Fingers Crossed!

Douglas' 23 year old file has finally been shipped and ARRIVED in GUATEMALA CITY (love you Guatemala!  yay!  Go Guatemala!! Best looking Immigration officers around!) late last week for the bulk of processing.  This is a huge step in our Sponsorship application. If the timeline tables on the Canadian Citizenship & Immigration website are correct - from this point it could take as little as 8 months or as long as 22 months. I am hoping that his file will be in the 30% of files that were processed in 8 months.  For some reason Mexico processes them at a rapid speed of 4 months! 

We have been waiting for the replacement birth certificates for the girls to arrive in order to facilitate them having passports.  They were sent in months ago and for one reason or another are still not processed - the latest was that they were returned to me after sitting on someone's desk for weeks on end, asking me to fill out the forms again and have them notarized yet again (at a cost of $60.00) due to the fact that I wrote the middle names above the place, instead of below the place where they were supposed to go. 

We've decided that we cannot wait much longer for the certificates - I am flying out in a couple of weeks to be with Douglas for a bit as the separation on everyone, but most of all Douglas, who is all alone, is very daunting at this point.  As soon as the girls' certificates arrive I can get their passports processed in about a week - so they will fly down then to join him as well.

Road Trip!

The girls and I decided to go on an adventure.  We piled into the mini-van and off we went to the cobblestoned, french speaking, gorgeous Ville de Quebec (Quebec City) for almost a week. In my opinion, this is one of the best cities in Canada. It is steeped in history.  It was founded by Samuel de Champlain in 1608.  We spent hours discovering the city and the historical buildings. We were fortunate to stay at the Chateau Frontenac (opened in 1893 - sister hotel of Banff Springs Hotel where many moons ago, right out of University, Douglas and I worked).  I would thoroughly recommend a stay in this gorgeous hotel - the pool, spa and customer service was exceptional!

It was a twelve hour drive there (stopped for 1 hr shopping & 45 mins lunch) & then an 11 hr drive back (quick pull throughs to get gas and check on the tire that kept going flat!)  The drive was gorgeous, didn't even feel like a long drive - all I can say is thank goddess I purchased them each a  DVD movie player before we set off! 

The view from our window of the courtyard below.

We took a ferry ride to Levis - the city across the St. Lawrence. View of the lower city & Chateau Frontenac sitting atop the hill. The girls have been in French Immersion since Junior Kindergarten - so they were able to order the meals in french and translate for me since it is not bilingual in Quebec City like every other province - it is completely french only.  There are some people who speak English a bit, but it was rare to find and all the signs, menus, etc. are in french.

On our first day we had a gorgeous 45 minute horse & buggy ride throughout the city. Well worth $100.00.  When I went to Quebec City as a teen - this was the only real solid memory I had of it. We went up to the Plains of Abraham - where the battle between French and English took place in 1759.

I love the lower city!  We went on a 90 minute Lantern Guided Ghost Tour throughout the entire lower and upper city.  Wow, was that ever a workout!  We were up and down hills and stairs and the girls' little legs kept going!  It ended with a monologue in a darkened Holy Trinity Church with one lone candle to guide all 20 people - apparently the most haunted building in Canada.  We took dozens of pics trying to capture a ghost!  There is one pic that Trinity and Avalon are sure shows a ghost hovering next to Trinity's shoulder.

 

Quite a few murals on buildings in the city - very intricate and gorgeous.

We couldn't leave without seeing Montmorency Falls.  With trepidation, we took a cable car up and walked over the falls on the suspension bridge.  Quebec was quite a bit colder than Ontario, as you can see from the pic!  It was very unfortunate that Douglas couldn't be with us, but we speak daily so he got an earful of our travels and the girls and I have such wonderful memories from our trip!

Halloween & Dia de Los Muertos

I'm so glad I took the time to take some pics of the fall foilage at the RBG last week.  This morning I drove by this same tree (in the rain), to see that probably 90% of it's beautiful leaves have fallen off and it is now  almost bare.

                                        

On Devils' night we went to the 8th Annual "Screamfest" located at White Rock Ostrich Farm, about 20 mins north of us.  It was very much a scream fest!  Live actors inside the creepiest haunted house and then "Jason" from the movie "Halloween" was waiting for us outside - he then chased us in the mud! Ya, it was so scary and fun that Avalon wanted to go in again.  Trinity chickend out - oops -  I mean, sat by the bonfire while we went through the house.

                                                

Waiting in line for our turn to get scared - old time horror movies played in the tent while we waited.

                                      

I loved this creepy guy in a cobweb!

                                                   

This is a great idea when the kids don't behave.

                                                  

I especially love this one!!

                                                  

Avalon was a "Punk Pirate" & Trinity a "Red Tassled Cowgirl" for Halloween.

                                      

The houses around here are totally into the Halloween spirit - loudspeakers playing creepy music and all!  Awesome spirit!!

                                           

                                          

With Trinity being a "Halloween Baby", we always seem to have a "Dia de Los Muertos" Party for her and this year was no exception!  Fun times!