We found somewhere to live

We found a home in Guelph. It is a brand new townhome, and it is still under construction. We are hoping it will be completed by October 7th.

We have a basement with a rec room and full bathroom, the kids are excited about that. We're also close to parks and walking trails.

Meanwhile, we are back in Ohio in a holding pattern.

I don’t have internet access at my in-laws, so my blogging is sporadic.

We're in Ontario

We are in Guelph for a few days looking for somewhere to live. Then back to Ohio for a few days, and up here again if we don't find somewhere the first time.

Leaves are turning yellow (no reds yet), but weather really warm for end of September. No humidity which is nice. Evenings are cool.

We're in Ohio!

1st part of the move is over. Yay!

Obviously, it took longer than we thought.

The plan: Load everything on the truck Wednesday. Leave the house at 6.am Thursday morning.

What really happened: Still packing boxes while loading the moving van, total pandemonium. Wednesday evening our friends came over to help load the truck, it got dark, needed to use the car headlights to continue packing the van. Stopped at 9.30 pm.

First thing Thursday morning, continued loading the truck. New owner patiently waiting to move in. Finally got the van totally loaded by 1.30 pm Thursday, pulled out of driveway just as new owner's moving van pulled into driveway.

7 1/2 hours behind schedule, we set out for Ohio.

1st day reached Valdosta, Georgia. Stayed at a Days Inn (they take dogs), but the internet didn't work so I wasn't able to post.

2nd day, left at 8.30 am, and decided to drive just as far as we could, but didn't expect to make Ohio until Saturday.

Weather was good, traffic was good, we took plenty of stops, and were able to drive 14 hours, so we did make Ohio at 11.00 pm Friday evening.

Moving truck emptied into storage unit Saturday.

Tomorrow we return the moving van. Will drive to Canada on Tuesday or Wednesday for 5 days to look for somewhere to live in Guelph.

I guess that's it for now.

Bye Florida!

Moving van is here. Time to load all that stuff.

Closing the sale on the house this afternoon.

Due to leave tomorrow morning between 6:00 am and 9:00 am.

This is probably my last post from Florida.

What fireplace?

Why is there still so much stuff, when I got rid of a lot of stuff before the move?

Sad

We're saying goodbye to good friends, and our home of 12 years.

Moving van will be here early tomorrow morning.

Packing

Packing up the house - yucch!!!

Started the garage at 7am today, it was already hot and humid. Today's temperatures were in the high 90s.

Garage is done - yay! Rest of the house looks like a dump right now. Normally the house is so tidy. I can't believe this is my kitchen. The cupboard doors are open, everything is in disarray, and things are all over the floor. The sofa has been donated to a nice family and there is a big gap in the living room where it used to be.

Will I ever get it all packed up in time??? I think I have moved everything I own around the house at least 3 times.

The moving truck will be here Wednesday morning. We drove by Budget today, and there are three 24 ft trucks in the lot. I'm certain one of those is ours.

If you are thinking of moving, the best investment you can make is a dolly to move boxes around.

Here I sit, blogging away...... maybe hubby will not notice me sitting in my little office. I know more boxes in the kitchen await me. Oops, there he is. No excuses. Gotta go!

One week to go

This time next week we will be on the road.

Bye Disney!

Yesterday we went swimming at Typhoon Lagoon for the last time.

Later we went to the Cape May Cafe clambake at the Beach Club Resort.

The restaurant is decorated in nostalgic New England seaside style. This is an all you can eat buffet, featuring seafood, carved meats, chicken, veggies, salads, and – of course – a fabulous dessert table.

You don’t think you are eating too much if you try a little of everything, but before you know it you’ve eaten too much. The food is excellent.

This was our little goodbye Disney treat!

Disney's Yacht and Beach Club Resort

We have taken our boys to Disney regularly since they were toddlers. When they were small they thought it was a normal way to spend a Saturday.

Over the years we have had several annual memberships for Magic Kingdom, Epcot and Hollywood parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach water parks, and Disney Quest. We’ve see Cirque Du Soleil’s “La Nouba” twice.

We have met friends and family from out of state and taken then on the tour. We know all the Disney insider secrets and short cuts. Our friends call us the “Disney experts”.

