The day my son became Canadian..

The pictures say it all.... this is the day my son has waited for since we came to Canada...

He is soooooooo proud of himself :)

Sat Morning- 8am- freezing rink - smiling son-followed by hot chocolate and timbits..... it doesn't get much better :) :)

Yukon- the real residents...

The real residents of the North.......... at every bend, turn on the Alaska Highway is potential for the viewing for more of these beautiful animals... elk, deer, bison, moose, caribou ...
Driving at night, in the darkness of the Yukon, the only site to see is the hundreds of eyes watching you as you disturb the night by driving...

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Haines Junction - Alaska Highway- Yukon

Haines Junction is a village located at Kilometre 1,632 (historical mile 1016) of the Alaska Highway, Yukon, Canada.
The current town of Haines Junction was established in 1942 and 1943 during the construction of the Alaska Highway. In 1943 a second highway, the Haines Highway, was built to connect the Alaska Highway with the coastal town of Haines, Alaska over the Chilkat Pass. Situated at the junction of these two highways, Haines Junction was a construction camp and a supply and service centre for the US Army Corps building the highway.


It is home to the most photographed church in Canada :) :) so i felt i should add to the statistics.

God's Backpocket - Northern Canada-Yukon

The absolute size of Canada i think will always amaze me... coming from wee Ireland, were coast to coast takes 3hours. I don't believe i had ever driven more than 4/5 hours in my life in one go :)

Canada takes that to a whole new level, so getting on a plane in Toronto... i flew for 7 hours/ 12 hours in travel time in total... and never left the country!!!
However i did get off the plane in Whitehorse, Yukon in a different world.
The first snow had just fallen (in September!)
Firstly the airport in Whitehorse, is officially the cutest airport ever!! (however it did take over an hour to get my bag, as one poor man had the task of personally taking all the bags off!)
Whitehorse is not what i expected, google images shows a city/town, and gives the impression of a large town, it is anything but.. in a town frozen in time.

Whitehorse is located at Historic Mile 918 on the Alaska Highway. The town isn't anything spectacular, it was the end of the season and alot of the stores, bars where closed up for the winter. Most visitors seemed to be hunters.

As i drove east on the Alaska Highway, i have to admit it is some of the most spectacular scenery in the world.


Driving from Whitehorse to Haines Juntion.
Haines Junction is a village located at Kilometre 1,632 (historical mile 1016) of the Alaska Highway, it is locally referred too as the 'Gateway to Kluane" .
Kluane National Park and Reserve of Canada covers an area of 21,980 square kilometres. It is a land of precipitous, high mountains, immense icefields and lush valleys that yield a diverse array of plant and wildlife species and provides for a host of outdoor activities. Kluane National Park and Reserve is also home to Mount Logan (5959 m/19,545 ft), Canada's highest peak.


Next trip, i will spend more time in the Kluane park, the icefields are supposed to be amazing.

Rock of Ages :)

Just a small town girl..... living in a lonely world.... she took the midnight train to Georgia ...

Rock of Ages - Royal Alexander Theatre-Toronto.......... Simple Amazing!!

Being a lover of musicals... seeing Mamma Mia on Broadway nearly 10 years ago! i have made it a mission to catch them whenever i can! When i relocated to Toronto over a year ago, it was jackpot! my guilty pleasure could become a reality!

Sitting alone on NYE's and feeling quite down, i was watching the Toronto live countdown and next thing the cast of Rock of Ages performed! i was in love in seconds, hit google as fast as i could type! then tried to find an excuse to get to NY to see the show!!

Then i spotted it......... coming to Toronto!!

so i have patiently waited, counting days..... for the official announcment and dates!

and BANG.. tickets booked :) :)

It lived up to every expection!! Best night i have had in a long time!

some of my favourite songs ever.. 'can't fight this feeling any more', 'more than words', don't stop believin'....

and it didn't stop there from the second the curtain went up.. we were singing..laughin.. clapping.. tappin..

