Moving Day Mayhem

On Saturday we drove to Guelph to help our son move from one house to another. He was moving from a six bedroom house shared with five other students to an almost new three bedroom townhouse he will share with two friends. In almost every way his new place will be better.

We loaded up our Santa Fe with a few essentials from home - new bed linens and pillows, dishes and glasses bought on Kijiji, Costco-size oatmeal (breakfast staple), olive oil and steel-toed shoes (needed for his new job). We also bought a double mattress and box-spring on Kijiji and booked a U-Haul trailer in Guelph so we could pick up the mattress and move the rest of his stuff more efficiently. My husband bought a trailer hitch. We were organized. This was to be an easy move.

We made good time arriving in Guelph ~11 a.m. Our son was ready to go. We packed a few more things in the car and drove to the new place with our first load. We were scheduled to pick up the trailer at noon for six hours. At the house, we made a list of things we needed from the nearby Jysk and Dollarama - dish soap, garbage can, toilet brush, shower curtain and bath mat. With our shopping done, we headed out to get the trailer.

That's when the trouble started. It was a busy student area with lots of students moving. Traffic was slow and the road to U-Haul was closed. We took a detour finally reaching the U-Haul place by 1 p.m., an hour behind schedule. My husband hooked the trailer to our hitch, but couldn't connect the wires to operate the lights. We needed a special adapter. Not a problem, Canadian Tire should carry it.

Canadian Tire did not carry it. Hyundai did not carry it. Houghton trailers did not carry it, but while we were there, Hyundai called and said they might have a solution. They had an adapter another customer had ordered for their 2012 Santa Fe. Unfortunately, our 2010 Santa Fe requires a slightly different adapter. In the end, we had to cancel the trailer rental. My husband thought we might be able to tie the mattress to the roof of our Santa Fe. The mattress we had purchased was in Solstice (student housing) just two miles from our son's new house.

When we arrived, the parking lot at Solstice was crowded with U-Haul trucks, trailers and vans. It was total Moving Day Mayhem for students and parents. We managed to find a parking spot. I stayed with the vehicle while my husband and son went to get the mattress from a second floor unit. I chatted with one of the other parents waiting for his son and friends to bring stuff down to the large truck he had rented. There was only one elevator, so he had been waiting a long time. I asked if he would be willing to deliver our mattress for $20. He agreed, refusing any money. We were grateful for his help.

Once the mattress was delivered, we picked up one more vehicle load, then I stayed at the new house and set up the bedroom while my husband and son made multiple trips back and forth. It took another three hours to move everything.

By then it was 6 p.m. and we were starving. We decided to eat at Fionn MacCool's. It was delicious. After dinner, we shopped for groceries then dropped off our son and headed home to London. Our son's roommate also picked up groceries with his Mom. They should eat well this week.

Our son is happy with his new room. The box spring and mattress look fine on the floor. The grey bed linens tone down the pinkish mauve walls. His desk fits in the corner. He has a big closet and private bathroom with a separate shower and Jacuzzi tub. The shower curtain he chose was cheap yet looks terrific. 

He feels guilty getting the largest room in the house, but it's a nice change from the small room he had last time and a bargain at only $25 more than his friend's pay per month. He's not happy with the purple and black sheer curtains, so I'll pick up neutral curtains from Costco and bring them in two weeks when we visit. 

 

 

Another friend will be moving in this week. Internet is scheduled to be hooked up soon. I think they will enjoy living here. Utilities are extra and it costs a bit more with only three people sharing, but the main issue involves a relative lack of bus service. There is a bus stop out front. Unfortunately nobody thought to check the schedule before committing.

The bus runs during school until 10:30 p.m. In the summer, there is no bus. The next closest bus stop is at the University about 4 km away. At least they have bikes and their jobs are within 5 km. If it's a problem, they can always move again next year. 

In the meantime, we plan to get an adapter for our Santa Fe so we can tow a trailer and minimize Moving Day Mayhem.

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Fabulous Family Visit

Our son returned from University of Guelph for Thanksgiving weekend and our daughter and her family visited from Boulder for the whole week. It was wonderful seeing everybody together and we enjoyed a Fabulous Family Visit. 

