Philadelphia Sneak Peek!

This week we went down to Philadelphia for a couple of days to take care of a wee bit of business and also for me to get a better idea of some of the places where we might live and work. It was about an 8 hour car ride from here, but the girls did amazing--they are such great little travelers--and we enjoyed the fall colours along the way.

It was great to look at neighbourhoods and get a sense of where we might be living, and it was fun to picture ourselves there, living our new lives in Philadelphia. One thing I wasn't expecting was just how verdant these areas--which I guess are technically suburbs, but are relatively close to the city, about a 15-20 min drive out--are, and it was also surprising to realize just how old the city and some of the buildings are. After a long afternoon of driving around parts of the city (while both girls napped in the van = amazing luck!), we stopped at a playground and let the girlies stretch their legs and play.

After our grownup day of driving around, we decided to have a kids day of hanging out at the Please Touch Museum. This is an incredible children's museum, which is in this huge, amazingly beautiful building located in Fairmount Park. Everything is interactive, colourful, and laid out to capture the imaginations of all ages. We overheard one mother refer to it as the "Test Your Immunity Museum," but we just Purelled liberally, and had a wonderful time. 

One of Honey Bee's favourite parts of the day was this stunning carousel, located inside one of the wings of the museum.

Building a robot.

Another highlight was the section dedicated to Alice in Wonderland. Here we are, celebrating our unbirthdays with a tea party with the Mad Hatter and March Hare. Honey Bee is even dressed up as Alice!

Painting the roses red.

We easily spent 45 minutes in this section of the museum while Honey Bee shot little rockets in the air using this "space station."

We were at the museum ALL DAY, and by the time we left, both girls were completely knackered. Five minutes into the car ride back they both fell asleep (the car nap gods were with us on this trip, for sure!), so we decided to plug "Trader Joe's" into the GPS and go and visit this magical place we had heard so much about. I have to say, we were a little disappointed. Perhaps this particular Trader Joe's was a smaller one than those our friends have visited and boasted about, but it was pretty tiny and not a whole lot of stuff there. And I was dismayed not only to find that there was no cheap--but delicious--wine to purchase, but also to learn that in the state of Pennsylvania, you can't buy wine and beer in the same place. Being able to buy wine/beer at the grocery store was a big selling point for me.

The only part of the trip that was not amazing was staying in a hotel with a baby and a toddler. Holy hell. Our girls are usually pretty good sleepers, but it was such a gong show getting one or the other to sleep each night! And I had to try very hard to NOT imagine what manner of things happened on the carpets, under the beds (!), with those decorative pillows, etc, etc, while both girls crawled and wiggled around and touched every single crevice in that room, put things in their mouths, and ate directly off the furniture.

This is a terrible picture, but a funny one. This is our first night in the hotel. Honey Bee didn't sleep a wink on the entire trip down until about five minutes before we reached the hotel. So upon arrival, she woke up in a state of rage- and fatigue-induced delirium. Luckily, this meant that the minute we put her in the bed, she fell back asleep (that is her little brown head on the right). Mouse, on the other hand, slept for a good portion of the drive down, so while we all climbed into our beds exhausted, she crawled and babbled and jumped around her playpen, wide awake (you can see her standing up in the playpen a little bit) for quite awhile.

Hotel room fine dining. We definitely left a tip for the housekeeper.

Having had such a wonderful time on our little minibreak to Philly, it is a little bit harder to sit tight and be patient while we wait for our visas to come through. But it is also reassuring to know that when that time finally comes, we have a beautiful new city awaiting us. 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving weekend! It is really special to be here and able to celebrate Thanksgiving with Mom and Dad, and to enjoy the beautiful Ontario fall. We're having a quieter Thanksgiving feast tonight at Mom and Dad's, and then a larger family dinner tomorrow night at my aunt's house. Because we'll have traditional turkey at my aunt's house tomorrow, and because my Dad especially isn't a huge fan of turkey, we're having prime rib and roasted chicken tonight. All in all, its going to be an amazing weekend.

The word on the move is that it looks like we'll probably have awhile to wait on our visas/paperwork (like, definitely into November). Discouraging as that was to hear, we have moved into acceptance, and are making the most of our time in Ontario. There are lots of things to do here that are novelties for our little city slicker, and she is loving running with Dog in the yard, riding her new bike, and jumping in piles of leaves, among other things.

