Sunday

This morning I decided that I needed to buy some walking shoes so that I could get out and enjoy the sunshine and the flat, easy walking. Chris dropped us girls (Jenna, Diana and myself) off at the mall – an even bigger one than the last one. We spent 3 hours there and didn’t even see it all. I bought some shoes – good walking/running shoes for $19.97 – do you believe it? Clothes here are so cheap. I also bought a couple of tops as it’s so hot that the wardrobe couldn’t cope!

Jesse has found his soulmate! A guitar hero friend. This is Seb and Jesse spending the morning playing. Andy and Jenna got in on the act later being the singers. Is there a future career here?

After lunch we decided to go for a walk to experience the great Tim Horton’s coffee that we had been told so much about. We walked for about 15 minutes in the beautiful sun, just enjoying the day. Unfortunately, Tim Horton’s don’t have soy so I will probably never get to experience that.

We wandered on down the road to Starbucks and had a good quality hot chocolate – hadn’t had one since leaving NZ so it probably seemed better than it actually was.

Here are the photos of us sitting enjoying our drinks.

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We walked down “the big hill” – that’s what Seb called it. We joked about it being just a gentle slope. Along the way we met some really friendly Canadian Firefighters who were only too happy for the kids to climb into the fire truck and have their photos taken. One of them assumed we were Australian but they were quickly put right. Of course that led to discussions about Flight of the Concords (the man I’m talking to, it was his favourite show).

After that we walked to the bottom of the hill and found a Mulberry tree. We sampled the mulberries, they were not as juicy as raspberries but still very good. In the Mulberry tree was a black squirrel. He moved way too quickly to get his photo taken which was a shame. I don’t know quite how when he had been feasting on the mulberries. Anyway, just as cute as the other squirrels!

We walked on through the “forest”. I thought we might see a snake (freaking out a bit) but we didn’t. I’m told that snakes here only live in the forest and are quite harmless which I’m pleased about. The forest was quite different from in NZ. The trees were very tall and the undergrowth was very sparse. We walked for ages alongside a stream. It was just lovely with the sun coming through the trees. Along the way we were treated to a sighting of a chipmunk. These are even cuter than the squirrels! Tiny, about the size of a small rat but very fluffy and with a long feathery, fluffy tail. It was very shy and no matter what noises I made to encourage him to come and play he wouldn’t. What a treat, though to see him.

All and all, we walked for about 2 hours and by the time we were heading home poor Jesse was exhausted. He is having trouble adjusting.

Later this evening we went for a drive to look for a rental property. This was good to see what was around. We also saw some houses that were just monstrous! House prices are so low here - $300 buys you an amazing house in a good area. We are looking at under $1500 a month for rent for a 3 bedroom semi-detached or detached house.

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