Road Trip!

The New Jersey Railway station. This is the old station, a really nice building, now used to sell you tickets and also has 9/11 memorial walls.

This is a story of 2 people, 4 states & a Province, 1300 miles, 1 dog and 11 geocaches!

Well Boxing day rolled round and due to unforeseen circumstances we were to be reunited with our dog Forrest. He was due to land in Newark airport on Saturday the 27 December at lunch time. Now what else would you do on the days after Christmas but sit around and put on weight? We decided to go for a drive to pick up the dog!

We arranged for the kids to be watched by Tara's 2 sisters, which was very much appreciated as I'm not sure sitting in a car for 24hrs would appeal to them very much at all. So we got them dropped off early on boxing day so that we would be hitting the road early to make the best of the time we had. After drop off 2 in Taylor MI we had hardly made the state line to Ohio through the ice rain and there was accident after accident along the road. we sat not moving far for 2 hours!! finally when we did get going and the weather got a bit better things went well. I got to pick up a few caches along the way ( I was trying to make my 300 on this trip but because of delays and the likes I still need one more) Apparently Pennsylvania is a beautiful mountain state, well by the time we got there all we could see where silhouettes of mountain tops oh and a pocono ski resort all lit up. We made it to East Orange in New Jersey around 11 pm, booked into a hotel and crashed. We woke up in the morning and decided while we are here and have some time might as well try and make the most of the area and headed towards the Liberty state park to see the Statue and the famous New York Sky-line. It was at this point that it donned on me that this very time 10 years ago I spent 10 days in New York with Simon Gibson whilst visiting Sharon Canez (then Coulter). This time it was spent in the company of my wife! As you can see in the pictures we got there just in time as the fog was descending rapidly. We got on the ferry out to the statue but decided we did not have time to go in as the dog was due in soon. Probably a decent idea because by the time you get in and up the statue visibility would have been zero and the last time I went I reckon it was about a mile as we could not even see back to Manhattan then. By the time we got back on land Manhattan was invisible and I quickly grabbed a near by cache before getting the dog. It took quite a bit of time to get the dog and we only got back on the road around 5 pm with fog thick around these mountain roads thank goodness for tom tom and also people who I have named 'Wilson'. Now at this point I will say that Tara did all the driving as she does not mind it and I don't like driving places that I am unfamiliar with. So she was the real star of this whole show. OK back to Wilson now most of you I hope have seen the movie castaway with Tom Hanks and he gets very attached to a volley ball made by Wilson and names it the same. Tara had a similar affection for cars that's seemed to know the area and continued to drive a fair old rate through the fog. She figured that they knew better and if they go over a ditch she would have time not to do so herself... oh and also they would get pulled for speeding first. Now when you are travelling 1300 miles it will be very unlikely that another drive is going on the exact route as you. So as these 'Wilson's' headed off the road Tara would get upset a bit like Tom hanks did when he lost Wilson. So a name was born and now when cars pulled off the road we would shout "wilsonnnnnnnnnnn" until the next Wilson was found.

We finally made it back to Taylor and crashed at the sister-in-laws house at around 3am, then headed home this morning. All in all a great trip but not something I would do too often.

Manhattan Sky line, Now You See It! (well most of it)

Now You Don't! (taken looking in the same direction about an hour later)

Proof that was Tara went.

I think this is the new construction work around ground Zero 9/11.

"get your coat Love, you've pulled!"

LETS GO RED WINGS!

Well as the title says I headed off to a Red Wings game. Derek and Collin came with me or I should say Collin and myself went with Derek as he kindly got us the tickets unfortunately our other Brother-in-law could not make it.

Game was good and the Red wings won easily enough and tickets costing only $9 makes it worth while even if there is not much atmosphere at a game of this nature. Here are a few photo's of the night

Getting the ice ready!

All Stand for God Save the Queen...... Sorry I mean The Star Spangled Banner

Face-Off

Derek & Collin

A Festive Treat

Here before you is a mixed bag of Videos to let you in on a little taste of Canada at Christmas. I hope you enjoy and don't bug me for updates as there is plenty here for you.

Weather Just In.....

Snow Fun

A Little Electric Light Parade. A house not far from us.

Santa Actually came to Visit our house!

