Now that the adrenalin and excitement of the big move to Canada has finally subsided, most weekdays have incorporated the mess, chaos, and monotony of back home. With Paul ‘escaping’ the clutches of his four beloved girls each day, I’ve spent more time than I ever imagined Googling “children’s events London Ontario”. It’s not that there’s a lack of things to do around the city, but not wanting to invest in admission fees every day, combined with not actually knowing anyone to do things with has made this more difficult than I thought! 




I’ve driven miles to get to new play parks, only to be told “mummy this isn’t a very good one”, and the expectation in the 4 year old voice demanding “what are we going to do today?” has me exhausting the list of trips I’m willing to safely take with a 1:3 adult to little people ratio (FYI - The Real Canadian Superstore trip was a once off!). 




THE PONDS AND THE BOGS

Westminster Ponds

We wanted to explore a little closer to home recently so we headed to Westminster Ponds, one of the Environmentally Significant Areas (ESA) of London. Long board walks through a mix of murky wetland and wooded trails gave way to beautiful wildflowers, long rushes and grass, with wide open forest and trees at dizzying heights. We had all started the day off a bit grumpy, almost forcing ourselves to get out of the house and do SOMETHING, but within minutes of walking through this area I think our stress levels had seriously decreased! It was just so peaceful. The path back to the car was definitely more of a wacky races experience though, with the double stroller getting stuck in mud and between trees, testing our new found serenity!



Sifton Bog

With a name like Sifton Bog, you wonder how anyone would be enticed to visit this ESA about 10km west of Westminster Ponds. We took the main boardwalk straight to Redmond’s Pond, in the middle of the floating acid peat bog. Looking at the brochure with all the associated wildlife - green frogs, raccoons, grey squirrels, chipmunks - would excite any visiting Irish woman… but when we reached the viewing platform at the end of the boardwalk, never did I imagine Paul would be ahead of me mouthing “THERE ARE SNAKES!”, whilst pointing frantically below him. Of course Aoife ran ahead to examine the small black and yellow stripes slithering up from between the boards. Harmless enough surely? Well, we kept our distance and no person or snake were harmed during our time there. 

 


I can safely say that after days on end of visiting play parks I actually think the girls have loved getting out into nature and just exploring, their little eyes inquisitive of the unknown, whispers of “what’s that?!”, when we hear an unfamiliar sound. Canada - you certainly get my vote for that!


OUTDOOR PLAYGROUPS

I don’t think I can blog about our adventures in Canada without at least giving a mention to the numerous outdoor playgroups we’ve signed up to over the past couple of weeks. With my desire for some adult company during the day growing stronger, I came across these groups during one of my million Google searches. You essentially sign up and turn up (with a little bit of form filling in between). They take place in parks around the city and last about an hour, so no big commitment. The ladies running them are so friendly, and have been so welcoming; as well as listening to my unintentional offload of panic-worry-high speed ramblings, they’ve given me tons of information as we try to settle into our new life here. The girls have enjoyed the singing, storytelling and arts and crafts on offer, but unfortunately, being located in PARKS means only one thing: when a swing has been spotted, Aoife has decided that playgroup is OVER. We hope to get to some more over the next few weeks anyway.



EATING OUT

Fuelled by my desire/begging Paul to drink anything other than a McDonald’s $1 Iced Coffee, one Saturday morning we headed downtown and treated ourselves to a visit to The Black Walnut Bakery. If heaven existed to me in that moment, this was it. A reminder of some of our old favourite coffee houses back home, it didn’t matter what age you were, or whether you had screaming children hanging off you, you felt WELCOME. All the good tables outside on the patio were taken, but inside was just as good; the coffee tasted great and the tray bakes were to die for - chocolate croissants are toddler tasted and approved and Paul devoured his Chelsea bun!



It must’ve been a weekend for eating well in friendly places because that same night we booked a table at ZenZa Pizzeria downtown, a place filled with positive energy! Our brief attempt at veganism two years ago wasn’t enough to tempt us to the amazing sounding vegan pizza menu, but the meat friendly pizzas did not disappoint! And the staff were something else; we felt like we had booked private dining with all the attention we got, always making sure we were okay, and keeping the kids entertained. 



HEADING INTO SEPTEMBER AND WORKING ON OUR CANADIAN INTEGRATION

I still can’t believe we’ve managed to survive the past 7 weeks on our own in Canada! And we’ve had 7 weeks of sunshine, and at times extreme, face sweating heat. With summer officially over, and the days definitely feeling a lot cooler (if 23 degrees is what I’m now classing as cool, I’m not sure how I’ll fare for winter!) I’m looking forward to what Canada has in store for us for the fall - trying my best to use Canadian terms! 


We’re still stopped a few times a week and asked “are you from Ireland?” So I guess my Canadian accent hasn’t hit the spot yet, although I’m working on my pronunciation! Paul learnt the hard way that “what’s the craic?” just doesn’t work here when someone simply replied “yes”.  It’ll be interesting to see what happens to Grace’s accent after she starts school next week…