A New Love

A few weeks ago I found out that there was a Toddler Time just meeting blocks away from our house. All I had to do was go to Canada. So I faced my fear, gathered the boys' birth certificates, a letter from M, and my passport, and braved the border. First let me say, that for some reason I had this huge fear of crossing into Canada. Why? I have no idea. I mean my husband is "one of those people". You know, the scary people who peer in your vehicle, ask you interrogating questions about firearms, money, where you are from, where you are going, and how long you're going to be there? And then, on the day I finally decide to go. I have Logan, the little boy that I watch. So I need his car seat, his paperwork, and a letter from his parents as well. And I am terrified. I pull up to the window, and feel like I'm going to get sick. I am shaking, sweating, stuttering nervous. I roll down the window, and hand the officer my stack of papers. He looks in the car and says "Oh, I know him", nodding at Logan, "you're good, have a nice day". And hands me my paperwork back. I look at him and say "you need to see the letter from his parents?", he says "No, I said have a good day, you're fine." And that was it. My first big scary border crossing. Let me add that when you start to really think about it, it is scary. My paperwork was never looked at, my boys' paperwork was never looked at, nothing was. He let me in because he saw a 3 year old he recognized sitting in the front seat.

Anyways, so later that week when M had a day off we made the trip up to Estevan, SK. And I fell in love.

The Toddler Time group that is on the other side of town (literally the other side!) has been the best find yet. There are 7 other moms from that side of town that attend (I'm the token American) and between them there are eight children under the age of 4. Its so nice knowing that we have something to get out of the house for at least once a week.

Though, the past few weeks we have been very busy. All those trips to Canada. I've made many wonderful discoveries in Estevan, thanks to a new friend, Emily. She has introduced me to Tim Horton's, which is a better Canadian counterpart to Dunkin' Doughnuts. And she introduced the boys and I to a place called The Family Resource Centre (ahhh, I love how they spell that!), a huge play center for children. They have every toy and every thing any little child would love to have and play with for your use. For free.

And my newest, most recent discovery is The Leisure Centre (again, love!). A HUGE community (everything) center. There is a library, which we haven't been to yet, but I'm hoping to visit soon. And there is a hockey rink, two squash courts, a tennis court, a BMX park, weight rooms, a gigantic lap pool, a huge children's wading/splash pool, a steam room, a hot tub, and an indoor water slide of water park proportions. Emily and I were able to go up there Monday night for a deep water running class. Its an amazing work out in the deep end of the pool.

I am so happy to have discovered civilization so close to home. So happy, I have in fact, been to Canada 4 times since Monday! I am excited at the new opportunites the boys and I have had, and the new friends we're making.