We have several favorite resorts at Disney that we frequent if we are staying for a couple of days.

Our absolute favorite Disney resort is Beach and Yacht Club. This is a beautiful resort with a fantastic water themed pool, “Stormalong Bay”. Stormalong Bay spans 3 acres and has water slides emerging from a life-size replica of a wrecked ship, a lazy river where you can float on inner tubes, and various other fun features, all in a sandy bottom pool.

The pool is beautiful in the evenings, and since the resort is right next door to Epcot, you can actually be swimming in the pool and watching Epcot’s fireworks at the same time.

No photo can do this pool justice. The lazy river portion of the pool is featured in the photo.

Last day of American high school

Tomorrow is the last day of American school for eldest boy.

The schools in Guelph went back to school last Tuesday, September 7th.

We had hoped to been in Guelph before the start of school, but we will be about 3 weeks after the start of school.

St George's Anglican Church Carillon

Thanks to "doingthingsdifferently" for posting this on youtube.

Per church website: "The building is an undisputed masterpiece of Gothic Revival architecture. Here you will find beautiful stained glass windows and hear the sounds of both our magnificent Casavant pipe organ and our 36-bell carillon."

The City of Guelph has an exception to their noise laws to allow the church carillon to be played.

Another reason school should not start at 7am

In our part of Florida high school starts at 7:05 am. Way too early!

There is so much busing (due to desegregation) that the high, middle and elementary schools buses are tiered into 3 running times. High schools get the earliest start time at 7:05 am. Elementary schools start at 9:40 am (way too late).

Many high school students have to catch their school bus before 6:00 am to get to school by 7:00 am.

Eldest son is close enough to his high school that he can ride his bike (with lights and he wears a helmet) over this overpass at 6:30 am to get to school. It is pitch dark when he crosses this intersection.

This intersection is poorly lit, and the street the high school is on has no street lights at all! There are often accidents when inexperienced teen drivers try to negotiate this busy intersection in the dark on their way to school.

This accident happened last Friday morning at 6:45 am. A high school student was rushing the intersection to get to school on time. Luckily no one was hurt. Both cars were totaled.

Chocolate Extinction

My kids’ idea of fine dining is the T-Rex restaurant at Downtown Disney. This is a Dinosaur themed restaurant complete with meteor showers, and roaring dinosaurs. It’s loud, the kids love it.

Last week we went to T-Rex, one of the things on our list before we leave Florida.

We always have the chocolate extinction. Warm chocolate fudge cake, and ice cream with chocolate fudge topping. Calories don't count here, because they're Disney calories.

The dry ice smoke is a nice touch the kids love.

Car Insurance in Ontario for new residents

I haven’t posted for a few days. Still here. Still packing...

I just spent the morning visiting the Driver License Bureau to get the car title, and the Criminal Court Complex to get a complete copy of our driving record in Florida. Don’t ask me why the driving records are available at the Criminal Court Complex and not the Driver License Bureau.

We just paid off the car – yippee! In order to import the car to Canada we needed the title. The only way to get the title was to pay off the car. When we leave the US, we have to stop on the US side to “export” the car, before we “import” the car on the Canadian side. Fun.

New resident to Ontario tip regarding car insurance.

We have absolutely no driving history in Canada. We will get a better rate of insurance if we take a copy of our complete driving history in Florida.

So, if you are thinking of moving to Ontario, and have a good driving record, get a copy of your complete driving history before you leave, and save on car insurance.

Sea Cows

Manatees are also known as Sea Cows. There are on the endangered species list.

They range from 8ft to 15ft in length, weigh up to 3,500 lbs, and eat up to 7.5% of their body weight every day. They are herbivores.

They are known to be quite playful.

Florida Manatee

While the boys were swimming at Fort De Soto Beach today, something large, fast moving, and black came near them in the water. I was looking to see if it had a dorsal fin (shark) when just then a whiskery snout came above the surface of the water.

It was a Manatee! It swam right past the boys, stopped, and watched them for a bit.

Not Back To School Picnic

Today was the annual home school "Not Back To School Picnic". We went to Fort De Soto Beach, which is voted one of the best beaches in the US. It's unspoiled and absolutely beautiful.

Today the water temperature was hot!

Here's our youngest skimboarding.