Bucks_Family

Today is our 1 year Canniversary - not quite 12 months in Airdrie, as we had our first month in Cochrane, in The Thornes' basement apartment (thanks again, Carolyn!).

We covered a lot of miles (OK, kilometres) in that first month, going back and forth to Calgary to register for this, that and the other, and heading in the opposite direction to Kananaskis, Banff and Lake Louise for days out.
We opened our StartRight account with Scotiabank, and used our line of credit with them to buy a 2010 Dodge Grand Caravan (with a DVD player for the kids, thank god). Yesterday we traded it in for a new Ford F-150 pickup to pull our new 31' travel trailer, treats to ourselves and our kids, and we're looking forward to many a roadtrip camping adventure.
It was a pleasant surprise to us how quickly we bought a house. We had engaged a local realtor before we even left the UK, and on our second day in Canada we started looking at properties. We looked at 14 in a week before putting an offer in on our current house in Airdrie. We used a Scotiabank broker to help us apply for the mortgage and we moved in two weeks after the offer was accepted, 1 day before our 40' container arrived from the UK.
Our daughter started in Grade 1 a few days later, in French Immersion, and is loving school. Getting a yellow school bus like in the Simpsons excited her too.
Our 2 year old son is in full time nursery, which is cheaper here than the equivalent in the UK.

We brought our two dogs over, and after a month in kennels while we did all the running around and house-buying, they have settled in fine and we had no problems bringing them over.

Last Winter was cold and snowy, but the novelty didn't wear off, although I'm sure it will in a few winters' time. We skied most weekends at Nakiska, our daughter had lessons there, and we've bought passes already for next season, as they had a mad sale where adult season lift passes were $199.

Spring passed in the blink of an eye, I think. There was a good month to six weeks of cloudy, warm days with rain during May and June, but since the start of July it's been hot, with the threat of thunderstorms most afternoons, though they don't always materialize, but when they do, the hail can be spectacular (and expensive if it trashes your car).

We've been "tenting" a couple of times - the word "camping" here has a very different meaning, so we've learnt!

Our neighbours are lovely, and through them we've made some other Canadian friends, and whilst we haven't yet built up the circle of friends we had in the UK, we're certainly not feeling lonely and isolated. We get out to the pub from time to time, albeit separately so one of us looks after the kids while other meets up with friends. We're not within walking distance of a pub here, so we don't have the opportunity for "a swift half" like we used to, but I'm happy to trade that for the skiing and camping. We do still get our fix of British pubs by watching Coronation Street, but it's 2 weeks behind here so I have to be careful not to talk about it when I'm skyping my mum back in Manchester.

One year has flown, we love it here, we feel we have settled in - the truck and the trailer attest to that - we're in no rush to return to the UK, and whilst we miss nights out down the pub with friends, we keep up with gossip on facebook and chat regularly with family on Skype.

What's not to like, eh?

Chris & Olga

MillieF

Quite right! It sounds bloody delightful! Carry on and have a wonderful time

caretaker

Just saw Airdrie on the news, did you get any hail damage on your new truck and rv? Golf ball sized hail can be terrible.

SchnookoLoly

Glad it's been a good first year!

Bucks_Family

No damage to the truck, I'm hoping none on the rv, it's stored a bit away from Airdrie, phew. The storms are so localized, we had no hail where we live during the big storm in the afternoon, but 4km away, at our son's nursery, it was like Armageddon, apparently. No broken windshields but plenty of hail dents on cars. Here's our daughter with one of the hailstones from the parking lot..

SchnookoLoly

That is ridiculous. Also, she is very cute.

Tootlepootle

Congratulations on your first year, you sound like you have gone native!!

Bucks_Family

Thank you! She might look angelic but she's 6 going on 16 with her tantrums :-)

Bucks_Family

Thanks :-) it feels like the right thing to do, for us anyway.

SchnookoLoly

Hahaha I don't doubt it! I remember when I turned thirteen, my mom just went "And here we go, you are entering the black tunnel of teenaged years. I'll see you on your 20th birthday."

Thanks mom. Hehe!