Twas the week before Christmas

And if that bloody mouse could have helped out it would have been much appreciated. The kids had finished school the week before and there was a lot going on. Luckily, that did not include much in the way of Xmas shopping. Any of my Australian readers that are skeptical of the NBN, consider that I did a good 90% of my holiday shopping without once setting foot in the madness that is a pre-Xmas shopping mall, and I saved a lot of money doing it. Amazon is a God-send, and they gift wrap.

Frozen friends...

Friends of ours from Canberra had been posted to Noumea and stopped in for a visit during their round the world Xmas holiday. Thomas was very excited as their daughter, Amelie, had been among his best friends before he and all his friends scattered to the far corners of the globe. They arrived from the 30C sun and fun of the South Pacific at about 1am on the first night Ottawa saw decent winter weather (read 'snow'). I drove out to meet them with bags of warm clothes (and led them on multiple shopping expeditions to get more wintergear over the next couple days), before leading them back to the house in their rental car through the snowy night (top speed, 50kph). The kids were thrilled to see each other and play, especially in the snow, tho poor Felix (their youngest) was ill-accustomed to the restraints of winter clothing and snow. It was terrific to see oldfriends, but its amazing how quickly four small kids will fill a house. Even a rather large one.

The pre-Xmas Canadian charity (and crime) wave...

One especially nice change this holidy season has been our relative fiancial comfort. Next year we are back in Canberra and everything crashes back down to reality, but this year Jane and I each got one nice gift (don't even ask about the kids), and we are in a position to actually be charitable. Canada runs a lot of charity drives around Xmas seeking food and (unsuprisingly) warm clothes, especially coats and mittens. The kid's school set up a 'mitten tree' and received several decoarions from the depths of our closet. Later in the week, it was a very good feeling to give another charity an entire garbage bag filled with Lillian's winter clothes and outdoor gear from last year. Jane's natural caution and maternal instincts had built upon the good natured warnings of her Canadian work collegues such that we bought the children rather a lot of good winter gear.

We live in a nice neigborhood. Lovely houses, parks, rivers, rustic bridges. Nice. So it was a bit of a shock last year when Lillian's pram was stolen off the front porch in the dead of night. Turns out that was nothing. We may well return to find the car up on blocks and an empty house. Seriously, in the week before Xmas our neighbors had their bank ccount cleaned out by skimmers and three local houses had all their outdoor decorations stolen. Two of the thefts occured right around the corner from us in broad daylight and on a relatively busy street. One of the robbed families have been wildly friendly and welcoming to us, so it was a real joy to walk over the next day and give them all of our decorations. Sinc we were going to visit Australia for Xmas, I had decided not to put them up and they won't be of any use next year back in Australia due to the difference in electricity (110 vs 220). Tis (OK, was) the season.

Xmas in Australia - Getting There

I know when I think airports at Xmas I think of long lines for check in and security. Even worse, we were flying United Airlines (UA) and not by our choice. While DFAT kindly agrees to cover the cost of one return home during a posting, they also mean to do it as cheaply as possible. Hence, economy class and UA for us. Nonetheless, its all started well. We waited about 5mins before checking in, and even security took no longer than usual. Ottawa airport is brilliant in that US Customs and Immigration are located onsite. Its a lot less stressful for both the staff and the passengers than completing the ordeal with 5 other planes worth of travellors after 13 hours in the air. Not one of us was scanned or given a 'freedom pat' as the price of entry to the USA. And so we reached our departure gate unstressed and with plenty of time. We wait. I get a coffee and doughnut, and we wait.

And we wait a bit more. In fact, we waited until until 20mins after we were meant to have departed before UA even started to board the flight. 20Mins after that we finally departed. Annoyingly, we were landed at a small terminal which requires passengers to walk outside from the plane to the gate. Normally, no big deal, but in winter it kind of (really) sucks. This is where it all started to really go wrong. Jane slipped on some ice, ripping her pants and putting a pair of big, deep scrapes on her knee. As soon as we got inside I checked a board for our flight and discovered that it was already boarding. The problem is that our connection in Dulles (Washington DC) was tight before the Ottawa flight was delayed and Dulles airport is huge. Huge enough, in fact, to have its own trains sytem between terminals. Despite the injury, we would have to run to have any chance of making our connection. We each took hold of a child and ran to the train. Luckily waiting only seconds before one arrived. We did our best to catch a few breaths on the train before running again to reach the gate. We made it onboard about 10mins before they closed the doors. We spent those 10mins in the back bathroom cleaning up Jane's rather messy knee with some iodine and bandages provided by the aircrew. That was followed up by a couple of Advil and an ice pack. She had been very brave about the whole thing.

Later in the flight, Lillian asked for her fluffy sheep (Lilly-Baa) which had been carefully packed into her backpack to take on the plane. We couldn't find the bag. I looked under all four of our seats, the the overhead bins. I even looked under the seats of the people seated next to us. No luck. I know Jane had it when she got off the previous flight, but after that it all got a bit rushed and blurry. The only thng we could think of is that the bag had been put down and left back on the train (the only time we had stopped running). I had dreams of our revenge on Dulles, imaginging the chaos as the bomb squad was called in to detonate poor Lilly-Baa.

But no. Turns out the bag was - for some reason – beneath the seat two spaces to the side. We have no idea how or why, it was so far to the side, but were very happy that Lilly-Baa was neither lost nor detonated.

After all that, the San Fran connection was a dawdle. We landed, we walked to our gate. We waited about 30mins and then we boarded. The flight was long, but uneventful. It was an overnight flight, but nobody got nearly enough sleep. UA fed us and whenever the kids got too scratchy I hooked up the netbook and let them watch eps of Shaun the Sheep or Charlie and Lola until the danger had passed.

We landed in SYD around 8am and descended into chaos shortly after. Immigration was bad, but we are on diplomatic passports. Straight to the short line, yay us. Customs, however, was an absolute zoo. The lines to be processed were so long they doubled back on themselves. In fact, there were so many people that it was nearly impossible to move around the front of the room, let alone move a family of four pushing a pair of luggage carts. If luck had not intervened we probably would have been stuck in the log jam for at least another hour. Yay luck! A roaming Customs officer took pity on us. He asked us a few questions (and noticed the magic diplomatic passports) and stamped all our forms before directing us to an express exit. We were free.

