Tag Archives: Edmonton

Max’s Makeover

This past weekend we finally finished off the stuff we have to do to make Max, our Mazda, completely Albertan. It was a little bit of a process. We had to

  • get insurance
  • get a form from the registry office to get an out of province inspection
  • have the out of province inspection done
  • go back to the registry office (at a time both of us could go since both our names were on the insurance) and register the car; this is an extra step that BC does not have
  • get our Alberta driver’s licenses

It’s so shiny it’s hurting my eyes! Seriously, it’s hard to tell how dirty the car is, since it’s dark grey, but I can say that the BC plates we removed were about the same colour as the car.

It’s a little bit of a funny feeling because before, when we had our old plates, I was really concious of the way I was driving, especially when the road conditions were not clear. I would imagine what other drivers were thinking of this “BC driver”. But now, when I drive with my local plates, I don’t feel like I am driving any different than other people. It’s silly.

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Christmas Tree Light Up

I am used to the downtown life of Victoria when it comes to special events and fun activities, so when I heard that Edmonton’s Christmas Tree Light Up was happening this weekend, I was excited to go! When we got there, there weren’t too many people, but by the end of the night, it was shoulder to shoulder in the square.

Amy was singing lovely Christmas carols with her choir as part of the entertainment.

Right in front of city hall, they flooded the square so it made an ice rink. We stood Calvin on the ice, and right away he got his excited, jumpy legs on. You could say he took to it like a hockey player to the rink. Don’t look too closely at the ice…it’s pretty gross looking.

After the tree was lit up, there were fireworks and Calvin loved to watch them. I was quite impressed with them! Every Canada Day in Victoria, people are disappointed with the display, but these, for the humble little Christmas Tree lighting day, were quite comparable  Let’s see what they pull out of their hat for other holidays!

It was a fun evening, but cold. I have never seen so many children in show suits all in one place! And it did a good job of getting me in the Christmas spirit, although that isn’t hard to do.

Are you looking forward to any specific Christmas events in your town?

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SH – A Visit with Aunty Michelle

While Tim is up in Fort McMurray on his business trip, I am completing a photo scavenger hunt he created for me to work through so I stay busy and he can get new photos of our boy.
(see the whole list here) 

Calvin getting a shoulder ride from Auntie Michelle.

Last Thursday Tim’s sister, Michelle, flew in for a visit over the long weekend. It was looking like Tim might have been gone for the whole time, but he was able to finish the work up North and fly back down to join us on Saturday. I don’t have many pictures from her visit, but I did get the one I needed to check one off the list!

We had a good visit, with the exception of the two of us girls getting the flu and being rendered useless all day Monday. But I think I am pretty much back to normal, and hopefully she is too!

I also have to share my experience with picking her up when she arrived.
The day before she flew in, Edmonton got a pretty major snow storm and no clean up had happened between then and Thursday late evening when her plane was scheduled to arrive. The parent’s of friends of hers offered to pick her up and have her stay with them the first night since they lived fairly close to the airport and that meant I didn’t have to drive there in the middle of the night with Calvin. What a great idea!
So the next morning I got the address and directions from Michelle. The address was pretty remote, but Google pulled it up when I typed it in. However it didn’t match the directions Michelle gave me, so I kinda winged it. Google’s directions ended up to be completely incorrect, and Michelle’s directions looked to me like it was not quite right compared to what Google showed me, so I was completely lost. I stopped at a coffee shop and some guy looked up the address for me again, and found it! So I drove there (on a completely remote township road with tons of snow…don’t worry, it wasn’t slippery, and I stayed in control of my car the whole time), but I ended up at the end of the road at the banks of a lake before I got the house that matched the address.
I called Michelle and she looked it up and directed me from there. However, the road numbers she saw were differently named at the place I was, so I went out of my way yet again and made another call when it looked like I would be going way farther than I thought I should be. Here is a map that maybe makes it all clearer.

1: Where Google told me it was (makes sense – close to the airport)
2: Where the coffee shop guy showed me it was
3: Where it really was (not quite as close to the airport as I was expecting – maybe “close” means something different in more remote places)
The highlighted portion is where I drove. Not shown is another exit further north I took then got back on the highway.

So what should have taken me half an hour took about an hour and a half, but we made it there safe and sound!

Thanks for coming, Michelle!

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The Mall

You know the one I am talking about. The one with the water park, roller coasters, movie theater, ice rink, and aquarium. If you ever come to visit on a weekend, I am not taking you there. Feel free to go on your own, but going there this weekend just made me hate shopping even more than I already did. However, I think it will prove to be a great place to go on wintery (week) days when I need to get out of the house. Walking around that entire place would take a considerable amount of time! And the crowds are non-existent at opening.

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Directionless

The other day I ventured out to pick up the high chair I found on Kijiji. Being a part of town I had never been to before, like 95% of this city, I glanced at the general location on Google, then scribbled down the address to input into our hand-me-down GPS. Halfway there, the satellite cut out and I was directionless. Thankfully, since I had glanced at the map prior to leaving, I knew it was just north of the airport. From there I relied on the faithful grid system. It got me there with only one incorrectly guessed turn. The GPS started working again when I returned home, but cut out before I was halfway there, and it was dark by this point. I remembered the street I used to get me over the river on my way there, so I found that back with a lucky guess. From there it was a little easier since we live quite close to a main street.

All this to say, I am thankful for grid systems. They do not have this in Victoria. The streets have names, which can change from one block to the next! It would be hard to get around there without a map with you in the car, but here in Edmonton it is alright. Except for the river, since only a few roads bridge it. But once I learn those, getting around should be no problem at all! Now I just need more places to drive around to.

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Not So Cold After All

This morning I had an appointment to go to, and before leaving I checked the weather. I knew it was quite cold from looking last night to see what Tim had to deal with while walking to the train station. Here is what the Weather Network said around 10 AM today:

Please notice the “feels like” temperature.

Looking out the window, it is very deceiving because the sunshine makes it look so nice! I had texted Tim to see how his walk went, and he said he only got a bit cold when he was stopped and cross walks. And when I went out to scrape the car before leaving, I was pleasantly surprised that what is supposed to feel like -14 actually feels more like a +2.

I was told that cold here feels way different than cold back on the coast, and now I can say it is totally true! Also, if it is any kind of negative temperature on the coast, you can bet your socks that there is a bunch of ice lying around just waiting to slip you up. Not here!

Bring it on, winter!

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