Like a Boomerang, We're Going Back to Nova Scotia

DAY 1 on the Road to Nova Scotia

Yellowknife, NT to Peace River, AB (1007 km)

Today, we left Yellowknife NT to move to our new home in Nova Scotia.

We started off our big move with a very long day.

Today we drove 1007 km, which is over 11 hours of driving (not including any breaks).  We got to our destination in Peace River, AB around 10:30 pm.

We left in the morning, right after stopping at the Yellowknife sign.

This was our first picture in Yellowknife taken EXACTLY 4 years plus 1 day ago.

The Top of the World

Eli is, quite literally, at the top of the world.

Until the end of the month, Eli is in Alert, Nunavut, which is the northernmost permanently inhabited place on Earth by humans (and not elves). 

Alert is on Ellesmere Island, which is a little hard to imagine as an island because the ice around it is a polar ice cap.

The permanent population is 0, however, it is a military and scientific base, and so there is always some personnel up there. 

All of the Canadian territories boast of being North of latitude 60. 

Yellowknife is precisely 62°30' North, and we are about 400 kilometres from the arctic circle, that invisible line where the sun is up for exactly up for 24 hours on the summer solstice and down for exactly 24 hours on winter solstice.

Right now, Eli is above latitude 80 (and just so you know, 90 is as far as the scale goes). 

Alert is at latitude 82°30'05" north, and is 817 kilometres from the geographic North Pole and Santa Claus, although Alert is actually North of the geomagnetic North Pole, meaning that compasses would behave oddly there.

The girls are beside themselves because Eli is SO close to the North Pole!

Bus Tour of Yellowknife

On the last weekend in September, in between Eli's two back-to-back work trips, we took the girls and Papa on a bus tour around Yellowknife with another family we've met two ways...

The two men of the families work together, and their son, Mr. A, and our Miss A were in the same preschool together last year, and now I teach Mr. A!

The girls were PUMPED about the bus tour.

As children of a teacher, the girls don't get to take a bus to school, and so, of course, they covet the school bus.

This bus tour was on a school bus, which was perfectly fine with them!

Mr. A and Miss A loved giggling and playing together and bouncing from seat to seat whenever they had a chance.

Autumn Family Pictures

I've been slacking... clearly...

I have no really good reason not to have updated the blog.

You know, except for having a full-time job, and being a full-time mom, and a full-time wifey, and a full-time Shannon...

Oh, I've played around with the layout of the blog a bit, too... it's more like a magazine, and you click on the story to read more.

I like it because I can scroll down on the main page and see the posts with a picture each.

Speaking of pictures, this has been a picture perfect day.

Not a cloud in the sky, beautiful and warm...

Our Busy August Weekend

This weekend was busy.

I didn't realize it was busy while we were in the middle of it, but it was!

It all started on Friday with Papa's birthday!

On Friday, after swim lessons, I took the girls out to get Papa birthday presents.

They had VERY SPECIFIC ideas about what Papa would like for his birthday, and couldn't wait for Papa to arrive home on Friday evening from work. 

Miss A wanted to get Papa a robot.

"Miss A, why do you think Papa would like a robot?"

"Um.  Papa likes robots.  And, Papa can share his robot with ME!" 

Miss G wanted to get Papa a stuffy to sleep with, and she picked this soft and cute puppy dog.

His name is Patch. 

Patch has yet to spend a night in Papa's bed, because Papa tells Miss G that Patch really likes all of her doggy toys in her bed.

She has yet to argue with his about that! 

Eli and I picked out Papa's cake... any guess who got the duckies?

Papa, Miss G and Miss A. 

We thought about switching the numbers around to read 26, but Papa is very secure with his age and was like, "No way!  I'm 62!  Put 62!"

Excellent attitude! 

I don't think Papa managed to blow out either candle on his own. 

The girls are fast at candle blowing! 

Birthdays bring their enthusiasm for life up about 10 notches to beyond extreme.

Friday night, Daddy snuggled with the girls. 

Please note that Miss G is snuggling with Patch (and her owl), and Miss A has Robot (and her seal, which you can't really see).

Last night Miss G sighed and said, "Papa really loves his presents.  He loves to share them, too!" 

Daddy got some extra special snuggle time on Friday night, because on Saturday morning, I drove Eli to his work early in the morning so he could meet up with the rest of the crew heading to Inuvik (which is far North in the Northwest Territories) for Operation Nanook.