Once through the doors we quickly reunited a pair of very excited shorties with a pair of very excited grandparents. Shortly after we were able to flee the airport, and shortly after that Jane had her happy toes in the sea.

BTW - A few days later Jane received an email from UA asking her to complete an online survey regarding our recent travel. This ought to be good.

The Gift of Music

Growing up, I have always been the non-musical Wagoner. Sure, I was able to program VCRs, hook up the cable TV and set up new computers and internet, but when it came time for a Wagoner family jam-session about the best I could do was to slap a pair of spoons together in semi-coordinated fashion, hopefully missing my head. Now that I have a family of my own this dicotomy seems unlikely to change. I have already blogged about my Xmas gift (using it right now as a matter of fact), which fits perectly with my techie past. Meanwhile, Jane and the kids have all fallen neatly onto the other side of the coin. The kids are now the proud owners of (and occasionally even share) a tiny, tiny grand piano. Seriously, its about 1.5 x 1.5 feet and they love banging away on it. They especailly love banging away on it when mommy is banging away on her big Xmas present, a 78 key Casio keyboard . Jane played when she was younger and voiced a desire to relearn. Merry Christmas!

Malcolm Turnbull on Wikileaks

Yes, its another non-family update.

The polarising effect Assange/Wikileaks has on people bothers me enormously. People calling for Assange's assassination, other people claiming he has acted in an 'entirely responsible' manner.  In the last 24 hours I have even seen multiple examples of people that would normally be livid at the mere suggestion of rape, lumping rape in with offenses like jay-walking. It's weird. So, I just want to share what is probably the most level-headed piece of writing regarding the whole Wikileaks fiasco I have yet encountered.

And whatever one may think about Turnbull, personally or his politics, you cannot deny his intelligence, or that he has strong history in this arena having won the Spycatcher case in the UK. So here you go...

http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/blogs/julian-assange-and-wikileaks/

Home with a pair of plague-monkeys

After a big weekend including Lillian's 3^rd birthday (soon to be blogged, I assure you) I find myself home with two kids that are too sick for school. Tom's class was missing 8 out of 20 kids on Friday. Nothing too serious, just runny noses and accompanying coughs, fever and lots of 'grumpy'. Of course the kids being both home and sick means I am greatly restricted in what I can do today. Ah well. A spoonful of honey each to ease the coughing and the Wiggles on the CD player ought to buy me enough time for some quick blogging.

Its seems that Canadians were having trouble following the directions for kids cold/flu meds, and so a couple years ago the government pulled all of them off the shelf. Now the only thing you can buy for 2 - 5yr olds is the equivalent of childrens Panadol (pain/fever relief only). Bugger that.

I went to the chemist and bought a package of childrens cold/flu meds for ages 6+ which treats all cold/flu symptoms and conveniently lists the name and dose of its constituent drugs per 5ml of solution. Armed with that knowledge I was able to go online and research the recommended safe dosage of each drug for kids in the 2-5yr age band. And so Thomas (the sicker of the two) has been getting the good stuff and is able to get some proper sleep. So far Lillian has managed to sleep well enough with ordinary children's Panadol. Hopefully they will both have recovered before Wednesday, when Jane disappears for a few days of work-travel and I will be solo-parenting.

EDIT - This evening I received an email from the school principal. She sent it out to all the parents advising that there had been 2 confirmed cases of strep throat in Senior Kindy, which has been the hardest hit of all the classes (8 kids out on Friday and 7 today). Parents were told point blank to keep their kids at home if they have had a fever in the previous 24 hours. So, looks like I'll still have the plague-monkeys at home again tomorrow, but I reckon they should be ready for school on Wedns.

The Kids Are Awesome

We had parent teacher meetings last Friday. Lillian is still of an age where its pretty much all about developing social skills, but because we had to skip him straight up into Senior Kindy Thomas is another matter and I was eager to find out how he was coping with a more structured day and its academic components. Likewise, Jane was concerned with how he was doing socially in a class where 75% of the other pupils are boys. Older, bigger boys at that.

Turns out, all is well. Very well even. The teachers are extremely happy with every aspect of his academic efforts, and he is also doing well socially. The only thing they said was that he is easily distracted (except during art). He is four years old, so that is to be expected.

Meanwhile, Lillian's teachers couldn't say enough about how much they enjoy having her in the class. So social and happy, with so much personality and energy. However, she is apparently sometimes stubborn. She is two years old, so that is to be expected.

So when all is said and done the kids are awesome. Of course I already knew that, but its always nice to have a less biased opinion as opinions of one's own children always seem to be formed in a 'forest for the trees' situation.

And I would also like to say a few words about my newest baby, courtesy of 'Black Friday'. The Friday after USA Thanksgiving is THE biggest shopping day in North America. It is insane. If we were going to be here for another year I would start setting aside money now to buy as much 'stuff' as possible during next years sales. Basically, everything is at least 25% off, and stuff they really want to move goes for as much as 75% off. Even online retailers get in on the action.

Anyway, I did my research and when the 'Black Friday' sales hit and prices dropped by 30% I swooped, getting an early Xmas prezzie, a Samsung n220 netbook. Slim of profile and deep green in colour. This baby enables me to suck down coffee and fee wifi at my local coffee shop while waiting for the mechanics to finish with the car. Which, not coincidentally at all, is the way I wrote & posted this blog entry. The real God-send will be the coming trip to Australia. One thing about the n220 is that it has an amazing battery life, up to 11 hours depending on the type of use. On the flight over, I suspect its going to see a lot of use playing Wiggles and cartoons for the kids.

Halloween

I do love Halloween. So much so that I started decorating the house on the 1st of October and It took the rest of the neighborhood a couple weeks to catch up. On the approach to the house visitors were greeted with these…

The porch itself looked like this…

Jane - rather wisely - gave me a budget, which I – rather surprisingly - came in well under. All I can say is that the dollar-shops over here are GOLD for holiday decorations. Most of the stuff in the pics was dirt cheap, and all of it is now packed away in tubs for the return to Australia. Next year will probably have the most decorated house in all of Canberra. Actually, Halloween next year may be a bit rough on the kids. They have really enjoyed these last two Halloweens. Lillian spent the fortnight after this year asking if she could put her costume on and go trick or treating again. I’ll have to try and arrange for *something* with the rest of Charlton st. Fortunately, it’s a fairly small street. And while we are on the topic, here is what Birmo has to say on the subject of Australia and Halloween…

Time-for-a-fair-dinkum-halloween-party-cobbers

Anyway, we started the evening by taking the kids up to the Governor General's (GG) park, where the GG - dressed as a pirate complete with tin-foil sword - was greeting visitors (that is him in the 2nd picture) before they embarked upon a scary pirate-walk to collect their bag of treasure. 

