Busy but satisfying Thanksgiving weekend!

For the Canadians among us, do you remember the last time you spent Thanksgiving shovelling snow?? I bet it wasn't that long ago... This year was definitely a little different. Records were broken left, right and centre with a high in Ottawa on Saturday of 27.6 degrees. In case you didn't realize, it's October... In one word: awesome!!

We had a fairly low-key Thanksgiving weekend without any real commitments. We didn't go down to Brockville since we'll all be together in a couple of weeks for Carrie's wedding. Since the weather was so gorgeous, and we had so much time, we decided to spend the time well... outside!! We painted the front porch, front door, garage door and around the garage. We cleaned up the deck (it looks so empty now!) and we cleaned all the windows! We also went running Sunday morning (my legs were killing me though, never thought that painting could be so hard on the legs, but I guess I was bending and crouching down more than I realized), and we went for a beautiful bike ride Monday afternoon. The colours are just amazing right now, and with these temperature and blue skies, you really don't want to spend any more time inside than absolutely necessary. We took some pictures during our bike ride; I'll upload them later.  Admittedly, we were pretty tired at the end of the bike ride, and were somewhat cursing ourselves for going so far. But it was so worth it, despite my soar derrière today...

The weekend wasn't totally un-social. We had Debby over for dinner on Friday, which was great as usual, and Ann and Tom invited us over for a left-over-Thanksgiving-dinner on Sunday, which was also very tasty and social. Nolan was able to teach us all some new expressions as well. Not sure if it was him or the Scotch being creative...

So overall a great weekend, that came after a very inspirational and interesting week of training. The course was very good, and I learned a lot about working for the Government; especially at a higher level. Time well spent!

This week is back at the office, but only for a few days. Next week is booked off (for the most part), and we're hoping to tackle the upstairs and splash some paint on some bedroom walls!

Thanksgiving

This past weekend was Thanksgiving, and there are lots of things I am thankful for! Yesterday also marked the fifth anniversary of landing in Canada. Quite the milestone and it makes you look back on the past five years, and beyond. But it also made me realize what an incredible journey this has been. My decision to move to Canada was not taken five years ago, more like 20 years ago! It took several hurdles before I was finally granted permanent resident status, but even that was the beginning of a journey. A journey that would take me from Tim Horton's to the CFS, where I am incredibly happy. It has not always been easy, but definitely rewarding. It also helped that I had tremendous support of people around me, whether it was in Canada, or across the ocean back in the Netherlands. My biggest supporter is probably my mom, who, despite the fact that it was not easy for her to see her daughter move across the ocean, never held me back, but always encouraged me to do it, without closing the door behind me. When I met Nolan, he was embraced in the family with so much warmth, which meant a lot to both of us. And in return, I was welcomed into his family with nothing but love. Of course, Nolan is amazing as well :-)

It was wonderful to host Thanksgiving at our house yesterday, with everybody there (except of course my dad, they'll have to come back together next time!).
Everybody loves our new house (just as we do!), so I'm sure people will be back!

My mom and Annette arrived on Friday, and as far as I can tell, they're having a great time! The weather has been amazing, mainly blue skies and no rain, and we've taken them to several walks in the Greenbelt and our neighbourhood. The colours are also magnificent, and we've been feeding chickadees out of our hand on the trails! So yes, people are having a great time! There are photos, which I will try to add to the next post.

Long, special weekend coming up!

This Monday is Thanksgiving Monday, a statutory holiday in Canada. In other words, a day off!  But traditionally, it’s also a day you spend with family, and spend time realizing everything we have, and that we would like to ‘give thanks’ for.

This year, Thanksgiving will be especially special, since my mom, and her sister Annette will be here to celebrate with us!  Nolan and I are heading to the airport this afternoon to pick them up, and they will spend the rest of the week with us. Nolan’s parents are coming over Sunday afternoon, and we will have a real Thanksgiving lunch. Well, real… Maybe not real for some people, since there won’t be a bird. It will be a vegetarian Thanksgiving lunch! But hopefully just as delicious.

The weather forecast for the weekend is absolutely amazing, so we’ll make sure to get out there and enjoy some of the beautiful fall colours. It seems that this year the red colours are not as vibrant as they have been in previous years. Not sure why that is.