Happy New Year For 2009!!!

All,

Thanks for taking the time for reading this blog over the last year. This is just a quick message to wish you all a happy and safe new year wherever you are in the world.

Stay safe and be good to each other in 2009.

Best Wishes

Brian & Elaine

PS - Stay tuned for more updates for the new year ahead.

'Tis Done!!!!! The House Update Of All House Updates!!!

Everyone,

We have finally moved into our new home!!! YAY!!!! Busy with unpacking boxes and stuff. ALL of our furniture was moved yesterday (18th Dec) by friends. A friends of ours turned up un-announced with a trailer for our furniture, a BBIIGG suprise for us, so we were planning on moving over everything over the weekend, so taking about 3 days....did everything in ONE NIGHT!!!

The kindness of the people that helped us yesterday know no bounds...Bob, our great friend had been working since 2am that morning, finished work, and came over to help us with the move, and did not leave until 11pm last night!!!

No photos yet (thank goodness!) but we will get around to it. Elaine & I have our vacation now until the first week in Jan '09, so we have been looking forward to the break.....

Until the next one, happy holidays to all and have a merry Christmas.

Love
Brian & Elaine

Back To The Land Of The Living

Well, well, well......

Hello one and all!!

We have signed our lives away, we signed our mortgage papers this evening with our lending bank!! Yippee!!!!

Our mortgage is for 10 years, and we will make extra payments to this, so we hope to clear this quickly.....within 6-7 years (gulp!!?!)

T-minus 7 days before we get our house keys....

Hope everyone is well and happy.

See you next update!

Christmas Party Time

'Tis the season to be jolly!!!

Hello again folks.

Just another update from the Canadian world of the Emerys.

We attended the Aecon (Brian's company) Christmas party last Saturday (6th Dec) and had a great time. The theme for the party was a casino night (no real money was exchanged, though...this was all for fun!) It was all for charity and the money raised through the purchase of tickets for the party went to several local worthy causes.

Elaine joined Brian at the Texas Hold 'Em (poker) table. After a couple of hands of playing this, Elaine wiped Brian out of all his poker chips, and Elaine proceeded to wipe out some of Brian's co-workers as well!! This became the talking point for some at the party so Elaine made a name for herself just by playing cards.

See for yourself below:



This night was a fantastic event and we will be attending Elaine's party this coming Saturday (13th Dec)...yippee!!!

Anyway, signing off for now....watch this space for more news on the house build. 1 WEEK TO GO BEFORE HOUSE COMPLETION!!!!

1 Teddy Bear, 2 Teddy Bears, 3 Teddy Bears......

Folks,

We attended ANOTHER (yes...we know!!) hockey night at the Kitchener Rangers yesterday (Wednesday 3rd December). Special thanks to our soon to be new neighbours, Jen and Jeff who arranged the tickets yet again. Thanks folks!!!

Anyway, this was not any ordinary hockey game, oh no!! This was the teddy bear toss night!

On this night, held once a year, fans bring a stuffed toy along to a game and when the Rangers score their first goal, you throw your toy onto the ice....all the toys are collected for charity and given to less fortunate children at Christmas. This is a worth while cause!

We have never attended a night like this for any sporting event, EVER!!! The atmosphere was incredible! Check out a couple of pictures below:

Our seats were VERY close to the opposing team, the Erie Otters...right behind them infact:

Kitchener score!!!! Bears galore!!!!

Bear...er...we mean Bye!!!

Elaine's SYS Group

Hello there!

Since Elaine has been in Canada (with yours truly!) she has made lots of friends and this started off with meeting the SYS Group....

I (Brian) suggested to Elaine that when we landed here that she should make the effort and meet new people, and maybe join a women's group.....so a couple of searches on the Internet and we found the SYS Group.

The group have done soooooo much to promote themselves and have been involved in volunteering in the Kitchener area. Elaine and the group have been involved / attended:

Volunteered at Grand Life Festival

Volunteered at MeFest

A Spa Day

Financial matters with a financial advisor

A seminar regarding Autism

Cinema trips

Below is a picture of some of the group attending a pot luck afternoon. A pot luck event is basically a event where everyone turns up with different food dishes, but no-one really knows what people will bring....hence the pot luck name!! Cool, eh?

