"Falling" into a routine!

 

Would you believe that my parents were here for a whole week in September and I didn't snap a photo of them with the boys???  I was feeling pretty unwell at the time, so I'll blame it on the motrin / tylenol / puffer / antibiotics I was taking around the clock.  Anyhow, we did manage to celebrate Xavier's 8th birthday with a bit of low-key excitement.  

 Singing "Happy Birthday" with Auntie Laura via Facetime and a yummy ice cream cake for dessert!  (It was nothing short of a miracle that we found candles and a lighter amidst the unpacking)

 It was our welcome weekend at Training College (Sept. 18-20th) and the schedule was pretty full.  If you have a couple of hours free, you can watch the Video of our Public Welcome Meeting
- (all of the families "march in" during the first few minutes)  or read the online magazine article that introduces all of the Joyful Intercessors  Meet our sessionmates!
 Everyone we are training with from 2015-2107 is included and that will give you a great idea of who our new peeps are.  :-) 

Outside of training we are making the most of every beautiful sunny day!  Gathering our Vitamin D and fresh air before we are stuck into the impending hibernation that is winter in Winnipeg (or so I'm told!). 

We spent an evening at Fort Whyte Alive, a nature reserve park only 5 minutes from our house.  There's a small farm (can you spot the piglets curled up on the sow's back?) ...

 a hill full of groundhogs and tunnels to tip-toe over ... apparently they like carrots! 

There's also a herd of Bison!  (Happy Rolf's in St. Catharines: it's time to step up your game!)

Now there's a cute baby! 

 Just in case you couldn't get close enough to pet them, there's a great building full of taxidermy.  So cool petting the polar bear! 

Now for the main event:  the wild geese flock back to this lake every night about half hour after sunset!  Winnipeg is in the migration path in the middle of North America, so the whole are is full of Canada geese (different varieties) from Sept - Oct. in particular. 

 We'd need a better camera I think to capture the geese in flight, but you can see them crowding together on the water and I'm sure you can imagine the sound of thousands of geese chattering away, sharing the news of their exciting day down at the Forks and how the Blue Jays were really rocking this season. 

 Anyhow, we brought snacks and enjoyed the view as the geese flew in their "V" formations and landed on the lake by the hundreds. 

So this is a typical morning in our home at CFOT, with the boys reading quietly, minding their own business and letting mom & dad get all dolled up in our uniforms ...  

OK, well, it happened at least once - here's proof! 

 Yes, this is us 5 days a week.  On Sunday we get even a bit more formal.  

And then there are those noisy neighbours upstairs "The Allens" who jump and cheer for the Blue Jays ... and above them, the Websters (we never hear them at all) ...

 unless there's a super moon and lunar eclipse or the northern lights or something really spectacular! 

 On Thanksgiving weekend we found ourselves with some extra time and nice day and Dave was craving to be near some water, so we headed to the beach!  Yes, there is a beach on Lake Winnipeg about 1.5 hours from our home.  Perfect spot for a picnic lunch, skipping stones and climbing on rocks. 

 Even a Tippy Canoe to climb on - another themed playground!  This place used to a Canadian Pacific Railway resort area, so there's lots of CPR historical stuff (and the watertower). 

 Here's to a happy family, the kids enjoyed some much needed cuddle and relaxing time with us here. 

 And the best news of all?  I finally found some red leaves!  They are quite scarce in Winnipeg it seems, not many maple trees at all. 

There's not much we like to do better than exploring new places!  But I will start taking pictures of our "everyday" stuff too, so you can see a bit about life at the College for Officer Training (CFOT) here in Winnipeg.