Pony ride at the Carp fair

Riding the lawnmower with Daddy

Lovely fall visit to my aunt and uncle's home in Quebec

Jumping in leaves was a big hit

Rainy day apple picking 

When I say "rainy," I mean "REALLY RAINY"! (But still very fun. We were, literally, the only ones there. We are hardcore apple pickers.)

Mouse checking out our haul. The Empire apples were especially delicious!

We wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving weekend and hope that this holiday finds you happy, with friends and family, and enjoying this beautiful fall season. 

We've Arrived in Ottawa!

We all arrived safely in Ottawa a few days ago. Apparently, it takes more than a couple of days to decompress from what has been a very stressful and busy year but especially this past month. We're all quite tired and a little on edge, but we are grateful to have made it here, and are looking forward to relaxing a bit before taking on our next challenge of moving to Philadelphia.

The girls and I flew first to Calgary to spend a few days with two of my very close girlfriends and their 4 children. The house we all stayed in together was noisy and busy to say the least, but we had a fabulous time catching up, watching our children play together, and supporting one another--as we so often do--through good times and not-so-good times. Looking forward to this mini vacation was so helpful to me in coping with saying goodbyes in Vancouver, and we were all so busy with our little ones while we were together that it helped me to shake off my sadness of the move and be in the moment.

 Mouse and her new friend

Story time with 4 kids is easy!

A very sweet moment, snuggling with the littlest member of our group at the Calgary Zoo.

The Whole Gang! (Some members of said gang are hard to see due to being covered in Ergos.)

Mouse fell asleep during landing on our flight from Calgary to Ottawa after wriggling in my arms for the previous 4 hours. But wriggling is very tiring work.

The boys (and Dog) drove in a U-Haul truck from Vancouver to Ottawa in less than 5 days. Some days they drove as many as 18 hours in a day, all with Dog sitting in the jumpseat of the three person cab. The original plan was to drive in the relative luxury of our van while pulling a trailer behind. But Dad felt that they would meet certain death on the Coquihalla with this plan, so they opted to rent the truck and haul the van behind. Although their journey was long and uncomfortable, it was mercifully uneventful.

Huz and Dog on the TransCanada

So now we're going to wait here awhile while we wait for all of our paperwork to be in order. We're hoping to see some progress this week so that we'll have an idea of when Huz at least can head down to Philadelphia and find us a new (likely temporary) home. 

The Old Apartment (This is Where We Used to Live)

Oh, saying goodbyes in Vancouver has been so very difficult. We said goodbye to dear family, very close friends, and our home.

When I notified our landlord that we'd be moving away, he asked me to take some photos for the ad he would soon be posting on craigslist. I glanced around our apartment, which looked roughly like a bomb had gone off, and said "No problem!" and got to work. I shuffled boxes and crap around to take some loving photographs of our home, and I'm so glad that I did. I am grateful to have these photos now that we have left.

As much as we sometimes complained about our apartment--only having one bathroom is never good for a marriage--I cried like a baby when I finally locked the door one last time. Our daughters were literally born there, in our bedroom. It was our first home as a married couple. It was a location for so many Wednesday night potlucks, book club meetings, and other get togethers with friends. Honey Bee took her first steps there, we had the most incredible neighbours, it was in the most amazing neighbourhood in Vancouver, and it was the backdrop to countless memories of our time there.

I have a newfound understanding for people who find it difficult to move, even from circumstances that are less than optimal living conditions. Being accustomed to moving around a lot, I never really felt particularly attached to the house part of "home". But in this little apartment, Huz and I really made the effort to create the homey part of "home" and make this a cozy dwelling for our family (although we suck at decorating). We lived here for 6 years, and it is unfathomable to me now, how people can move away from places that they've lived in for 10, 20, 30 years, etc. Although you take the memories with you when you go, the attachment to the bricks and mortar is undeniable.

So thank you, cozy little apartment, for housing us within your walls for these 6 years, and for allowing us to begin our life as a family here. We will cherish the memories, and the apartment, always.

The girls room. The best room in the house. We learned to paint from YouTube to paint this room while we were expecting Honey Bee, and also learned that painting is hard and very time-consuming.

This picture is so very deceptive. I removed about 80% of our toys, dog beds, and crap before snapping this picture. If only it was always this tidy! 

