Alberta at last!

Well hello blogging world!!!

We are back and up and running! What a joy! Internet has been attained and is functioning wonderfully. We are very thankful to Anna and Henk for their help! :) So oh no where to begin?
During our trip out here, we stopped at a few places to sightsee and it was just awesome. We went to Mount Rushmore which is so amazing and beautiful to see. Recommend anyone to go see it. Really cool. Here are some pics...

Well we finally arrived November 28 in Alberta and our first introduction to Alberta was a little bit of a damper. See what I mean??? It was foggy for three days straight...since then just beautiful skies.

At exactly 6pm we arrived at our little rental home. But this arrival did not happen without its mishaps. Lo and behold, literally 5 minutes before we get to the location BOOM! I look at Jasper and see that he is struggling to keep control of his "baby" and the truck begins to limp and hobble. So in very quick calculated thoughts we conclude that a tire must have blown. Jasper expertly parked the truck and trailer on the side of the road and got out to inspect. Well, should I say, he opened his door and hung on for dear life to the door as he fastened up his coat and headed into the ferocious, chilly wind. Great welcome, I thought, as I fumbled around in the back seat for my winter jacket and hopped out of the truck. We noticed quickly it was the front left tire so Jasper grabbed his handy dandy tools and his spare tire and started working on changing it. It was dark and the cars on highway 3 were just a zooming past us so I was assigned "watching post". Which I dutifully did and this entailed informing Jasper each and every time a car passed us that did not move over to the next lane. Then he would jump up and move to the front of the truck and wait for this car to pass us. I quit my post fairly quickly considering that my bare feet were frozen and James was screaming so I managed to talk my way into sitting back in the truck. (wimp)... Jasper finished the job quickly. So finally we were up and running again. We took off and soon arrived. What an awesome place to stay! The house is small but perfect for us. We just love it. And the people are so friendly and open which always helps too.
So you may ask, what have you been up to the last couple weeks? Well, we have changed over our drivers licences to Alberta and Jasper is busy trying to get his class 1 license. Getting aquainted with the area would be a big one. Just getting to know Lethbridge area and such. I found an awesome Dutch bakery which sells good bread and gebakkjes. :) I'm happy. Doesn't take much apparently.
Mr. and Mrs. Roos also came over already. They very kindly drove our other car out to Alberta through Canada and they visited friends on the way. We dropped them off at the airport last week Thursday.
We also went to Waterton for a day and it was just beautiful weather...

We have been attending FRC Monarch and the people have been very friendly and open. The church has grown alot since I've last been here and lots of new faces and people to meet. But we are enjoying it.
Also we have been in search of a family physician, which I found in Fort Macleod. Story as follows: Remember when we were cruising through the states with our fancy truck? And I stepped on a rusty nail in that hotel room? Well when we got to Alberta Jasper decided to step on a nail too, so we had to head into town because he had no clue when his last tetanus shot was and we went to Fort Macleod ER. Great service. No one there but us, and we were in and out in 20 minutes. When there, I asked about a doctor for this pregnancy since I still hadn't heard back from the midwives. (I've been emailing them but with no response). And so the nurse there told us that Dr. Uwalaka was accepting patients in their clinic. I called and booked the next day and got an appointment for yesterday. I finally got some prenatal care done, (bloodwork etc). and I heard the heartbeat! Which is always such a beautiful sound. Also today I went to get an ultrasound done. I was so excited to see this little one. I am now 21 weeks pregnant and feeling really good. So the lady calls me out of the waiting room and tells Jasper to wait with James and she would call them in later to see the baby. Once she took all the pictures of the little one, she left and got Jasper and James. The moment James saw me laying on that bed and the lady touching my stomach, he started crying. What protective genes! :) He is such a gem.
Here's a pic of  the little one:

 He started crawling just last week and now he's all over the house. He is always so happy and we are very blessed with him. When I go to the mall, you can use cute little buggies for kids and I always do for James and he just loves it...

 

Well that's it for now folks, we'll be on more often hopefully!! :) Take care and hope you all have a very blessed Christmas and happy new year!

