Fall and Halloween

It's crazy here - the leaves are falling everywhere and we are preparing for Halloween.

Andy and the kids went shopping yesterday for our Halloween "stuff". Lots of houses are being decorated although most of them are "autumn" themed, not scary. Jesse's class is doing a trick or treat with a difference, not only are they collecting candy but also non-perishables for the foodbank. He's going as a Jedi, at least I think that's the idea today.

Dollarama Halloween Isle

As the weeks go by, we are watching the leaves fall and it's just amazing. They are such beautiful colours. I know now, why they call it fall.

This street is just around the corner from us, it's not our street as it doesn't have as many trees and they have already fallen.

It makes me laugh when I see people out there raking their lawns as it's just a waste of time, the leaves are back the next day. What they do is rake them up into little piles in the gutter (no they don't blow away which I still find hard to believe). When we first moved here we got a note from the Council saying they were going to vacuum the leaves on three dates during October and November. I wondered why. Now I know. Love the fall, the weather's not bad, just a little chillier and wetter but still quite mild, the trees are beautiful, love the decorated homes. Autumn could be rivaling spring as my favourite season!

Jenna supping on a Margaretta showing off the new hairdo

Will post some photos of the Halloween visitors after the weekend.

Video from our first trip to Niagara Falls

Andy has just uploaded this video of our first (summer) trip to Niagara Falls. Click here to view it.

A Winter Coat

Thought I'd share with you what Canada has done to me - I've forgotten my dress sense and gone for practical - Oh No that doesn't sound like me at all.

But hey, it's Calvin Klein and it's got fur lining and it's filled with down. After our trip to Marineland on the weekend Natalie told me I needed a soccer Mum coat and this is it. I'm thinking that all those weekends standing on the side lines in Wellington when the rain was beating down on me I could have used this coat.

Yes, I'm wearing fluffy boots as well.

Jesse had to get in on the act - note how tall he is getting!

Oh no, where has he gone!

This "fall" is turning out to be like winter at home although not so much rain and wind. We've had a frost and it's freezing outside, highs of around 5 degrees. The thing is that it doesn't seem to get warm during the day at all.

I'm so pleased our landlord replaced our heating system yesterday so now we are toasty warm.

Last night we went to the Kea group pub night. There were heaps of people there and we had a great time. It was cold though as it's on the rooftop of Hemingways. Martin (the owner - a Kiwi bloke from Invercargill who has been in Canada for about 30 years) tells me that they cover it all up and so it will be nice and warm next time I go. We'll see.

Hope you're enjoying the sunshine (if there is any).

Marineland & Niagara Falls

Monday was thanksgiving holiday so we decided to take the opportunity to go to Marineland and Niagara. We thought that we would have heaps of time to do everything we wanted but of course ran out of time. What we did do though was have an amazing time. The first thing we did was go to Marineland. It was the last weekend of the season and it was cold. You will see by our clothing and the look on our faces that it was cold.

We saw dolphins, seals, sea lions, walrus, Orca and Beluga whales. Andy and the kids went on the rollercoaster, Andy and Jesse went on the sky screamer.

Jenna and Jesse got to feed the Beluga whales.

Jenna's arm

Jesse's arm.

After Marineland we retired to the Comfort Inn and then on to Vinny's for dinner where we were entertained by a sleezy looking Italian. Poor Jesse was so tired that he couldn't eat his dinner. He had been up until after midnight the night before as we had been to a BBQ at a friends, poor little guy. He did well.

Jesse and I decided that we'd had enough and went back to the hotel. Jenna and Andy decided that they had to experience the haunted houses along Clifton Hill. They had a fantastic time and returned about 10pm giggling like school girls about all the terrible things they had seen - the favourite for Jenna was being shut in a completely dark room where someone came up and ran something sharp down her back. She said a nasty word at them. Andy's favourite was the Mac Truck that they had to run from when they thought they were safe.

Just look at their faces!

