Sudbury Road Trip.........

On the weekend we did a road trip 4 hours North to a small mining town called Sudbury. The reason for our trip was to scope the place out with a view to moving there. With Brad's project shut down we either need to move North or face having to go home. So we went for a look-see and whilst it would not be either of our first choice for somewhere to live I think that we can make it work for us for the remainder of our time here.

The kids were great, Riley had his portable DVD player to keep him occupied and Emily could see the screen also so she watched a bit and joined in the screaming on-screen when Riley was watching Monsters Inc. She thought she was pretty funny. The rest of the time she either slept or played with Lilly or her puppy.

The road trip itself was amazing the scenery here is just like nothing else we have ever really seen. The snow and ice on the side of the road and draped over the rocks is just gorgeous and kept our attention pretty much the entire trip. We were in a hurry to get there on Friday as Brad had a meeting to get to but on the way home on Sunday we took the time to stop and take some pics at various places. ENJOY!!!

Obligatory road trip pic of the driver. Notice the snow dusted trees in the background.

Riley all set up with his portable DVD player.

Emily having a giggle and some milk.

Riley enjoying some popcorn out of his starbucks cup whilst watching a DVD.

Emily enjoying some popcorn out of her starbucks cup and trying to do 'that' silly face smile at the same time.

This is a pic of one of the many lakes that we drove over. I actually had to get out of the car and run back along the highway in -15 temp to get this pic. The lake was frozen and all was very still around it but standing there taking the pic I could hear the water rushing beneath the surface. It was very eerie and beautiful at the same time.

Another lake, this one with a boat frozen on the waters edge......

Same lake, different view.

A beach side park. Can't say I have ever seen frozen sand before but here it is........

Same lake again different view.

Can't say I would want to swim on this beach but if I did then I guess the 'beach rules' would come in handy.


I don't know how clearly this will come through but this is actually an icicle that someone has stuck in the snow.

A couple of picnic tables at a rest stop...........look inviting don't they...........

Imagine how cold these toilet seats must be...........

The firies would have a tough time reaching this hydrant I would say....

Now this is not a road sign I have seen before.

Ummm rocks on the side of the highway, there is a mix of snow and ice on these ones.

Ice and snow again. This is one of my favs.

These next five pics are of Canadian Indigenous peoples rock statues they are called inukshuks and are traditionally used to signal a safe route to other travellers. They are supposed to represent a human shape with arms outstretched - the direction of the arms indicates the safe direction for travel.

I like the contrasts in this pic. It was so awesome to be driving along 4 hours of highway and having this along both sides of the road for most of the trip.

A close up of an icicle.

The sun peaking through the trees on it's way down for the night (this was only at about 4pm in the afternoon)

Playing Nicely Together

A cute pic of the two kiddies sitting nicely together on Riley's old couch. There is a bit of a silent ownership war happening. Emily sees it as being of her size so it is naturally hers, Riley sees it as once being his and sees no reason to relinquish ownership. For the time being they are happy sitting on there together. Let's see how long this lasts.....

This is Emily playing with her baby that she got for Christmas from her Uncle Boof, Julie and her cousin Reanna. She loves playing with baby and is very nurturing for a 15 month old, when I get myself organised I will upload the video of her pushing Baby around the house in the stroller.

This pic was just too cute not to put in. How handsome is this little guy!

Back to it......the snow that is!!

Riley was so excited when we arrived back home to see that it had indeed been snowing whilst we were away so the first chance that he got he was right in there shovelling the driveway. Emily of course was right in there too and was somehow under the impression that Riley was clearing a path specificially for her to walk down. It was very cute watching her following him down the driveway, at one point she tripped and grabbed on to his legs to stop herself from falling it was very cute and he loved being her accidental hero.

Riley shovelling the driveway with his new snow pusher. Much quicker than actually shovelling.

Forging his way down the driveway to the sidewalk, and Emily in the background spotting 'her path' being made.....

OOOPSIE lucky big brother was there to catch her.

My little snow bunny.



Riley catching snow flakes with his tongue....

Emily trying to copy..... Check out those cute little snow boots!!!

Radio Star Riley

Whilst we were on holidays in Brisbane Aunty Mandy (our family radio star) arranged for a tour of the radio station where she works. Riley was soooo excited it was all he could talk about on the way over there. Outside the studio he saw a delivery guy delivering a few boxes of softdrink (to the cafe next door) well he was so beside himself with the thought that 'those' softdrinks were for all the radio announcers. I didn't have the heart to tell him the truth. Once inside both kids quickly charmed the reception staff and Riley managed to get himself a lolly. Mandy showed us where both the Triple M and B105 studios were and where her desk was and showed us that the news readers have a couple of TV's on so that they can keep up with the latest news and also showed us how she can record phone interviews. Then the most exciting part of the tour was seeing Mandy's studio where she records her news every day. Riley was so excited to be able to also record himself being a news reader. I have attached his newscast at the bottom of this post ENJOY!!


