2 people who are basically happy all the time. To my joy, snot doesn't seem to bother either one of them. Which is pretty nice, if I think about it.

"Come on baby, light my fire!"

A quick posting for a speedy day.

Buck learned how to turn the lights on and off using the light switch.

That is what we did most of the day.

When we weren't standing next to the light switch, Buck was either: trying to crawl up stairs during a visit to a new friend; happily abandoning his mother as he crawled into child care; or racing yet another new friend to a bucket of balls at said friend's house -- where the 2 boys began to bash each other over the head & try to pluck each other's eyes out as their mommies sat talking.

And then we came home and turned the lights on and off again.

The end.

PS - Theo F/Wayne - they've opened the "leisure ice" rink at the rec center. It, literally, looks like a two-level sloped pond with a covered fire pit in the middle. If you could see it, you would move here. Get E here soon.

"Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's life for me!"

Avast, Me Hearties! Me Matey (YRT) just told me that t'day is "International Talk Like a Pirate Day" (ITLPD); and I have smartly dredged this here blog to show I'm not just another Lubber!

ARRR!

Me husband had a bit too much of the Grog with his fellow pirates a night back and so we've had a day off from th'postin'. (My "pirate" might have a bit too much blarney mixed in.) When he came home, he asked me: "Wanna shiver me timbers?" Uhhhh, no. He was Keel hauled :)

Been havin' a roaring time here at the Grady Galley. Cap't RKZ sailed back to his duty post & has been livin' it up like a Bilge Rat in the Rum kegs. It's been nice -- ARRR.

Billy Buck (literary reference intended) & I have been cruising the wench groups -- met some hearty babes (and their offspring). Of course, Billy Buck's mother has already lost the phone numbers of the beauty friends she collected. ARR (stand-by TLAPD interjection).

Today, Billy Buck has his first experience of swarthy day-care -- His mother was worried about leavin' him...but he sailed away with a babysitting wench & never looked back at his old shipmate. The sitters even had to transfer Buck to the "older kids" room because he was (and I quote) "Too active" for the infant room. [Switch from Pirate here for the story = I guess Buck was diving for the baby swings and trying to push them faster. He loves the swings, and I'm sure he was just thinking the babies -- who were IN the swings -- would think it was more fun. Also, Buck is fixated on anything with wheels. He wouldn't let the sitters push other babies around in their strollers because he kept holding on to the wheels - hence, his move to the "big kid room." If you have been keeping up with Buck's physical progress, I'm think that this might make you laugh. Or at least smile.]

ARR.

Allrighty, you bilge rats -- hope you enjoy whatever comes out of your bung hole today (Bung hole – Victuals on a ship were stored in wooden casks. The stopper in the barrel is called the bung, and the hole is called the bung hole. That’s all. It sounds a lot worse, doesn’t it?)

See you from the poopdeck!
(Hi, YRT!)

All Pirate words above may be referenced at the Talk like a pirate day website
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

"This S*&% is bananas: B-A-N-A-N-A-S"

Won't let go of spoon or bowl...
...but I still want my banana...
Who says I can't have it all?
Lovin' the hat and the drool (new tooth today - bottom right).

Today was a good day. Simple, fun. We found a Church AND a farmer's market all on the same day :) It also snowed a little as we drove past our new house again AND the Broncos won. All is right with the world...

Pictures? Well, Buck decided that he wanted to hold both his spoon and the bowl that held his mac & cheese with broccoli. The problem came when he also wanted to eat his banana. The boy has issues with bananas. He can't eat enough of them. So, rather than dropping either the spoon or the bowl, he improvised. I had to get some pictures, because is shows that he's resourceful, if nothing else. He's talking a lot more. Clapped all through the Broncos game. RKZ has never been more proud.

RKZ goes back to work tomorrow & Buck and I begin to meet new people through the over-scheduling I can't seem to avoid. We found a great coffee/wine place just a short walk from our new house. Even more reason to come & stay for a while -- is that beginning to sound desparate? :)

"Here comes the rain again..."

