Nothing makes a move more official then purchasing a house !

Mat and I took a trip up to Edmonton on our own three weeks ago and found a house that we think will suit our family well.  We decided to live in Sherwood Park instead of Edmonton.  We thought the "small city" feel of it would hopefully mimic all of the things we liked about Kamloops.  It's close to Mat's work, and it's practically attached to Edmonton, so it seemed like a good option.  

We had our house inspection last week, and took the opportunity to be present for that, as well as bring Dylan along to introduce him to Edmonton, Sherwood Park, and to give him a peek at his new house.  He had been to Edmonton when he was six months old, but we wanted to take him to get him excited about the move.  He's been adjusting well, but every so often asks about his friends in Kamloops, and twice has said he wants to go back.

The other day he told Grandma to move to Kamloops so he can go visit her, and visit his friend Sean, so clearly, he is missing Kamloops and his friends, but is still excited about the move.

I managed to secure a spot for a preschool for him for April- June, and then again starting in September.

He gave the thumbs up on the house, and picked his room.

Then it was off to the mall, to show him all the fun that can be had there.

When I say "THE MALL"  of course I mean West Edmonton Mall.

(click the link)

Here are some photos from the marine life area.

 Clapping along ?!?!?!? Whatttt, he never does that !!!  

 The Sea Lion demonstrating how they swim quickly in a way that makes them look like Dolphins to avoid Sharks.  Pretty cool.

 Up and down...

 And demonstrating how they leap off of sea cliffs.....

In the sea life caverns.  Thank your random boy for pointing out the penguin.

 And at the end of the day....

we had one tired little boy, who was clutching his new penguin for dear life.

We've been playing tourist a bit and taking Dylan around to see the Alberta sites.

This weekend, it was a trip to Drumheller.

Dylan had never been, and adored the dinosaur museum, and going up the giant dinosaur !

 The view out of his mouth

 In the museum

And I enjoyed getting some landscape photos.

I've neglected this blog over the past months, but have decided to get back to blogging to document our move.  Following a work transfer, we put our house up for sale,and miraculously sold it in decent time.  

It was sad to say goodbye to the friends Dylan and I made, some really good friends that we miss already.

Our Kamloops family, who are our next door neighbours hosted a going away open house for us.   It was more of an intimate affair rather than an open house unfortunately, but the positive side is it was opportunity to spend a bit of extra time with Donna and Kerrie before we left.  Your friendship has been an important source that helped us settle in Kamloops.  You four will always be special to us.  

Dylan and I had a final playdate with our besties on our last full day in Kamloops.   We will miss you guys more then you know, and it's very sad for me to think of not seeing you guys weekly and not seeing your kids grow up.  

As we've learnt when we moved from Calgary to Kamloops, and now from Kamloops to Edmonton,  friends often disengage as soon as they know you are leaving.  It's tough, but I guess it is what it is.

So off we went early Saturday January 26th 2013.  We loaded up our vehicles with kid, cats, last minute stuff and were waved out by Kerrie and the kids before the sun rose, which was nice, but sad.

It all began with a lot of boxes...

 Moving truck came on Thursday to take most of our stuff.  

 Dylan did NOT want to leave, he wanted to watch every moment of the move

 Oh house, I will miss you.  After all, this is where we brought our baby home to, and had the first four years of his life.

 Note, my beautiful chandelier in the dining room came with me

Was replaced with that $10 restore one.  

hehe

 Sadly Dylan missed his last day of school, and his playdate with Jessie because we thought he

 broke his foot and had doctor's and xray appointments.

Foot is ok.

 

One of the handsome mover guys

 Goodbye kitchen.  I regret doing you green,

But I do love that floor I installed.

 Where is our stuff???

 Early Saturday morning....

 Goodbye Kamloops.  Sorry we got off to a rocky start in the beginning. 

 Sorry for calling you Krap-loops.  

We did love you in the end.

 Goodbye house.

Mat says you were gonna be a money pit in the next few years

But I still loved you.

 And the kitties ask... where are we going?

Back to Alberta Max.  

Bit flat here eh?