Legoland

A life size Ford Explorer and dealership

We promised Cooper that we would go to Legoland before we left North America so we made sure we included a day at Legoland while we were in Florida.  Cooper has been crazy about Lego for a couple of years now and is especially into Hero Factory, Ninjago and Chima.

We arrived at 10am and spent the entire day there until closing, taking in all the rides, shows and attractions.  The rides were a perfect size for the boys and there were no long queues.  We went on every ride and then spent a few hours in the afternoon at the water park.  Cooper was very impressed at the size of the bucket of water that tipped over the whole kids adventure playground, he said there was so much water that it held him on the ground. We floated around the lazy river twice before making our way back to the bus to take us home.

Laval from Chima Lego

We also bought plenty of Lego, it was the same price as normal but the range was much better.  Luckily you could pick it all up at the gate on the way out.

Farewell Labrador City

The removalists came on Tuesday 2nd July and speedily packed all our clothes and other belongings.  I was racing to keep ahead of the guys to make sure they didn't pack anything that wasn't ours.  By Wednesday afternoon our house was empty except for the furniture supplied by IOC.  I was determined to stay in the house until we left as it is way too depressing to stay in a hotel.

We spent the last few days with friends until we finally locked the door behind us at 315 Carol, packed our suitcases in the car and drove to the airport.

Leaving 315 Carol Drive

Driving to Wabush airport

It was great to have our good friends bid us farewell at the airport, Michelle, Ethan and Liam; Angela, Adrian and Georgie, and Rob, Nancy, Tali and Noah.  We said our farewells, boarded the plane and then waved goodbye to Labrador City.

Canadian Cuisine

We have experienced some unusual foods while in Canada and we have really enjoyed most of them!  Our favourite being poutine, the classic Quebec dish of fries with gravy (sauce) and cheese curd. Even McDonalds in Lab City sells poutine but it's not as good as the poutine in Quebec.

I was suprised when I ordered my first roast beef sandwich to find that it is immersed in gravy!

For our last dinner in Lab City, our friend Rob made us turtle burgers! He researched it on Saturday, watching videos on Youtube and he made them exactly like the picture (see below).  Mince meat, weiners and bacon. Fat overload, very tasty though.

Yummy dinner from St Hubert - roast chicken with poutine

Our homemade poutine with peas and chicken

Battered cod fish with poutine made with home fries

Roast beef sandwich with poutine

Turtle burgers, just made

Turtle burgers on the grill

Happy Canada Day 2013

Canada day was drizzly this year and the forest fires had put a bit of a downer on the town.  We had a fun afternoon at the Thompson's eating burgers and hot dogs dressed in our best Canada Day gear.

Tali Thompson and Cooper on Canada Day

Two weeks of farewell parties

Wow, it's been a busy couple of weeks of party-ing!

The highlight was the party with my tean where Simone and I had to dress up in crazy clothes everytime we said certain words.  I ended up wearing a green wig, a grass skirt, a mask and one gumboot.  The team sung the Cup Song (when you're gone) to us with some new words thanks to Belinda.  Lori and Jenna played the cups, Belinda and Joanne sung while we had three awesome backup dancers in costumes.  Kirk was Bert, Ken was a gorilla and Jamie was Ocar the Grouch.  I almost walked in on them all practicing at work last Thurdsay. This is what the HSE team does at work!

We had a steak supper on Friday night at the Menihek Ski Lodge an then on the following Friday we had a party at our place. Gerry dubbed the theme of the party: Drink my booze cause I can't pack it to Australia!

Last night we had a farewell for Steve at Corby's with two moving speechs from Richard and Steve.  Steve received a massive framed photo collage of the IOC Mine and the town of Labrador City as gift from IOC.  He was super impressed with the picture and said it was worth three years at the mine just to get it!

Forest Fires

Just thought I would let you know about the large forest fire that is burning just outside of Labrador City.  The fire started on Sunday in thick forest and is still burning.  We have had warm dry weather >20C so it has not been contained yet. We have four water bomber planes dropping water on the fire and also helicopters plus over 40 ground crew.  Many cabins have been burnt down including some of our friends cabin as the fire is in the area where there are a lot of cabins.  We have sold our cabin but our cabin is a long way away from the fire.

The fire is closer to Wabush which is Labrador City’s sister town 7km away and yesterday the fire came within 4km of the town of Wabush.  Last night at 8pm the town of Wabush was evacuated and a state of emergency has been declared.  Most people are staying with friends and family in Lab City.  The town is very smoky and ash is falling everywhere.  We can call local numbers in Lab City but we have no phone connections outside of Labrador City so we can’t call you.  Internet is still working.  The Trans Labrador Highway is closed but our airport is still open and the road to the province of Quebec is open also.  There are some long line ups at the fuel stations and grocery stores as people prepare for the worst.

IOC (Iron Ore Company of Canada) is helping out by providing accommodation to evacuated people and heavy equipment to clear a large fire break near Wabush.  Wabush Mines has closed down but IOC is still running and most things in Lab City are running as normal but it is very quiet.  It is extremely unlikely that the fire would reach Labrador City as there is a lot of water between the two towns.

http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2394895737/

View of the fire while flying to Sept Iles

Snow in May

Just when we thought the snow had all melted away and the weather was on the improve, we had snow on the last weekend in May.

Our bridge and driveway