Wow, I'm getting slow on adding these posts. It rained here again today -- and now, it appears to be snowing. Well, it's snowing at the Stampeeders' (Canadian football team) game - which we are watching on & off on the TV. Supposedly, that game is here in Calgary, but we have yet to see snow at our condo. As a mountain-girl, I know that this does not mean that there is not snow falling somewhere. It only means we need to break out our warmer coats.

Speaking of coats, we went to find a snow parka for Buck today -- yep, BIG DAY here in Calgary.

We were able to get inside of our new house again for a bit. RKZ and I are both so excited. I didn't take any more pictures because we were too busy looking. One sadness -- the current owner's teenagers used wall-paper appliques in the upstairs bathroom. Bright, day-glow diamonds line the walls. Lovely. RKZ assures me that we'll be able to remove the decorations. My guess is that you'll probably see them when you finally get here :) Nothing negative toward RK, you understand...more just a commentary on our home-renovating skills.

On the baby-front, Buck has started to say the words "Dight" (light); "Dut" (Duck); "Dock" (Dog); and he knows where his foot is. He'll say "Dad" and knows "mama" and "Dada." He gets so much older everyday. Right now we're just enjoying his belly laugh [of course, right now, we're enjoying that he is asleep - it's more metaphorical, if you know what I mean].

No plans for tomorrow. Stopping by our new bank -- might hear the Bishop speak. You know, the basic stuff.

"Like the rain, I am falling for you..."

Yes, it's raining today. Suddenly, it's also gotten very cold (at one point 39F/4C) ...but to tell you the truth, we liked the change.

I spent the morning making friends at a women's group/meeting. I was shocked because everyone was so nice! RKZ was single with Buck & both boys seemed no worse for wear as I arrived at our temporary home.

We were able to sign our loan papers today -- we're nearly finished with our home-buying extravaganza! We're even going to try and move in a little early (based on only hope alone at this point). Of course, we'll bring you along.

Thanks, also for the comments on the last post! I love comments -- even CSG who "corrected" some of my erroneous info. I'll figure everything out soon.

Since it was a mellow day, I'm including an email that made me laugh out loud which I received from "Richie Cunningham": It's a silly extra. Hope it makes you smile (and at least I didn't forward it).

George Carlin's Rules for 2007:

New Rule for competitive eaters: Competitive eating isn't a sport. It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the US Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting? Oh wait...they're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."

New Rule for candy makers: I don't need a bigger mega M&M. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.

New Rule for brides to be: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving; it's the white people version of looting.

New Rule for posh restaurants: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint, like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your webcam, dude: I just want to wash my hands.

New Rule for young mothers: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months: "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.

New Rule for AOL: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years...you don't particularly like them! Besides, I a lready know what the captain of the football team is doing these days: mowing my lawn.

New Rule for all women: Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.

New Rule for soft drink manufacturers: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.

"Cuts like a knife -- "

Buck revealing how he feels about taking pictures these days.
Buck trying to escape from our condo! He's almost walking (Yikes!)



Where RKZ works -- downtown, tall building! A sea shell in the lobby & a jazz festival in the park. Lastly, is a photo of 9th Ave -- a street dedicated to shopping & strolling. No cars allowed in this section.

Regarding today's title:
OK, they play loads of Bryan Adams here -- it's the whole Canadian thing. You should see Canadian Entertainment Tonight. There are all these stories about famous people we've never really heard of. That's how we know that they're Canadians (sorry, my Canadian friends). Although, with Ryan Reynolds & Mike Meyers & many other really famous--and funny--celebs (I refuse to include Pam Anderson), Canada does hold its own on the celebrity front.

After taking a day from posting, this will be a random hodge-podge of entries about what's been happening with us. The pictures above have taken you through most of it.