Friday featured barbecue steak as requested by our son followed by a movie. After the movie, we went to bed while our son joined his friends at Western University. My husband responded to his call for a ride home at 1:30 a.m. so we slept in Saturday before heading off to the London Farmer's Market to stock up on food for the week. 

Our daughter's flight was due to land in Detroit by mid afternoon. We planned a late dinner of lasagna (a family favourite), garlic bread and Caesar salad with homemade apple crisp for dessert. My Dad generously offered to make the lasagna if I supplied the pan and noodles. I did, he did and it was delicious. Thanks Dad.

I'm guessing you might like to see some photos from our week. We took a lot to commemorate our Fabulous Family Visit. Let's get started.

Thanksgiving Sunday was a beautiful sunny fall day for our 2nd annual trip to Kusterman's Berry Farm near Mount Brydges. This year they have added even more activities for even more family fun. Our grandson had a blast on the bouncy mountain.

My husband spent quality time with our granddaughter on the pedal cars while our grandson continued to bounce nearby. 

After about an hour of bouncing, we managed to convince our grandson to move on to some of the other fun activities. He loved the rope bridge and play houses with multiple climbing walls and slides.

Even big kids like climbing. Our son had fun too. Actually we all enjoyed trying to keep up with our grandson in this large busy play area with multiple access points. 

Our grandson especially loved the long tube slides on the hill near the corn maze. 

Kustermans Berry Farm has two corn mazes - a mini maze and a much bigger maze. We stuck to the mini maze which is perfect for kids. It was challenging but not too difficult.

After bouncing, after climbing, after checking out the rabbits, goats, emus, pigs, cows and ponies, after sliding, after zip-lining, after shooting the corn canon, after completing the mini corn maze, after riding a pony; we decided to take a little train ride. It was so much fun. 

We made one more stop to buy a couple pies at the farm store and take a family photo before heading over to my parents' house for dinner. 

Our granddaughter dressed up for the occasion. She loves her new crochet ripple blanket and crochet Betty Bear. Aren't they both adorable in their cute dresses?

My parents prepared a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner with all our favourite dishes. Doesn't it look amazing? They were very generous to send us home with leftovers which we thoroughly enjoyed for both lunch and dinner the next day. 

On the holiday Monday our niece joined us for a trip to the London Children's Museum. A perfect place to entertain the whole family for a couple hours on a rainy morning. We started with the dinosaur bones and caves. 

The old school classroom was a big hit with the girls.

I enjoyed some quiet time with Ronald McDonald. Our grandchildren have no idea who he is but found him fascinating all the same. After a couple hours at the Children's Museum, it was time to head home for lunch and naps for the kids followed by a nice long hike to the Sifton Bog Boardwalk. Another excellent family day.

On Tuesday, we headed out early for the Brazilian Consulate office in Toronto to initiate paperwork required for our granddaughter's Brazilian passport. I like to say our grandchildren are A-B-C kids as they have or will have American, Brazilian and Canadian passports. How cool is that?

Toronto and back to London in a day with young children is challenging. Thank goodness for tablets with Curious George and Baby Signing Time. 

Our Brazilian Consulate business done for the day, we stopped for lunch then headed to Riverdale Farm for a trip down memory lane. When we lived in Toronto, Riverdale Farm was a favourite place to visit with our kids.

They still have pigs. Our daughter remembers watching a pig giving birth when she visited the farm with her grandparents years ago. It made a lasting impression on her.

We enjoy a walk down the path to the ponds. It's a wee bit wet but very warm for October.

Despite overcast skies, the fall colours look amazing. Fall is probably my favourite season. I just love the mix of colours and cooler days.

We stopped at Buffalo Wild Wings in Guelph for dinner before dropping our son back at University. To unwind my daughter and I shared our first drink together, a tasty Mango Margarita.

I think our granddaughter is the cutest little Wing Nut around.

