Our transition from the UK/Canada to the US

Well here I am.....finally!!!! I am so sorry that it has taken me so long to set up this blog. Every day I keep thinking that I have everything arranged, organised and settled but then one or two or three more things get added to my list. Fortunately, all of the main items on my "to do" list are done (well....I think they are until I wake up tomorrow).

Sadly, we left the UK on August 11th. It was very hard to leave to leave Windsor. We made so many fabulous friends there and we had an incredible 2 years. Fortunately, we didn't go straight to California but instead went back to Canada first. We flew from Heathrow to the Ottawa airport so that we could spend 3 nights with my brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephew. We had an amazing time!!!! One of my most favourite things is seeing the cousins together. It always warms my heart deeply.

off to overnight camp for the first time

Uncle Ewen teaching Sienna how to ride a bike without training wheels (aka stabilizers in the UK)

an attempt at a group family shot (at times like this the absence of my dad is heart wrenching)

Jaeda's first motorbike ride

Patrick flew from Ottawa to Boston and Mom (Nana) rented a van to take the girls and I with all of our luggage back to Waterloo. Below are a few photos from our time at the farm with Mom (Nana).

There was a big party to celebrate Patrick's parents' (Grandma and Grandpa) 40th wedding anniversary. Below are some photos from the celebration. The first few are of the girls with their other cousins. The 4 of them had sooo much fun together.

Having fun at Aunt Kristina and Uncle Jay's house the next day....rocking out with the cousins.

We were honoured to attend a family wedding (Patrick's cousin Bill and his wife Erica) at the Aberfoyle Mill.

The girls had lots of play dates with their friends.

the 4 big girls

the 4 little girls

all of the girls!!!!

We had a family birthday party at our house in Waterloo to celebrate Patrick, Jaeda and Sienna's birthdays.

We were sooooooo blessed to have a visit from our wonderful wonderful friends from Melbourne. It was soooo great that we were all in Ontario at the same time. We figured that it had been about 3 or 4 years since we had seen each other last. There is nothing like those forever friendships. Thank you Meg and Steve for making the effort to come see us with your 2 gorgeous babes.

The girls and I flew out of Toronto to Santa Barbara on August 31st. It was harder moving this time compared to when we moved to Australia and to the UK, since both of those moves were for a set period of time. We have so many incredible friends in and around Kitchener/Waterloo. It still seems surreal that we are not moving back to Waterloo and that we won't be living close to our families and friends. 

We arrived in Santa Barbara just 4 nights before school started. Patrick joined us later in September once his work visa came into effect. My mom (Nana) came to help out the girls and I for the first week that we were in SB, which was super helpful.

Our first week at the house, we slept on air mattresses and had a card table and lawn chairs in our kitchen. I figured that it would be easier to start school with the bare necessities, as opposed to being surrounded by boxes and feeling the stress of that. In the end, it was a very good decision. Life was very simple that first week and we got to know the health food store (Lazy Acres) across the street from us very well. We pretty much picked up hot food from them every night for that first week.

Santa Barbara airport

the girls in our kitchen at the card table

the girls in front of our house walking to the beach

one of our favourite places to go around the corner

shopping for school running shoes

biking with Nana along the beach

off to the beach

A few photos below of the beach near our house

Sienna and Nana

heading to Lazy Acres

the park by our house

driving along Castillo Street

the Montecito Y where both girls swim outside all year around


Montecito Y

first day of soccer before they divided up the teams

Sienna's soccer team

on my drive to school

love the view of the mountains from the shopping mall

the outdoor spin studio that looks out towards the mountains

This is us driving the girls up to the school for the first time, the day before school was to start. They were sooo excited and covered their eyes until we pulled up right in front of the school.

Below are some pictures from the first day at Crane Country Day School

Debbie showing us around the school before it started on the first day

Sienna's classroom and the 2 teachers (Miss Soto and Mrs. MacMurray)

Jaeda's classroom and her teacher, Mrs. Yee

Jaeda's class (she is centre back row)

Sienna's class (she is centre back row)

The school divides all of the children into families. Each family has a set of grandparents (teachers) and a set of parents (grade 8 students) and then a few children from each grade. They meet once a month with their Crane family for lunch.

Sienna's family (she is in the middle in the front row sitting on her mom's lap)

Jaeda's family (she is on the far left in the front row)

the moving truck that arrived from Canada 12 hours early....the driver slept out in the truck in front of our house all night

A few photos below of the first birthday party Jaeda was invited to.  It was a Knights theme.

The 2 photos below are of the 3rd grade start of the year party.

I just love the architecture....this is one of the parking garages downtown

                         Here are some photos of our rental house in the Mesa neighbourhood.

view of the mountains from one side of our upper balcony

view of the ocean from the other side of our upper balcony

living room looking into the kitchen

our kitchen

kitchen looking out to the patio

dining room

our fire pit

Sienna downtown Santa Barbara

heading to the beach

Mom (Nana) came back again at the end of September for the girls' birthdays. Patrick and I took her to see Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Santa Barbara Bowl (the coolest outdoor concert venue ever)

We had our first non-family visitors.....very very dear friends of ours from when we lived in Melbourne. We hadn't seen the lovely Biddick family since we left 8 years ago but we still kept in regular contact. We had an absolutely fabulous visit and just picked up like no time had passed. Thank you Jackie and Marty for making the effort to come see us with your 3 beautiful children.