Hope Tried To hide from him.

More Extreme Driving.

I hope I have given you all time to view my last video blog but today I seen one of the funniest things since I have been here. Now I am sure no one else blinked at it but when you come from where I come from this kind of thing just would never happen.

I was driving through Belle River when round the corner comes a guy driving some vintage tractor. Now that I am sure many people back home can identify with but never would you see the tractor driver wear a green over coat and a balaclava (ski mask).

This would surely only be a joy rider or a paramilitary hijacker, in fact I think it is illegal to be wearing that kind of thing in Northern Ireland. I just wish I was not driving and was able to turn round and get a photo but alas no.

Extreme Driving!

Here is a video of what it is like to drive in Canada.
Enjoy

As you can hopefully see driving is extreme in Canada especially when sitting on the wrong side of the car. No Animals or Children have been hurt in the making of this video!

It's Snow Joke

Well we have just been hit with the first meaningful snowfall and the kids took to their snow pants and gloves. The snow is so light and fluffy it just blows about, unlike the wet stuff we get back home. Bekah and Gaby are now outside shoveling snow I brought Hope in as she was complaining about the cold but didn't want to come in.

Here are a couple of photo's too including the Ford Explorer.

Mexican stand off

Thanks giving bye Christmas Hi!

Well we just celebrated American Thanks giving yesterday with turkey dinner No.2 so now its time to get fully focused on Christmas. This will be our first year not planning our traditional festivities, I love Christmas and all it brings. You just can't beat hearing the Salvation army brass band playing carols out in the street, in the shopping centres or in Church. Warm mince pies and cream or custard, Finger food and shloer, friends and family over as much as possible, Church on Christmas morning. Decorating the tree, the inside of the house the outside of the house, the garden, wherever. Oh and Turkey dinner, who can not enjoy the spreads of Christmas? Turkey, spuds, veg (especially sprouts) sausages and the ever so very important stuffing!! My tummy is rumbling away now!!
The big problem for me this year will be being organised early for my family/friends at home. i reckon I should have already sent out greetings and the like. (note to self, do that this weekend)

Hopefully enjoying a new version of Christmas preparations will give me lots to write here and hopefully I find time to write about it. Well I need to go rest now as I have had a migraine all day at work and I have to help my sister-in-law move house tomorrow and the Manchester derby on Sunday, so yet again no lie-in this weekend. Oh the joys of Canada!

Settling in.

OK things are pretty much settled here right now. So far no complaints but there my be some in the future but I don't have to worry about something I don't know.
We made the decision that we would benefit from 2 cars so that Tara can pick up work easier as there would be no constraint on waiting for me to get home from work. So we went looking, now I'm a fan of the Ford F-150 pick-up and would have liked one of those with the quad cab but at the minute there is no real need at all for back bed. So we happened upon a 2002 Ford Explorer which has seven seats and rides almost like a truck perhaps a little lower. It is a 4wd beast with 4 litres of engine and at best I can hope to get 20mpg thank goodness Gas has just gone under the 80c mark. The car is like most other Chelsea tractors. Next update I Hope to perhaps add a video of it.
So now I am used to the food and getting used to the cars what could possibly be next?

A time to reflect

November 11 @ 11am

This is a traditional time for many people to take time and remember people who have fought in battles over the years to ensure our freedom. We may not agree with many of these wars but the fact that their are many men and women prepared to go to the front line to defend us is something we should never forget.

Many people have paid the supreme price in this cause and died whilst in service. This should never be forgotten and even though for many November 11 is just another tradition I think it is important that people are reminded of what has been done for them.

In many ways this service was very similar to what we would find at home in Northern Ireland. A parade of colours followed by a Pipe band and then many local groups. Now here are possibly the main differences. The local priest said a few words and prayed and then we had a 3 gun salute. just a couple of things which may not have gone down to well at home!

Never Forget!

Sorry

It's been a while since I updated this blog not really because I have nothing to say but I was formulating my new video blog and still have not got round to making it yet. So I thought I should give you a general update instead.