Tiny, but very adorable kitchen, which allowed me to watch the girls in the living room while cooking generally unmemorable meals. I did, however, create one very memorable Duck à L'Orange here for a very fancy and never to happen ever again dinner party.

Summer Vacation

We just returned from two weeks away on Vancouver Island, visiting family and friends. We spent most of that time with Huz's family in Port Alberni, and had a wonderful time. We had lots of good family chats, trips to the beach, visits to swimming holes, and LOTS of Nonna's delicious cooking. It occurs to me now, as I sit down to write this, that we don't have any pics with The Family on the camera, which is obviously a HUGE oversight, which we will rectify at least in part when we go back in a few weeks for our goodbye visit (wah!!!). Despite our lack of photographic evidence, we really treasured this time with our family - it has been so special to us to be close to everyone while we've lived here over the past eight years. It is definitely with heavy hearts that we move farther away, but we hope that our summer visit to the west coast will be an annual tradition, where we can reconnect with Huz's parents, siblings, and nephews and continue to create these precious memories.

We did manage to take a nice family photo, at the "Hole in the Wall" in Port Alberni.

Exploring with Zio

We also spent a night in Parksville, visiting and saying goodbye to my aunt and her family. These guys have been so incredibly wonderful to us over the past 8 years that we have lived on the west coast, and it has meant SO much to me to have family over here. My aunt and her family have taken us into their homes, shared their time, and celebrated many of our major milestones with us, and becoming closer to them has been one of the many gifts of our time out west. We will miss you immensely, but hope you will come and visit us in Philadelphia, and that we will continue to see you at The Big Family Hoedowns in Ontario.

Thank you for everything! We love you! xo

We also spent some time visiting and saying goodbye to dear friends of ours in Victoria. They have a gorgeous 2-month old baby girl, who we cuddled and nuzzled, and we caught up with our friends and their beautiful and accomplished elder daughter. Although we do not see you as often as we would like, you are wonderful, lifelong friends, and we hope to see you before too long, either back on the island or in Philly!

Lucky us: Four beautiful daughters!

We were so grateful to be able to spend this time with everyone on our vacation, and although so special and meaningful, this time was also bittersweet. We have begun to say our "goodbyes," which is very sad, but we also feel so blessed to have such wonderful family and friends, who we know will continue to be immeasurably important in our lives, no matter where we may live.

Living with Less

Apart from being able to buy wine at the grocery store and looking forward to possibly affording a home before we're corpses (not familiar with the real estate situation in Vancouver? Here's an interactive educational tool to help illuminate you), one of the best things about moving to the US is the opportunity to purge unwanted, unnecessary household items.

Apartment living with a family has made me very aware of clutter, and I find myself getting anxious whenever the "stuff" begins to accumulate and take away from our living space. I now have an irrational fear of ending up having to climb over mountains of our possessions like in Hoarders. In 2012, a friend pointed me in the direction of The Minimalist Mom. I purchased her ebook, read it in a day, and thought "YES! This woman is speaking my language!" Ever since then, I've been pretty militant about rounding up "stuff" and donating it to Sally Ann about once a season, and I'm a lot more conscious about what we buy and why. Now, every time Huz can't find something, he gets a little nervous that I might have donated it without his permission (which I almost never do. Almost.). My mother, whose love language is giving presents, is saddened when I ask her not to go overboard at Christmastime or not to buy too much for our second daughter because I've already got more than enough from our first.

A cross-continental move takes living with less to the next level. I get to vamoose of our sad, dilapidated pullout couch that we got for free 6 years ago (which means it was in rough shape 6 years ago, and has only gotten worse since). Any ill-fitting, dated, or falling apart clothes must go, as must anything irreparably broken, hideously ugly, or of questionable origin (I'm thinking particularly of an entire box full of random cords and wires that have not been used in YEARS). Almost all tchotchkes have their execution dates set, and I am practically giddy with delight at the thought of giving away our metal bed frame, which I have walked into in the middle of the night more times than I care to recall.

