As I mentioned in an earlier post, our lives got turned upside down (in a good way) right after our cruise. Chris was offered a new job while we were away, and that was at the very end of October. So our November and December were filled with the insanity of selling our home, buying a new place, packing, cleaning, purging, etc. All this while also trying to get ready for Christmas and New Year's, and then the move.
Needless to say, this blog was not at the top of my priority list, so I haven't really posted much in a while. I'll try get things caught up a bit with some photos from the last couple of months, etc. It will be a bit of a mixed bag, but hopefully you'll all like the new pictures.
After one of our frantic trips to Ottawa to try to find a house, we rushed back to Toronto to see Star Wars in Concert. I'd bought tickets as a surprise for Chris and we decided to take Alex too. It was a HUGE show at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto. Here's the info on the show:
Star Wars: In Concert, a unique multi-media event featuring music from all six of John Williams' epic Star Wars scores, begins its worldwide arena tour on October 1, 2009 at Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
Narrated live by Anthony Daniels (the actor who portrayed C-3PO in all six films), the production features a full symphony orchestra and choir, accompanied by specially edited footage from the films displayed on a three-story-tall, high-definition LED super-screen -- one of the largest ever put on tour. The live music and film elements are synchronized in order to create a full multi-media, one-of-kind Star Wars experience.
I'm not a huge Star Wars fan myself - I like the movies (I haven't seen them all though), but I'm not a total nutcase for them. Chris really loves the movies though, as well as the music, and it was actually a really fun show. It was great to hear the music being played by a full orchestra and see highlights from the film. Alex actually loved it as well - I wasn't sure if he'd like it or not, but he was totally enthralled with it.
Before the show, we'd walked around to see the different exhibits that were part of the show. They had costumes on display and interesting exhibits. They also had the expected t-shirts and other souvenirs - all incredibly overpriced.
While walking around we saw a guy with a double light saber. For anyone into Star Wars and the toys, etc., you'd know that these items hadn't been manufactured in years so when Alex saw it, he went nuts. Alex had asked for one for Christmas - and of course you couldn't buy them - so when I saw this, I went over and discretely asked them where they'd got it from. Turns out the guy was a bit of a collector and he ended up offering to sell it to us for $40 (so he could then buy one of the outrageously overpriced t-shirts). Alex was thrilled (and so was Chris, if truth be told).
Here's a few pictures from the show.
We then turned our focus to getting ready for the holidays and the upcoming move. One of the highlights for us was attending the annual Christmas Party run by the Korean Canadian Children's Association. This amazing association runs fun events and parties for families with children adopted from Korea. It's a great way for all of us to learn a bit about Korean culture and to meet some amazing people from the Korean community and see other families and kids.
Alex at the Christmas Party
Alex and Mom singing Christmas Carols
Alex has been playing a lot more lately with friends of his from the neighbourhood. He's been much more social and outgoing and had lots of fun having friends over to play and also going over to their place to play (giving Mom and Dad a wonderful chance to get packing done, or do some work, or watch a grown-up show, etc.).
Here's a few pictures of Alex with some of his friends in the weeks leading up to the move:
Alex and two of his friends out for dinner at Mandarin
Enjoying a fun meal at Mandarin
Alex and his buddy with their teacher - last day of school, which was also Polar Express Day (so they could all wear PJs)
Alex and his buddy goofing around
Before we knew it, Christmas was upon us. We had our nieces, Sarah and Amanda, come over for a sleepover a few days before Christmas and it was incredible to get to hang out with them and have some laughs. Chris' sister, Karen, then came up the next day to join us for a nice Christmas lunch and we got to exhange presents, etc. We were so sorry that Lew wasn't able to make it, but it was a work day for him, and with the craziness of the holidays and the move, we couldn't reschedule the day. Thankfully we got to see them for another visit over the holidays and Alex got to say goodbye again to his Aunt Karen and Uncle Lew.
We then went to spent two days in Toronto with my side of the family and we had a lovely Christmas there. Alex had so much fun with his cousins and we got to enjoy some great meals and some fun times. Alex wrote a nice letter to Santa all by himself (I helped him spell the words), and we left out some cookies, milk and carrots. It was sad to think this might be the last Christmas with us all together - not sure how easy it will be to see family from London and Toronto when we're now so far away, but we'll worry about that when the time comes.
Here's some pictures from the holidays. I wish I'd taken more, but I was so busy just talking and having fun that I never seemed to take any pictures at all over the holidays.
Alex working hard on his letter to Santa
Having fun on Christmas Eve
Sarah and Alex have everything prepared for Santa
Alex's letter to Santa
Here's what the letter says:
Dear Santa. Enjoy the cookies and carrots when you come at night. Love Alex.
Alex's reaction when he sees that Santa left some presents
Alex and Sarah check out the tree
Jennifer and the incredible cakes she made for our Christmas dinner
Right after Christmas, we went home and enjoyed a couple of days before we began packing again in earnest. We'd found out on December 30 that there was a potential problem with the purchase of our new home - nothing to do with us, just some complications that the vendors needed to resolve before they could sell their home to us. To say that we were stressed is an understatement. Things didn't get resolved until the very last minute, but thankfully we did manage to move into the house as scheduled and it all got resolved. We were so lucky to have worked with some amazing people who helped make this move a reality:
- The world's most amazing real estate agent here in Ottawa who took us around to see sooooooooooo many homes and managed to find us a place we could truly call home.
- An incredible woman from our bank who's been there for us many times over the years and kept me calm and focused on the bottom line when we kept having to revise our budgets for this move.
- Our lawyer and the amazing legal clerks who kept us current on everything that was going on behind the scenes and showed so much compassion and empathy for our position.
- An incredible team of movers who were a joy to work with, despite the incredibly frigid temperatures in Ottawa the day we moved into the new place.
Here's a few pictures from the last week since we moved into the new place.
Alex having a picnic in front of the gas fireplace in the empty and freezing house during the move
Alex's first trip to school on a school bus - and yes, I followed it all the way to his school *laughs*
Alex waiting for the bus on his second day taking the bus
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