Heritage Park in -39 degrees!

Yesterday we had tickets booked through Becky's work for breakfast at Heritage Park. The weather has taken a little turn for the worst as it was -39 with the wind chill. We decided to wrap up in very warm clothes and go anyway. We all enjoyed the breakfast and then had a quick look round the park and tried very hard not to loose any appendages through frost bite - we survived!! Here are some pictures.

Karate Christmas Party

Saturday we went to the Karate Christmas party. Becky and I had a great time with our new friends and we even got to sit on Santa's knee (well kind of!) to receive our Christmas present in the gift exchange. Becky got a T-Shirt which was from the 40th Anniversary of the Shotokan Karate Master Camp (Shame it was XL - :-)) and I got a magnetic poetry kit for the fridge. Our fridge is now plastered with some very interesting cliche's indeed. Speaking of plastered, click here for the picture evidence!

Wow! More snow

Yesterday it snowed all day. By the end of the day we had settled snow of around 7 inches. Sophie and I went tobogganing! Click here for a short video of Sophie.

The Proof!

Here's the written proof!

Relief!

Just a quick entry to let you all know that Rebecca has passed her Canadian Registered Nurse Exam. One of the kids (Lewis we think but it could have been Sophie) wrote on our fridge memo board - "Yay Mum passed!!! We get to stay!!!!" I guess that just about sums it up really!

Snow again!

Ahhh, doesn't he look happy clearing the snow off the drive! I do feel sorry for him though because I did get him out of bed to do this chore...... AT 1PM!!!!!!!!!!!! More snow pictures here

Strawberry Daquiri anyone?

Yesterday our arm chairs arrived and to celebrate we decided to have cocktails (yes Aunty Sylvia we are enjoying your gift) in front of a nice open fire. Life is terrible!! :-)

Christmas has officially arrived!

We went 'downtown' yesterday to see the official arrival of Santa in Calgary at the Winter Wonderland at Olympic Plaza. There were crafts for the kids, karaoke, an ice sculpting competition and a show featuring the Young Canadians of the Calgary Stampede (which Sophie is going to audition for next year), the Calgary Stampede band and of course Santa and lots of elves. It was a really nice show and made us really look forward to our first Christmas in Calgary. We have uploaded a few pictures if you want to see them, just click here.

Drumheller Trip

Yesterday we had a family trip (except for Alex, who is too old to go on family trips to 'boring places') to Drumheller. Drumheller is about an hour and 45 minutes drive north east of Calgary. It is a town housing the Royal Tyrrell Museum and is famous for having the most dinosaur bones and fossils in the world. The views are quite spectacular with canyons, Hoodoos and the worlds largest dinosaur statue, which you can climb and literally stand in the jaws of a T-Rex to enjoy the view. Please click here to see all the photos.

Snow!

We awoke yesterday morning to around 5 inches of snow! Obviously the kids couldn't wait to walk to school. Please take a look at a few more pictures of our walk to school by clicking here.

Our new Sensei

We are now back into karate and this is our new Sensei. Sensei David Jones is originally from the UK and moved to Calgary in the 80's. He has made us feel extremely welcome, as has everyone at our new club. If any of our friends from SKE fancy making a trip to Calgary, come visit us and we will introduce you to Sensei David.

Halloween!

Our first Halloween was greatly enjoyed by everyone. They really go quite mad here on Halloween, the kids are allowed to dress up at school, there is trick or treating going on in the malls and of course trick or treating around the streets. We decided to throw ourselves into it and have some fun. Unfortunately Becky was working so she couldn't join in the traipsing around the streets but did wear colourful 'scrubs' for work. The amount of 'candy' (sweets to us) the kids got will be enough to keep the sugar high going until Easter!

Here are a few more pictures.

New Gadget!

We have added a new gadget to our blog. Please register and become a follower :-)

Karate Started!

We finally made it to our first Karate session on Monday evening. I am still suffering after such a long break from training but Becky is fine. Our new Dojo is in the north east, only about 20 mins drive away and is very nice indeed. Sensei David Jones and his students made us feel very welcome. We look forward to getting back into shape and making lots of new friends. We will post a picture soon....

What's this white stuff?