Anyway, a picture of some of the group is below:

The group above are:

Top row, left to right: Sandra, Kellee, Tamara, Sophia, Elizabeth

Bottom row, left to right: Lisa, Heather, Eva, Diane

There are more members than what you see here, but they all don't turn up at every event.

Now....what does the SYS acronym mean??? See if you can guess...no rude answers please!!

See ya!

House Update No 8 & Mortgage Update

House hunters (well, we could not think of anything to say?!?!)


More pictures of our home build. Again, not much to report as we could not get into our house over the weekend, but here's a couple of outside pictures for you all......













The guys working on the house in the pictures are installing the sidings onto the house. Don't ask us what the UK translation is for sidings...we don't know (hehehe!!) Basically the bottom half is framed in brick and the top half in sidings which are like sheet metal slats inserted and overlapping each other.


Staying on the same topic about houses, we went to sign our mortgage papers during the week, but the lending bank SCREWED up the paperwork. We have hired the services of a mortgage broker (free of charge, they get paid by whoever they recommend for you) who you meet with you and discuss your mortgage requirements and search on your behalf for the best deals.

Turns out the lending bank (no bank names mentioned here just in case they are watching!!) received updates on our house build from our mortgage broker, but they had not entered this on their system (GGGRRRR!!!)


See...not all in Canada is perfect.....


The bank are in the process of resolving this issue, but with just under 3 weeks to go before we move in, Elaine & I were starting to panic. But people here sometimes don't sign mortgage papers until on the day of closing on the house (closing=completing). And that is not an issue.

Anyway, we will keep you abreast of more updates soon.


TTFN

House Update No 7

Hello there!

Just a quick note to say that we have FINALLY got into the new house to take some internal pictures.

Our house build is on track for Dec 18th...so not long now.

Here are some shots:

Elaine in our kitchen

Our en-suite bathroom, with Whirlpool bath and shower (the shower will have a glass frame fitted):

Brian on the floor top with railings now fitted (UK translation = railings mean bannister):

The fireplace is now fitted as well downstairs:

And finally a photo from the basement:

See you all later!

House Update No 6

Good day!

We hope that you and your families are all well, and thank you for taking the time to view another update on our blog. This is a quick update as we cannot show you pictures from inside our new home, as the house now has doors and windows, these are being locked everyday by the builders when they finish their work.

We turn up after work during the week to see what work has been completed and we can't get in!!! The only time we can get in the house really is on a weekend, on the chance that the builders are working overtime then.

Only a couple of photos to show this time (thank goodness we hear you shout!!!) below:

Our new address in Kitchener.......

And finally a picture of the outside work completed so far:

See you all soon.

A Weekend Break....

Hello everyone,

We had a weekend break to cottage country last weekend (October 31st). We drove to a place called Oxtongue Lake, in Muskoka. It is about 3 1/2 hours drive north of Kitchener.

We had rented a cottage for the weekend with Bob, Lorie and their two children, Jeff and Elysha and Elysha's friend, Bethany.

We had a great time together and here are some pics from our trip below:


A view of outside of the cottage and the dirty 'Emery' mobile:







View from the deck at the back of the cottage, looking between the trees at Oxtongue Lake:





The posse is here!:








A view of Oxtongue Lake:








We visited a park called Aconquin Park on our break which is about 20 minutes drive away from where we stayed, and the website for the park is below:


http://www.algonquinpark.on.ca/index.html


This part of Ontario is considered 'Cottage Country'. Basically, a place where people might buy a holiday cottage, and spend their weekends there whenever they can. This has pushed up the price of such property in this type of area.

We walked a trail called 'Lookout' where along the route, you can stop can take view of the park in all its natural beauty. Again, pictures are as follows:

A view from the Lookout trail:









Brian pausing for a moment of reflection:








The posse is here....take 2!:








We had such a good time time that we are already looking into going away again next year!

This is Brian & Elaine signing off until next time.......

The White Stuff Is Back!!!!!!

People,

IT'S COLD!!!!!

We woke up this morning to a bit of the cold, white snow outside.BBBRRRR!!!! Summer is officially over. Now long think coats and woolly hats are in order.

Apparently, it has not snowed in the province on Ontario for the last 7 years in October. There seems to be a trend here.....

