The House to Become a Home

Well, I'm bucking against my natural inclination to hold off posting pictures until our furniture is in the new house, thereby making it officially our new home. 

I know some of you are anxious to see the inside of the house. 

I know we were!!   

We moved here only knowing our address (confirmed days before we packed up in Nova Scotia), and with an outside photo of the house. 

Well, good things come to those who wait, and this house is just PERFECT for us.  We are so fortunate. 

It's super close to the school where I'll be working and the girls will go to school (can you say 300 m?... Really!  That close!) and it's on a cute cul-de-sac.

 Be warned.  You will get another set of pictures once the furniture is moved in and the house is set up.

Here is our home at the end of the cul-de-sac. 

 Welcome! 

This is the front entrance way, just off the spacious front deck. 

It surprised us with how wide the deck was!  Great! 

There is a large closet, just in front of the main door for all the winter gear.

 The living room has this great wood burning fireplace.

See the sloped ceiling?  It has painted wooden planks, and I find that it gives a cozy cabin feel to the space.

 The wooden wall adds some character, don't you think?

It seperates the living room from the kitchen area.

You can kind of see that the seperating wall does not go all the way to the ceiling.  It's great for air flow.

 In this picture, I'm standing near the fireplace, looking to the front of the house. 

The front window lets in lots of natural light, and looks out past the front deck into the cul-de-sac. 

You can see the ceiling well here, and how the wall of the front closet does not reach the ceiling.  I really like that!

 This view is from the living room peeking towards the kitchen (which will be on the right) and the dining area (on the left). 

You can make out another doorway ahead, and that is a few steps to the laundry room.

 This is from the kitchen, looking to the dining space (window is at the front of the house). 

All the floor is laminate, which is great for cleaning, and I will not have to worry about the girls or the bunny scraping the floor.

 Here is the kitchen. 

Can you smell the muffins?

Eli's bought a non-built-in (but stationary) dishwasher.

 This is an alcove in the kitchen. 

We're going to move the fridge here, and place the dishwasher in the fridge space for ease (it will be near the plumbing). 

I think there will be room for a pantry or our kitchen island here.

 Yum! 

Oh, that window looks out to the back entrance. 

You can't see an important bonus feature there, and I'll show it to you below. 

You can also see the slanted ceiling is in the kitchen, too.

 This is the laundry room. 

I love laundry rooms. 

It has lots of storage, and we should be able to fit another shelf just above.

We picked up my new washer and dryer! 

I hope I don't damage the keyboard of my laptop from drooling all over... 

I love them. I think they love me, too.

I think I should name them...  Hmmm. 

This will require some thinking time.  I'll get back to you with their names!

 In the laundry room to the left is the door to the heated garage. 

It's very spacious. 

This is Eli's bonus room. 

 On the right of the laundry room is the back/side door of the house, and there is another door to this wonderful surprise!

It's a heated storage room.

This is MY bonus room for all my

teaching supplies (teacher friends, you know how much space it takes up!),

my craft supplies (paints, glitter, googly eyes, paper, ribbons, etc. etc...!),

 and my knitting and sewing supplies. 

Aaaaah....

I love you, Bonus Room.  You deserve a name, too.  I'll keep you posted.

 Here are the girls looking into the laundry room (to orient you, in this picture, the kitchen is on the left, dining space on the right, living room straight ahead).

 This is the girls' room, in the back right corner (when looking from the front) of the house. 

It has a big closet, and space for their toys.

 This is the master bedroom. 

Those patios doors lead to a deck/balcony. 

You can't get to the back yard from it (no steps), but you can see it. 

There are lots of trees, and it's quite private.

 The master bedroom has a half-bath and closet. 

The master is right next to the girls' room at the back of the house. 

The rooms are about the same size.

 And this, THIS is your room for when you come to visit.

I hope you don't mind if we give it a dual purpose as the office/computer room, too.

 We're looking to get a comfy pull out bed for this room, and I'll have it all set for when you visit!

Truths About Our Trip

Truth #1: Convenience is a Luxury

On some legs of our trip, we've stumbled upon convenient pit stops for lunches and breaks, but on many stretches, there were no amenities or rest stops.

The girls have been excellent at adapting.

It didn't hurt that they LOVE Cheerios and crackers with peanut butter!

We are so proud of them.

They complained very little, and were happy with the predictability of our family unit, and their routine snacks and meals.

Truth #2 Canada is Big

It's true. 

Eli and I have made a cross-country trek by car once before, exactly eight years ago (I'll blog about that another time). 

Now, throw two girls in the back seat with a bunny, and you realize just how large, diverse and beautiful a country we live in. 

If you haven't driven across the country before, I think you should. 

At least once in your life. 

It's amazing.

Truth #3 Learning Happens Everywhere

It's been really rewarding to have our family crammed into a car for the last two weeks.

Really. 

 I'm not kidding. 

The girls have learned the different place names as we've travelled along. 

They've learned that drinking too much water means potty breaks much more frequently. 

Little "G" has learned to tell time on an analogue clock (to the hour), and Little "A's" vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds. 

The family love for books has only increased. 

The girls have learned sisterly tolerance for each other, and have grown even closer as friends with only each other to play with. 

They've also become excellent backseat drivers: 

"Daddy, green means go!!" 

"Daddy turn right!" 

"Daddy, follow the green path (on the GPS)!" 

We visited Margaret Lawrence's childhood home. 

Hotels are full of learning, with all the floor numbers in the elevator, numbers on the hotel rooms, and menus to check out. 

Not to mention a fire evacuation!

Truth #4:  Big Country = Big Numbers

We stuck to our travel plan, and got here right on time!!

6356

. . . How many kilometres we travelled by car (for reference... that's a long way!)

70

. . . How many hours of just driving we did, not including frequent potty breaks, stretching and playing time and lunches

1581 

 . . . How many pictures I took on my DSLR in under two weeks.  I filled my 8G card!!  (I have more photos on my phone, I must admit!)

12

. . . How many bison we saw on the Frontier Highway

3

how many "rest" days we took on our travel across the country (Miramichi, Saskatoon and Edmonton... all with wonderful family visits!)

 

The Final Frontier

DAY 13 on the Road to Yellowknife: 

High Level, AB  to Yellowknife, NT (716 km)

FINAL TOTAL:  6357 km

We made it!!

This is the route we took today:

 We passed the 60th parallel (to the equator) as we entered

the Northwest Territories

 We took this ferry across the Mackenzie River.

 It's small, and works perfectly for getting us across the strong current.

 The not-finished bridge across the Mackenzie River is right next to the ferry route.

 As soon as we got off the ferry, we were on the Frontier Highway.

This warning sign was there, and Grampa John had emailed us to remind us on the bison "who, unhelpfully, do not wear reflective tape." 

Love it!

 SECONDS later, I saw my first bison.

Little "A" said, "An elephant!" then quickly stalled, waiting for a new word.

Very cute.

 He was battling the mosquitoes and black flies... the truly dangerous animals in the North!! 

Holy cow, the bugs are vicious!

 We saw twelve bison in total today! 

Often, they were in family groups, like this, just lounging on the side of the highway and watching the traffic (or ignoring it). 

They were very friendly and photogenic!

 After a long 9.5 hour day of driving, we got to Yellowknife!

 We stopped to see our house (we get the keys tomorrow).

 Check out our funky backyard!  The girls liked it.

Gramma and Grampa were ready for the girls with chocolate pudding.

YAY! 

We're here!

I'm the Map!  I'm the Map!  I'm the final MAP!!