We woke up this morning to our first snow! I think this little dusting has come to ease us into what is to come. The kids are looking forward to more snow, not so sure about Becky and I! The weather here is very odd, they do say that you could experience all 4 seasons in one day. We have certainly seen some of that already

This holiday weekend also saw our first Thanks Giving. It was officially yesterday, but we were invited to Nick & Ali's house on Sunday to celebrate 'Thanks Giving' together with his parents, who finally arrived in Calgary 4 weeks ago. We had a wonderful feast of roast Turkey and trimmings with great company. Nick & Ali have really made us feel so welcome we feel so very fortunate to have such great friends :-)

Here are some more pictures of the snow this morning :-

Boxes arrived !$%!

Yes, they have finally arrived and with it the memories of packing them! Now all we have to do is unpack! We have already made a start and find ourselves in a nice big mess. If we can only find the box with the hangers in we will be okay :-) One of the first boxes we opened contained all the gifts and cards that our friends and family gave us at our leaving party, that really brought back some great memories and some sad ones too. We have all settled in here fantastically well but we often think about our great friends and family we have left behind and shed the odd tear ;-( So we do look forward to your visits.
One item we have now found is our Karate Gi's. We have missed our karate and are both looking forward to seeking out our new club to resume our training.

This week Becky sat the Canadian Nursing exam. She is glad that is over and we keep our fingers crossed that we get good news through the mail in a few weeks or so. She said it was a lot harder that all the tests she has done from the books and the actual on line readiness test which she got 83% on.

1st Canadian IV Start!

I'm posting under Steve's name because I'm on his computer but I had to share that I did my 1st (& successful) IV start today!! I know I used to do them some time back in the UK but the needle & introducer is different to those I used in the UK plus I only did 3 in the last 2 years once I moved to Holly - so I was really out of practice.

The patient was really happy because she said I had been the most gentle person she'd ever had. I told her it's because I don't like needles either! Those who know me are well aware that's true! I have to do 2 more before I'm certified competent -I had to do 10 in the UK!

Beer can chicken

With Steve getting the hang of the gas BBQ we decided to try something new last night. When we were staying with Nick & Ali they cooked up beer can chicken, it was delicious, so we decided to give it a try!

Armed with a recipe from the internet we made a rub for the chicken from rosemary, thyme, sage, chili seasoning (not hot), lime & cumin. I think there may have been corriander there too. Then we cut off the top of the beer can (actually we made 2 because of our numbers). Discarding half the beer down Steve we then added lime juice, olive oil & the same herbs as above to the can.

We stuck the can up the chicken's bottom & stuffed the neck with more herbs, as above. We placed ours in a roasting tin, although you can use just foil or even nothing if you're a purist (but that makes a mess of the grill!) The BBQ is lit around the chicken but not directly under it. We cooked on medium for 1.5 hours & had the most beautiful chicken we've ever cooked for dinner. I'm NEVER roasting in the oven again!! So if you want some you'll just have to come & get it!

First Day & Cast Off!

Well I SURVIVED!!!! I had 4 patients together with a more senior RN. She further subdivided so I took 2 - with LOADS of supervision because of all the computer stuff. I gave meds & flushed a couple of Central lines. I put some IV fluids up through the pumps & wrote up some charts. The RN was really nice, as were all the staff I met today.

The PCA (patient Controlled Analgesia) drugs are supplied in pre-filled syringes so no messing about with vials & vials of watyer for injection anymore!! Or the Controlled drug book either! it's signed for that patient, supplied by pharmacy for that patient & you sign on the computer that you gave it. Other than some stock items (paracetamol, aspirin etc) all the patients drugs come in single issue packets & are kept in a drawer with their name on on a drug cart. Pharmacy is responsible for filling it up everyday.

One thing that stuck out a mile was how excellent the cleaning was. Each ward has a cleaner plus there are teams that come round & mop & polish floors etc. it was positively sparkling the whole day.

We were kept going but they make sure you get your breaks properly. We have 2 half hour breaks - one for breakfast (I was on an early) & one for lunch. It was busy but not ballistic by any measure.

The other news today is that Sophie got her cast off! We took her to a local clinic to have it done. Her ankle still looks bruised & a tad swollen though so they have requested another X-ray, which we'll have done tomorrow. I think it's fine though, she just needs to be a bit careful

Now I'm sorted!!