He'll be in Inuvik assisting with the air operations for Op Nanook for 18 days in total, returning the day before the girls' first day of school.

He says the weather is about 2 or 3 weeks ahead of us in Yellowknife, and it is cooling off.

I'm not surprised, because it feels like some autumn air is pushing in here, too!

He is sharing a tent with six other guys, and he says that it is luxurious by many other military standards.

Eli packed well, and sent me this picture of his cot and space within an hour of landing in Inuvik.

They have good food services within the operation itself, and Eli brought his little mini burner for making coffee and other snacks, too.

And, last night, he went fishing with some rare downtime with some of his buddies, so I think he'll manage just fine.

Meanwhile, on Saturday evening, Papa and I ordered in.

On my way back home from picking up our supper, I saw this parked close to my house, and it totally cracked me up. 

Ah, Northern humour.

After church on Sunday, I stopped by my classroom to drop off the puppets and stuffies (reading buddies) I took home to put in the laundry, and to bring home another bag of toys to clean. 

I've been in the school a few days so far to set it up, and I had help on the first day from a good friend Michelle who volunteered to help me move my furniture around. 

Any teacher friend of mine know that Michelle must be a good friend!

It's coming together nicely, and I'll take you on a full tour once it's all set up. 

Later on Sunday, Papa introduced the girls to Jiffy Pop.

They were totally amazed and pumped to pop popcorn this way!

Usually, we just use our popcorn popper (we don't own a microwave, and haven't for many years).

They polished off almost all of the popcorn, and had some help from Papa.

Then, I moved into the kitchen to make a tuna casserole for a family in the community who needs a little extra lovin' right now. 

I'm sure they would appreciate a prayer from you, too.

When I returned from my supper delivery, the girls were on the front deck with Papa and our neighbour friends, all drawing in notebooks.

This is Miss A's Giant.  He's grumpy.

This is Miss G's bird in a bird house.

Maybe next year a family of birds will move into our bird house in the tree in the front yard.

And, on Sunday evening, I finished these dresses for the girls.

This was my weekend project, and likely what made the weekend so busy when I looked back over it!

The girls love looking at fabric, and this was picked by Miss G.

I had to modify the pattern a bit, because the girls are to teeny tiny.

I fully lined the dresses, and I loved the ruffle (called a flounce) on the hem of the dress. 

I'm so impressed with myself!

I had to bind every hem because the fabric was challenging to work with, but the final product looks great and the girls love them.

Oh, and they think they should be fashion girls.

What do you think?

Northern Skies Air Show

We did end up missing Papa's family reunion in Saskatchewan this weekend due to vacation scheduling challenges, but on Friday, we got a tease for our very important consolation prize.

As soon as I heard the familiar rumble, I ran outside barefoot (because I CAN do that when it is not sub-Arctic temperatures), with my sunglasses on and face looking upwards. 

I yelled for the girls to come outside and sit on the grass. 

Confused but compliant, they did, and were treated to a preview of the Northern Skies airshow! 

I think my neighbour, Jaime, and I were much more excited than the kids, seeing as we are of the Top Gun era, and both of our husbands are in aviation, and we grew up with airshows in our back yard.

Yellowknife is about the size of Miramichi, so it is nice to have the busy airport sounds overhead all the time.  I missed it. 

But, the Snowbirds?!  Yeah, baby!! 

The girls FINALLY understood why I was so excited about the airshow this weekend. 

They kept thinking that Snowbirds were ptarmigan. 

Somehow, I can't imagine a ptarmigan getting up to any significant speed. 

While the Snowbirds were thrilling when buzzing our neighbourhood, the girls did find other things to keep them busy during the long rehearsal. 

Like a dirt wheel.  Second only to the puddle wheel. 

Jaime and I kept our eyes on the sky. 

Huh?  What's up mom?  Why do you and Jaime keep yelling and jumping up and down, because I think it's noisy and weird.

I didn't have my camera on hand later in the afternoon when the CF-18 roared through (nor was I going to miss the teaser), but Jaime and I whooped and hollered and had a grand ol' time. 

Top Gun has united a generation of women forever.

The very next day, on Saturday, the family went to the airport for the show.

Eli loves airshows as much as I do.

We had a pretty sweet set up at the airshow with our umbrella, chairs, and picnic lunch. 

The CF-18 Hornet started off the show!  Yeah, baby!

Up-freakin'-side down!! 

And, LOUD, baby!!  I loved the soundtrack they had for the airshow, it was wonderful.  But the Hornet's roar?  Unlike anything else!