We ran into something at least as scary (and amusing ) as pirates on the walk home. Yep, Dame Edna.
















Upon our return, Jane and the kids went out trick or treating while I took door-duty. I gave out 8lbs of candy between 5:30 and 9pm, and would have needed at least double that if we had been closer to the main street. By the time it was all over the kids were exhausted, and Tom fell asleep in a chair downstairs before being carried up to bed. Of course now they expect candy after dinner every night. Sometimes they even get it.

Christmas Gift Ideas

The holiday looms, and feelers both subtle and not so subtle regarding prospective gifts have already been detected. So for all those interested, here are some suggestions complete with helpful illustrative links...

For Me...
Dvd - Facing Ali
Dvd - When We Were Kings
Book - The Looming Tower
Book - Counselor: A life at the Edge of History
Game - Pitchcar Extensions 1 or 4 only
Gift Certificate - Defiant Gaming

Note - I really don’t need any more t-shirts. Unless it is very cool, please don't get me a t-shirt.

That said, these are very cool...
http://imvotingteaparty.com/
http://controversy.wearscience.com/

For the Kids...
You cannot go wrong with either Lincoln Logs or Lego (not Duplo)

For Jane...
Any thoughts I may have in this area are being hoarded for my own use.

And now, here is a recent picture I really like of Thomas and I in a tree at the Governor General's park. Even though we were all of 5 or 6 feet off the ground, he was extremely happy to be up in a tree.

An October Conspiracy

We have a cunning plan. Come, join us…

 First, we need leaves, lots of leaves. Ah, this is perfect.

Next, we pick up the leaves.

 And then we… THROW THEM IN THE AIR!

Success!

(Flashback to July) The Queen!

Turns out the Queen likes Canada, and she visits a lot. I suppose it makes sense. The rest of the Commonwealth is either dirty and dangerous or very far away, if not both. As a result, the Queen has been to Canada more than 20 times during her reign. There are probably parts of the UK that have seen less of her.

Anyway, when the Queen comes to visit she stays on the grounds of the Governor Generals, which are just a few blocks away from our place. Luckily, we are nowhere near the entry gates, so there were no security check points or even a noticeable increase in police around the neighborhood. On this particular visit, the Queen was due to a function at Parliament House, and we had been told when she would be leaving the GGs to get there. We even heard rumours that – being the Queen - she would make the trip in a horse drawn carriage. And so we took the kids and went to the gate. I am told that there were many 100’s of people waiting to greet her at Parliament Hill, as opposed to the 100ish that were waiting to farewell her over the block leading from the gate to the main road. So few people in fact that I, with Lillian upon my shoulders, was easily able to make my way right up to un-barricaded the curb. Sadly, there were no horses, just a short procession of non-descript back sedans with their (non-tinted) windows up.

Ah well. The Royal Couple did at least look out the windows, smiling and waving as they passed by. Given the lack of horses, I doubt the kids will remember the occasion for long.

(Flashback) Kip and Whitney say Hi.

The funny thing about being on posting is that we are basically borrowing a lifestyle. Sure, it is one we aspire to, but Jane and I have a lot of financial ground to cover before we can afford anything like our current lifestyle and neighborhood.

Part of this borrowed lifestyle is that the kids will be going to a nearby private school. Its lovely. To give you an idea, Tom's class has 20 children in it, and three full time teachers. The other night the school had a fundraiser. You pay your money and then spend a couple hours being ushered through drinks and nibbles at three very nice nearby homes owned by people with names like Kip and Whitney (seriously). It was a pleasant enough evening, I am just not sure what to talk about with guys that run their own – highly successful – business and their suburban trophy wives (or vice-versa, as the case may be). I mean sure, we can talk about our kids, but there is a timer on that conversation. Eventually you break through and find a new topic, or there is an awkward silence in which somebody suddenly remembers that they are needed at the buffet. Alternatively the conversation simply washes around the sides of you like water around a rock sticking out in the middle of a stream. Awkward…

Let me also make it very clear that these people have been nothing but kind and welcoming. There have been no pointed, or even veiled, looks nor remarks. If anything needs to be done, the onus is upon me. To be honest, I find the discomfort surprising. I grew up traveling between wealth with my mom and working class with my dad. I guess it’s pretty clear which of the two penetrated deeper.

Girly, Girly, Girly, BOO!

Jane and Lillian went out on Saturday for a bit of'Girl-time'. By which I mean they acquired one of the most girly things in all the world, a tiny pink ballet outfit. As you can see, it was very well received.














































Meanwhile, the men-folk stayed home and got started putting up Halloween decorations. I intend to add a bit here and there over the coming week. There is plenty of time and plenty more decorations to come.

Back with Buried Treasure

After two weeks on the old Wagoner family farm, I am returned to Ottawa. All four of us went down for the first week, but then Jane and Thomas returned for school and work while Lillian and I remained behind. In the first week we were joined on the farm by my 82 year old Grandpa (who still lives there), as well as my dad, aunt, uncle and cousins plus all the respective partners. That put us at 14 people staying and we hit 28 people (another 14 extended family) in total on the Sunday for dinner. It was, as always, huge fun. The second week was just Grandpa, Lillian and I. It too was brilliant. I’ll blog about all that later (honest). Right now I just want to revisit a previous visit.

As some of you may recall, Tom and I traveled from Canberra to Iowa when he was just 18 months old to attend grandpa and grandma’s 60th wedding anniversary (Jane was heavily pregnant with Lillian and unable to travel). Despite the many cameras at the event, I didn’t have any good shots of Thomas and my now deceased grandma. This bothered me enormously since it was the only time Thomas ever saw grandma.

On this most recent trip, while loading all my pics onto grandpa’s computer, I discovered his pics from that visit.










































There were more pics, but these are my favorites and I much happier now.

