He's BAAAACK!

and not a moment too soon! These past two and a half weeks have been the hardest ever of all the times Steve's been away. There was just so much going on...the dreaded bus situation, Abbey and Michael starting "maternelle", me starting my Master's and the craziness that is September for teachers...I thought I was going to go off the deep end (seriously!). But all that ended when I heard to garage door go up Friday morning at 4:32 am...a whole two days early! Yay!

Steve was staying in Thule and flying back and forth to Alert dropping off supplies. Here's a video of Steve landing in Alert...you can appreciate the conditions they were flying in. If you listen carefully after landing you can hear the reverse thrust kick in to slow the Herc down.

Here's a pic of Dundas Mountain ("The Beer Can") taken from the cockpit and one of Steve on top of it. He and the Winnipeg crew he'd been flying with while in Thule decided to climb it. It took them 22 minutes or so but the record up is a little over 6 minutes.

Cool iceberg shot taken from the cockpit. I'm fascinated by icebergs and would love to see one.

So, life back to normal! I'm a happy girl!

All in a Day's Work...

Who knew this...

could cause so much grief in this Mommy's life! 

This is bus #227...many sleepless nights have been spent thinking about said bus. AHHHH!

So, as previously mentioned in an earlier post, the first day went pretty well all things considered. I cried, but really what mother doesn't right?!? 

I picked Abbey and Michael up after their first day excited to hear all about the days events. They seemed okay with it all...until bed time! Everything always comes out at bedtime eh?!? This is when my darling little boy announces that he is never taking the bus again and that the bus driver is mean. Now in my most understanding loving voice I explained how lucky he was to be taking the bus and how he was only able to do so now because he's such a big boy. All to no avail. There was just no changing his mind...I decided not to keep fighting it so I put him to bed with lots of extra cuddles and hoped for the best the next morning.

Alarm goes off Friday morning, I'm showered, dressed and ready to wake my babes up by 7:15 am. Walk into Abbey's room with a cheerful "bonjour ma belle Abbey" and my princess wakes up, stretches, gives me a hug and tells me she's excited to wear another dress to school today. Fantastic...so far! I approach Michael's room, pause at the door...say a little prayer and bounce in with an even-friendlier, more upbeat "bonjour mon beau Michael" to which his response was hide under the covers and yell "I'm not going to school and I hate the school bus!" Hmmmm... WONDERFUL!  So NOT the response I was looking for?!?

I gave him a few minutes to settle down and got Abbey ready to go and then Steve called to wish the kids a good day. I had warned him that today might be rough so he thought he might be able to give Michael a Daddy pep talk. Yeah...that wasn't happening either! I somehow managed to get both children dressed, fed and out the door in time for the bus. 

The moment of truth * cue dramatic music * the doors to the bus open, Abbey hops on, Michael throws himself onto the pavement and cries like he's having his fingernails torn off.  So now I've got Abbey on the bus and Michael laying on the street corner...FANTASTIC! 

Needless to say, Janice (oh wonderful Janice) drove Michael to school (he wasn't getting off that easy) and my little princess rode the bus solo. Emotions were running high all around

and so ...day two of the walk of shame into my school with my big sunglasses hiding blood shot eyes! FOR THE LOVE! 

SO funny!

My friend Donna is our school's secretary...we call her the Queen! It is truly unbelievable what this woman does in the course of a day. She wrote this blog about our first day back that is so funny (funny now that we've all lived through it anyway). Oh My God...bus dismissal was pure mayhem and she captures it perfectly! Check it out...

http://peterssm.blogspot.com/2009/09/it-can-only-get-better-from-here-on-in.html

Back To School

For the past 4 years the end of August always means the same thing...saying goodbye to Ottawa, packing the Buick up to capacity with all our new purchases and making the 15 hour drive across three provinces to arrive in Kingston in time for my re-integration into the working world. (with my Mom along for the ride...did I mention how much I love her?!?) This year, Hurricane Bill had different plans for us so we ended up making the drive a three day affair, stopping in Fredericton and Moncton before making it home. 

I dread, no DREAD leaving Ottawa. I cry and am miserable leading up to my final days there and usually my first day back in Kingston too but once I get into my Nova Scotia groove again all is well in my world. 

My classroom set-up went great. My Mom was there to help (again...God I love her!!) and I'm really excited to be teaching a new grade this year. Michael and Abbey are starting kindergarten (it's called Primary here) and taking the bus for the first time. Lots of new stuff to look forward to right!?!

I started class on Wednesday, Sept. 2nd and Michael and Abbey weren't scheduled to start until the following day which was great since I could focus 100% of my energy at school on the first day and not be worrying about my little munchkins. 

Thursday arrived...WAY early! Abbey and Michael's bus comes at 7:45am and with Steve flying up North for the next two weeks, I wanted to heave plenty of time to get ready and make it as stress-free as possible for everyone. 

My friend Janice met us at the bus stop and then followed the bus to their school to make sure they got to class okay (that's the hard part in being a teacher...you can never be a part of your child's first day of school and maybe hiring someone to do so was a bit over the top but it was so worth it for my sanity!!)

Here are my little darlings getting on the bus on their first day.

Here they are settled in the front seat!

Now about two second after the bus was out of sight was when I lost it! Oye! I cried and cried and cried some more. Now most of you know that I work less than a one minute drive from my house...not a whole lot of recovery time for my blotchy red eyes. I wore my big sunglasses inside as long as I could... but by 10ish, the puffiness had gone down, Janice had come to give me my camera and show me the pictures she took and give me the run-down of bus arrival and I was back to normal. 

Here's Abbey and Michael getting off the bus at their school (pic taken by Janice)

SO...we survived day 1! Stay tuned for day 2!!!!

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

Here's how we started our day this morning...

PJ's and rain boots....gotta love it! What's with the weather this summer? Global warming...ya right!!!!

Oaklawn Farm Zoo

What do you get when you cross a donkey and a zebra? All the locals know...it's a ZONKEY and we have our very own at the zoo near our house. Hilarious isn't it?!
The bird below completely freaks me out. It was so close to the fence that I didn't even use the zoom to take the photo. I was so nervous it was going to peck at me. I literally snapped the picture and ran. Anyone know if this is an emu or ostrich? Do they have teeth? Did I have a right to be scared? I think emus eat there own poop....is that true? Crazy colouring...look at those eyes sizing me up, and the mouth open just a bit waiting to attack! yikes!!!!

Port George!

Living so close to the water definitely has it's privileges; lobster, scallops and lots of beaches! Last week my neighbour and I took our children to Port George, which is a little village on the Bay of Fundy, and only about 15 minutes from my house. The weather can vary greatly by water and land. The sun was shining brightly that day but was quite windy on the Bay.

Port George has a rocky waterfront so I brought some paints and let the kids "inner artists" come out! It was tons of fun!

Here's the gang bundled up for a photo op.

Here's Abbey and Michael painting rocks...

A great day seal watching, rock painting, snacking and admiring the beautiful scenery!