A mention of our first "difficutlties" with Calgary:

1. I have called a large number of Calgarian doctors & the standard response (OK, every single office) has been -- "Call back on the 1st of October; but call early (9am) because we schedule the meet and greets in a 1st-come-1st-served way." A meet and greet is basically an interview for patients where the doctor decides if s/he would like to treat us. First, we are asked to basically do a radio call-in type thing just to get on a list to see if a doctor wants to treat us. Second, there is a chance that a doctor might not like one or all three of us. I struggle with all of this because--even throughout the US--the Canadian medical system is touted as one that is very fair for everyone. We are able to use "walk-in clinics" if we have a medical need -- but we must be refered to any specialists by a general practitioner. The entire process is really stressing me out. As I mentioned before, we do have a "referral" to a doctor by our realestate agent, G. But even this doctor's office (she is a childhood friend of our agent) told us that they had to run the name by her as they are "restructuring" their office. I don't even know what that means.

2. There are a lot of people here & the systems are not set up for this many people. Businesses can't find people to work all of the jobs that are here. If you (or someone you know) needs what is a pretty good job (the local donut place pays around $10.00/hr.), they should move to Calgary. Even the rec center we have recently joined requires pre-scheduling (a week prior) for babysitting. It was like trying to get Buck into a haughty private school just to get him in for three one-hour slots next week! The scheduler (is that a word?) explained that the infant ratio is 3 to 1 and that they just can't find enough day-care workers for the demand. [Side comment - there are A LOT of children here. Which is also a nice thing.]

That's about it for my complaining. Please also keep in mind that we are still in the early stages of living here & our opinions could change quickly when we get everything figured out.

A few more random comments in this already convoluted blog --
RKZ & I stayed up really late to watch The Path to 9-11 on Sunday and Monday nights. Even though parts of it were dramatized, my only thought is "Man, do we need to demand a little more intelligently organized security throughout North America." That's it. So, from my soap box I say -- We (as American/Canadian citizens) need to pay freekin' attention to what is going on in our countries. We need a little more dialogue and a little less "top-down." That's it.

Also, Happy Anniversary yesterday, Coach K 1 and Hoonka. And Happy Baptism to Little A-ngel. And thanks for the the dinner, CSG!

"Sunday, bloody Sunday"

It's the only song I could think of with Sunday in the lyrics. Feel free to send me other examples.

We had a nice, mellow day today. Currently in the process of trying to find the right parish for ourselves -- "Church shopping", I guess. Only, we already know we're Catholic -- there are just a lot of "worship styles" to choose from here in Calgary. Today, we went to Holy Spirit CC. It's your average parish -- nice homily, three people singing in the music ministry a little out of pitch, a lot of families & the Real Presence of Jesus in the Eucharist.

We sat in the cry room -- bad choice. Cry rooms are almost a license to let toddlers run amok. Seriously, we were surrounded by kids banging on windows & doors, chewing on other kids' random toys and screaming. My thinking is that the cry room is a good place to try and teach our kids (kid) how to behave in the general population...he might get a little loud, but the room allows us to show him that even if he throws a fit, we're not leaving. Or it's a good place to pass the kid a few cheerios without fear of him throwing them all over a pew (which he does). The Parish seemed nice, but it was hard to tell from our own little insane asylum. You, personally (if you care at all), might be thinking that a cry room would be nice in your parish or Church -- but you might share my thinking that it'd be nice if everyone's kids were like yours (regardless of their behavior pattern). I, personally, don't want to spend the Consecration asking a random three-year-old not to hit a random one-year-old over the head with a chew toy (it was Buck's chew toy, so I felt semi-responsible).

There were a lot of very friendly people & ministry sign-up booths. RKZ says that we have to hit every near-by parish at least twice before we can make an honest judgement.

Aside from our cry-room experience, we spent the day watching the Broncos lose to the Rams. Freekin' Jake Plummer. He's the worst. RKZ would totally defend the Bronco QB right now -- but I'm all for bringing on Jake Cutler.

It just occurred to me that there are people who will not be interested in anything I've said in this blog. Tune in tomorrow!