OK I worked nights last week in my job, we had to remove an old roof from the local whiskey factory. The thing is that removing the roof is done during the night and I believe that night is the time God intended us to sleep not work but nevertheless I went and did my bit, 10 hours night shift of manual heavy labour. Now from doing the job all week I have concluded that this is exactly the kind of work that you imagine criminals should be doing once they have been given their prison sentence.. Seriously I reckon this is exactly the kind of hard labour in chain gangs they should be doing. Now I don't mind riding the little dump trucks across the roof but lifting hundreds of squares of cut up fibreglass/felt/pitch is just nasty and that pitch dust burns!
But my not being one to complain I'll just muddle on and get on with it for now. Hopefully that job that would be more rewarding will come along in due course.

Tara has got a few hours with a company called 'Nurses next door' hopefully this will lead to more hours but things in this field of work seem to take forever to get moving like another company 'Christian Horizons' have been in contact with her since before we left Norn Iron and they have given her an interview on Nov 14 and they think this is normal oh and that's only the first interview after that they ask you for another so maybe she might get a job with them before Christmas but I wouldn't hold my breath.

The kids are settling well. Bekah and Gaby are getting used to school and singing 'Oh Canada' every morning. Both seem to be enjoying school as much as they ever did, so that means Bekah loves it and Gaby hates it. So things are good. Hope is Hope happy as Larry (whoever he was).

The in-laws have headed of on Vacation for 3 weeks today. Driving down to Florida. so we have the responsibility of keeping everything together here in Belle River. We have been given all our instructions so we should be fine.

Oh and the kids went Trick or Treating on Friday. Now I wish we had this level of professionalism in handing out candy to kids at Halloween. If they outside lights are off you don't go to the house. As it was such a nice night most people in our sub division sat with their garage doors open handing out the treats.
Now we only let are kids go to the houses in our street and they still managed to fill a carrier bag full with goodies. Crazy, some kids seem to make to come from all around the county filling pillow cases with junk. Our kids are still high on sugar.
You should also see the level of decoration that now goes on with house illuminated with lights and pumpkins and gardens turned into graveyards. CRAZY!!

Think that'll do you for now!

Its a hard life!

Well things are starting to settle down a bit the kids have been in school for just over a week and are getting used to it. I have been in work (well whenever they actually have work) for the same time. So far nothing bad to report. Tara is still looking for a part time job so hopefully she gets something she wants soon.
Just finished watching Man u beating Celtic so life is good!
Also received a Northern Ireland sticker via Millisle for my car. so i can report that if you post something using Royal Mail to our old house it gets sent redirected mail to Canada and all the price of a royal mail stamp.
news just in the Door I have received my Beanie from Surf Mountain but no jacket yet so I hope that arrives before any heavy rain does.

I am working on my next video blog at the minute so hopefully that will be ready by this weekend.

Today's Blog was brought to you by the Letter C and the Number 6..... oh that reminds me I have a new Canadian Cell phone number which I did text the number to folk back home. If you have not received a text I have not forgot about you I just think that I sent it to the wrong number because I forgot to change the numbers correctly. So please email me and ask for the new number!

Bizeeeeeeeee!

Well I know I was meant to provide another video blog of the Thanks giving meal but i was too busy eating it to make videos about it. I have final realised why I moved to Canada.... You start eating Turkey dinners in October!! (I sense a food theme running through my blog, some people will think all I do is eat!(I'm just trying things out honest))
OK well the kids started School this week on Tuesday. They said they enjoyed it, then Gaby Cried and screamed the next morning about not going back but that nothing new she did that at home too. I started work on Tuesday too, Hard day1 We went to the site waited for 2 hours for a delivery which didn't come so me and the other new guy got sent home and the rest of the day turned out to be great. So I started proper work yesterday it is really quite basic simple labouring. it is good simply from the point of view it gets me into construction of sorts here so I can learn some things. The foreman seemed to be impressed by my work and I honestly didn't do anything other than do as he said. He told me I was good but I'm not sue if he does that to try and make sure you come back the next day. Well day 2 today was much of the same for the first part of the day but later in the day we had to cover the roof in stones, so I wheel barrowed I dunno how many tons of stone up and down the roof which was heavy work but again nothing but a heavy days work nothing complicated. I expect tomorrow to be much the same so hopefully i don't have to work Saturday to give my muscles a break as its been a while since I did full time manual work, the benefit hopefully will be I lose the weight I put on sitting behind a computer for 9 months!
OK its time to put the kids to bed and sit and watch TV and experiment on some new snack foods!! d:o)

Video Blog Food Part 1

As a tribute to Thanks Giving weekend Canada I will be making a couple of video blogs on Traditional and less Traditional Fare.