We had the worst winter here in several years when we landed here in January...now it has snowed in October.....have Elaine and I brought bad weather with us or something???

Hope everyone is well and look after yourselves and each other.

Until the next time.......

PS.....The day after we posted this....the snow melted!

On The Trail....

Everyone,

Today (Monday 13th October) as our last update stated that this is Thanksgiving day, it is a public holiday here....the last one before Christmas.

Elaine and I spent the day just chilling out...we went to watch the Kitchener Rangers (again!!!) play the Guelph Storm. The Rangers won 3-2 by the way (GO RANGERS GO!!!!)

We then decided to go for a walk for about 1 hour, as the weather recently has been fantastic. Today in Kitchener, the temperature reached 25c!!!! In the middle of October!!!!

The trail we did was a part of the Grand Valley Trail (see a previous update about this, trails, etc.) which is not far away from our new home, about a 10-15 minute walk.

Check out some of the pictures below that we took on our walk:

Brian enjoying the view......

Elaine taking a well earned rest, with a beautiful view behind her....

And last but not least, a shot of the 'fall' (autumn) colours along the Grand River.

Thanksgiving Day

Well,

Hello again, folks! Hope you are all well.

Today (Monday 13th October) is Thanksgiving day. A day to give thanks to what you have. Which is usually family and friends, and anything else in between, such as wealth, a roof over your head, etc.

Thanksgiving in Canada started with an explorer called Martin Frosiber (who was English, by the way.) who held a celebration of thanks in 1578. It was held in the area, which is now called Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada.

We were invited to Bob and Lorie's place yesterday for a Thanksgiving feast.
We had soooo much food. Some of the traditional foods prepared are sweet potato with brown sugar and pecan nuts, a small turkey (well, Elaine and I saw this 'small turkey' and it was enough to feed a small army...only joking Bob and Lorie!), salads, desserts....we could go on.....

Bob and Lorie have become really good friends to us, and although we have only known them for about 6 months, we feel that we have known them a lifetime. Their kindness to us know no bounds, and we are very lucky to have them as friends.

Thank you for everything that you are and everything that you do, Bob & Lorie!

But wait......no pictures??? Yep....guess what, we forgot our camera!!! Lucky for anyone reading this blog (no...no....no more pictures!!!)

Anyway, until the next time........

Drop The Puck!

Sports Fans,

Elaine and I were invited to our first hockey game on Friday (10th October) night. We went to see the Kitchener Rangers, are are in the OHL (Ontario Hockey League). The Kitchener Rangers won their league last season, so there are high expectations sitting upon the shoulders of this very young team.

For those of you who are back in England reading, winning the OHL in hockey here is like winning the Championship league in soccer over there (football...round object, people kicking it about, score goals....you know what we mean?)

A good friend of ours, Rick, got us some tickets. So in attendance are Elaine, Brian, Bob and Rick...and about 5,000 other screaming fans cheering on the Rangers...

Again, like the other update regarding baseball on our site, going to a sporting event is really a family affair here for young and old. There is no trouble and even fans from opposing teams are well behaved and enjoy the event as well. It is so refreshing to see! We even saw babies being brought along, dressed in the Rangers colours! (They start 'em off early here!!)

Check out some of the action below:

The calm before the storm......

GO RANGERS GO!!!!

Bob, Elaine and Brian enjoying the game:

Well.....even though the fans are well behaved....we wish we could same the same for some of the hockey players themselves. The referees let them FIGHT if a one player badly tackles another and then a boxing match starts.....being a couple of English people watching this...we laughed out loud, but something to think about especially when youngsters are watching this in the crowd.....

Anyway, more photos below:

RANGERS SCORE!!! GGGGGGOOOOOOOAAAAALLLL!!!!!

The Rangers were playing Owen Sound. Owen Sound did not fair too well last season, and everyone though that the Rangers would whoop the Sound in submission....well.....13 goals later! Yes....13!!! Kitchener Rangers won 7-6!!! Close call and many of the Rangers fans were shocked at the score, but a win is a win!!!

Below the Rangers celebrate the win!

Elaine and I really enjoyed this...and all for free as well!!!! Kitchener Rangers are about 10-15 minutes away from where we live, so we return for some more games, I'm sure!!!