Yes, this is my new BBQ and yes I'm using it! The weather this week has been glorious, with over 80 degrees on the day I cooked these steaks. Gas is going to take a while to master, so I will need lots of practice. I will certainly be ready for firework night, although there may be snow and a sad lack of any actual fireworks but you are all invited as usual for the burgers and dogs!

Induction week!

Well I'm nearly at the end of what has been a very tiring week of induction. To those of you for whom this is relevent - don't you ever moan about Holly House's study days again! My brain is just about frazzled & just when I thought I couldn't take anymore it was computing - ALL DAY today!!!

Everything is computerised - charting, drugs, doctors orders, results (both lab & diagnostics), where the patient is at any time, fluid balance etc etc. The ward is chock full of computer terminals down both walls. Even the glucometers incorporate bar code readers - ready for the next step.

We each have our own ID & we have to make sure we log off so we don't get blamed for someone Else's mistakes. It also means that the docs can enter their requests & we can see them really easily - no trying to guess what they've written or them saying they told us something when they didn't! It's all there in black & white!!

The drug charts show meds that are due on your shift by having a yellow fill, if they're given it's white & if they're overdue it's red. It's really good for knowing what's going on but it's going to be a complete nightmare to get the hang of!! Remember I have LPN's (like our enrolled nurses) & HCA's to help though! So it's not quite like the UK thank goodness!

Also the whole hospital is "needle less" we don't use needles to draw up meds, to give IV drugs or anything. The nurses all do there own cannulations for IV starts, the venflons are pretty good although I've only got to try on a rubber arm so far! We don't take routine bloods but sometimes we'll have stat bloods or time sensitive bloods to take. ALL IV fluids go through Baxter's - including blood & because most of my patients are oncology they all have tons of different bags - sometimes going through triple access pumps!! It's scary after Holly!!

The hospital is also HUGE!!! Bigger than Whipps by miles!

I've bought my scrubs in various colours & patterns (I might think about getting a picture on here at some point) because I have my first day on the ward itself tomorrow, where I'll be with the clinical nurse educator all shift. So wish me luck!!

Edgemont School & a new cast!!

Here's Sophie & Lewis outside their new school. Sophie managed to break....yes you read that right..........BREAK her old cast & so we had to go to hospital AGAIN to get a new one!! As you can see, she chose bright orange this time. Luckily we now have our health card numbers, so we didn't have to pay anything.

The walk to school

These are the stairs we climb to get to Sophie & Lewis' school. It also gives you an idea of the view we get from the school playground. Unfortunately the battery ran out on the camera before I could take anymore, so they will have to follow yet again!

Getting it together!

To all - promise we will be up and running properly soon - we still have quite a lot to organise but things are settling & we are now close to being back to something resembling normality.

We totally love the area we're living in right now & would definitely choose to buy here. It's on the more expensive side of Calgary but the pay off is great neighbourhoods & schools - worth every penny. It's close to good amenities, quiet(when our kids are asleep anyway) & clean.

The kids love their respective schools. The Elementary (Primary to us Brits) is really close & on top of a hill that gives the most wonderful views of Calgary & the mountains. It's a nice, bright, friendly place & Sophie & Lewis are finding it very comfortable indeed!! We can walk there in about 10 mins but I drive if it's wet, on account of Sophie's cast! Which reminds me, I will get a photo of said cast on here soon!!

The downside for the younger 2 is that, because of their birthdays, they are actually going to be in school one more year than their UK counterparts. They are in grades 3 & 5, both of which they had completed in England but if we pushed them up (which the school was not going to do anyhow) they would be by far the youngest in their classes so we chose to go with age & they're really happy, so we'll just keep quiet about that extra year!! :-) Alex, on the other hand, is laughing because he's ended up having a year less at school than his UK counterparts!! He's going into grade 11 & now just has 2 more years at school, instead of the 3 he had in the UK!! We've checked out the courses & he's totally up to speed, so he won't lose out. I've told him NOT to wind up the younger 2 - & so far he's not!

Talking about Alex, he's very excited about his school program. He's taking sports medicine as one of his options & part of the course includes attending sporting events - tough work but someone has to do it!! He's also taking Phys Ed where he will do everything from Kayaking to volleyball!! He has chosen to carry on with Chemistry & Biology for his other options, as he was doing so well at them in the UK. His other subjects are compulsory - Math, English, Social Studies & CALM (some citizenship type thing they have to do for 1 term of High School here)

Anyway, better get on with dinner!