Here we have the Traditional Sized snacks.

Hi-Ho

it's off to work I go!

After a week long drive of handing out my resume and looking on the net for job opportunities I sent my resume to a roofing company. There was not much detail on the ad it just said general labourers (5). So I decided that I was general enough enough to fit the bill. The ad said hand your resume in person or fax it. So not wanting either of those options I called them up and spoke to someone to get a suitable email address and for them to fully appreciate the charm of the Ulster accent. Anyway I sent it in and then headed out into the mildness of fall in Windsor, when we got home there was a message from Mike Raugh (head buck cat) of Raugh roofing. He left a number for me to call him back so I was about to do that this morning when the phone rang and it was him again (my resume is THAT impressive) so he told me that I was more than qualified for this general role and that the pay was low. As I am more interested in getting some experience over here that did not deter me and I said "nay ballher" (no problem to any foreign or native reader) So Mr. Raugh has asked me to come in tomorrow morning for an intro to watch a DVD and answer some questions for legal reasons. Hopefully I can bounce some questions off him and see what all is involved and all those other questions anyone sensible would ask.

So I took a wee drive down today to make sure I can find the place OK and I did so there is another bonus.

For a special surprise my next update on the blog will be a video due to popular demand and the fact some of my loyal fans back home struggle with reading.

The way of Life

Well we have been i n Canada a week today and I would like to share some observations which I have known for ages but it is only when you are living here that it actually means anything.

I had a drive around the county yesterday going to such far flung places as Leamington. Firstly the speed limits seem a little on the low side if you compare it the speeds we are allowed to drive back home on country roads. Over here you quickly feel like you are not going very fast even though you are on a big open straight road. Turning right on a red light is good no need to wait for lights if the way is clear. Then you have such things as all-way stop signs everywhere for no apparent reason, I can understand it a little if it was for traffic calming in built up areas but you do still tent to get them out in the county a bit. It would be much easier if like at home one side 'Gives way/Yields'.
then there is the price of provisions we went into a store and I remember many years ago when I started coming to North America things where about the same in dollars as they were in pounds, so that would always have made things roughly half the price. Now as I look around everything is double the price in dollars, so that really makes it about the same price as we are used to paying back home. There are a few things which still seem to be very/ cheap like pop.. On sale you can get 12 tins (which are bigger than at home) of the Coke family for $4.29 (2.15) or 24 tins for $4.99 (2.50) or water 12 bottles for 99cents. Eating out on the whole is much cheaper and much more pleasant experience. McDonald's and the likes have crept up in price and in general are getting close to home prices but you get more junk for you buck!

I was trying to open a bottle of power ade last night and I don't think I had the required level of education to do so. First there was a plastic seal around the lid once I got that cracked I went for a slug only to find the crafty folk here had put another seal under the lid. Now we can see wasteful packaging in action. Never going to save the planet with all this waste!

so go get a piece of land and start growing your own. Carrots, onions pumpkins, beans, lettuce, bread and the likes and perhaps some day you might strike oil too!

Got wheels will travel!

Ok the settling period continues unabated. More paperwork is getting filled in and we are starting to intensify the job search. So the next logical step is to get some kind of motorised vehicle. So Tara came back last night to say she had found a cheap and cheerful car on the local car lot, we went down and had a look and I think it is a Chevy cavalier of the 1999 variety and probably the only one in existence in North America that is a manual which means I will be gear shifting with the wrong hand and driving on the wrong side of the road. Ontario be afraid be very afraid! I think we might be getting tonight after it has been 'Safetied' lowered some big rims and possibly some flames up the side....well maybe not be the safety has to be done.
So it has been almost a week since we lift the Emerald Isle and it is still impossible to say how the transition is going mainly down to the fact that we are living in a familiar area and of course in a familiar house with family around us. I hope that because of these reasons that things will continue as they are now as far as not feeling too stressed out but I'm sure there will be stressful times ahead in the not to distant future but lets remember Matthew 6:34 "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

I'm in...I'm In!!