The 1st Day of School

And so it begins. Fern Hill has opened its doors to our children (Lillian actually starts tomorrow). As we walked from the building I am fairly sure that Jane stifled a little tear, and I know I held back a little dance.

When I collected Tom at 3pm he was very excited after a terrific day. It seems that he and the boy we went boating with are in the same class and are sitting at the same table. In addition to his new friend, he enjoyed music, reading, writing, maths and playing outside (twice). I have seen the curriculum and while there are some things he has yet to cover at home, there is nothing there to trouble him. As far as I am concerned, the best outcome is that he enjoy going while they tighten up the ground we have already covered. As I was putting him to bed this evening, I asked whether he wanted to go back to school in the morning, or stay home with me. He chose school :)

Thomas clearly has designs on a career as a male model. Check out the 'Blue Steel' as he sports the Fern Hill uniform (and gum boots - its raining).























His sister meanwhile is rather more animated about such things.























All smiles, no tears.

Outstanding Interview WRT Iran

I know I mostly use the blog to talk about the family adventure in Canada, but I did warn you all long ago that it may also be put to other ends. This is one of those times.

Spiegel (German media) interviewed the Iranian Foreign Minster, and its bloody amazing. Here is how the exchange opens...

SPIEGEL: Mr. Foreign Minister, you are the senior diplomat of the Islamic Republic of Iran. You represent a nation that prides itself on a cultural history stretching back more than 2,500 years. Don't you find it shameful that people are stoned to death in your country?

Manouchehr Mottaki: You come from a country that murdered millions of people during a tyrannical war, and you want to talk to me about human rights? OK, we can certainly discuss the laws in various countries and naturally we can, in a friendly atmosphere, debate the different legal principles.

SPIEGEL: It isn't a matter of legal subtleties. Stoning is a glaring violation of universal human rights. It's barbaric.

I don't know if these two are old friends, were drunk or being held back from actual biffo by their friends, but its a cracker of a read. Get the rest here...
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,714513,00.html

In the end, a rather excellent day

Although it started rough. Lillian rolled me out of bed at 6am after I had been up a touch too late the night before. Whatever. Coffee for me, porridge for her. Eventually Thomas joined us and then Jane not long after. Let the whinging begin.

To put it bluntly, Lillian has been a poo for the last week or so. A whinging, crying temperamental, argumentative poo. And yes, I know she is two years old, I mean all this relative to her typical whinging, crying temperamental, argumentative two year old behavior. Bring on the 1st day of school says I. Anyway, Lillian being painful is hard on Jane (Lillian is all about mummy these days), which puts her into a mood, which harshes my mellow and Thomas hates to be left out of anything. Thus the house becomes a big self-reinforcing cycle of grumpy.

At about 10:30am Thomas and I abandoned ship, getting some father/son time by walking down to the waterfalls. It was a nice day and a pleasant walk. On the way back we ran into some of our neighbors, an extraordinarily nice family with a little girl Lillian’s age and a boy that is a year older and bolder than Thomas. They were planning to take the boat (more than a tinny, less than a gin-palace) out onto the river today and asked if we would like to come along. Yes. Yes please.

It was a lovely summer day (tho clearly a fading summer) out on the water. They took us for a run up and down the river, showed us the waterfalls from a whole new angle and eventually we pulled up to a small island so they kids could have a drink and snack before splashing about like loons. The kids all had a wonderful time and the day’s previous grump was well and truly dispersed. The cherry on top was that the nearby space and aviation museum – located right on the edge of the river - was hosting an air show. While out on the water we were able to watch vintage WWI and WWII aircraft pooteling, or roaring depending on the vintage, directly overhead. Very cool.

We forgot the camera at home, of course. So no pictures :(

Iowa: I Almost Forgot to Post This

Seriously, this is about the trip to Iowa back in October last year. It has been languishing in draft form since early November. Between gearing up for another visit to the farm next month and the appearance of Halloween gear in the shops I have been prompted to finish it off.

As an aside, I was very chuffed by Thomas and Lillian’s reactions to seeing the Halloween gear at the local shops. The both got very excited and immediately started planning their costumes. Currently, ‘funny pumpkins’ (by which they mean ‘jack o lanterns’) are the planned costume.

Anyway, on the flashback...

--------------------
Anybody that has known me for long knows that my family is awesome. Everybody likes everybody else and coming back to the old family farm has been something to look forward to in a very big way. We play games (pepper, cribbage and carroms), we eat a lot of yummy food, we fly kites, we fish, we blow things up (fireworks) and we (by which I mean everybody but me) sings and plays music. It is awesome, and has been for the whole of my life. No matter where I have roamed, the farm has always been the focal point of family and home. It is where I proposed to Jane after her first week of meeting my family. And since she said ‘yes’ the farm has retained its unblemished record as a place of happiness.

This particular trip has been planned since we found about Jane’s posting to Ottawa. The idea was simple, everybody come back over Halloween so that nobody has to travel during the full madness of the Thanksgiving/Christmas ‘holiday season’ and the weather is still nice. Plus, it means I can take Thomas trick or treating in the postage stamp sized mid-western town of Garwin where my parents grew up. That day, dad carved a couple of pumpkins with Thomas and Lillian. That evening Thomas learned his two lines, dutifully repeated at every house.

“Trick or treat” and “Thank You”

I am pretty sure that many of the houses we visited were impressed with the very polite giraffe. We went around a couple of blocks and by the end of it Tom asked me to carry is candy bucket because it had become too heavy. It was, however, considerably lighter the next morning after Jane had gone through it with a mother’s careful eye, and her own rather voracious sweet-tooth.


Ready to go...


Added a couple days later for Barnes...

“…it's just like a serviced apartment, but bombproof.”

That is my vote for ‘quote of the week’ from Jane, describing the accommodation on her current overseas trip. Last time it was a holiday, this time it is for work. Being a diplomat is not all cocktail parties and gin on the balcony. These days, more often than not, it is a series of vaccinations with some anti-malarial drugs followed by some exotic compound living. Jane will be gone for 12 days, which is longer than the 8 days we 1st expected. The kids miss her, but are doing fine. They got to talk to her on the phone the other night and I enjoy a steady stream of brief email updates via her blackberry. Meanwhile, I have developed a cold. It is nothing too horrible. In fact I would say the worst thing about it is probably the timing. I have some cold/flu meds, and if nothing else being sick keeps me from staying up too late watching bad TV or playing video games the way I usually do when Jane is away. Cunningly, the kids have summer camp in the mornings, so I can rest or run errands as required between 9am and noon.