Hey y'all!!!

So we are doing great. We made it yesterday to Sheridan, Wyoming. Saturday night we settled in our hotel after visiting Mount Rushmore and then we had to make some long distance phone calls for insurance and here I am sitting by the desk in the hotel room and it says to dial "9 then 1 then the phone number" So I dail: 9-9-1-800 etc.." The number didn't go through so I hung up only to have the phone at the desk ring back at me so I pick it up and the lady at the front desk is calling to make sure everything is alright because I dialed 9-1-1!! Oh my, how embarrasing. So I explained and then we figured it out. Sunday morning we went to the Baptist church and it was really nice and the people were really friendly. James had a hoot in their babysit with all their toys. Poor kid has been playing with tupperware and boxes the last couple of weeks so you can hardly blame him. The rest of our Sunday was relaxed and it was nice to have a day off from driving. Monday morning we woke up to snow. Beautiful but slippery. Thankfully it all melted really quickly and we safely could drive. Maybe doing some shopping today depends on how far we get! I would love to see what sorts of deals I can find...:)

I know I said pics were coming and they are but not today. I have to download them from Jasper's phone so I'll do it today and post some tonight.

Cheers!

So we didn't make it far today, but we saw lots of cool things! Went to Wall Drug which was definitely quieter because it's off -season, but fun to see. We then headed to Rapid City and got our room for the weekend. Then we parked the trailer and took the truck to Mount Rushmore. That was really cool to see! So glad we just took the truck because the roads were really hilly. I've been there when I was like 14, but don't really remember very well so it was nice to see it again. We had dinner in Keystone and then headed to the hotel. Poor James was so tired. He didn't sleep much today, so he's sleeping like a peach now...Pictures coming soon!
Tomorrow heading to South Canyon Baptist Church in Rapid City. Looks interesting...
Have a great weekend everyone!

Hey y'all!!

We have arrived in Wall Drug and are spending the night here. Tomorrow hope to check out the sights of Wall Drug and Mount Rushmore. Then depending on the time either hoping to drive to Billings or staying in Rapid City for Sunday. Plan is to be in AB around Teusday now seeing as we drive pretty slow...oh well. We enjoy the landscape...

Oh and Irene I found your road!!!....(saw it and HAD to take a pic)

 

Here's a pic of James in the pool too...

 

 

And of course our means of transportation...

 

 

Have a good night all!

 

 

Refund!

Oh and you all must be updated on last post of course!!! Yesterday morning I marched off to the front desk determined to get ALL our money back due to the rusted nail incident. I approached the desk and informed her of the situation and handed her the incident report I had to fill out. She told me sorry about 4 times before deciding to do anything about it...so she looks on her computer and says the price went down half price. "Is that fair do you think?" She asks. "Well," I say, "I had just told my husband that the Best Western was my home away from home and then to have this happen is not nice. And I am expecting. This incident was very disappointing..." (As I look at her with sweet little puppy dog eyes). She looks over at the computer after saying she was so so sorry again and then says, "Well I could take the whole thing off." "Yes please." And that was that! I hurried back to our room to an astonished Jasper who never believed I could get all the money back. Great feeling!! :)

Another day behind us

We slept last night in Sioux Falls in Ramada hotel. Really nice place. Today the plan is to drive to Wall Drug and check it out (yes Irene, definitely!) and then on to Mt. Rushmore and sleep in Rapid City, but that depends how fast we can drive. We have been driving anywhere from 70kms to 90kms. Maximum has been 90. So it's not a super fast pace, but it works. If the roads are really bumpy its a bit rougher but definitely doable, and when the roads are smooth its awesome. I've been meaning to update pics online as we go but it's difficult because I use the hotel computers, but maybe I'll try tonight on Jasper's phone. Yesterday was Thanksgiving Day in the States, so the roads were not as busy. And today is the infamous Black Friday so guess who's off to check out some boots??? (This is what I mean by I hope we make it to Wall Drug today...lol) I think at this pace we will be in Monarch around Monday/Tuesday next week. But hey we don't mind. Not in a hurry and besides we can't drive fast anyways so why try to rush? :)  Well, we're off again - hope to update again tomorrow morning! Take care all!