OK well I'm officially in Canada now. After a smooth visit to immigration in Hamilton which only took maybe 20Min's at most I got my paper work which says I'm now a settler. I did tell them at immigration I was a little disappointed that once they stamped the forms no balloons and streamers came from nowhere welcoming me to Canada, but they did says they would consider the idea for future. I think they really should put a little effort in for people who take the time and effort to enter the country the correct way and take all the time and money filling out forms, going for medicals and getting my photo taken at least 16 times.

So yesterday was spent travelling round the driving licence place, and city hall to get health cards and social insurance. All that has went well except there is some stupid rule in place that if you are from the UK you can just surrender licence and get a Canadian one but if you are from Northern Ireland you have to do the G driving test but you can drive for a year on your own licence first. So hopefully I will put some pressure on the government of Northern Ireland to come into line with the rest of the UK just so I can skip the test.

The kids are glad that they will have another week off school because they have to get a TB test done. Maybe my home schooling friend can forward some work!

So what next I guess I need to think about looking for some work. Now I don't actually think I really have a problem with that but the only issue may be trying to drive around lost trying to find these potential employers. Ah well all part of the experience I guess. I think I will need to keep a little verse at hand when I go for jobs. Psalm 104. Vs. 23 says "Man goes out to his work and to his labour until the evening." so hopefully there will be no odd shifts and weekends for me but I highly doubt it.

The Sum of one's worth is not....

in possessions!

OK so I sit here on the eve of my departure from Northern Ireland, obviously there are mixed emotions. Intrigue, excitement, fear, nerves. I walked into the living room of the Smiths where all our stuff is, it is mostly packed now. I surveyed that in 28 years of collecting clutter my possessions along with that of the rest of my family had amounted to about 7 hold alls and a few small bags. There are also quite a few boxes in storage back at our house but I had to then go and take Richard to the airport and I said that my life has amounted to a handful of bags in his parents living room to which he pointed out that the sum of mans life is not in his possessions. So as I have box loads of Cd's, DVDs, Stuff, gadgets, clothes and other odds and ends gathered up and then the stuff I intend to bring I have realised that at the end of the day it is just stuff and it won't really be missed. We (I) spend so much time and money cluttering up our lives with things that just don't mean anything to us. So as I head out to Canada I make it a goal not fill up on new stuff but try to move away from that. Do we really need that 1980's CD? or the toy, the 'Invisible man' which is really just an empty box? I don't really think so.

So I encourage you all to sit back and reassess the things about you and consider just before you spend your hard earned cash on that all important piece of stuff, how long the novelty will last and is it worth it? Please feel free to point this very fact out to me if you see my in the local gadget shop or online shopping.

So what is the sum of one's worth? It is surely the close family and friends around you. As I have witnessed over the last week I have some truly awesome family & friends ones that will never be far away from my thoughts and prayers. So I encourage you all to be all that you can to your nearest and dearest because that truly is the sum of your life!

Love Your Neighbour in other words!

The Long and Winding road...

Well as part of my transition to Canada I have decided to start a blog. Not sure how frequent it will be as I get more stressed out and have too many things to be doing but hopefully I will keep it up.

I am now sitting in the Smiths house as I am now a gypsy with no home to call my own as we have rented out our house the the tenant wanted in quicker than we could move. So we are (or I should say Tara) is running around try to get all the loose ends tied up before we fly out of Ulsters green and pleasant land. Still not sure the enormity or reality of the whole move has full sunk in and I probably won't be able to fully appreciate it until we get o'er the pond.

Hopefully exciting times lie ahead for the whole family and for the most part we are looking forward to getting in to it and settling in. Myself and Tara will be looking to get regular jobs quite quickly and I will have to find out about such things as social security numbers (whatever that is) o and then I reckon it would be senisible to consider the fact that I now need to drive on the other side of the road. The is also the fact that everyone over there has an accent which the seem unaware of, so I will have to battle with them having to learn my language too. This may prove quite long but I feel they will be a much happier nation when they can speak Norn Iron.

So it's time for this little F.R.O.G to look up out of my little well and discover that their is a whole big wide wrold out there waiting for me to be dropped into and start to discover what happens when you do exactly that FROG, Fully Rely On God!