The classes are awesome.  The teacher is very patient and it helps that her English vocabulary is not the greatest.  So we are forced to speak and explain things to her in French.  My classmates are all eager to learn too so it makes the lessons fun, sometimes we get a little loud as we joke around, all in French of course.

My bike ride in the morning is great too.  When I first started biking, it took me about 35minutes, now I am down to about 27minutes.   At the end of the first week of classes, the week of rain started.  The first day I took the bus, the next day I got a ride and then I realized, if I kept on taking the bus, it would defeat the purpose of my exercise and saving bus fare.  So I bit the bullet and rode my bike to school.  Denise had bought me rain pants for my birthday so why not put it to good use.  I did get wet but I didn’t melt.   So the plan is keep on riding till the snow falls.  Since the temperature drop will be gradual, my body will adjust and it will all be good.

So these everyday french lessons are great for the body and for the mind!

I was torn, I felt that I couldn’t give them enough French, home schooling them.  One hour of French tutoring wasn’t enough and it is more expensive here for french lessons.  I figured a few months, I would be able to find other French resources.  So I made the decision to put them into the regular school system.  Unfortunately they were not accepted into the French immersion program at the public school system so they are now in the Catholic School board with middle immersion, meaning their French immersion doesn’t start till Grade 4.  That means, Matthew and Natalie(kindergarten has French immersion) are in French immersion and Andrew has 75 minutes of French a day.

The school is right next to the church so it is all within walking distance.  For the first week, I was anxious everyday about them going to school.  They are all enjoying being back at school and meeting new friends.  That was another reason for having them attend school.  We are in an older neighbourhood and I have not seen too many kids around.  We still have lots of friends with kids here but without a vehicle, it is not as convenient plus kids are all busy with different activities.  So now they are making their own friends around the area.

So for the last 2 weeks I have been walking the kids to school 3 times a day, taking the boys in the morning, taking Natalie after lunch(half days) and then picking them up after school.  I guess I am walking about an hour a day, getting my exercise.  I have about 2 hours a day and timing has been great. They started school right after our possessions arrived so I have been able to organize the house and put things away.   I have also been checking out the classified for furniture and other household items while the kids are at school and doing lots of baking….

One of the things that I have always wanted for myself was to learn French.  So twice a week, I am going to be doing exchange of English lessons for French lessons with an Algerian student who is in Education.  They speak French in Algeria and she needs to do a verbal and written exam in English so I am helping her with that.  We had our first exchange yesterday and it worked out really well. We met at the library while Natalie is at school so I don’t have to worry about the kids.

So the kids going back to school has been great, even though I had my doubts.  It is working out well for them and for me.  Perhaps we might still re-evaluate schooling come fall as I find out about other resources available in the city.

A few months back, I showed my friend Erica who is an editor of a Spanish magazine, about an exercise that she might want to do for herself.  She thought it was a great idea and said why don’t we put it into the exercise portion into my magazine, Guia Hispana that is published here in Winnipeg.  So the next thing I know, is, I am posing for her with different exercise moves. It was fun and within 8 hours after mentioning it, the pictures were taken and the article was written. Wow, talk about fast.

So I am proud that I am a model and am in the March edition Guia Hispana Magazine here in Manitoba. I am on page 23 and 24, and you can see the magazine and download it here. She is working on expanding her magazine across Canada in the Summer with a new bilingual magazine  Vivir En Canada.

Our cheering leaders at the end of the race

Today, I participated in my 3rd mini Triathlon with my friend Nicola.  Unfortunately, it didn’t feel right from the start.  I had trouble with my breathing in the pool (It was a little upsetting as my swim has always been my strongest points) and then it was cold and windy on my mountain bike. (I really need a road bike, didn’t I say that before?)  I wore my rain coat on which acted like a parachute,  I finally took it off for my run but that wasn’t too late for the bike ride.  I am very happy to say though that initially the run was tough as I was figuring out my breathing but once I got it, the run felt really good.  Perhaps it was because of the new shoes I won on at my “mothers day run” .