Calgary at last

Well it's taken a while to get even remotely sorted - hence the long gap since writing - but we have made it to Calgary & it's great so far. We have purchased furniture, cars, TV's, ordered internet, cable & phone services but we still have plenty left to do. However, we're moving into our house on Saturday - we have somewhere to sleep, somewhere to sit & TV to watch - SORTED!

I also now know where I'm working - an oncology surgical ward where they do cutting edge surgery. It has a great nurse:patient ratio & a really fun ward manager. No night shifts either. There are aready 4 UK nurses on the floor, so I should fit right in!!

Of course,being us, we have had occasion to see the healthcare system from the other side already as our dear, accident prone Sophie has managed to crack a bone in her foot while playing on the trampoline in our friends garden!! She's now sporting a beautiful bright red cast on her foot -photo to follow!!

There's a great, newly built, designated children's hospital not 10 mins from us - so we took her there. Of course, our health cards are not done yet so we had to pay $515 up front & will be able to calim it back once our cards are through.

It's not stopped her though - she's been walking to the park & back with the rest of the gang & wathcing her run across the fields cast & all was just hysterical!! Luckily she has a weight bearing cast with a walking shoe.

Tropical Storm Fay

For those of you who may be worried about the impact of the tropical storm hitting Florida - don't be. In our area it's turning out to be a damp squib. We may get the odd gust of 30mph winds later & we'll certainly have a damp end to our holiday but having cleared our pool area of furniture & making sure we had enough food & water to last us, just in case, it's turned out to be nothing. Still for once I actually know what we're having for dinner tonight!! Not usual when I'm on holiday!

Of course Miami was hit fairly hard & so will Polk & Manatee Counties near Tampa but for Citrus (where we are) they haven't even bothered to close the schools.

Sea World

Shamu.

Well we had to go do at least ONE park!! Seaworld is pretty neat & all the kids enjoyed it! We went with Rusty & his girls, whose pics I'm sure will appear at some stage! Sophie sat down in the splash zone with him & his younger daughter, Robin - they got soaked!! We stayed up for this one but did go down for the dolphins later (their water is warmer!)

Mount Dora

Sipping lemonades on the rocking chairs on the main hotel's (which was built in 1883) veranda. plus the view we got from that veranda over lake Dora.

Mount Dora is a very quaint old (by US standards) town with lots of lovely shops to browse. it's about 1.5 hours drive from our house in Florida & well worth the trip! We went with Allen & his partner, Lisa (the harley guys!)

I want one too!

Alex had to try it for size as well, of course.

In fact we have all been out on the back - except Steve!!

Harley Chick!

Here's Sophie on the back of a friend's Harley, about to go out on US19!!

she's hooked & wants one when she's older!!

UK house completion

We are taking a quick break from chilling to say we have now competed on our UK house! YEAH!! We're watching the money markets avidly for when the money comes into the account. Right now would be good but it's not there yet!!!

Chilling

Here's a pic of us all by the pool as we start to unwind!! It's sunny & warm & the water is beautiful......... just what we need!!

Anyone jealous yet?? Don't worry when we're in -24 in Calgary this winter you'll be the ones laughing!!!

Now, excuse me I just need to go for a swim! :-)

The Mad Getaway

Well we made it by the skin of our teeth! Our day for leaving the house was Wednesday 30th as we had booked a hotel by Gatwick using up some airmiles in the process (well we couldn't sleep in an empty house could we!) Come the morning the post still hadn't brought our work Permits &, despite emailing the Embassy every day since Monday (as they had suggested) neither had any fax!! Jean at CSUK found us a telephone number for the HIgh Commission so I called & the operator agreed it was an emergency & put us through to the emergency line. We left a message & waitied for that fax. 3.15 pm still nothing!! I called again & the operator took pity on my plight, told me to hold the line then came back to me saying they would be faxed to us within the hour, which they were..PHEW!!!

That was not the end of the stress though because by the time we finished packing up the house we totalled about 65 boxes for the shippers to collect. They eventually arrived (took another phone call & a realisation that they had had some mis-communication issues) with their high top Transit, which was half full, so it was very quickly apparent that they had seriously underestimated the number of boxes we had and we started to panic (even more than we were already). It was decided that they would come back the next morning and load the boxes we had to give them the garage remote & alarm code & keep our fingers crossed they would come because, as I said before, we were staying at a hotel by the airport that night and flying to our holiday in Florida the next day! We finally finished clearing the house at about 10:30pm and jumped into the taxi for the hotel. Our wonderful neighbour took our keys & was poised to keep a check.

