Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Oh Canada Meet Our American Babe

Buffalo/Niagara Boarder

Steve and I are Canadian living in the USA. We are resident Aliens. Our baby girl Finley was born in NC. She is an American. We applied for her passport and crossed our fingers it would arrive on time to coincide with booked holidays, so we could to bring our babe home to Canada. Steve bought a Garmin, set it to fastest route, lightly packed the car and hit the road to Ontario, Canada.


Niagara River Bridge
I got a little teary crossing the boarder into Canada with Fin. Her daddy said; "No Finley, Grandpa does not live in an igloo, but, if you keep our eyes peeled you might see a polar bear."

Steve told me later that he wished we had stopped to have Fin's photo taken at the WELCOME TO CANADA sign. I wish we had too. We were both trying to get to our destination with a 3.5 month old in the car. We didn't want to make more stops than necessary. The night before I could be see sitting on my knees, belted in, straddling the car seat to stuff a boobie in the starving face of baby Fin. We were on a stretch of highway where we couldn't pull over and for anyone who has had a baby knows, there is nothing worse than the sound of a crying, hungry baby. I pumped and tried the bottle but she hates the bottle STILL. Steve asked what I was doing? I said; "exactly what you think I am doing." He said he had visions of trying to explain to the officers why his wife had one boobie exposed should we have an accident. Of course the ER nurse would think of this particular situation in the form of a trauma.

We had a whirlwind trip to Ottawa and Toronto. We saw our friends at the Pig Roast and then enjoyed a family BOB-BQ at my dad's and then visited with Auntie Smelly, Kathy, and Auntie Alice all before 12 noon on the same day!

Auntie Sue and BOB aka Grampa

Finley and her Great-Aunties

Whooping it up at the Bob-B Q (every one else is in the pool) Haha!

Great, Great, Auntie Alice (91 years young) and Finley 3.5 Months

We hit the road and met the Lawrence's for coffee in Perth and then made our way to Toronto. Through it all Finley travelled like a champ (even with the car seat boobie incident).

QEW Toronto - CN Tower View - B4 the 2 Hour Traffic Jam

Finley and I had a lunch date with Auntie Lucky.

The Next Gen In The Tdot. Ella, Jane, Molly & Finley.

We stayed at our friend's house - NOT JOKING - this was the street sign on their corner.

Our Canadian citizenship is a big deal and I am a very proud Canadian. I once saw a stand up in a club mock the Canadians in LA saying they like to claim all the other Canadians. I laughed because it's SO true. Maybe, it's because Canada's identity in the global community is continually referred to in images of; igloos, moose, beavers, totem poles and to my dismay, Tim Hortons. As our national prides we as Canadians like to cite and claim people, particularily comediens.

We intend to get a Canadian passport for Finley - there will be advantages afforded to her for carrying both passports and while the United States does not recognize a duo citizenship Canada does. She will be educated in the histories of both countries, have family and friends in both countries and with time she will hopefully share in our patriotism.

2 comments:

lucky said...

tim horton's just opened in NYC... no joke

Pseudo said...

One of my favorite bloggers, who is on hiatus with a back injury,is from Canada. I love her historical posts teaching us Yanks all things Canadian.

Glad I stopped by, and Fin is adorable.