It didn’t help that I didn’t sleep well the night before either.  I was up half the night moving stuff off the basement floor.  A few of the neighbours has sewer backup so we just wanted protect our stuff just in case.  With the dust and my allergies, I had to take an antihistamine as my eye swelled up.

I am the one with the red swim cap

Me on my mountain bike

Almost done...

So now that I have gone through all my excuses, I am more determined to keep in shape and keep active.   I have made up my mind to continue doing at least 15 minutes of exercise per day (which has slacked in the last couple of months) and perhaps add a run once a week or more.  My experience of completing this triathlon was less than ideal for me, but it has given me more stronger desire to keep in shape and stay healthy.  I like my “girly” figure!  he he he…  Perhaps I will do a sprint triathlon soon…

For your information:

Try-a-Tri distance 300m swim, 15km bike, 3km run

Sprint distance 750km swim, 20km bike, 5 km run

Sprint to the finish line.

I had a full day this mother’s day. It started for me with breakfast with Natalie at 6:30am. I needed to have enough time for my breakfast to settle before my 8km run at 9am at St Vital Park.  When I decided to do a longer run this year, I wasn’t sure that I would have been able run the 8km.  I guess when you make up your mind to do something, the rest is easy.  Here is a picture of myself and my friend Audrey, my inspiration, sprinting towards the finish line.

The run was at St Vital park about 2km away.  I rode my bike there and it was a great warm up for a very cool day.  It  was about 0C when I left the house.  As a bonus for myself, after the run, they had a draw and I won a pair of Ascis runners.  It was so exciting as Kyle and I had discussed that I should get a new pair of runners the week before.

After a nice soak in the tub, we went to my aunt’s place for a great lunch.  We had to rush home for Kyle to prepare lunch for us and his parents.  As he was doing all the cooking, I laid low for a little rest.  I heard a little voice looking for mummy and then Andrew appeared with a little bouquet of Dandelions. Talk about melting your heart!

Andrew with his bouquet

We had a great visit with his parent while Kyle prepared dinner and we all watch him slave over the hot stove.  He was experimenting with new vegetarian recipes.  The favourite is the Gumbo.

I am have a great family and what a wonderful Mother’s Day…

It is so amazing as she continues on, what the boys can do, she can do better.  Matthew didn’t learn to ride a 2 wheeler till he was 7, 2 weeks later Andrew started at age 5 and now Natalie 4 rides without training wheels.  It is pretty amazing what you can do when you decide to do it and a little bit of peer pressure.  When Matthew was 4, he didn’t even want to ride with training wheels.

My baby is growing up…..

No more training wheels.

Look at her go...

I was determined, I kept on looking and found another run that is on the 9th of May, with the option of a 5km or 8km run.  I am aiming for the 8km run.  If that doesn’t happen, I can do the 5km. Plus I have also decide to do another triathlon this summer.  This will really help me with my running portion which I had difficulties in the past.

Since I have been a little sedate over the winter cardio-wise, I decided to start by walking last Friday.  On Sunday, I did my first run/walk, it was very painful.  Those muscles have not moved in a while.  With the encouragement of my friends, I am on my journey to train for a 8km in 7 weeks.  How do I plan to do it?

This week I ran 2km, add a km a week and by the end of the 6th week, I will be at 8km, it’ll give me a week to slow down for the run on the 9th.  Yes I can do it.  Run/walk will work for me.  Now I just have to map out the route.  I can listen to my iPod with my French and Spanish audios and I am all set!  Will keep you posted!

As it was getting warmer, above freezing everyday, I wasn’t too sure whether to purchase it.  He really wanted it.  I figured that there was still some snow on the ground and the lady would deliver it, and they would have a chance to experience it.  She delivered it on Sunday, we went out on the hill on Monday and Tuesday and the kids just loved it.  Tuesday night they prayed that there would still be snow on the hill on Wednesday so that Daddy could watch them when he returned that night.  So on Wednesday, they went for their last snowboarding experience.  Since Kyle had the camera, I wasn’t able to video tape them till he returned.

Now that they have all tired it, we have decided to go on a winter vacation to a resort to learn to snowboard and ski.  I think I can handle that!

Here is our end of winter video…