Saturday, October 20, 2012

From Fall to Snow Fall

Brody and Mommy at the cottage

Leaving Ontario to catch a flight back to Iqaluit has never been so difficult. This time, the difficulty was in watching my moms heart break as I packed up to take her first grandson out of the Province. I sat through many a "please come home soon" conversations on our trip to Oakville. I have put a 'most likely no more than three years and we'll be home,' in many an ear. My plan is to have Brody go to school in the South. 

Brody and Grandma taking a yawn break from hiking
 
We got to spend a lot of quality time with everyone in the family, allowing everyone to fall head over heals in love with my baby boy. If he knows anything yet, he knows how very loved he is.

Baby boy with his Great Aunty Lyn in Toronto

While my sister was in South Africa a couple of weeks ago, I emailed her to tell her I had booked her ticket to Iqaluit. She had been telling me she didnt want to be without Brody. Now she is stuck to us until the end of December and she'll be working for the Company to save money for her four month trip to Thailand.


Our dad drove us from Oakville to Ottawa on Monday and we flew into Iqaluit on Tuesday, landing in a snow covered City. Brody got to see snow for the first time ever and Jenna got to see snow in October, which actually sounds normal to me now. We left behind trees in fall, reds, yellows and oranges for negative temperatures and a winter wonderland. The sun has been out, providing beautiful days for touring Iqaluit and Jenna has already seen the Northern Lights!

The coming months will be exciting for us. Not only will Jenna be with us but my dad will be visiting in December, just before Christmas. I am hoping there is enough snow and ice to send the two of them dog sledding for their Christmas gift. My best friend Katie is also pursuing her own store to manage and will be spending some time in Qikiqtarjuaq to refresh before she takes on her own store. Qikiqtarjuaq is a little over 2 hours North of Iqaluit (by plane of course) and has a population of less than 700. It has been a plan of mine to travel Nunavut while we live here and what an opportunity this will be! Not only will I still be on paternity leave, but Katie provides me with a good reason to visit another town.

Jenna on her first City walk in Iqaluit

Until then, I will spend my days trying to get the little one accustomed to a snow suit and being in an amauti, (neither of which he loves) and re-experiencing Iqaluit through fresh eyes with Jenna.

2 comments:

Bev said...

I have a dumb question. I read about Iqaluit Square on Touchstone Masonry's website. Is it a place now, is it used for concerts or meetings? are there any photos? I have scoured the web and come up dry. Many thanks for letting me ramble
Bev

Melissa said...

Sorry for the late reply Bev. Iqaluit Square is merely a small spot of land in Iqaluit's downtown with some rocks, a couple garbage cans and benches. It does have some significance as it was designed to be culturally important. I forget what the design of it was, the entrances and exits face in certain directions which is meaningful. But really it is a rock garden, with larger rocks laid out in a big cirlce. No building but they do set up tents there sometimes. Usually for some sort of country food sale but once I saw it used for a little boys birthday party. Sorry to disappoint.