The only other news is that on Friday Tom completed a rite of childhood passage, giving himself a hair-cut with the craft scissors. I cleaned it up a bit with my meager skills, but will probably take him to the barber Thursday morning when Lillian is at summer camp. Clippers may be required. Sadly, Jane took the camera with her.

So, that is why I have been slack with updating my blog lately. There have been plenty of things to write about, but both the flesh and spirit are bloody weak and would rather crash on the couch and watch Fringe, or just go to bed. If I start feeling better before Jane returns, I'll try to catch up with a few more entries before the rush of traveling that will be our Aug/Sept.

And on that note, I am going to bed.


(A pre-haircut pic of Tom from earlier this month)

My wife went to Europe and all I got was this awesome haul of loot

My wife went to Europe and all I got was this awesome haul of loot
It is not easy to force one’s own mouth say “you go to Europe on holiday honey; I’ll look after the kids”. However, it seems the reward for doing so is great indeed. I suppose it didn’t hurt that North America celebrates Fathers Day the weekend of her return. In any case, I was on the receiving end of some powerful loving when my wife returned. For example…

A bottle of Lagavulin Distillers Edition. I don’t have scotch often, but when I do I prefer those of Islay island and would name Laphroaig is my baseline scotch. Lagavulin is where I go for something special, but this Distillers Edition rates as one of the two finest samples of Scotch to ever pass my lips. The other was a limited edition 18 year old Lagavulin (which I have never seen on sale anywhere) given to me as a gift by Matty Johnson. I am happy to sample other brands, but the gentlemen of Islay island, and at the Lagavulin distillery in particular, are very clearly honed in on my palette.

A new TV. It is important to understand that since arriving in Ottawa we have been using an old 20” CRT screen loaner TV from the High Commission. Said loaner is old and tiny, and just to make the point plain has a built in VHS player. I have made no secret of my intentions to buy a new TV that would see us through our return to Canberra and many years to follow. I did the research, figuring out the little technical questions why we wanted an LCD instead of plasma, and whether 120hrz is worth the price over 60hrz. More importantly, I figured out how to deal with the differing current (110 vs 220) and video signals (NTSC vs PAL) used in Canada and Australia. I did my research, and upon her return Jane gave me the green light to buy. Enter the Samsung LN40C610. 40” of High Definition flat screen goodness. It is wonderful. We jumped over an entire technology (plasma), so it’s a bit like having an AM radio for years and then being given a new iPod touch. In the fullness of time I will add home theatre speakers (including an iPod dock) bluray player and rocketpants, but for now I am rapt with the simple increase in size and definition (and working remote).

Next stop, Harvard.

Last Wednesday was ‘graduation’ for Thomas and Lillian from the Betty Hyde Nursery School. At the end of every school year, the three teachers randomly distribute the names of the children that won't be returning to the school in September and write a brief speech. These speeches are then read out during a family fun day held at a nearby park. It is all very emotional for the teachers, so they don’t discuss which children they got and every year at least one tears up while reading or listening to a speech. Below are the speeches for Thomas and Lillian.

Thomas – You’re the kind of guy who knows what he wants out of life. When we first met you, you seemed a little unsure of us – such a shy and serious young fellow. Now we know you were just taking in your new surroundings before diving in to enjoy them. Once you decided Betty Hyde was a pretty good place to be we got to know the real you. You were more than happy to share all kinds of fun and fascinating facts about your hometown in Australia with us. No matter what the topic though (sharks, dinosaurs, space travel), you can be counted upon to offer an interesting observation or two.

In January, when your sister, Lillian, started coming to school with you we got to see firsthand what a great big brother you are. You made sure she was safe on the climber and helped get her used to all the routines of the morning. At circle time there was always a spot for her to sit right beside you. She wasn’t the only one who wanted to be there either. How many times did we hear one of your friends say, “But I wanted to sit next to Thomas?” I guess that goes to show what a neat friend you are. We’ll all miss you, but we know the friends you make at your new school will feel just as lucky to know you ads we do.

Lillian – “Imp” or “rascal” I think might be the best way to sum up this wonderfully charming little 2 year old. “Pixie” and “Sprite” also come to mind! Lillian started to come to school when she turned 2 – joining her older brother Tom – and from the moment she walked into Betty Hyde she has made the school her own. Supposedly a toddler, but never once wanting to be considered one – Lillian is not afraid of anyone or anything. The more challenging and grown up an activity might seem the more determined Lillian is to be in there participating. Lillian isn’t afraid to muck it up with the best of them …the more ooey and gooey as activity, the better! Lillian stays for lunch every day with all the children that are at least 2 years older and foot taller than she is and yet she endures. Lillian commands respect from these older children and does not put up with any guff.

Lillian often has her teachers rolling their eyes and/or rolling in the aisles with laughter. You gotta love her – you can’t help yourself. There is no such thing as the terrible two in Lillian’s life – its all good. So look out Fern Hill – here she comes!

Fern Hill is the school to which both Thomas and Lillian are moving come September. Fern Hill is offering a non-academic summer program, which we will send the kids to a couple days a week. It will help to preserve my sanity and ease their transition to the new school before full time school resumes in September.

EARTHQUAKE!!

Well, it was more like '...earthquake? Really?'

LINKY

I was home with the kids when it happened. Initially I though there was a big truck on our street, but then the noise got even louder and there was same minor shaking. Thomas didn't like the noise, so he got a hug. Lillian slept through the entire thing. Jane copped the worst of it because they evacuated the building she was in as a precaution. Despite the epicentre being just 61 kilometres north of Ottawa, everybody is fine.

If anything the event has reminded me that I am well behind in my blogging. Barring further acts of natural sabotage, I'll try to catch up with a couple more entries over the weekend.

History - Say it with flowers...

Spring in Ottawa means flowers, especially tulips. During WWII, Dutch royal family took refuge in Canada and Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa. Well sort of. The maternity ward of the hospital was temporarily declared to be extraterritorial by the Canadian government, thereby allowing her royal citizenship to be solely Dutch as required by the constitution. Beyond this, the First Canadian Army was very active in the liberation of the Netherlands from Nazi occupation. In appreciation, the Dutch people sent bucket loads of tulips (aka the Dutch national flower) to Ottawa and then the royal family sent over still more. This became an annual tradition, and has evolved into the Canadian Tulip Festival. Every year there are fireworks, loads of live music and, of course, tons of tulips, all over a long weekend. Nice!

