We're Moving!

In a week we are trading heat and humidity along the Gulf Coast for scenic, chilly, island life in the Atlantic! Our new home will be ....

                                                St. John's, Newfoundland!

If this seems sudden, it's because it was! We got the official offer relocate in April -- about 5 weeks prior to moving there permanently. We are thrilled to be moving there, and everything has fallen into place beautifully.

St. John's harbor. Our rental house is 6 minutes from here.

 Bright and cheery paint colors abound...

Gros Morne National Park.

Quick Facts:

* St. John's has the same latitude as Seattle and Paris.

* In 1949 Newfoundland became a province of Canada -- before then it was a British colony.

*Icebergs and Whales can be seen from the shore in St. John's.

* It snows. A lot. 

* St. Johns has the most Easterly point of North America.

* It's pronounced "Newfin-LAND"

* Newfoundland is 1 and a half hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

* According to Wikipedia, St. John's has a population of 197,000

And now, check out these ads on Youtube-- incredible, right?

The boys spent a week with their cousins in Idaho while Scott, Lesley and Helen went to St. John's last week. We fell in love with the scenery, enjoyed unseasonably fabulous weather, and ate some delicious caribou. (We skipped cod tongue, another local favorite.) We also found a house to rent.

This isn't our rental house. I was hoping this picture would show how tulips are spontaneously spouting up in lawns all over town. How fun!

The ladies at our hotel were head-over-heels for Helen. They got her presents at the store, brought her treats from home, and left their phone numbers with us, begging us to let them babysit her. Notice how there are two comforters in Helen's crib? When we first arrived someone brought up a port-a-crib and a blanket for each gender because they hadn't heard if our baby was a boy or girl-- lest our little guest be left to sleep under the wrong color. Everyone was really thoughtful and kind. When we had trouble finding a rental big enough for our family, even our restaurant waiters were calling around trying to hunt something down for us!

We spent most of our time "hunting a house" (as Ian called it) and not nearly enough time exploring. But it was fun to be driving down a quiet country road, then .... BAM! Humongous chunk of ice floating in the ocean!

 So we stretched our legs and had a look-see. 

Gorgeous.

We missed the boys like crazy, but thoroughly enjoyed spending so much one-on-one time with Helen. She is so fun! She seemed to appreciate all the extra attention too. She has never had so much time with her Dad, and basked in the constant Daddy-Fun-Time. By the end of the week she would pick him over me every time. Which was fine by me -- he got to hold her for the majority of the 8 flights we took over 10 days. 

More details to come once we are settled in.