Lastly, we had our CSG over for dinner. He's the best. RKZ made a yummy roast & Buck basically went down to bed (a little too early, I must admit, since I am the sleep Nazi). Now, the 'battle of the Mannings' is being raged in the living room.

Hope you had a great weekend!!

"Who said you can't go home?"

It's 9:54pm here in the warm "New West" and we're just home from keeping out our son WAY too late. We had dinner at RKZ's new boss/old friend's house. I'll call him Boss Man. Boss Man & his wife, Low-Key are a really great couple who have 2 children (boy and a girl). The kids just re-started school (1st & 2nd grade) and they were very eager to share their new experiences with us. It was a really fun evening.

Buck was wonderful once he saw Boss Man's dog -- a chocolate lab with the patience of Job. Buck was so excited, he wouldn't stop following the poor dog around and bashing her on the head. RKZ & I are in the habit of holding Buck's face in our hands. My thinking is that Buck is trying to show similar affection by banging on everything/one he is happy to see. The banging began with Hunter (in TO), whom Buck would "pat" roughly on the head out of excitement. It never seemed to excite Hunter much, although I have to say he put up with it well. Boss Man's dog took it ok, especially when Buck also held out his spoon filled with food. A fair trade (a pat for a taste of food), I'd say.

We had a fairly busy day before the dinner. Did join the gym. I'll have to try and get pictures. It's really known as a "recreation/wellness center." This rec center has: an ice rink, "leisure ice" for fun skating, a wave pool, lap pool, toddler pool & water slide, a fitness center, 3 levels of childcare (infant, toddler & older child up to 6) and 3 change rooms (delux, regular & family). There is also a coffee shop, physical therapist & proshop inside. It's incredible. I've never seen anything like it. I can't wait to show you when you all come & visit.

"Are you ready for some FOOTBALL?"

Buck, CSG & RKZ on the beginning of our walk.
The entrance to Griffith Woods Park - the park down the road from our new home.
Small tributaries of the Elbow River flow through the Griffith Woods park
Sorta' scary sign at the beginning of the trail. Probably won't walk here alone too often.
Another view of the tributaries. A different part of the walk
This sign explains that Griffith Woods Park is on the boundary of Tsuu T'ina First Nation land. I guess that the Tsuu T'ina used to be known as the Sarcee Indians. Either way, this sign says it might be dangerous to cross over that fence :) (insert politically incorrect joke here).
Even in a beautiful park, people still need power.

Had to use this song as the title. Currently watching the Defending Champion Pitsburgh Steelers play the Miami Dolphins (always think of Jim Carrey when watching the Dolphins). Buck is asleep - RKZ is mesmerized. It's football season again, even in Canada. RKZ's great passion (after myself, of course) -- the Denver Broncos. They play on Sunday against the St. Louis Cardinals, in case you are setting your schedule :)

We had a great walk with CSG through Griffith Park. This park is a one minute drive from our new house. We had a great time. It's incredible to think that all of this beautiful space is so close to us.

Lastly, I want to share some info I received fom a good friend formerly known as "Moxie Manitoba Momma" whose name has now been changed to "Inukshuk" because she is such a good friend that she did some research for me without my even asking! Please read Inukshuk's info on the previously mentioned "stone figures" (I miss you so much, Inuk!):

Just a little side note, and FYI, the little stone figures are called "Inukshuks" Just a small description taken off the internet.......It is an Inuit word that literally translated means "Stone man that points the way." They can be found throughout Northern Canada from Baffin Island to Victoria. The purpose of the Inukshuk was to show direction and guide the way. The Inukshuk has been adopted today as a symbol to remind us of our dependance on each other and the value of strong relationships. I find it interesting that you saw so many along the way. They are kinda neat, aren't they?!

Inuk goes on to mention some funny things about the "penis head" statues, but I'm not sure she'd be happy with me if I quote it here...totally funny. The statues are definitely feather, then (as opposed to dot).


Tomorrow's plan is a little time downtown in the cool walking districts of Calgary! Or we might just join a gym. The world is our oyster!