Dad, Pam, Teri & Grandpa – this is one reason May next year would be a great time to visit.

What Dreams May Come

I had the coolest dream last night. My recall starts when I went through a secret passage at an R&B club to reach a large inner courtyard where an international martial arts expo was to be held. However, before the expo could start there was an opening act. It was an Ed Sullivan era Beatles tribute band, comprised entirely of chimpanzees even wearing the correct suits. And they were terrible, really terrible. They kept forgetting tunes/lyrics and couldn’t play their instruments very well. It turns out the reason they were so bad is that they were impostors. I learned this in my dream when the real Ed Sullivan era Beatles tribute band, comprised entirely of chimpanzees (also wearing the same suits, but in a different colour), turned up for their gig. Sadly, I awoke before there was a musical monkey-fight at the martial arts expo.

And I know many of you just come here for pics of the kids. So having suffered through reading my most awesome dream, here is something for you as well.

Flower Power

Summer is well upon us. It’s warm, green and just bloody beautiful. So much so that today Jane scarpered out of the office a little early so we could all go down to the Governor General’s park where, among other things, the dandelions are in full bloom. Dandelions are a weed that is nearly impossible to remove from lawns and which produce a sea of yellow flowers well known to all children and the mothers that receive them by the small grubby handful every spring.

I was sitting on the shaded edge of the lawn when Tom brought over a handful of the dry white fluffy seed heads that follow the yellow flower. I took them and blew upon them, sending a great cloud of fluff into the air. Tom’s eyes went wide as he danced through the fluffy cloud.

“Yayyy! That was AMAZING!”

...And then he ran off to gather another handful for the first of several repeat performances.

There will come a time when nothing I say will be right, and nothing I do will be cool, but today I stand shoulder to shoulder with Ancient Gods. Just as they breathed life into the world, I use my breath to bring the undiluted wonder of childhood - in the form of dandelion fluff - to my son’s life. I have certainly had worse afternoons.

Pee Wee Sport is Upon Us!

Not much more to say really. Last weekend Tom started playing in a weekend soccer league for the 4-5yr olds. Very silly, but good fun.









Oh, and Tom's team, the Eagles, lost 1-0 to the Falcons. Three of the cheating little buggers line up shoulder to shoulder in front of the goal every time the ball gets anywhere near their 1/2 of the field. I don't know how the ref missed seeing it...

Meanwhile, Back in Toronto...

My Saturday pretty much disappeared down a sink-hole of waiting at a very busy tire place for them to get to my ‘non-appointment’ tire needs. Around lunchtime I finally dropped just over $300 on two tires. One to replace the puncture and one to be an actual spare as opposed to the completely useless ‘emergency tire’ we were carrying. While I was there, Jane took the kids for a bit of a walk around downtown Toronto and for a ride on the subway. Lillian’s nap took over the afternoon, and then for Jane's birthday dinner we ate just down the street at a ‘Red Lobster’ which was surprisingly good. The kids had big cups of milk and tasty pieces of baked chicken with some nicely steamed fresh broccoli. They also really enjoyed seeing the actual lobster in the big tank by the door. And then it was back to the still too-hot room to put the kids to bed.

Sunday we went to the National Gallery of Ontario to see the King Tut exhibit, which was very cool. It also had great acoustics, as my less interested children demonstrated, with the result that we got to see the exhibit rather more quickly than we would have liked. After that we walked around the gallery a bit and had a snack in the cafeteria. Late in the visit we discovered the new children’s room, so I stayed there with the kids to give Jane freedom to wander the gallery for the last half hour we were there. Then Jane took Lillian back to the room for her nap while Tom and I went to get a new GPS. Congrats honey! ...for your birthday you get two tires plus labour and a still not coin-operated GPS, all for apx $500. Yay.

Monday, ‘home at last’ day. Just the small matter of a 5 hour drive with 2 small kids, but 1st a stop at the Toronto Zoo. This was the best part of the trip, but even so there were disappointments. Many of the African animals (Tom’s favourites) weren’t out yet, and Jane saw a ‘tentacled water snake’. To be honest, it would have been more aptly named the ‘mustachioed snake’, but I guess tentacled sounds better. The biggest disappointment of the visit would have to have been Lillian’s. We walked around a corner to the baboon viewing window, revealing a big hill covered with frolicking baboons, and her little face fell like a stone. She had thought we were going to see ‘balloons’. I would never have imagined a child could be so disappointed with actual monkeys.

And if you are wondering why there are no pictures of this travesty of a long weekend, its because the camera battery died as soon as we reached Toronto.

I really don’t feel any need to go back to Toronto. I am sure there are plenty of things we didn’t do, but ultimately it’s a big city, we have kids, and most of the ‘big city’ things I like to do aren’t very child-friendly. Plus, for an extra three hours in the car we could have been in New York. We have been to New York and I would like to go back there. And, unlike Toronto, we know people in New York.

So yeah, I suspect that the only reason I will see Toronto again is because its on the way to Niagara.

Up Next , the Dance of the Single Parent!

As I type Jane is flapping (her own description) about the house getting ready for a 10am flight out of Ottawa. DFAIT is sending her overseas for the first time, and I will be home with the shorties for the duration. It was going to be a relatively easy 5 days (out Sunday, back Friday), but a certain volcano in Iceland has buggered pretty well everybody on Earth's travel plans, and added two days to Jane’s travel time. She also get to go 2/3rds of the way around the world heading West, instead of 1/3 of the way around by going East.

I intend to spend my evenings watching movies that I like and she has no interest in, and putting in some serious time painting toy soldiers. I’ll probably also get a spicy pizza or two.

Its going to be a long week.

The Not So Good Friday

We, and roughly ½ of Ottawa, decided to drive to Toronto for the Easter Long Weekend and Jane’s birthday. It was, for the most part, an epic disaster.

