ThirtySeven
Yesterday was my 37th birthday. As you get older, you learn that a birthday is just a reminder that you have 1 year less to accomplish what you want to in life. However, for one day, yesterday November 30th, 2010, all of the worries of life seemed to fade away, and I got to experience quite possibly the most magical birthday of my life (to date). Let me share some of it with you.
We decided we were going to spend my birthday as a family at Disneyland. So right off the bat, I knew this was going to be an all day party. Waking up, it was a glorious day (yes, I said glorious…that’s my new word to describe the weather here…every morning I tell Christine, “Well, it’s another glorious day”). I think when you’ve lived in Edmonton for 35 years, you’re able to appreciate warm weather in November, and I plan to NEVER take that for granted. And from start to finish, I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect way to celebrate my first birthday here in California. Here are some of the highlights:
- Toy Story Mania. You wait in line 45 minutes for a 5 minute ride and always feel like it’s worth the wait. It’s genius.
- Green Army Men performance. These guys are truly the unsung heroes of the California Adventure park. They put on a great show, get the kids involved and are hilarious!
- Riding up front with the driver in the monorail. The kids get a much bigger kick out of this than me, but it’s neat to see how excited they get about it.
- Playing rock, paper, scissors with the boys while waiting in line at Toy Story Mania. We must have played for 15 minutes straight. And (no joke), every second time, I would throw paper, Dylan would throw scissors and Jayke would throw rock. Ty played a few times too, but usually he would throw something that was like a rock that morphed into scissors (he’s 3 so we cut him a break). It was a hoot.
- In that same line, I had Dylan and Jayke play a game of “Who can go the longest without touching anything” (except the ground with their feet). Jayke actually asked if he could touch stuff he was wearing, and I told him it was ok because if he couldn’t, he’d have to be naked in order to win. It’s amazing how well that works at keeping them out of trouble (at least for a couple of minutes).
- Riding Splash Mountain. Honestly, I’m not a ride freak. There are certain rides with some level of thrill that I enjoy. For example, I actually like the Materhorn. But I generally avoid anything resembling a rollercoaster or anything that suspends you high above the ground. Splash mountain falls into a gray area, but Dylan really wanted to go on it, so I went with him (Dylan is 9 and he’s MUCH more of a daredevil than I have ever been). So we went together, and it actually ended up being a lot of fun. Unfortunately, Dylan didn’t want to go in the front, so I had to, while he sat behind me, so Christine has a picture of us as we went down the final drop, but mostly it’s a picture of me (you can’t see Dylan) doing that face that people do to try to fake that they’re having fun when in reality, they’re praying that they don’t die. That’s one you definitely won’t see here.
- Having supper at Goofy’s Kitchen. I don’t think seeing Disney characters live will ever get old for the kids so I’m sure we’ll continue to go there for years to come. However, it’s clear that some characters are more, how shall we say, well known than others. For example, at the table beside us, as Princess Jasmine came over to say hi to them, Christine overheard a boy say “Who are you?” Not sure what was more sad…that comment, or the fact that I actually KNEW that was Princess Jasmine in the first place.
- Jayke on the Thunder Mountain Railroad. Jayke is a lot less of a daredevil when it comes to rides. Even so, he went for a spin on this ride which he had never tried before and was largely unknown to us in terms of “thrill” level. He LOVED it. So much so that they immediately went again. There are few things more exciting to a parent than seeing your kids try something new and absolutely rock it. This is now officially his favorite ride at Disneyland.
- Getting birthday wishes from virtually every staff member at Disneyland. I know they don’t know me from Adam, and it’s in their job description, but it still makes you feel good.
- The perfect end. We stayed late to watch the World of Color show which is one of those things that leaves you wondering how someone thinks this stuff up. Mind blowing stuff. I was carrying Ty so he could see over the people in front of us and about 5 minutes into it, I could feel him leaning on my cheek. I looked over and he was fast asleep, while sitting straight up with music blaring. It was one of those moments that is frozen in time in your memory.
I couldn’t have asked for a better way to start my 38th year of life. Looking forward to a lot more.
New Things
Before we embarked on this journey, I figured that if we were really going to pick up our family and move away from everything that was familiar to us, it needed to be about more than just a change of scenery. Yes, the weather is considerably warmer (though Christine has said a few times that she feels cold, to which I reply, “Don’t even start…”), but if nothing else changes except the things that are external to us, then I think we’ll have missed the point. As much as it is about a change in geography, it’s also about taking the opportunity to try new things.
So a few months ago, I decided that I was going to try drinking coffee on a regular basis (I know, it’s not exactly life changing, but I figured I needed to start small in order for this to work). Prior to that, I think I’ve maybe had 2 cups of coffee in my life and really didn’t like it and never gave it a chance. And Christine has always wanted a coffee buddy, so who better than me? So I eased into it (I’m still not crazy about the taste unless it’s mixed with equal parts of chocolate, caramel, or something else sweet), but now I’m happy to say that a cup of coffee is something Christine and I can share that we didn’t before. Along the way, we’ve hit coffee shops in Calgary, Lethbridge, Salt Lake City, Anaheim, Carlsbad and Temecula, and though it’s a small thing, I’m really glad I tried something new.