                                                        Celebrating Sienna's 6th birthday.

off to the beach after Sienna opened her presents...one of them was a boogie board from Nana

                                              Celebrating Sienna's birthday at school.

gorgeous photo sent from 4 of Sienna's gorgeous Upton friends

Instead of doing class/friend birthday parties, the girls decided on a day at the American Girl store in LA (from lots of gentle encouraging from me).

Jaeda at the famous Farmer's Market in the Grove

the girls anxiously waiting in line to get into the store

having their dolls' hair done

lunch with their dolls in clip on high chairs at the table

After our 3-4 hours at the American Girl store, we took the double decker sightseeing bus around LA.

Hollywood Walk of Fame

the Chinese Theatre where the Hollywood Stars' handprints and footprints are

Santa Monica Pier

                         The few photos below are of us playing on the Santa Monica beach.

On Sunday, Mom (Nana) took us for lunch at Brophys. Here are a few photos from the restaurant.

                                              We then walked down to the beach.

Patrick enjoying his time at the beach :)

We then went back home and celebrated Jaeda's 9th birthday (again).

My first hike in the mountains of Santa Barbara. One of the Kindergarten moms arranged a hike and then lunch after. Fortunately, my mom was here so she was able to join us.

mom

at the top

Each of the girls received a letter and sticker in the mail from the Headmaster acknowledging their perfect attendance for the month of September (loved this idea).

Overall, life has been wonderful here except I have been feeling quite home/heart sick for our friends and family in Canada and the UK.

The great things about being here are numerous. The top and most obvious one is the weather. The sun shines here approximately 300 days out of the year and because of that, people seem so happy. Not a day goes by where someone doesn't give another person a compliment, in the most genuine way. Today I was leaving the grocery store and a woman said to me "wow..that colour of purple is so great on you" and away she went.

Funny story:
It was about 19 or 20 degrees last Saturday. When Jaeda got to soccer, they made an announcement to the parents that it was ok if they wanted to take their children home because of the cool weather. Jaeda started to laugh.

Patrick is loving his job and even though he is still travelling, it isn't near as much as he was doing with RIM, so we are all very thankful to have so much more time together as a family.

The outdoor healthy lifestyle is fantastic. There are always people running, biking, walking, surfing, paddle boarding, swimming and hiking. There are also so many more healthy food options which we are just loving!!!! I have never ever seen so many juice bars with wheatgrass shots in my life!!!!

The girls have transitioned really well into their new school (however we still miss Upton House School immensely). The school has an organic garden and about 8 chickens. One of Jaeda's favourite things to do at recess is to go visit and carry the chickens around. The kids do all of their PE/gym classes outside and eat outside every day. Sienna loves all of the art and drama that they get to do. She comes home with new creations all of the time.

We have finally figured out of all their activities and seem to now be in a bit of a groove. Jaeda is on a swim team so swims a couple of times a week, plays soccer, does a musical theatre program and then at school does yoga and tennis, as after school programs. Sienna is swimming, playing soccer and doing the musical theatre program with Jaeda outside of school and then at school does the yoga and a magic class, as her after school programs.

I have been volunteering a bit at the school and getting back into my exercise routine. I joined 2 gyms (one that has an amazing boot camp that I go to twice a week and then the other gym is where I do the spin, boxing, yoga, pilates and swim classes). The only times that I run on the treadmill now are if it is too hot out. Other than that, I run down by the beach.

Patrick has been riding his bike to and from work every day, so right now we just have one car. He is hoping to join a gym in the next week or so.

We haven't ventured too far yet, travel wise except to LA a few times (will post those photos on the next blog). We are looking into making a little long weekend trip over Thanksgiving in November and then we have booked our tickets to go back to Ontario for Christmas. We are also planning to go to the UK in mid June when the girls get out of school.

We have also started to look at houses to buy, which is way more difficult than we anticipated. Houses are very expensive here and it seems that we will have to make some big compromises on whatever we do buy. We love living in the Mesa (5 minute drive from downtown, 15 minute walk to the beach, 2 minute walk to great bike and running trails and a 2 minute walk from the drycleaners, Starbucks, Lazy Acres, Blenders juice bar and about 5 restaurants). Unfortunately, the lots aren't very big in the Mesa. We also love Montecito (where the girls' school is) but it is really really expensive. Patrick really liked a house that we looked at a few weeks ago but I didn't like that it was on such a busy road. Anyways, our hunt continues.

Well I think that is about it for now. Hope everyone is well and I always look forward to hearing about what is happening in your lives.

Much love,
Erin and fam xoxoxo