Signal Hill and the GEO Center

Signal Hill~
     This morning we drove up to signal hill, which is about half a mile from our house.  It was cold and windy!  Signal Hill overlooks the city of St john's and overlooks the mouth of the inlet to St John's from the Atlantic Ocean.  It is a pretty view and would be MUCH more enjoyable when the weather is better.  Later in the afternoon Paul took Nathan, Kayla and Emily back up there to hike around.  They had a lot of fun and came back in one piece.  There are no rails to keep you from falling into the water and I am told Emily was almost blown over the edge.  SO glad I was not there!

 
 
 

 

 

Johnson GEO Center~
   The GEO Center is just down the road from Signal Hill.  The Johnson GEO Centre has a special focus on the geology of Newfoundland and Labrador.  The main display area is built under the ground and there is a wall that is the actual exposed rock from signal hill.  There are exhibits on geoscience, oil & gas exploration, natural resources, space exploration and the Titanic. The center also features a 3D movie theater that showed features on the Monarch butterfly,  the life of a baby whale and one on space (which the kids did not want to see).  The monarch butterfly was the best one and was really interesting to watch.  It explained to life cycle and how they migrate from Canada to Mexico.  Unfortunately the Titanic exhibit was closed, but we were given passes to come when the exhibit is reopened.

 

 

 

 It was a good day.   Nice to take a break from all the work that needs to be done and just have some fun.

First Week

    We have been here in St. John's for a week now and the kids seem to be doing well. They have LOVED playing in the snow.   They built a mini snow man, a tunnel in the snow, have thrown a lot of snow balls, king of the hill on a pile of snow in the back yard, been stuck in the car as Paul and I drive around looking at houses and getting settled in.  St John's is a lot like a town/small city in the USA.  There are a lot of the same restaurants and stores, there are some different ones as well, but all in all very similar.

     We are staying in a 3 story townhouse/row house.  The bottom floor has a half bath, garage, coat closet, washer and dryer and a bedroom.  The second level is the kitchen living space and the 3rd floor has two bedrooms and two bathrooms.  The kids are on the top floor with Kayla, Madeline, and Reagan in one bed and Nathan in the other bed and Emily on the floor in the room with Nathan, she did not want to sleep in the bed with Nathan.  It seems to be working out for the most part, I am ready to find a house and start to feel settled somewhere.  We have looked at about 10 houses and have 2-3 to look at again, but we are trying to find the perfect house and may have to settle for the semi-perfect house.  I know we will find it, just a little more difficult with 5 kids to plan for...

    We have bought a mini van that is 7 years old and in good condition, we picked it up yesterday and after driving the rental car that is new and then going to the 7 year old, there is a difference and I am having second thoughts, it is for only 4 years and not forever.  When we move back to Houston I am getting a good one!  Now we will need to find Paul a car, but he can drive a rental until we find one.  The good news is we have gotten a lot done.

    The kids were suppose to go back to school on Monday the 6th, but with the storms and power outages the city has cancelled school until Thursday the 9th.  As a way to conserve energy so that the city will not black out again.  I am VERY excited about them getting back to school tomorrow, but will miss having a playmate for Reagan.  That is about all from this part of the world.  I hope everyone is happy I am back to at the blog, and is enjoying reading it.  I am going to try to keep at it, but no promises!

Snowman with a fence made of ice sickles

Blizzard

    Last night, Friday the 3rd, a blizzard came through that delivered around a foot of snow and HIGH winds.  The kids have had a good time in the snow today and were about blown over from the winds.  The power was out from 9:00 AM to 4:30 PM, that was fun!  It got a little chilly in here, but once the heat came back on, we warmed up and slept well.  There was a lot of making rubber band bracelets, cards, Pictionary, dice and just playing.  Before the lights came on and it was DARK in here the kids made up a game, Elfy!, think elf on the shelf.  Paul had a flashlight and when it was off it was "nighttime" and the kids would find a place to hide, then in the "morning", when Paul turned on the flashlight, he would looked around trying to find the elves.  The kids did a good job coming up with clever places and positions to be in when the light came on.  I think Paul's commentary when looking for and finding the elves was the funniest part.  They did this over and over, I took a nap on the sofa! 

    Everyone we talk to, locals, keep telling us this is very abnormal to have this much snow this early, all I know is that it is great to give the kids something to do and since we are from Houston and do not see snow hardly ever this is great, as long as the roads are kept clear.  2 more months of this!!  We wanted a change and we are getting it!

St John's Newfoundland

    We are on our way to our next adventure.  We are moving to St John's for the next 4 years.  Everyone is excited and a little anxious.  Emily is the only that has shown any outward signs of  anxiety.  She has had a couple times when she was crying and saying how she would miss her teachers.  I am interested to see how they do on the first day of school. Hopefully all will be well, but I have no doubt there will be tears, most likely from Kayla. 

     When we left the house this morning with our 13 bags of luggage and 8 bags of carry on, it felt more like a trip not like we are moving.  I think because the house has yet to be packed up, but Paul will be back in a few weeks to take care of that.  We are hoping to find a house in the next week, then Paul will go back to pack up the house.  It is on the market for sale and I am hoping it will sell quickly.  We have sold both the cars and will have to buy new cars once we arrive in Newfoundland.


      Let's talk about St. John's, here are some stats (this is mainly for my own future reference, feel free to skip this paragraph):  it is the most easterly edge of North America.  This is where the sun rises first. Where Vikings landed over 1,000 years ago. This place is home to the oldest settlement and the oldest city in North America, but is the youngest province of Canada.  St. John's is considered to be  the oldest English-founded city in North America.  St John's has a population of 200,600 as of 2012. 

Emily

Today when Paul came home from work the kids went running to the bedroom to hide so they could jump out and scare him. Well, Emily tripped and hit the bridge of her nose on the windowsill. It looks worse than it is. It hurt pretty good that night, but the next morning she said it did not bother her.

When a girl is tired...

I was working downstairs this morning and when I saw what time it was and that Reagan was due for her nap, I went upstairs to find her like this...

On October 17, 2011, she was so tired she fell asleep in the swing. Too cute!

Ice Cream!!!

This was suppose to be my ice cream, I think I had 2 bites!! Happy Mother's Day to me!