There are no words to do it justice :)

An amazing cast, fantastic production......... just waiting to get there again :)

Cheerleading - End of Season 1

As the summer starts creeping up.. slowly we hit end of year shows nearly every the weekend!

Cheerleading ended on a high...

Nationals :) what a way to end a year! The girls were amazing!

Two days of competition... teams from across Canada!

The Daisy Rays did themselves proud with a 5th!

abandoned blog!!!

i keep forgetting about updating this :) :)

well in my defense its been a pretty damn mental couple of weeks!!

but am going to try get it up to date!!

Ice Show - End of Season

Legends & Laces - ICE SHOW

So as the end of the Canadian Winter comes upon us.... its time to hang up the skates and skis for the summer!! (whoo hoo)

to end the season in style... the Guelph Figure Skating Club produce their annual Ice show! this year being Legends & Laces... and my babies were part of it :) :)

the twins became jungle babies... and Saoirse found another excuse to put a leotard on!!!

Once again i was doing the 'proud mammy with tears in my eyes routine' as i watched my monkies, who crawled onto the ice a couple of months ago looking at me as if i had lost the plot expecting them to actually be able to stand up, skate as if they had been born with skates on their feet!!

unfazed by the huge hockey rink, all the people and the lights... they just plottered on and did their routines!

It was simply magic!!

Best Sunsets in the World!

There is no where more beautiful in the world than the sun setting in Co. Clare......... well in particular from the beach in Lahinch or over the Cliffs of Moher :)

Its my one true happy place... no matter how far i travel in the world..... nothing beats the sun setting on the atlantic ocean

me vs making stuff again :)

Match 2!!!

Me vs A 14' Trampoline!!

So as i have just about recovered from the fridge saga... it was time to make stuff again!

now the snow has melted, i have discovered i have a back garden... couldn't see it before now!! (its kinda mad when you discover you have a deck in your back garden a month after moving in, as i couldn't see it before now under the snow :) :) )

so long weekend .... 26 degrees sunshine..... 3 kids to entertain.............= NEW TRAMPOLINE time!!

i need to stop moving around this is the 3rd trampoline i have bought in the last 6 years! that or i must stop setting them into concrete and building them into decks!

so Saturday morning... first thing i tear up to Canadian Tire - the mission to find a trampoline!

so i stroll around the store... potting picking up pieces as i go (aka a garden hose for the water slide) however the more i potter the quicker my heart starts to beat... there are NO damn trampolines anywhere (visions of kids bouncing off walls for the rest of the weekend nearly causing an immediate nervous breakdown!)

eventually seeing the panic in my eyes, a poor young lad approached me apprehensively and asked could he help (i though bout asking him if he fancied babysitting for the rest of the weekend) however settled on the trampoline request!! The silly people had them hidden in the back store room!! Are they mad.... stressing out already stressed mums :) :) :) we can be dangerous you know!

so trampoline loaded and in car! mission accomplished!! then we hit the usual wall :)

No one else in the house being over 4ft and two humongous boxes in the car (with the lovely 2 man lift signs on the side) Health and Safety all the way :)

so the thighs took it again :) :) am soooo lucky i don't bruise easy!!!

this time though i had options.... once boxes were out i could unload in pieces

ROUND 1 to me!!!!

right back garden looking like a scrap yard of metal, tired before i started (it was 26 degrees out at that stage!) and looking like a grease monkey (all the parts were greased up!)

so step one - legs together.. frame together... all good so far

mmmmmmmm 14 foot trampoline.... my less than 2 foot arms... (needed the g0-g0 gadget arms ha ha )

ROUND 2 to the trampoline!!

Eventually (after a good hour of trying the balance pieces all over the place, from my years of being a Twister master! ) i used child labour!! strategically placing children at all sides.. including a few strays from the neighbour hood! We got the frame up!!

ROUND 3 to me :) (and the kids)

now just the jumpy part to get on!! with a gzillion springs! easy peasy..... until each one pulls the tarp tighter and tighter and tighter

leaving the last few springs a good ft from their desired area!
It was the workout of the century!!!!!!!

the child labour proved useful once again for the net posts... its actually amazing how useful a 3ft something person can be!!!