On Monday we went back to Clifton Hill to do some of the "attractions". We went to Movieland Wax Museum. Jesse was quite scared actually, it was quite dark in there and he didn't like it. He saw Harry Potter and Frodo and that made him feel a bit better but he couldn't handle the scary stuff so Jesse and I left.

We also went on the Sky Wheel and to Ripley's Believe it or Not which was fascinating.

In the afternoon we met our friend Natalie at Niagara on the Lake which is a beautiful little town. We had a beer and fries with her and then came home - I drove, it's about an hour and a half.

Our neighbours (and landlords) John and Tara had invited us for thanksgiving dinner so we had just enough time for me to whip up a self saucing chocolate pudding and then we were off again. It was a beautiful turkey dinner.

We came home and crashed and believe me, none of us wanted to get up on Tuesday morning. Jesse was starting his new class (he's gone back to Grade 3 which is where he should have been to start with) and so he had to be a bit early for school. He didn't wake up until 7.45 and had to leave at 8.30. Nevermind, we all had the most amazing weekend and are feeling very grateful for the simple fact that we are able to do such wonderful things.

I've uploaded the photos to the Me Gallery again, I will do that from now on as it's much quicker and you can see them all. I warn you though - we took over 400 photos in 2 days.

Ice Hockey

Well, what a night. Our first ice hockey experience. Actually, it was great. We had a wonderful time. Jesse's explanation of the game is "nice and violent". He is referring to the players being smashed against the perspex by another player.

The teams were the Mississauga Majors vs the Petersborough team. The Majors won.

At half time, these tiny little kids dressed in all their hockey gear came out onto the ice. They were adorable. It was somewhat like watching dominoes. The puck would go past and one would fall over, then the next would watch it go past and fall over and on it went. So cute.

The little guys

Jesse with the Majors Maniac.

The game is very exciting and you have to keep your eye on the puck, otherwise you can easily miss what's happening. It wasn't nearly as cold in there as I'd imagined. They clean up the ice after every period, of which there are 3, with big machines.

Classic Canadian saying of the night was "he needed a bit more wood on it aye" meaning he needed to hit it harder.

The rest of the photos have been uploaded to the Me gallery - you know the login and password, if not scroll down.

Squirrels in the Backyard

I thought I'd share with you the view of our deck and backyard. We are enjoying having a backyard after spending the last 8 weeks without one (and having the neighbours looking straight into our house).

Today we have been treated to a visiting squirrel who spent a large part of the day foraging in our yard. This evening I finally managed to get photos of him before he took off over the fence.

Beautiful morning!

Our lovely deck!

Looking at our landlord's fence - behind that fence is the most beautiful garden.

We are really enjoying our house, feeling much more settled now that we are here and have unpacked our boxes from NZ. It actually feels like home.

Have added more photos to my MobileMe Gallery. If you've forgotten the password it's in one of the previous posts.

Baseball!

Us (minus Jenna who took the photo) and Bryce at the Baseball

Yes, it's true - I went to a baseball game but don't tell anyone. A couple of Sundays ago (yes I've been tardy at writing) Bryce one of our friendly Kea's took the whole Karl clan to a Blue Jays (Toronto's home team) baseball game.

We had excellent fun. I took lots of photos and really they tell the story except to say that I really enjoyed it. It was exactly like you see in the movies, the music, the cheering and the national anthem. Of course they first sang the USA anthem (for the opposing team) and then the Canadian one. I'm was amazed when my son (after only 2 weeks of school) stood there hand on heart and sang the Canadian national anthem knowing all the words - they teach 'em the important things first!

School Children Singing the National Anthems

Great action shot!

This was before the game and all the blue seats are empty - they weren't empy for long.

The three guys standing in the front became the ring leaders for the mexican wave that went around the whole stadium about three times.

The ring leaders described above wearing the Blue Jays blankets handed out at the beginning of the game - we have three of them.

Blue Jays mascot

A full stadium!

All in all we had a fantastic day - thanks Bryce!