Riley & Emily 'helping' Aunty Mandy work. NAH really they were getting the VIP tour from Aunty Mandy.

Now I am sorry that I cannot remember this lady's name but Riley was lucky enough to sit in the studio with her whilst she was on-air. He sat very very quietly on Aunty Mandy's lap and was pretty stoked at himself for being on live radio (even if you cannot hear him LOL)

Of course Emily is never one to miss out on anything and she had to give the mic and headphones a test too.

This is Riley's starring performance on radio as recorded by Aunty Mandy. I just love watching how Mandy reacts to hearing Riley's recording.

Thanks HEAPS Aunty Mandy for arranging a visit in to the studio, we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Christmas Holidays in Aus!!

Riley and Emily Chillaxin in Uncle Dave & Aunty Mandy's pool.....yeah there was a LOT of that happening!!

Riley and his Uncle Dave.

This is a gorgeous shot of Riley but I had to steal it off Bec's Facebook page and it came down really little so when I get it e-mailed I will replace it.

An equally gorgeous pic of Emily in the pool. They both loved it so much and were both so confident so quickly too.

Aunty Mandy teaching Em how to jump a croc - CRIKEY MATE!! LOL!!!!! Look at that cute little butt!

A good sign it is summer is scoffing some watermelon down after a long swimming session......another favourite holiday activity for the kids.

Emily got right in on the watermelon action too!!

This funny face is actually what Emily gives us these days when you ask her to smile or when she sees a camera pointed in her direction - it is just too cute not to take a pic of.

My handsome fella enjoying some watermelon.

We also had plenty of play dates with the kids cousins, Alex & Chloe and those usually involved some form of water play too whether it was a dip in the pool or just running through the sprinkler. You know it is an Aussie summer when you can run through the sprinkler.

I have almost the exact same photo of Riley at around the same age wearing the exact same hat playing under the tap at his cousins place a few Christmases ago. Freaky eh?

This is supposed to be Aunty Raechel's 'Naughty Chair' but I think Emily just thought it was too much like her size to pass up an opportunity to sit on it and look out the front windows. She got up there no problems but...........


Ummmm hang on I don't think I can really get down, seems I am higher up than I originally thought.....

MUMMY!!!!!

Hard to believe that 4 weeks could go so fast but they really did. The kids and I flew out from Toronto airport late in the afternoon of Friday November 28 to begin a very long journey home for Christmas. We arrived at our transfer point in the USA, LAX, at midnight Toronto time (it was 9pm Los Angeles time). I had two sleeping children (having both falled asleep in the very last hour of the 51/2hr flight - Emily screamed the first 4 1/2hrs) and expected that we would have a 2hour stop over where I would head down to the Qantas lounge and hang out for a bit and then re-board a new aircraft which would take us all the way through to Brisbane. But like all good stories that was not how things were to happen. I was told not long after disembarking that our next flight had been delayed and that we would be advised of our new departure time in 1hour. So I set off with the kids to find the Qantas lounge only to be met by about 20-30 airport security guards blocking the way. I was told, very officially, that I had to head back to gate 44 and exit the building. I said, No, I did not want to enter I was just looking for the Qantas lounge. I was told again to turn around, so I did and turns out the Qantas lounge was just there so in I went. I found out later that there had been a bomb scare in the terminal and that was the reason for the security staff barrier. Luckily it was only a scare seeing as how we, along with thousands of others, were not made to leave the building. We then recieved notification that our flight was on schedule and so after a brief play for the kids in the kids room at the Qantas lounge we made our way back to the gate and boarded for our last leg of our journey. After a bit of shuffling around we got our seats sorted with a bassinette for Emily and ended up having all 4 seats in the bulk head to ourselves. The kids were awesome on this leg of the trip and when we landed in Brisbane Qantas took very good care of us and had a motorised buggy waiting for us and drove us to Passport control and then had an officer get all of our luggage for us, take us through Customs and then deliver us safely to our waiting family, Dave, Mandy, Bec & Jason. By this time it was early morning on Sunday 30th of November.

We spent two weeks in Brisbane with a weekend trip to Mackay in there also to surprise my Mum for her 50th. Brad joined us on the 14th of December. We then moved ourselves to a lovely unit in Cleveland where we spent the next two weeks. It was a wonderful little break for all of us and it went all too quickly, it was very hard to say good bye and get on the plane at the end of it all.