Now, you put a Bon Jovi concert together with an airshow overhead, and I think my head would explode.  That would be the ultimate entertainment experience.

Check out how the air is compressing over the Hornet's cockpit.

Bernoulli's principle in action. 

The Hornet was specially painted with these beautiful snowflakes... 13 for the 13 provinces and territories. 

Now, that is just showing off.

Upside down with the landing gear out.  Love it! 

Miss A loved the pita and noise blockers we brought along.  The CF-18 is LOUD! 

Loud and fast.  Just the way I like an airshow. 

The CF-18 taxied right past us, and you can see the polar bear detail on the fin, and the snowflakes on the plane. 

Paco waved at the girls.  They thought that was awesome. 

Here's a vintage plane that treated us to a demonstration, but I didn't get a picture because Miss G had to use the washroom, and the line up was loooong. 

Miss G was also happy that Daddy brought along noise blockers for her.  We were sitting next to some military folks Eli knows, and they were very impressed with our preparedness. 

The water bombers also did a demonstration for the show. 

Eli grabbed my camera to snapped pictures of Super Dave in his stunt plane while I was in the endless potty line. 

Super Dave freaks me out, but what a show! 

The girls were amazed at the stalled plane, and controlled fall Super Dave does with the smoke trailing. 

The Griffin helicopters did a really amazing low show. 

At times, the rotating blades almost seemed to touch the ground! 

It is unbelievable what this helicopter can do. 

Miss A waving at the helicopter. 

This is potty break Number Deux.  This time, I grabbed my camera!  Look up! 

It's the Sky Hawks!! 

I think they were among the girls' favourites. 

I loved watching the formations, and the breaks. 

This parachutist must have spun around almost 20 times before coming in to land! 

Miss G was very impressed with the "rainbow" spiral! 

That's got to be liberating.  And, nauseating! 

All safe landings! 

The girls really loved the Canada flag parachutes. 

It looked beautiful with the blue sky.

This was a crazy formation. 

Check out the parachutist in the centre holding on the other two, while they have their legs locked together. 

And, BREAK! 

See you on the ground! 

Miss A was very focused on trying cotton candy for the first time.  She's not sure she liked it. 

Miss G was very sure she loved her lollipop!! 

And, Miss G practiced the art of relaxation. 

The Aurora did a demonstration for the crowd too. 

Eli has been a navigator on Auroras on previous postings, and can appreciate the nauseating lulling back and forth and in circles necessary to hunt submarines and the like. 

See that panel open?  Eli says that is where the torpedoes are kept.

Eli "helped" Miss A with her lollipop a bit, when she needed a break from the sugar.

And, Miss G perfected the art of relaxation. 

There's the water bomber we saw earlier!  Oh, no.  Wait.  That's a twin otter.  Oh well, they are both yellow.

And then, we had a break of anticipation as the closing act prepared itself... 

THE SNOWBIRDS!! 

It seems like forever since I've seen a show as good as this one!! 

I think it's because I miss the Miramichi Air Shows of days-gone-past. 

The Halifax Airshow just isn't the same... the crowds were larger, and the threat of rain was always there... 

But, Yellowknife was a lot like the airshows of my childhood, with a small enthusiastic crowd and clear blue skies.  I guess it just depends on where you grew up.

I love the Snowbirds. 

And, after this weekend, the girls are HUGE fans, too. 

Their stunts are truly unbelievable, and they make me nervous. 

But the beauty and grace of the demonstrations are breathtaking! 

Up, up, up... 

And, over! 

One of these things is not the same... 

This plane weaved around the other four planes...  I almost had a cow. 

It was amazing. 

They are just SO close together! 

Wow. 

Whoa. 

I popped on my wide angle lens for this one. 

The four-Snowbird heart, just under the Midnight Sun.  It was awesome!

Do you see the planes exiting at the bottom of the heart?   

Miss A was impressed, but the lollipop was still a pretty important priority! 

The girls did very very well for being outside in the sun for nearly five hours straight. 

This one is taken with the wide angle, too, because I didn't have a chance to switch to my large zoom lens in time, but THIS is a special formation designed this year for the Northern tour. 

It's an inukshuk!! 

The girls LOVED it! 

And, this, THIS is my favourite. 

It's the classic nine in a line finale exit, and I got the beautiful Northern sun in behind it.

It may be among my favourite pictures I've ever taken.

So, when the airshow comes to your town, do the Canadian thing and GO!