On the flip side, Christine has promised that she would try sushi with me at a real sushi restaurant, so I’ll let you know how that goes. She’s reluctant, but open.
We’re going to do our best to make sure the coming months are filled with new things…things that are going to require a conscious effort on our part. One additional thing I’m trying to do is to make an effort to listen more to people’s stories, because everyone has a story. I’ll share some of those as well.
Marathon
So now that the moving truck was gone, and the house cleaned out, we figured we could just sit back and enjoy the drive down to California. After all, the hard work was done, right? Little did we know what lay in store for us…
We left Edmonton around 5pm on Friday and decided to stay overnight in Calgary, get a good rest and then split the remainder of the drive over the next couple of days. In total, it’s about 2800 km from Edmonton to Anaheim where we’d be staying before we headed to Temecula. So we figured that from Calgary, we could drive 13 hour days for the next 2 days and we’d be there. Unfortunately, no one told that to the people at border crossing…
When we got to the border, we waited in line about 45 minutes, and just before it was our turn, I think Christine’s exact words to me were, “I don’t think this should take more than 5 minutes, right?”
Mistake #1: Not doing our homework on importing a vehicle to the US
You’d think that a Canadian vehicle that was actually manufactured in the US wouldn’t have any issues. However, after waiting at the crossing for well over an hour, we were told that since there was no verification that the vehicle met US DoT regulations, we had to go through an additional process which involved us having to wait for an additional 2 HOURS in Coutts. If you’ve ever been to Coutts, you’ll agree that killing 2 hours with 3 small children, in a full out blizzard is no easy task. We figured this was a good time to give the boys free reign on their DS’s and iPhones. Also, I figured I might as well take the boys to get a bite to eat.
Mistake #2: Picking a bad time to try something new
I would say that between Christine and I, I’m definitely the more adventurous one. Enter Zestos, THE restaurant in Coutts. (Aside: You know a town is small when you go into the bathroom and there is a sign there telling you that this is the only public restroom in town open 6 days a week, so please keep it clean.) Since eating out for our family usually consists of pizza or anything with the letters “Mc” in it, I figured it’s time to start broadening their horizons. So after facing much resistance from Christine, I finally prevailed and took the kids in to get something to eat. To make a long story short, Dylan, Ty and I ended up eating and the food was decent (Jayke decided he didn’t like anything on the menu and went back to the car). Unfortunately, a ways after we left the border, Ty started complaining of stomach pain and we were really worried. This culminated with him throwing up into a rubbermaid container which was the only thing in the vehicle we could find. This happened, not once, or twice, but I think I lost track after the 5th time. The evidence seemed to point to Zestos which made me feel like a pretty big heel, and even worse, made it appear that I should have listened to Christine and not gone into that restaurant.
So moving on…we agreed that after losing over 4 hours at the border, we should just drive through the night and take turns sleeping so we could still reach our destination by Sunday night.
Mistake #3: Moving down in winter
Driving conditions were pretty bad and the fact that it was cold and snowing on the drive didn’t help. Road conditions were pretty bad through the mountains in Montana so that didn’t help. Also, I regularly checked the odometer and outside temp gauge, and at one point, we had travelled about 1500km south and the temperature was almost exactly the same as it was in Edmonton. So why were we doing this again?
Mistake #4: Being too ambitious
Things were actually going not too badly. We had driven through Saturday night and had gone through Montana, Idaho and were now most of the way through Utah. Unfortunately, that’s when Jayke’s stomach started hurting. In case you think that was a result of me taking him to eat at Zestos, let me remind you that he didn’t actually eat anything there. This was just probably car sickness. Before we could get to him with the rubbermaid now known as the “barf bin”, he threw up in the car. Now imagine us being stopped at a gas station, me trying to clear barf off the seats with paper towel from the gas station bathroom (you know, the kind of paper towel that doesn’t actually absorb any liquid), Christine undressing Jayke outside where the winds were gusting up to what felt like 90 km/h, it’s still below zero degrees, and we’re hoping the dog (Charley) doesn’t jump out and make a run for it. This wasn’t exactly how I pictured it going when I signed up for this.
Enough of the sob story though. In the end, we did make it to Anaheim, and there were some other memorable moments on this trip:
- Driving through the mountain range in Montana was absolutely breathtaking even in the middle of the night. With the full moon, we could see enough to be in awe of God’s creation. Christine actually said that was where she would want to live if it wasn’t for the weather. Guess you can’t win ‘em all.
- The mountains in Arizona/Nevada were also amazing.