Goodbye, sports fans!!!!

House Update 4 & 5

Viewers,

Hope you are ok and well. Elaine and I will be celebrating Thanksgiving on Monday (October 13th) here, which is a public holiday, so we are sure that we will have photos for that.

We thought we would combine several house photos in one update here so......we have more....yes....more photos of the house build below:


Back of the house with the second level finished:






We have STAIRS now!!! YIPPEE!!!






Basement level:





The happy couple without windows in the house:







The house with windows and doors, without the happy couple:







And finally....no house shot in this picture, just a picture of trees at the back of our new home...just look at those colours!

House Update....No 3...And New Neighbours.....

Well,

It is about that time again to update you all with the next instalment (yawn!) of our house build with more pictures....the second level of our new home is now being installed so check out.....well...see for yourself below:









We have met in the last couple of months most of our new neighbours...Heather and Malvin, Kevin and Margaret, Diane and Tom, Darren and Collen, Harry and Jen...wow, can't believe we can remember all these names!!!


Anyway, our immediate neighbours are Jen and Jeff, a couple in our age group with two kids...they are a really nice family....picture below of Elaine and Jen outside Jen and Jeff's home...



Stay tuned for more updates (please no more house build pictures, we hear you cry!!)

Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball And Other Things....

People,

Hope you are all ok and keeping out of trouble. Brian went to his first baseball game yesterday (Saturday 20th September 2008) at the Toronto Blue Jays Stadium, the Rogers Centre, AKA the Skydome. It was a really good day out and the crowd was fantastic.
Sporting events here in Canada are a family affair and everyone in the family goes to watch them, babies included!

Brian went with his close friend Bob, and they made a day out of it. First, they went to some of the shops in the Eaton Centre. The Eaton Centre is an underground shopping centre, so that even if it snows 'up top', you won't get cold!

From there, they walked around the streets of Toronto, taking in the sights like Younge St, the longest street in the world.

Then, it was on to the Rogers Centre. The Toronto Blue Jays were playing the Boston Red Sox.

Pictures are below:

Brian waiting for the game to begin!

Bob is also waiting....

Let the game commence!!

They show you on an electronic board the scores and and that sort of stuff....check out the speed of a pitcher from the Boston Red Sox displayed on the board below:

The Blue Jays won 6-3, and the crowd went mad!!! Boston Red Sox is a very good team, so well done to the Jays!!

Off on a quick tour of Toronto and surrounding streets via an old London bus. And lastly, via boat Bob and Brian went around Toronto Island, which is off of Toronto Harbour...check out this picture below of the CN Tower and Rogers Centre from the boat.....lovely!!!

A great day out! Thank you Bob!!!

House Update...No 2

All,

The house build is going along nicely....the framing for the house is starting to go up...so below are some more pictures:

Stay tuned for more updates......

An Example Of Good Customer Service

Hi all!

Hope everyone is well and enjoying the good weather (well, it's good here in K/W, Ontario!).

Our buyer agent (estate agent for those in the UK) had sent out invitations to all her clients for a spa day....on her!!! Yes, you read that right!!!

We visited a resort called Le Scandinave in the Blue Mountain area of Collingwood, Ontario to have a relaxing time. Transportation was also provided for us as well to and from the spa resort as well as breakfast and lunch...we did not pay for a single thing!!!! Collingwood by the way is about 1 1/2 hours drive north / north east from Kitchener.


Here is a picture of us when we just arrived.....








The spa contains 3 outside hot tubs, 2 cold pools, a 3 tier steam room and two saunas. It was just a nice day to kick back, chill out and do nothing all day...and we did not have to pay for it...another picture is below:








We made more friends on this trip (again!!) and even met some of our new neighbours who we will be living near shortly....another picture is needed....someone is relaxing below....

Now a comment to the UK readers of this blog:

Can you imagine an estate agent taking you on a spa day, out of their own pockets, and you did not have to pay for anything....yeah...ok...good luck with that!!! We think not!!! A lesson to all back there......CUSTOMER SERVICE IS IMPORTANT!!!!

Canadians, like the people down south (the yanks) know a thing or two about customer service. We have written a letter to our buyer agent thanking her for taking her own free time out to organize this for us....NICE!

Must go now and catch some sleepzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............