But knowing that you are moving far away in a matter of weeks also means that you implement an Impending Move Austerity Plan, which I am LOVING (Huz maybe not so much). Out of hand soap? Rather than buying more, let's use up every single molecule of soap that we can find in our house first: old bars of Pears, the Strawberry Shortcake foaming soap that I bought Honey Bee to get her excited about potty training, and the what seems like decades worth of travel-sized soaps/shampoos/body washes that we've collected. Fridge looking a little empty? Rather than running right out to the grocery, pretend you're on Chopped and ask yourself "What can I make for lunch using canned salmon, hot dog buns, and green peppercorns?" (The answer: Canned salmon sandwiches. Without green peppercorns. What the hell do you do with green peppercorns? I think I must have bought them by accident, mistaking them for capers.)

So if you're in Vancouver and wanting to spend some time with us before we move, come on over for a glass of Marsala wine or a shot of Fireball, and grab a souvenir tchotchke while you're at it.

The Big Change

Soooo, I was going to wait until we had more official news to begin posting here, but I have ants in my pants and want to start blogging before too many unofficial things happen and I get bogged down. BUT. We are unofficially, almost for certain, maybe about 95% sure that we are moving to Philadelphia, sometime in Septemberish. Huz is in the process of finishing up his PhD program here in Vancouver and has been unofficially (meaning: in an email saying "You got the job!" but fancy, official HR letter still pending) offered an amazing once-in-a-lifetime post doctoral fellowship in Philadelphia. We have known that Philadelphia was a possibility ever since late February/early March, and had been open to the possibility of a potential move to the US for even longer, but now that things are (semi) official, it definitely seems very real, and September feels VERY soon.

But I digress. Here is our family:

Or about as good a shot as anyone's going to get these days without the use of sedatives. I am Ash, and I am married to my handsome, funny, kind, brainy (and at times nerdy) Huz. And we have two amazing daughters, Honey Bee, and Mouse. Honey Bee is almost 3, and she is a wonderful, intelligent, hilarious, passionate, joyful, stubborn, tenderhearted handful of a girl. Mouse--who looks uncharacteristically furious in this particular photo--is 8 months, and is the sweetest, calmest, most contented baby I have ever seen. She loves her big sister and breaks into a big, beaming smile whenever she sees her, and watching these two love on each other is my absolute favourite thing in the whole entire universe. Down at the bottom of the pic you'll see the chopped off head of our beloved Dog, who is 7.5. She has gone prematurely gray from her stressful lifestyle of lying on her oversized Kirkland dog bed, swimming in our local dog park watering hole, and mooching for food. 

I am, by nature, an organizer/planner, and so ever since we received the unofficial word, I have been starting to prepare our home for a huge, cross-continental move. Our plan, as it stands now, is to sell all our furniture (which is mostly your typical IKEA fare that wouldn't travel well and would be cheaper to just replace on the other end anyway), purge as much unnecessary "stuff" as possible (for me, the best part of moving. I am an aspiring minimalist and having a legitimate reason to get rid of all unnecessary household items is just awesome), and move ourselves there. And by "move ourselves there," I mean, Huz and my Dad drive the stuff, while I fly with the girls. Because even though moving together across country a la pioneers in covered wagons would be romantic and poetic and a growing experience for us as a family, it would also be hell and kind of cruel to subject the girls and ourselves to 5+ days of being cooped up in our van, which would be permeated with Dog breath 30 minutes into the drive. 

Yesterday Honey Bee noticed that our bookshelves were looking rather bare after I had packed away my beloved book collection. She pointed to the bookshelf and said "Something is missing." We haven't really discussed moving with her at all, because I was reluctant to discuss it a) before we received the official word, and b) too far in advance. But since she noticed our disappearing possessions, I decided it was probably time to fill her in on why our home is looking more and more bare. I explained that we were going to be moving houses "like the Berenstain Bears" (I use this comparison so often, for reasons why she can't watch too much TV, why she can't have too much junk food, why she needs to use good manners, etc, and its amazing because she loves those books and when I put "the rules" in those terms, she totally gets it) and moving to a new place called Philadelphia. She sat quietly for a moment, contemplating this. Then she said: "What about my books. Can my books come?" "Yes, your books will all come." "And my stuffies?" "Yes, of course. All of your stuffies will come to too." "And my movies?" "Yes." "Can I watch a movie in Philadelphia?" "Yes. When we get to Philadelphia, you can watch your movies there." "Yay! Let's go to Philadelphia!" 

So, that's pretty much where things stand now. We are enjoying what is almost certainly our last summer in beautiful Vancouver with our unbelievable family and friends and slowly picking away at the minutiae of moving, until we hear the official word and kick our moving planning into high gear.