"It's a lazy day, I'm down with nothing else to do."

RKZ & "Buck" built their own version of the TCH's stone figures. This is leggo blocks.

A rare calm day for Buck & I as RKZ spent the day on the phone getting "financing." Yes, the long, dull part of house buying has begun.

Oh! For clarity's sake, the hooker demo was in front of our rental condo, which is in the middle of downtown Calgary (as opposed to our new house in the hills). As RKZ's boss says, "You're in the middle of the hood there." Funny -- if we were in NY or LA, we'd be terrified -- in clean Calgary, it's not that big a deal. Like a "white-collar hood" if you will. Also, it's a testimony to Calgary that we couldn't even tell we were in a "bad" part of town except for the homeless people & 'ladies of the evening' walking around. The city itself is very clean & there seems to be very little graffiti or anything that would mark a "hood" in the US. Another perk of Canada -- way fewer guns.

Back to our day (I'm sure you're very interested): We went to daily Mass @ the Cathederal @ 7:15am. Now, our guy is one happy kid, so anytime he enters a large, echo-y space, he feels the need to make a little "eh" sound that subsequently echoes throughout the room. He is also in a stage where he must babble all the time. RKZ & I tried to pray while Buck carried on a 30 minute monologue which I'm sure was appreciated by everyone in the Church.

After that - we hit a wonderful "Belgian Patisserie" (ignore my spelling, please). Here, I learned that the only difference between a chocolate croissant and a chocolate bun is that the bun has an extra bar of chocolate in it (good to know if you love chocolate). RKZ & I had lattes & RKZ proved that real men do, indeed, eat quiche -- really tasty mushroom & goat cheese quiche. We'll take you when you come visit.

The rest of the day (as mentioned), was spent sifting through the differences between the Canadian & US home-buying proceedures. FYI, basically the same. The big hassle has been trying to have our US funds transferred to a Canadian account so that we can write a check to the realestate agents here in Canada. RKZ comments, "It's not a hassle, it just takes more time."

Long story longer, Buck had his PJ's on all day -- even when we went to the grocery store. It was a lazy day & we're all starting to regain some rhythm. Tomorrow? "Big day tomorrow - Bed, Bath & Beyond. Maybe Home Depot. I don't know..."

Day 9 - Calgary, Alberta (last day of counting)

Buck having a good time in the car. We have a great video of him dancing to the Eagles.
Our new province as we drove into town. "Wild Rose."-- That's me.
OUR NEW HOUSE!! We saw it, put in an offer, countered & got the house all on the same day. Things work fast here. Our agent, G, even liked us so much that he is going to recommend us to his doctor for Buck! Both finds are very exciting!
Our new living room -- doesn't it make you want to come & visit?
Buck and our Canadian Safari Guide. Now that we're "home," we'll be seeing much more of our CSG.
Our new kitchen. I'm just weird about kitchen pictures.
The view from CSG's house. We can only dream of this view. That is downtown Calgary, by the way.

I have to begin this post with the fact that RKZ & I just witnessed a hooker climbing into a man's car outside the window of our rental condo. Insane. I've honestly never seen the entire transaction take place - but we saw it live in front of our "home." He stopped his car & talked to a woman who was walking in the street (no pun intended) & he circled the block & she climbed in the car.

Enough of that - I am including the pictures I promised a few days back. We had the Shaw cable man come by and fix up the cable which was never connected in the first place. This was a good introduction to the cable company (if not our landlords). The cable modem helps the uploading of the pictures.

Today was a big day. I've told the main facts with the pictures, so I don't have too much more to add. The house is great & we're really excited. It's in a community that is "finished" which means there won't be any development outside of our house (and we have grass and trees). Also, as our luck would have it, we back onto a designated greenspace - there will be nothing but field as our view. The community is also on the border of the Sarcee Indian Reservation, so there are miles of pinetrees just down the road and around the corner. Also, the Elbow River is only a short bike ride away. The house was "sold" already to another family, but their financing fell through. That's one of those strange experiences where a person feels happy about someone else's bad luck. A moral "catch 22" if you will.