Update!

Ok update time!

I missed yesterday so here I am furiously typing this morning before Jasper hauls me out to the truck to keep on driving...:) jokes. He's lounging out beside me on the couch reading through flyers for Black Friday. James is beside him "reading" as well (as pieces of the flyers are swerving around me). Oh well, now to talk about what's happened. We went to visit John and Marlies on Teusday and we had a great time. We were glad to be able to spend time with them before we left as well. When we left, I was not feeling so great so we went to the urgent care centre and I found out I had a urinary tract infection and a yeast infection! Joy! Just what I need...:) Not complaining..it could be worse...so off we went and drove for a while, then stopped in Madison and did a quick shopping spree...fun fun. Maternity clothes are way cheaper here. They were an extra 40% off. So I got some stuff and then we kept driving. Headed to our hotel around 8:30 and Jasper took James in the pool and I snapped some pictures. James loved the warm hot tub, but not the kiddie pool. Jasper put him on the little rocking horse that's in the splash pad and he's like looking around like what's this? Get me in the water dad...:) It was cute. Anyways, after, I put James to bed and had a headache and just wanted to sleep and so I headed to my bed. On the way there my foot stepped into something extremely painful. I pulled my foot away quickly, but it was too late. Blood was oozing out of my toe. WHAT? So I looked where I had stepped (kinda under the bed - hard to explain) and pulled out a wooden plank with 4 rusted nails poking out! I was shocked! I looked again and saw another wooden plank with 3 rusted nails! Absurd! So I instantly called down and complained and they came and cleaned it up and told us we would get a discount. Well, we better! Ridiculous! Then I was all worried about my tetanus shot of course....when did I last have it??? AAHH! So I look up tetanus on Jasper's phone and read that 25 to 50% of ppl die when they get tetanus...oh man, bad to read right before I go to bed. But I'm ok and called the doctor this morning and found out I had it in 2008, so phew, I'm covered. Anyways I hope that's all the drama for this trip. We will see and I'll keep you updated! Take care all! :)

Hey everyone!!!

So just wanted to give an update on our travels so far. We ended up leaving later on Monday because Jasper went to get his truck oil changed and came home and hooked the trailer up to the truck and the truck didn't pull near as well. So Jasper went back to the garage and they had a look at the truck and put some stuff in the oil so that it should run better. So that took a little longer than expected. Once we started, the driving went really well, the border went fine and we made it to GR at 11 at night. We are planning to visit John and Marlies this morning and then keep driving. James has been a gem. He either talks to himself or sleeps during the drive. We'll see how he is today! :) That's all for now folks!

So I've been bad with updating...sorry! I had my sister-in-law over for two weeks and then my other sister-in-law came with her boyfriend for 10 days so it's been busy, but fun! Latest news is that we bought a white 14ft. trailer. The plan is to pull it with our chevy pick-up truck out there. We are hoping to travel through the States and then up to Lethbridge. Let's hope the border guards don't decide to empty our whole trailer....

 

 

When my sister-in-law and her boyfriend were over they helped pack up a few things and put them in the trailer. My washmachine and drier are all packed up too! Off to the laundrymat for me for the next three weeks.

 

I've been so busy doing little odd jobs, cleaning and packing but James has been so great...here he is content with his cookie...:) 

 

Also if you would like to see where we are hoping to live in Alberta you can go to the Roelofson's website and it's the pictures of the guest house where we hope to stay...fully furnished and all! Check it out below:

Website: http://www.roelofsen.ca/

Big changes ahead

So this blog has been created for all those who wish to join us on our journey across Canada. We are hoping to move to Alberta in the middle - end of November this year. It seemed to be a distant idea a while ago, but now things have fallen into place and it is getting to be exciting. So come along and follow our journey. I hope to post on this blog often with pictures and to keep in touch with all of you.