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I was going to do an update at 6 months, then I was going to do one at 7 months, but finally here is the 8 month update since we moved to Canada

One big reason for the delay is we were waiting until we could announce that we bought a house! There is another, much sadder reason also. My Uncle died and it wasn’t the kind of thing I wanted to write about at the time.

So taking the sad stuff first, my Uncle Marian had been unwell for a while, but still came as a shock at the end. He was an awesome guy and we feel grateful we got to spend the time we did. My Aunt is doing well considering.

On the more positive side, we are very close to having everything sorted on our new house paperwork. It’s very cool that we did this on our Anniversary – 13th wedding anniversary today! We came close to buying a different house but the deal just wasn’t right so we backed out. This decision feels much better, more “us”.

The expectation is the build will complete at the end of August, or maybe beginning of September. Will be nice to be in the home before our daughter’s birthday.

As you can see in the mosaic image above, we have been up to a lot since we got here. It’s been very very cool, and not just the weather!

• Snow mobiling
• Ice skating at Lake Louise
• Quadding
• Camping
• Soaked in Banff springs
• Going to see the Calgary Flames live several times (and saw their playoff hopes dashed)
• Took in the view from the mouth of the world’s biggest dinosaur
• Kiddo went skiing with school (we will have to catch up with her level of prowess next season)

In between all these activities we shut down the business in the UK, set up here, and sorted our Canadian and international taxes out. Oh, and I had a few business trips to Vegas, Texas and Chicago etc.

Bottom line is we are loving it here. The school is great, we have made some lovely friends, and have started to venture out to explore this fine country!

We have now been living in Canada for three calendar months!

They say time flies when you are having fun and it certainly seems true in our case. We have seen and done things we only dreamed about, and it is all the more amazing when you think back to how long this was in the making

The best thing is the people who have helped us settle in and enjoy being here.

Exciting times!