After dinner our son gave us a tour of campus and his residence. He has mid-terms this week but we'll stop by for dinner again on Friday. Did I mention we have to visit the Brazilian Consulate again to sign the papers? It means another long day in the car for the kids. They're such good little travelers.

When we got home from Toronto, we stopped at the house long enough to pack and head to my parents' house. The kids wanted to spend a couple nights with them so I planned to work on Wednesday. My husband worked both Tuesday and Wednesday but was able to get off Thursday and Friday. It takes a bit of coordinating to fit in all the activities planned for our Fabulous Family Visit.

Fast forward to Thursday afternoon. We finally fit in some serious shopping for our grandchildren. Shopping for little girls is fun with so many cute little outfits available. Choices for our grandson are less abundant but we offer to buy him a winter coat when they find one they like. Our day flies by and we turn in early as Friday will be another early morning on the road to Toronto.

A slightly earlier start with a different co-pilot at the front this time. Our grandchildren are happy for most of the trip. They must be getting used to spending lots of time on the road by now.

A Timmie's pit stop on route to Toronto helps keep us fueled for the road. We made good time arriving at the Brazilian Consulate office by 10:30 a.m. Unfortunately, there was a problem with the paperwork which resulted in a bit of gut churning drama. Some error on the part of the Houston office resulted in an initiated file which needed to be deleted before Toronto could do anything. My daughter's husband had to call the Houston office to sort it out. It took a couple hours but our granddaughter now has a valid Brazilian birth certificate so can get her passport and travel to Brazil in December. What a relief!

With our mission accomplished in time for lunch we decided to visit the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) which was just down the street and ate at Druxy's on the lower level to save time. It was fun seeing the museum with our grandchildren as it reminded us of our visits many years ago when our children were little.

Our daughter loves taking her children to museums to explore. She also mentioned it might be nice to see a museum someday without children so she can read all the information and really appreciate the exhibits.

I've toured museums without children and I can honestly say I prefer seeing museums through the eyes of a child. I like crawling into small spaces to check out the dome. I like touching all the animals and visiting the bat cave. I even got to touch a big cockroach with sticky feet in the children's area. I think that's more fun than reading all the nitty gritty details for each exhibit.

Who doesn't like digging for fossils. Our grandson had a great time.

The dinosaur exhibit is even bigger and better than it used to be.

Our daughter was showing how she used to be terrified of the T-Rex.

Our granddaughter wasn't bothered at all by dinosaurs and it was our grandson's favourite exhibit at the museum.  

After a couple hours at the museum, we got back on the road and headed to Guelph to take our son for dinner. He chose Montana's Cookhouse this time. Our granddaughter is quite happy sitting in a high chair at the table.

I think our son recommended Montana's because they have crayons and he likes to draw. Dinner was yummy but it was soon over and time to hit the road for home. Another long day in the car. We were all exhausted and ready for bed by the time we got home.

It's Saturday and time to pack up. Saturday morning coffee and a few more cuddles before it's time to say Good-Bye. 

The week was gone in a flash yet we managed to fit in most of what we planned. It truly was a Fabulous Family Visit. 

Our daughter tells us they plan to visit twice next year which is very exciting news. I expect 2015 will be a great year for more Fabulous Family Visits. 

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Moving On

Yesterday was "Move into Residence" day for our son. It's a big day in our family and for many, many families across the country. I won't try to estimate the number of students leaving home to attend University but I will say it must be a LoT. 

Our son is going to the University of Guelph only 2 hours from London which still seems a long way when he's never lived away from home. I've been looking forward to this day with mixed emotions for months now. I am happy he is looking forward to Moving On and enjoying the relative independence offered by University life. But there is a small part of me that can't help but worry because he is our 'baby' and I will miss him. 

I love his energy, enthusiasm and good humour. He makes me laugh and is fun to have around. On the other hand, he is a teenage boy. He is messy and up all hours making noise and disrupting my sleep. 

I used to sleep through the night before becoming a Mom some 24 years ago. I wake up at the slightest unusual sound in the house. It must be a 'Mom' thing because my husband isn't bothered until I wake him to complain. I fall asleep again easily enough unless I realize it's late and our son isn't home, then I worry. 