Everything started fine. We drove up to Kingston before stopping for lunch. Its a lovely city, the site of Canada’s Royal Military College and generally steeped in colonial era history. It is also where things started to go wrong. We had our picnic lunch on a hillside at Fort Henry, the carpark for which is on the exact opposite side of the fort from the entrance. So, after lunch when Thomas declared himself in need of a toilet, I charged ½ way around the fort to discover if it was open (Good Friday remember) and if open whether they had public toilets. They were and they did. So I charged all the way back to the carpark, collected Thomas, and charged all the way back to the entrance and toilets with Thomas in arms for a thankfully successful toilet break. All of which brought on a rare (and mild) asthma attack. I suffered childhood asthma, and even though it is rarely an issue I keep a puffer in the house just in case. The puffer was of course still in the house.

So, a bit over 100kms of wheezing later, we pulled off for a break at a petrol station about an hour from downtown Toronto. Jane pops the GPS unit into her bag and everybody hops out to stretch their legs for a pleasant ½ an hour. Back in the car for the final push, and the GPS will not start. It continues to not start until Jane goes inside to buy a map of Toronto. While she is inside I discover the coin that has found its way into the SD card slot on the side of the unit while it was in Jane’s bag. Seems she had not put the GPS into its carry case before popping it therein.

*sigh* The thing you need to understand about my lovely wife at this point, is that she is a terrible navigator. Really, just not good at all. And so as we set of into Toronto, the largest city in Canada and a city neither of us have ever visited before, I was a little concerned. She tried very hard, and I know she tried very hard because only once did she send me into the extreme left of the 5 lanes when I needed to take a right hand exit. Only the once. Other than that little mishap we found our way directly to the Hotel where I pulled into a parking space, immediately hitting some glass in the gutter and puncturing a tire. In the middle of downtown Toronto on Good Friday. OK, fine. Its we are in the middle of a completely unknown concrete jungle late in the day on Good Friday, so there isn’t really anything that can be done about it. Everybody up to the room.

…where the air conditioning wasn’t working on the hottest Easter weekend on record. Yay.

And here endeth the first, and admittedly worst, day of the holiday. The rest will follow when I stop twitching enough to work the keyboard again.

With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

We have diplomatic plates on the family wagon. Bright red ones which easily identify us as foreign, and everybody all over the world knows about foreign drivers. Its a two edged sword. Basically, I can do whatever I want when I drive. Its expected simply because I am foreign. Wrong way, wrong turns, poor parking, too fast, too slow. Whatever, I have red plates of power. The flip-side to this is of course that I also have red plates of responsibility. If anything, anything at all, places me in conflict with another driver the default opinion is that ‘it’ is my fault.

And that is just wrong, because we all know ‘it’ is always Dirks fault.

It is Spring!

For over a week now it has been sunny and - relatively - warm. By which I mean about 10 degrees during the day while a few days even made it up around 15 degrees. The locals assure us this is insanely good weather for March, saying that often there will still be snow on the ground well into April. None the less, it is definitely spring out there and there are two recent events that prove it.

Firstly, the Sugar Shack Attack

With the onset of spring, maple sap has started to flow in the trees and 'sugar shack' season has begun. A sugar shack is a rural property that taps their own maple trees, makes their own maple syrup and of course runs a pancake house. They also offer sleigh rides and other kinds of fun like face painting and (in this case) a pair of very relaxed Labradors for the kids to adore. There are many sugar shacks in our area. We went to Fulton’s Pancake House, about an hour away. True to form the GPS took us there and back via differing scenic routes. Once there, everybody had a yummy pancake lunch (some of us even had maple toffee) and the kids had a great time playing outside. The sleigh ride through the forest was very pleasant. The trees had all been tapped and the tubing running through the forest made the whole place look like it was being vigorously flossed.

And secondly, everybody here knows that winter ends with a BANG! No really. An Earth shattering Ka-Boom! even. Check it out…

LINKY

That bridge and river is all of two blocks from our house. That bridge is one of the ones Jane walks over ever morning on her way to work. We spent Saturday morning wondering what was causing that semi-regular booming noises until Jane went forth to investigate. And soon after she came running home to get everybody else to come and watch them blowing up the river. BOOM!

All this sent some rather large chunks of ice floating down to the falls and into the big river, where the little ice breaking boat was hard at work keeping the channel clear.

Yoga: Week One - Good Doggie!

As you may recall, I received a one month unlimited classes gift pass to the Upward Dog Yoga Centre for the FoJ. I started classes one week ago with a plan to attend the 6:30 – 7:30am sessions every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I didn’t manage it exactly because after starting on Wednesday, I was still too sore in the legs and shoulders to face Friday morning. Instead, I went to a Saturday class for noobs and then made the Monday and Wednesday morning class as per the plan. Close enough.

More importantly than adhering to any preconceived schedule, I am very much enjoying the classes and getting some badly needed serenity, stretching and strengthening from top to bottom. Although I have not been able to do all the poses, being either too inflexible or weak (if not both) in certain areas, I am pleased with what I have been able to do. I also think the teachers have been pleasantly surprised by some of what I managed as a yoga noob. Hooray for natural gifts (in particular, good balance) and previous experience in learning form, breathing and movement from martial arts classes.

Unfortunately the news isn’t all good. Part of yoga is paying close attention to specifics within the body while holding a pose or transitioning between poses: relaxing or stretching specific muscles or joints, breathing in/out in coordination with movements, distributing weight a certain way and more. All of this requires you to listen to the body, and sometimes what it says is not comforting.

I broke my left collarbone as a teenager, and my left shoulder hasn’t quite been right ever since. In addition, my lower back has a structural predisposition towards weakness. I know enough of bio-mechanics to know that when one component isn’t carrying its load properly, the burden shifts to another area that wasn’t intended to carry it. Eventually, something gives, and you may even end up with a series of cascading failures. Between my shoulder and back, I am going to be in some strife further down the line. I can safely predict neck, shoulder and hip problems in my future. Regular yoga will certainly help delay any issues, but it’s only a delay, and would have helped a lot more if I had started ten or twenty years ago.

Breathe in. Breathe out.

Parental Snapshot #36579

Lillian is toilet training. Which is not presenting any special dramas, but it is relevant to rest of the story.

The other morning Jane had gone to work, Thomas was at school and Lillian and I had returned home from the shopping. I am, shall we say ‘standing’ in the bathroom, when Lillian barges in. She stops for a second, and with great enthusiasm exclaims "Good job daddy"!

