Mummy Thoughts

Our First Week in Kitchener

We arrived late last Thursday into Kitchener.  What  week it has been.  We didn’t realize that our belongings would arrive on Friday and Kyle had arrange for a meeting in London that morning.  So the kids and I were in charge of the move in.  Of course the movers were late like the movers in Ottawa.  So it was a good lesson for the kids to understand how the other party feels when they are late.

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The truck has arrived!

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Full load – make sure nothing falls out!

Our stuff arrived on a full truck. I was kinda worried as the opened the door, making sure nothing fell out.  To our relief, nothing was broken, just slightly shifted in at the end of the truck.

The move in was just as long as the move out.  Boy were we tired after everything was in the house. Running up and down the stairs with the movers, telling them where everything went. I tried to unpack and put stuff away while they were loading stuff into the house but it was fruitless.
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I didn’t do a very good job of labeling so wrong stuff got into the wrong rooms or by default, it went into the dining room.  Oh well, live and learn.  The kids were troupers though, they kept an eye on the goods coming in making sure everything came and marking them on the spreadsheet accordingly.

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My wardrobe box wasn’t so lucky!

The only thing that was squashed was the wardrobe box.  It was pouring when they transferred it into the moving truck so the box was compromised, i.e. soaking wet.  Nothing was wet or damaged inside.  Good thing.

Right after the movers were done around 4, our first stop was Costco.  We only had the rental car till the morning so we figured we better make the most of it.  I had supplies to replenish.IMG_20150703_181738

Next stop. Ikea in Burlington.  Had to find design ideas to make the kitchen more effective.  It is a nice size kitchen but so little cupboard space.  Not enough space for all my Tupperware!

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Saturday, we returned our rental car and decided to walk home and explore the city much to the children’s objection.  They didn’t want to walk, they just wanted to go home!  First we found the central market which was 3 blocks from the car rental, got my fresh groceries, so happy, this may be my weekly shopping stop.  Of course they found water to play with right outside the market!

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Next we went on to the library, got some books, without a hard copy proof of address, we could only borrow 4 books each.  So hard, not used to that, Natalie was done all the books in 2 days.

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Food truck festival on King Street

After that we went back to King street and ate at the food truck festival.  The street was closed and it was lined with a variety of food trucks, so much to choose from.

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Enjoying lunch from the food trucks.

There was a “year of code” fair at City Hall, so we had to see what that was all about.  Does this sound like us not wanted to go home to unpack?  Well we finally went home mid afternoon after walking about 6km that day and daddy carrying most of the groceries and books.

Sunday we started the day with another walk, to St John the Apostle Church.  It wasn’t too far, good thing as we left the house late.  When we got there, there were barely any cars, not a good sign there was barely anyone in church.  It is a beautiful church with so much wood but it was just so sad to see so few people.  It was next to the catholic school but there were barely any kids at mass, only a handful.  It was two parishes in one, the 11am mass was a Spanish mass.  I am guessing there would be more parishioners there.

We continued with the unpacking after church.  I really didn’t do too much as my back started hurting on Saturday after we dropped off the rental car.  I guess the previous weeks of packing and moving stuff around finally caught up with me.  And the fact that I carried both Andrew and Natalie on my shoulders on Canada day so they could see the festivities on the hill.  The pain kept me up at night.  I don’t think I have ever hurt so much for so long before in my life. But life goes on and we need to eat.  So I had to tidy up the kitchen and cook dinner for the family.  Maybe that is a good thing, it kept me somewhat active.

Monday was Kyle first day back to work and it was just me with the kids.  The only difference now was we see him in the evenings.  There was a family day and music festival at the city hall so he headed out that way again on foot!  Another 5km.  The kids made rockets, watched some entertainment, Natalie had her face painted and of course we had to stop off for ice cream on the way home…  Really that night we didn’t see too much of daddy either as he ended up working from home.

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Tuesday, I hoped on my bike and did more grocery shopping.  We found a Vietnamese grocery store on Saturday and I had to replenish all my Asian food supplies.  I was a little worried before coming here on whether I could get my supplies.  So happy that they sell everything I need and at good prices too!  Next I will have to find an Indian grocer.

The afternoon turned out to be rainy so the kids all stayed home.  They were able to entertain themselves but I don’t want them to be at home everyday.  They need to get out especially now that it is summer.

Wednesday, we walked along the Iron Horse trail towards Victoria Park.  The trail used to be an old rail bed and now it is paved and used by so many.  I was really surprised, I just didn’t know what to expect.  It was the most direct 2.5km walk to the park.  There were multiple play structures all in the same area and tons of kids too.  Thank goodness the kids are older as it would have been a nightmare for me trying to keep track or 3 kids in the sea of colour.  There is also a water park and we saw a swan, ducks and geese in the river/lake.

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Walking to the play structures.

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Canoe on the “waves”

Today we ventured to another park closer to home, Gzowski Park that had a community center too.  It was great as I was able to get more information about what is happening around town.  They also have drop in activities for the kids.

Tomorrow I need to get information about Waterloo too.  We are so close to the border of Kitchener and Waterloo so we can do activities there too.

So it has been a busy week with a little bit of unpacking and tidying up.  I guess the rest of the summer will be about finding activities during the day unpacking and sorting out our stuff.  Hopefully we will be able to find bikes for the kids on Saturday so we can at least bike and go to places a little bit further away.

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