Our outside doors all make different noises which I can't help but hear when he's coming and going at odd hours. Plus our kitchen is below our bedroom, so I often wake up to the sound of late night snack prep.

My sleep has been disrupted now for a Very Long Time. I must say I'm looking forward to sleeping through the night. The only problem is better sleep comes at a a price. Our house will be quiet ALL the time.

I also plan to start cleaning this weekend. Our son is a typical teen and rather messy at home. As quickly as I clean, he makes another snack or tracks in dirt on his shoes or leaves his clothes in a trail behind him. 

Although I love a clean and organized house, I wonder if the house might seem too empty without him? I wonder if I'll miss his mess just a little?

I worried all week that he hadn't done much to get organized but I went ahead and did his laundry while he was out having fun with friends Friday night. I put cases in the hallway for him to pack and placed all his new single bedding in the large laundry bag. I figured he could finish packing in the morning before we left.

I was surprised to wake up at 2 a.m. to find his bags packed and ready to go. Of course when I got up at 6 a.m. to feed the cat, let the dog out and put another load in the dryer I noticed the drying rack was empty which prompted me to go through his bags. I didn't think his clothes could have possibly been dry in such a short time. I found one pair of track pants which were still damp. 

Overall I was super impressed with his packing. My messy kid folded everything perfectly and made efficient use of space in all his cases. In the morning, he refolded and repacked the towels I had put out for him. Here is the car all packed up including a little fridge which will be handy for their water, juice and snacks.

Here I am in his new room on campus. This is his bed and desk. The fridge fits between the two beds doubling as a night table. He has to buy an extension cord to plug it in. We offered to do it but he insisted he could manage. I think he just wanted us to Move On so he could start his exciting new life on campus.

He is in a triple room with a third bed through a door to the right. It's quite a spacious separate room. He and his friend requested to room together so they will be sharing this space and their roommate will get the more private space.

Our son insisted on unpacking everything himself. He and his friend have this big walk-in closet at the foot of their beds. Who knew he would be so fussy about his space.

Moving in took a mere 45 minutes even with a long line of slow moving traffic. Since we were hungry and our son was anxious for us to leave, my husband and I went to Borealis Grille and Bar for a delicious dinner.  

We even had cocktails to celebrate a successful day. Our dinner really was amazing. 

After dinner, we decided to return to the University to walk around. My husband and son had taken a campus tour in July but it was all new to me. When we arrived, we saw our son participating in group activities so we did what any respectful parents would do, hid in the bushes and took a photo from afar. He looked like he was having a great time which helped put my mind at ease. 

My husband showed me the new lecture halls built a few years ago. They really are very nice. I couldn't resist sitting and imagining what it would be like to be a student here.

This was taken outside the lecture halls. Also very nice.

The Bull Ring Coffee Pub looks really cool from the outside  but it closes early this week so I could not see inside.

I liked the view between these buildings. It leads to a large park and green space.

 This is the walkway through the park ... very pretty.

I think students did a good job painting this cannon in the school colours - red, yellow and black. Funnily enough our son was not impressed when I offered to crochet an afghan in these colours for his room. I was just joking with him... honest.

New students are wandering around in large groups all over campus. I also noticed the odd parent wandering around looking a bit bewildered and out of place just like us.

We headed back towards the residence our son and his friend moved into. I enjoyed our little campus tour.

We looked but didn't see our son again before we left. I'm not too worried, there are lots of new students away from home for the first time and they all seem to be having fun.

That's their room to the left of the open emergency exit. Their windows are at ground level and open to let in a bit of a breeze. They can see out but the mesh makes it impossible to see in - I checked. 

With our campus tour done, we headed back to London to pick up our dog from my parents, have a drink and fill them in on our day. 

Our son is growing up and Moving On. 

I am so happy he is happy, yet sad he is gone.

I will do what Moms do best. I will Carry On.

* * * * *

Well I better get ready. Did I mention we have a party to attend? It's a 50th Birthday for a friend. Cleaning can wait. Let's have some fun.

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