And then she started clapping.

The Finale of the FoJ

I am going to gloss over the end of the FoJ relatively quickly. Lovely as it was, it is over, and there are lots of more recent events I want to blog. So here is the short version of the last fortnight of the FoJ.

We got one last major dump of snow on the same day and evening as my final birthday dinner, and this time it was proper snow that was wet enough to stick together. And so, after Lillian was safely at preschool, Thomas and I donned our heaviest winter clothing and ventured out into the elements, making our way to the GG’s park. We did two cool things. First, Thomas and I played hide and seek among the trees. Nothing new there, except that I had shown Tom how to follow my tracks in the fresh snow. And the second cool thing was to build Tom’s very 1st proper snowman. And here is a 'work in progress' picture...


















Dinner was lovely. Jane lined up some Aussie expats and we all went to Sweetgrass, which specializes in modern, native Canadian food. Things like elk, bison, native greens, herbs and spices. It was yummy!

And on the final night of the FoJ, Jane and I watched the gold medal men’s hockey match between the USA and Canada. It was a seriously good game with lots of motivation on both sides of the ice. The USA had come to the Olympics rated 6th and were chasing a fairly tale ending. They had also trounced the Canadians when they met earlier in the competition. Meanwhile, the Canadians are very invested in hockey as part of their national identity, and had been trounced by the USA when they met earlier in the competition.

Canada were leading 2-1 when, in the final 2 minutes of play, the USA went for broke by pulling their goalie off the ice to give them an extra attacker. With just 24 seconds to play it paid off when they scored to tie the match and send the game into a period of 4 on 4 sudden death overtime. Both sides took some close shots, but Canada scored first. The crowd, by which I mean the entire country, went wild. I understand that there were riot police on standby across Vancouver in case things had gone the other way.

Festival of Jason: Guests and a Return to Winterlude

I am falling behind on this blogging thing. Best get cracking…

The weekend after my Birthday (but absolutely still within the FoJ) we had guests. Ke and Dan drove up from New York city to spend a weekend, making them the very 1st non-family visitors of our posting to Ottawa.

On Saturday while Lilian was napping, we parked Thomas under a babysitter and the adults all hit the ice. We went for a quick skate on the public ring at the Governor Generals (very nice) and then loaded up and went back to Winterlude. It was tremendous fun without the kids, although I suspect that may not be the way it is supposed to work. Anyway, we had a fine time sliding on the giant slides and eating Canadian winter sweets including hot beaver tails and maple toffee. A beaver tail is basically a flat doughnut, while the maple toffee is cool because its poured onto a stick laying in snow to make it harden. The snow sticks to it, and makes for a nice cold counter-point to the warm and sticky sweet maple toffee.

That night we went out for a tasty dinner (thank you K&D). The menu presented me with an exciting opportunity to enjoy some posh poutine. Poutine is a Canadian dish consisting of chips (french/freedom fries) with gravy, cheese and optional extras like bacon, onions, etc. It is normally good cheap and hearty ‘don’t freeze to death’ food for the northern climate. This however was clearly not the people’s poutine. Instead, I enjoyed “fresh-cut fries, elk shoulder, smoke aged cheddar, caramalized onions, jus”. It was nice, but to be honest I had been perfectly happy with the poutine I’d enjoyed earlier in the week with my gaming-mates at the Elgin Street Diner.

Sunday we took the kids to the Children’s museum and had lunch at the attached café which has a terrific view across the river to the back of the Parliament building. Afterward we had a generally low key afternoon in which Ke and Dan awed Thomas with pics of their safari in Africa before heading back to New York.

Dan skates on the GG’s ice



















Later, Ke prepares prepares herself for a Winterlude ice-slide.























Ke at the awesomely frozen waterfalls.


















Props to the great northern posse.

FoJ Supplemental: Get a dog up ya!

One of the lovely things I received for my birthday is a one month unlimited pass to the nearby ‘Upward Dog’ Yoga centre. I love the name, and the location is very convenient. The plan is to attend classes on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. The reality starts tomorrow at 6:30am.

The start time will be fine. I am almost always up around 6am anyway, with most mornings just frittered away in front of the PC. And I definitely need to start doing something to ward off age and stress because I am, to be honest, in the worst shape of my life.

Time to get bendy and serene. Breathe in, breathe out. Rinse, repeat.

Festival of Jason: The Big Day

No sleeping in or breakfast in bed, not this birthday. Jane has been stupidly busy with work and needed to be there early. So we got up even earlier still to start the celebration and open my presents. My many lovely, lovely presents...
























Afterward, Jane went to work and I took both kids to childcare, yes both of them (there was a casual spot available at the rate of $25 – happy birthday to me). I then enjoyed three sweet hours of quiet, spending much of it reading cards, and answering numerous birthday emails, Facebook messages and phone calls. I like stuff, everybody here knows how much I like my stuff, but by far the best part of the day was the people. Its was like there was some kind of global conspiracy of love.

To my wife, my kids and the friends and family that took the time to reach out from around the world and wish me well, thank you. Thank you all.

Once the kids were safely abed, Jane and I left them under the watchful eyes of a sitter and went for dinner at the highly recommended Fraser Café, just down the road. It was a delicious disaster. I simply wasn’t that hungry in the first place, and then my entre arrived. Now, the Fraser Café has an option where, rather than ordering off the menu, you pay a set amount and the chef simply makes whatever he wants for you. That is the option I chose, which I guess means it is my own fault that a stonking great bowl of risotto arrived as my appetizer. It was delicious, I ate it all, and when my Cornish hen main meal arrived, (also the chef’s choice) a good 2/3rds of it went into a doggy-bag for home. Dessert was not an option. Meanwhile, Jane greatly enjoyed an enormous cheese platter entre, and then her scallops arrived smelling wonderful, but resting upon a bed of Jane’s culinary nemesis – capsicum (it was not listed as part of the dish on the menu). And so, back to the kitchen it went. About 15 minutes later another plate, this one sans capsicum, emerged and was greatly enjoyed. Well, as much as she could eat after scarfing down that giant cheese platter. Once again, a doggy-bag was required and dessert was not an option. Do not for one second imagine that we won’t be going back, or that I will have eaten any lunch on the day it happens.

And so, I waddled to car and rolled home. Older, wiser, and most definately rounder. A very fine day indeed.