- The boys got fingerprinted and had their mug shots taken at the border (the guard was humoring them, but made it memorable nonetheless)
- Stopping for supper in Barstow, we got to eat in perhaps the only train station in the world to be converted to a McDonalds. A real treat for Ty who loves anything that rides on rails.
- Driving 26 hours straight stopping only for food, bathroom breaks and gas is something we won’t forget, and hopefully never repeat again.
- Finding out that California is home to the town with the strangest name possibly in North America – Zzyzx (go ahead and Google map it if you don’t believe me)
Here are a few pics of the trip.
Goodbye
Leaving Edmonton today was very sad. I spent part of the afternoon at the boys school and saw just how much they were loved by their classmates and teachers. I know how much they will miss their friends and we are so thankful to have been part of such a wonderful school community.
After school was over, we went home for the last time to pick up a couple things and Charley (our little dog). As we were standing by the front door getting ready to go, Ty leaned on the railing and said “I’m hugging the house.” We took a picture outside and started to get in the Sequoia. Dylan went over to the side of the house, took off his glove, bent down and made a handprint in the snow. It was so touching. He got in the truck and was acting really grumpy so I got out and went to his door. I told him it was ok to be sad and as tears began to fill his eyes, the ones in mine spilled over.
As we began our journey, there were more tears as Phil and I talked about our life in Edmonton and the unknown ahead. Not helping was every time Ty asked on the drive to Calgary, “How much is it going to be ‘til we get home?” as this would bring a fresh batch of tears.
Our Jayke, who is our most “even” child is sad about not seeing his friends but he was just happy that we were all together as a family.
We are leaving behind some of the most amazing people who have impacted our lives and we are forever changed because of them. We hope it’s not really goodbye, just ‘til we meet again.
Why?
Since this is the question I get asked the most about our move, I thought I’d start off with this. It started on a beautiful summer day in August, 2009. Discomfort. No, it wasn’t because of the temperature outside and I don’t remember if I woke up feeling that way or what part of the day it started, but that’s what I was feeling.
I’ve come to realize more and more how short our life on this earth is, and I wondered if the life we were living was the life God really wanted us to live. Or was it just the status quo because that’s what was comfortable. God has given us this one life to live - shouldn’t we live it to the fullest? Should our life be an adventure? Just because life is short, I don’t think that gives us license to be reckless, but since life is short, shouldn’t we LIVE it?
So Phil and I began to discuss what kind of life we wanted for us and our children. We talked about things we always wanted to do and about the dreams that our children have shared with us. Some of those dreams had a better chance of being realized if we lived in the USA so we began to talk about moving. Now, like most Edmontonians, every January or February we always talk about moving somewhere warmer, but this time was different. It wasn’t to escape the cold, but to start an adventure – a new country, new experiences, new people. We researched for months, different states, cities, prayed for guidance and always kept coming back to California. It seemed to have everything we were looking for in terms of climate, things to do, good schools and opportunities for the kids to pursue their dreams. So we narrowed our search more and found the city of Temecula. (I always tell Phil I kind of wish we had picked somewhere like San Diego because almost no one has ever heard of Temecula.)
So once we decided where we wanted to go, we had to figure out if we could go. God opened the door for Phil to work for his company from California and on August 30,2010 we received the news that we had been approved for a 2 year VISA. It took over a year from our first conversation for the door to be opened and now we are only a few days away from beginning this new chapter in our lives.
As we start on this new adventure, we want to encourage you to live the life God gave you. It might not mean moving to a new country, that’s our journey. But maybe there’s something you’ve always wanted to do and never thought you could.
Uncomfortable
I am a stone
Stuck here in the ground
Holding onto nothing
Why
Is comfortable uncomfortable right now?
I was made for more- Attaboy (California)
Ever stop to think about why you do what you do? If you did, the easy answer would probably be “because that’s how I’ve always done it, and it works for me.” That’s 99% of life in a nutshell. Going about your day to day business, be it work or taking care of the kids or doing the chores or getting together with your buddies. We do it because it’s comfortable.
Comfortable is nice because it’s generally risk free. I like comfortable. In western civilization, we build things around comfort and convenience. It’s what we strive for. But what do you do when you find out it’s not enough? Over the past year, Christine and I have both felt a sense of discomfort in what is really a blessed life. We have 3 amazing boys that we think the world of. We have great friends and a great church community. Business has been really good over the past year. But in the midst of living day to day, trying to make a living and take care of a family, something got lost.
When we first started feeling this way a year ago, we figured it’s just a rut and we’ll eventually come out of it. Everyone experiences that, right? But as time went on, we both felt it was about something more. It was about experiencing life to the fullest. It was about not just making it through every day, but LIVING every day. Unfortunately, status quo was a lot easier than the alternative, which would require change in some way. So in the midst of our comfortable life, we both felt uncomfortable.
But what could we do to change that?
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