I have been thinking a lot about the teachers and students in my life today as the kids here all head back to school. I hope that your year has started well & in a lot of ways, I wish I could share the time with you. Also, I want to give a "shout out" to poor Steve Irwin (the Crockodile Hunter). Guess I'm never getting into the ocean again. [Docile Sting Rays, yeah, right!]

If you aren't a crazy internet stalker, we'd love to have you come visit!

Day 8 -- Calgary home-finding

I know that I should probably stop the Day count, since we're here already...but it doesn't seem right to stop counting until we have a home of our own (even if that doesn't mean moving into it). Our realtor, G, is pretty confident that we'll find a house by Wednesday, so, I'm going to keep up the day count with that hope in mind.

We took an early drive to see some new construction houses this morning. Calgary is a city bent on expansion...there is a central core to the city (resembling a large Reno, Nevada)...and there are some cute shopping districts & older sections, but most of the city's growth is up and out into the surrounding hills. All of the new neighborhoods can tend toward "cookie-cutter," with the accompanying shopping centers and green spaces, but Calgary does have a nice law where every community must retain 10% of it's green for parkland. Each neighborhood has a name and they are similar enough to make it really confusing.

RKZ and I had seen some interesting new houses (called "Aspen Hills") on the internet, so we wanted to check them out before we toured with G. We were only able to see the outside of the homes, so we couldn't tell too much until our afternoon trip.

G actually told us that "Calgary is a much more American city that any of the other cities in Canada." I only include this because it's certainly true of the housing. If you have seen a new community built in the West or Southwest of the US in the last 10 years, then you have seen the basic footprints and decorative styles of the houses we spent the day seeing. Craftsmen, with the open kitchen/greatroom floorplans seem to be the norm. I'm not complaining, mind you. We have seen a lot of nice, big houses. I think the average size was about 2200 sqft not including the basements. But, the houses aren't cheap (the way we might dream them to be).

We looked at 9 houses -- and appreciated about 3 of them -- but only really loved one. We are calling it "The Springborough" (the neighborhood it's in) & we particularly liked it because the field (currently undeveloped) behind the house is designated as a school playing field. For the winter, the field will remain an Aspen grove (which is cool). I will try and get pictures (I keep saying that, but I mean it!).

G has said that he knows of about 8 more houses we can see tomorrow. I hope Buck can stand it. He is being great, but it's a lot to spend the day being carried through strange places. It was also about 30 C/85 F, so once we found some airconditioned houses, we were all ready to stay.

Right now, RKZ must get to work on his Fantasy Football line-up. We did see one house that was holding it's own draft in the backyard. Poor RKZ, I think he would have just stayed right there today. I'll tell you how it turns out tomorrow.

Days 6 & 7 - Calgary, Alberta (twice) -- oops!

Well, we made it! We have internet issues right now (funny that it was so easy to get internet before we arrived in the big city). On old-fashioned dial-up modem (Pa Joad style). Hence, no pictures today.

We already really like Calgary.

On our final drive we drove 490 miles. Totals: 2,225 miles from Toronto to Calgary. We averaged 76 mph!! I do have to say that we seemed to go really quickly on those last two days. Our rental/temporary condo is a perfect fit for us. It's right downtown. Speaking of which, downtown is almost exactly like Reno...maybe a little bigger. We can see the mountains and the air is warm and dry. The weather is beautiful.

We had our first night dinner over at our Canadian Safari guide's house (PF). He has a 1/2 million dollar view and we had a great visit with him. I'm sure you'll hear much more about our adopted Grand-uncle for Buck. We plan on bugging him a lot :) Just like family is supposed to do.

We spent today exploring our new town. We're only 2 blocks from the Cathedral-- so we had a nice walk to Mass this morning. Great baby cry room in the balcony. Buck could see everyone while he tried to scream down at them -- and throw his Gymbo-the-clown toy (gift from Hunter & family) at the window. I was a little short of breath climbing the stairs up. Forgot about the altitude difference. Yes, that is what it was!!

