Victoria Day and State of Origin

This past week we celebrated Victoria Day by going to the Canadian High Commission for a pancake and bacon picnic breakfast. There were activities scheduled for the morning such as a Canadian trivia contest and guided tours of the High Commission building. While we didn't do too well at the trivia contest (we didn't have our trivia buddies on hand to help us - you know who you are!), we did enjoy the tour of the High Commission building. Here are a few photos that we snagged of the event:

The Canadian High Commission

Victoria Day Breakfast on the back lawn

Pancakes, Bacon, and Maple Syrup!

Kids Road Hockey Game!

This past Wednesday night was the first of three State of Origin games. Blair watched the game with some Aussie friends so he could get up to speed on the rules of National Rugby League (NRL). The State of Origin games are an annual series of three NRL games between New South Wales (blue) and Queensland (maroon). The series is played strictly for bragging rights and state pride. In simple terms, it's equivalent to the all-star game (or pro-bowl) where the best players in the NRL play for the state in which they first started playing professional rugby. The series of games are among the most watch sporting games every year in Australia and New Zealand.

During the game there was a very controversial call where a Queenslander scored a try from forward contact by a New South Wales player. Without knowing the subtle variations in the rules, it's not very obvious as to why this is so controversial, but watch it for yourself to see if you can sort it out. We're looking forward to the next game (3 weeks from now), as this first game was pretty intense.  It's worth mentioning that Australia basically has three sets of rugby rules: NRL, Rugby Union (international rules), and Australia Football League (AFL). It's all very confusing, especially for someone who has never watched a game of rugby before.

(Somewhat) Moved In

As some of you are aware, shipping furniture and household effects overseas can be a lengthy process. Though we received the keys to our apartment back in mid April , our sea shipment was only delivered to the apartment on May 9th. That is a total of almost 65 days from the time the movers packed it up Ottawa.

The shipping container arriving at the apartment

The whole process of unloading the container and unpacking all the boxes was completed in just 6 hours (versus the 2 full days it took to pack and load). However, once it was all unpacked, it became obvious that we had too much stuff for the size of our apartment. That's what happens when you need to decide what to pack before knowing the new place your moving into. Luckily, once we got everything organized and put away, it wasn't as bad as it initially seemed.

Stuff everywhere! Eep!

More stuff in the office! Eek!

Unfortunately, due to Nanny's funeral, Blair wasn't able to be there for its arrival - leaving all the work for Stacy to do. Thankfully though, the cats were active participants and 'helped' out where they could.

Riley surveying the goods and taking
a mental inventory of everything

Brady making sure he's the only thing
hiding inside the packing papers

While most of our boxed stuff arrived undamaged, most of the furniture arrived loose, wobbly, scratched, or just plain broken (we're really not too concerned though as we will get to buy new stuff now!). We're currently going through the claim process with the moving company to try to get things repaired, but the process is very lengthy as its coordinated by the movers back in Canada. In the mean time, we're making the most of the situation and are setting the apartment up as best we can. Once we get through our furniture woes, we'll post some new pictures of the apartment. In the meantime, we're planning some big vacations. More to come on that soon! :-)

Nanny

Last week was a tragic week. "Nanny" (Blair's grandmother) passed away very unexpectedly at the age of 84. Blair flew back home to attend the funeral and to spend some time with his family.

Nanny

Nanny was a loving grandmother (and great grandmother) to all the 'kids' in the family. Many of us have fond memories of spending many of our summer vacations at "Nanny's house".  Her home was always very welcoming and was place we could all retreat to when needed. Nanny was young at heart, and it saddens us that she will not be able to live out the rest of the good years that she had left in her. The entire family will miss her greatly.