But TA DA :) we now have a trampoline.... i now have lots of neighbourhood strays in the back garden! the kids haven't looked for the TV on once in the last few days!

and there is the most fantastic background noise......... children laughing :)

BOUNCE BOUNCE TIME!

(and this one only cost me, a couple of bruises on my knees, one on my arse and some very very sore arms and shoulders the follow day!!!! )

How to speak Canadian eh!

so i just offered my house guest a biscuit... to which she turned down so i made my cup of tea and plonked down with enjoy my cuppa and biscuits and i got' wheres my cookies'.....

see as i learn every day,just becuase two people speak english doesn't mean they can understand each other!! so heres the list we have learnt in our year in Canada!!!!

Irish English vs Canadian English :) :)

Biscuits = Cookies

Buns = Cupcakes

Chips= Fries

Crisps - Chips

Minerals = cans of pop

Ice Pops - Popicles

sweets = candy

Jumpers = sweaters

t-shirts (actually any type of top thats not a sweater) = shirt!!

Garage = gas station

Petrol = gas

forthnight- doesn't exist in canada!!!

car boot = trunk ( i had someone missing a bag for two days as they kept asking me where it was and i kept saying in the boot :) and they were too afriad to ask me where that was!!)

Press = Cupboard

sausepans = pots

Garden = backyard (even if there is grass in it !!)

cooker = oven/stove

timber = wood (timber doesn't exist here either even though it has more than anywhere else in world)

jeeps = trucks

cottages (are not run down thatched houses) = fancy pansy summer house normally more plush than the one they live in!!

Bathroom = washroom

Sat Navs (this will get you some serious raised eyebrows!) = GPS

Mobile phone = Cell phone

Cigarettes = butts.... 'smoking butts'

Then there is the pronounciation

Tuesday = Tooz-dee

about = aboot

Toronto = Tronno

Ottawa - Oddawa

General new words!!!

loonie - 1 dollar coin

twoonie - 2 dollar coin

and finally don't even try figure out the dates and time telling :) :) just do it all backwards and you will probably get it right!!!!!

and the biggest rule.......... if in doubt just throw in 'eh' a couple of times!!

Ireland... castles

well just about recovered from our recent trip home :)

we were on a secret mission while there as set by my daughters Grade 4 teacher... get pictures of castles!!!

as most of the kids had never seen a real castle! i was like sure i know a couple :) Dunguarie in Kinvara and Bunratty in Co. Clare etc

so we driving one day and i said right we will stop and take castle pictures today....

5 mins down the road... castle one! cool stopped took some shots!

8 mins futher down the road ... castle two..

5 mins later... another castle...

10 mins later another castle...... and then another and then another

OMG i never realised we had so many of them in Ireland!

we have our GAA pitches built into them... shopping centres in Galway which hold the original city walls built in the 16th Century!

its amazing what you walk/drive past all your life and never take any notice of!

It really is an amazing little island :)

just a rant!!

i have a growing knot in my stomach... how does excitment turn into nervousness... how does the one thing i have been looking forward to for a long time, get filled with dread all of a sudden!!!
my brain is a mess....
i haven't been home in quite some time, is it going to be the same... have i build it up as a crutch to get me through the bad days!!
so much has changed since i left....... my life and what it meant and where it was going... all changed quite suddenly......