Tomorrow will be our first day of looking at future houses with the realtor. We can't wait.
Please email if you'd like our phone#. We're still on the cel, but we have a local land-line (of course, we're using it for internet at the moment :)
More later (and pictures by Wednesday)!

On a last note -- I accidentally put "Ontario" as our new province! Thanks for the heads up "anonymous poster." I'm still a little van-lagged here :)

Day 5 TCH - Regina, Saskatchewan

Manitoba sign. What can I say? We were happy to leave Ontario.
The main (& I think only) street of Austin, MB
Buck & his favorite puppy (a gift from Grandma N)
Austin Bake & Coffee shop. It was awesome!
The 2-lane road becomes a 4-lane highway! Rejoice!

We've made it to Saskatchewan!!! Please allow me to quote a song from one of my all-time favorite movies:

Send someone to fetch us we're in Saskatchewan -- moving right along.

Yes, that is from the immortal Fozzie the Bear & Kermit the Frog duet in the first Muppet Movie. If you haven't seen this movie - you should rent it. It has nothing to do with Canada -- but that's beside the point. Also, from here on out, Saskatchewan will be abbreviated to SK (the postal abb). And Manitoba will be MB. See, you get a little postal lesson with every entry!

We started today in Dryden, Ontario -- at 5am since Buck's body clock didn't mesh with the change to central time. This turned out to be a big help since he actually fell back to sleep around 8am and this let us cover more ground.

I've included a picture that RKZ made me take of the two-lane road becoming a 4-lane highway. This was cause for great rejoicing for my husband. We suddenly seemed to be going much more quickly as Ontario fell into our rearview (if we could see it, since it's actually covered with bags and baby toys) and we drove triumphantly into Manitoba (MB). This is where we saw the last of the stone men but we did see giant blue sky and the beginnings of the Prairies. Please look at a map. What I love most about MB is that it is described as "The West" of Canada. We actually passed by a sign that declares that it is the "Central point in Canada." But everyone (including the new good friends we love from MB) describes this Province as "The West." It's just one more thing to love about Canada.

We stopped for lunch at a bakery in Austin, MB. I am including pictures of the one street in the town. The bakery was the only restaurant we could see. We had Ham and cheese sandwiches with Miracle Whip (Pa joad would love them) & they gave us a free cookie as we left!! So nice of them! Every single person we met in MB (or conversed with) was so incredibly nice & friendly. It was even a little scary for a "hardened" West Coast of the US girl like me. It freaks me out having to say "hello" to everyone. Not RKZ & Buck, though. They have been living the good life waving and conversing with everyone they meet. We haven't walked into a room yet where someone hasn't said, "What a happy baby! He's so smiley!" We even spent about 3 minutes talking with a woman who passed us on the sidewalk in Austin. She was just taken by Buck.

After Austin, it seemed that the distance just flew past us. We were in and out of MB in a shot. Ever the conquering hero, RKZ proudly counted down the miles as we passed (no small feat since the signs are all in Kilometers - "Klicks"). By the time we reached SK, we had covered over 400 miles and as we drove into Regina, the odometer read 560 miles. Gotta' love those 4-lane highways. Even I drove for a bit today as RKZ braved the back seat with Buck.

On a side-note -- everywhere we looked today in both SK and MB, there was whole milk (3.25%). I read a little "Americans in Canada" blurb today and it said to "remember that whole milk is known as 'Homo' milk in Canada" based on the fact that it is homogenized. RKZ won't say it. He just says "whole" and said that "people will just have to figure out what he means." Poor Buck's brain it might never get the fat it needs :) .

Hi to Little O'Doyle (yes, you Cor), E, Wayne, YRT & Ma and Pa Joad who I know are reading this. Also hi to Grandy Grady & the beautiful Grandma N. Lastly, to our "Canadian Safari Guide," we will see you soon!