Where We Live and What We Miss

We live on a little quiet street in a small beach suburb. We live less than a mile from the beach and harbour. We have lived in large suburban areas in the past, but this area here is definitely more urban and "city" like, which is both different and exciting! There is definitely more "hustle and bustle," more people and lots more to do! We also previously lived in houses that have been newer or less than 5 years old and our house here is very old, but very charming! This is by far the smallest house we have ever lived in and by far the most expensive! But, we are loving every minute of our new adventure and our new little life!

This is our house!

This is our car and our tiny driveway where we park. We open and close the fence manually...I sure do miss my automatic garage door opener, well, I really miss my garage, too.

This is our tiny street that is lined with trees. People can park on both sides of the street and believe it or not, it is a 2 lane road!

I don't particularly love this picture of me, but it says it all...me trying to figure out how to drive with everything completely opposite than what I am used to. I still turn on my wipers every time I go to use my turn signal. Looking to the left for your rear-view mirror just feels weird! But, I am getting the hang of it and feel like I can get myself around now! The roads and parking spaces are super skinny and I always feel like I am going to hit everything on the left! I have yet to drift over to the right side of the road, but I do have to concentrate very hard every time I turn or go into a parking garage!

This is a tree in our backyard that the kids love to climb!

It is a beautiful tree that I never get tired of looking at! Although, the wind blows all of the blossoms off and they cover our backyard! Sometimes our grass looks more lavender than green!

This is Garrett's new lawnmower...he is so proud. Braden loves it because he can actually mow the lawn. However, the mower cuts the grass horribly and leaves the biggest mess. Obviously not a problem for Garrett.

Update: After a few weeks of attempting to mow the grass with this thing...Garrett finally decided that this lawnmower is a joke and we have since hired someone to take care of our lawn!

This is my first little bird for my new house. I have named her Bobette. If any of you know Bobette, you will understand why! I was happy to find this little bird at a home store just up the street from my house. It was only $9, which I thought was reasonable considering there were throw pillows for $99 in the store!

Shopping is difficult because it is so expensive. It is hard to stomach buying things knowing what I can get them in the states. For example, I just bought a small hand mixer for $40.00, which would probably cost something like $14.99 in the states. We have Target, but it is very different than the Target I am used to. There are no groceries or cleaning supplies or even shampoo. Only clothing and homewares, but nothing like in the states. And of course, it is very expensive. I miss stores like Marshalls and TJ Maxx and even Wal-Mart! I never thought I would say that! We have bought some furniture from IKEA while we wait for our shipment to arrive, which is scheduled for sometime the first few weeks of December. We have been surrounded by boxes and been assembling something each night. Garrett loves IKEA! Hardly.

This is my very small washer and dryer. A far cry from my huge red LG Tromm's! I miss them so much I could almost cry! The dryer literally takes about 3 hours to dry 4 towels and I am not kidding! Most people around here line dry their clothes, but my clothesline is covered in spider webs! Every time I clean them off, they just come back! I did hang our swimsuits out to dry and by in the morning I had to rinse them again because they had so many spider webs!

I am surprised at how different the grocery store is, too. Cooking has been challenging as I have had to substitute ingredients that I can't find over here. Not to mention that I can hardly figure out how my oven works and how to convert Farenheit to Celcius. I was sad to not find Libby's canned pumpkin for our "little" Thanksgiving feast. Although, my friend did eventually find it at an import store for $12 a can and we did enjoy a really good pumpkin pie! I haven't been able to find graham crackers, shortening, green enchilada sauce, cornmeal (well I found out I can use Polenta), Bisquick, Karo Syrup, or my deodorant to name a few.

Oh...and I really do miss my 44 oz. Diet Pepsi from On the Run! You can buy a bottled liter of it in the store, but a big Pepsi on ice in a cup with a lid and straw is unheard of here! In fact, if you order a soda from a restaurant, you get it without ice!