The biggest problem, am i going to want to come back??????? i'm scared i won't
Canada has been an experience, yeah its a great country, yes there are great opportunites here..... the kids love it, i have a good job so why isn't it enough, whats missing from the equation... why do i feel the way i do!
its a lonliness i have never ever felt before... it goes deeper than i ever thought possible!
i took so much for granted for years, picking up the phone and having someone to talk too, having my family 'down the road' for help, support, general 'hanging out'.
being less than an hours drive from alot of good friends (at worst 2 1/2 to 3 to others), having a couple of hours to clean a house, having friends call over in the evening for tea and chats! a night out, going dancing....... all the things i took for granted! all the things i would give anything to have just once in a blue moon here!
all the things i'm going back to enjoy!! so why amn't i excited???????
because i miss all of the above so much it physically hurts and its going to be even harder leave all over again! when i left this time last year, Canada was the unknown the big adventure to be explored! It was full of promises, it was the dream life!
too good to be true... i should have known better...........
Life changes and reality kicks in!
so now going home....... has been overshadowed by an absolute dread of what i have to face when i come back
maybe i'm just tired........ actually scrap that i'm beyond exhausted! i can't remember the last time i slept past 7 am! i can't remember the last time i woke up alone (haha that acutally sounds like i have a life) i can't remember the last time i woke up without a foot in my back and at least 2 of my 3 kids in my bed!!! i can't remember the last time i slept more than 4 hours in a row.
everyones solution .... get a babysitter!!! the catch......... they cost money!! and i suppose what i hate to admit more than that... even if i had a sitter, i don't have anywhere to go and no one to go with!!
i have work collegues, but i'm the boss!! and i know my worst nightmare would be socialisng with my boss... so how can i think its any different for them! and still the 4/5 times i have been out in the last year have been with my department!! its like i had to pay for them to come out with me!!!
so as i do my daily facebook check and watch as a minimum one of my friends a day load pics of the latest night out, wedding, 30th birthday, hen night... i am just reminded more and more of the life i left behind! it mightn't have been much but at least there was a couple of nights here and there!!
photos can say a thousand things..... provoke a range of emotions.... bring back memories good and bad.... and can be as powerful as to feel like someone has stuck a knife in you! a dart of pain as you look at life going on without you, people moving on, and essentially no one missing you..... its a real reality check!! out of sight out of mind eh!!
the worse part is... yes this is a rant and technically nothing a good nights sleep wont fix but...... there is no light at the end of this tunnel!!
i'm not a person who normal lets obstacles get in my way or feels sorry for myself but... there is no way out of this one!! to get out and meet people and get a life, you normally need someone to start the chain!!
its a no win situation!!
so option B i go back..... except i can't! i can't move my kids again, they are happy here and they have had enough disruption!! plus what is there to go back too?? its funny the world keeps telling me how awful life is there... but yet i can't see it!! i know some of family have suffered the worst of this recession, but my friends, they are all holding there own!! they are working, they are still living life as normal, and even enjoying it! they have each other, they have friends and family!
Part of me wishes i had never left?? it would have been so much easier, i am sure i could have weathered whatever storm life threw with the support of my friends and family like i always have!
I am still weathering those storms, but now alone..... a phone call just doesn't cut it! but i have figured it out...... alone they take everything from you! i am drained and exhausted and thats just from facing the simple daily battles!
the power of a hug......... i will never underestimate again... i think doctors of the world should pescribe a hug a day/week for everyone!!!
so i'm 56 hours away from hugs..... and i'm scared! scared i wont want to let go, scared i won't be strong enough to face the world without them again!
i am going to remember what its like to have friends again, what its like to talk to adults (who don't work for me) what is like to sleep, what is like to smile and have fun again! what its like to be around people who care!

i suppose its all just the other side of being a single mum! i have the best job in the world, being mum to my kids! i don't have to share the smiles, the giggles, the joy i get to keep them all to myself....... but the evitable....... 'there will be days like this'.

so with any luck!! now i have all of this off my chest... i can go back to being excited again!
so 2 sleeps and counting :) :) :) :)

how do i stop my babies growing up..........

couldn't finish the Feb updates without acknowledging the most important event that happens........... saving the best for last :)

My babies 4th birthday!!!

not sure how it happened but........ they just turned 4!!!

In someways the longest 4 years of my life :) but as i took a trip down memory lane and looked through some pictures of the last few years, and last few birthdays ...... i don't know where the time went!!

you see my babies really are angels........ angels who fought soooooo hard to be here, i just am the luckiest mum in the world really

i still struggle to look at some of the pictures from when they were sick :) but then i can scan to the next ones with chubby cheeks and mischievious smiles..... and there is a undescribable happiness!!

Love you guys more than ye will every know xxxx