Party

Well we had the most fantatstic party & can't thank people enough for coming & for all the wonderful gifts & kind words that were both said & written.

Pictures will be posted asap!

We're off!!!!

Just got an email from the Embassy - our permits have been granted & if they don't arrive in the post by Monday they'll fax us copies!!!

OMG!!! We're actually going!!!!!!

DARN!!

Well post has been & gone & NOTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!

What did they post it - 3rd class???? Embassy snail????

Oh well, there's always tomorrow.

Come on postie!!

Well we heard from the Embassy that our paperwork is in the post!! However, it hasn't made it through the Royal Mail service to our door yet.

I think the postman will soon classing me as a dangerous animal & worse than any dog he has on his rounds! We positively skulk behind the door & snatch the post as it comes through the letterbox!!!

We are now knee deep in boxes - have packed 20 so far!! I can't believe we have all this stuff & we're being really brutal with our throwing out too! Several dump runs already plus 1 waiting to go this morning!! All being well the shipping company is coming on Wednesday afternoon to tak it all away.

So COME ON MR POSTIE!!!!!!

Flights booked!

Well we found on the BA website that we could book flights & seats & still change our dates for free! So we called & booked!! 31st July is the provisional date for going out to Tampa. If the work permit doesn't get here in time we'll move the flights back as required. We haven't yet booked our onward flight to Canada - for obvious reasons!

Guess we really need to steam into that packing now!!

I pray that our permits do arrive soon - they really should.

For those coming to our party on Sunday - we may have a mini boot sale going! Or a tombola where every ticket is a winner! :-) Anyone for an electric can opener??

Boxes have Arrived

Well the boxes finally arrived - OMG we have to pack them now!!! AAAAURGHHHH!

Boxes

We're getting boxes delivered to day for our grand pack next week or we should be! Stupid TNT driver tried to deliver to the wrong house in the wrong road so still waiting!!

Annoyingly Steve has to go to work on Monday (& no doubt Tuesday - I'll be lucky if we get 3 days together to pack) when he should be off! Unfortunately their server went down & that's got him miles & miles behind! Not entirely his fault but we really need to be able to crack on with this together, I'm NOT doing it alone!!!

No Work Permit in the post today :-( our buyers are pushing to exchange but we really don't want to until we have that elusive piece of paper!! Hopefully will be really soon.

Now we're turning our attentions to selling our cars. Someone at work might want one of them, I hope they do! We'll offer them through our karate mob too, would be much less hassle if we can sell to someone we know!

Decision Made

Well we made up our minds & we're going for the more sensible option - salmon pink carpet & all! Keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks again to Nick & our new hero - his friend Tommy - whose skills at Mandarin, and knowledge of the rental market were most helpful!!

Undecided on House in Calgary

Today we're trying to decide on a rental house. Our good friend Nick has viewed a couple of properties on our behalf & thrown us an interesting dilemma!

Do we go for an expensive, beautiful, dream home close enough for us to fire champagne corks into Ali & Nick's backyard but where I'll be freaking every time the kids move, in case they damage something & their lawyer friend, who will be looking after the place notices & stuffs us for all our deposit plus some??

Or do we take the cheaper (more sensible) option of a great sized property, in a great location that ticks all our original boxes but is a drive away from our friends but has a salmon pink carpet throughout much of it but where I won't be freaking every time the kids move or have friends round?

Hmmmm......................................... I vote the 2nd option, I think Steve at the moment favours the 1st. Watch this space - any comments please feel free to add your 2 cents worth!

Sophie in Joseph

Here's Sophie on stage at the Adelphi in the West End production of "Joseph" she's sad to be leaving the show but we have sorted her out a stage school in Calgary so she can still get her "fix"

Nick and Ali

Hello,

This is the first posting; just to test to see if we are doing things correctly!!!

This is a picture of our friends in Calgary, Nick and Ali. We met them on our honeymoon in Austria many, many years ago........ It won't be long until we are their neighbours!!
Steve & Becky

Test run!

Hi there, this is a test run to see if it all works!