Well, we did it! We survived our crazy, busy trip to Toronto. Illness, distance, 'paralysis of packing'* - nothing could hold us back! LOL!
As inefficient as I may deem the 'rule of the personal appearance' to be with respect to our physical location relative to Toronto, I do believe in following those rules to the letter, especially as the alternative may result in our NOT receiving our long stay Visa from the French Consulate. So we booked our flights, and found a great deal on a hotel within walking distance of the Consulate and with a pool, and proceeded to finish gathering our papers.
From various websites, blogs, and travel advisers, we gleaned the notion that perhaps, the French Bureaucracy really likes its paperwork. We received advice that suggested that we exceed the minimum standards required for documents, and we took it! ;) We gathered extra bank statements, additional explanations of the type of leave my husband is taking, as well as copies of the visa he once received many years ago, as a University student. We had our travel and medical insurance issued in French, as well as our criminal records checks. We swore our statutory declarations in French, promising not to work while we are there (which is easily promised, apart from, you know, the work involved in raising and feeding three children). We had very few letters to translate, thank goodness, as the only approved translator in Saskatchewan is in Regina, on the other end of the province. I am grateful for both the provincial bus system, and friends that live in that city who pick up documents and send them on the bus to us!!
As a bit of a preamble (a bit late, I know, in the middle of the post ;), life has been crazy/busy (to at least the power of 100) these last few months as my husband wraps up his cases and court appearances, and documenting the rest of the files in his care for hand off to another prosecutor. Plus, the madness that spring and summer bring to our area is intense. (Imagine being cooped up inside at -55 degrees Celsius for much of the winter, then having spring arrive late, then putting the snowsuits and winter boots away at the beginning of May, then bringing them out again as it snows in May as late as the 19th, and then the mud, and the rain, and then soccer season - all six weeks of it - starting, then halting due to snow and rainstorms, and the general crabbiness that goes with the aforementioned craziness, OH! and birthday parties, and sleep and laundry, and bedding plants freezing on the front deck as late as June 2nd, well, I haven't completely recovered yet!) :) So, in the midst of chaos, I attempted to pack for the five of us to go to Toronto, where the weather is a different specimen than what we experience here in the western prairie provinces. In Toronto, there is this phenomenon called humidity to consider, and as summer hadn't really arrived yet, I had no idea of what summer clothes still fit my mightily growing children (my five year old has grown a full inch in the past 10 weeks!), what clothes fit my altering body, and which ones were actually clean. So, I spent the day washing, packing, trying on clothes, and attempting to breathe... My oldest child came home early from school that day with an upset stomach. Great, said I, the day before we fly to Toronto, upset stomachs!! As it turns out, he was so busy running around at recess in the 31 degree heat, that he forgot to take off his hoodie, nor did he drink enough water... A couple of hours of laying down in a cool room, stripped to next to nothing and sipping cool water was sufficient to revive him. *Phew!* So we finally finished packing, running the dog to the kennel, and completing various other tasks, and we made our way on the three hour drive to the city we'd be flying from, to our home-away-from home at my very good friend's house.
We were up and cheerful the next morning, and made it to the airport in good time, and found Ginger tablets for the children to chew on, to help prevent airsickness... The flight was uneventful, and enjoyed by all the members of our family, and we were lucky enough to snag an airport taxi with a car seat for my two year old! The children were particularly excited by the taxi, because it was virtually the same as our minivan back in Saskatchewan. They entertained themselves on the drive to our hotel with seeking out the differences between the two vehicles, and catching glimpses of the CN Tower out the taxi windows.
We arrived at the hotel, ready for dinner and a pre-bedtime swim, and were only able to have dinner before bed. As it turns out, the hotel was in the midst of renovations, and the pool and exercise room were closed. C.L.O.S.E.D. (So, it wasn't a bad thing after all that I forgot to pack the life jacket for the two year old!) After dinner we took a little walk, and bought some milk, and yogurt and fruit for snacks in the room... The children all went to sleep quietly enough. Miss M fell asleep well ahead of her big brothers, but then, a bit into the evening, at about 9 pm, started screaming and crying. And she was still sleeping!! Soundly! Poor baby... She wailed and screamed and I couldn't get her to stop, and then, about 45 minutes later, she just suddenly relaxed and slept the rest of the night.
We had a free day in Toronto the next day, but we didn't have a lot of energy. (Or cash, really, to go the many of the big attractions. Surprise flights and hotels and feeding three ravenous children at restaurants takes a bite out of any budget.) Lloyd read in a brochure about the Toronto Public Labyrinth, and as our boys LOVE mazes, we agreed that this would be a lovely morning walk, and then we'd find a place for lunch, then toddle back for naps at the hotel... Well, we started walking, and let's just say that next time, I will take the map and navigate. We walked for 50 minutes, to get to a place from where it took us only 10 minutes to walk back to the hotel... We witnessed a drug deal a mere 10 steps past the front doors of a courthouse, we saw lots of pigeons, and squirrels, and many random pieces of paper that Miss M continually tried to run back to pick up. "Your list, Momma, your list! I hafta get it for you!!" It took some doing to assure her that Momma did not have a list today, at all... :)
When we finally reached the Labyrinth, the children delighted in it. They followed the paths at a run, a walk, a trot, and another run. Then they proceeded to do it again! (Photos forthcoming...)
(More later... It has taken me several days to get to this point, and this post is long enough already! lol!)
* paralysis of packing is when, for the first time in many years of packing for quick trips, you proceed to lay out all the clothes that everyone owns, and try to put six outfits together for each person, and it doesn't work!! And you then proceed to spin in circles and whimper quietly until you lay down for a 20 minute cat nap, then get up and just throw things in the suitcase, almost at random, but really turns out to be outfits, thank goodness! Then the anal part of your soul that occasionally weeps at mismatched socks and clashing colours can mellow...
As inefficient as I may deem the 'rule of the personal appearance' to be with respect to our physical location relative to Toronto, I do believe in following those rules to the letter, especially as the alternative may result in our NOT receiving our long stay Visa from the French Consulate. So we booked our flights, and found a great deal on a hotel within walking distance of the Consulate and with a pool, and proceeded to finish gathering our papers.
From various websites, blogs, and travel advisers, we gleaned the notion that perhaps, the French Bureaucracy really likes its paperwork. We received advice that suggested that we exceed the minimum standards required for documents, and we took it! ;) We gathered extra bank statements, additional explanations of the type of leave my husband is taking, as well as copies of the visa he once received many years ago, as a University student. We had our travel and medical insurance issued in French, as well as our criminal records checks. We swore our statutory declarations in French, promising not to work while we are there (which is easily promised, apart from, you know, the work involved in raising and feeding three children). We had very few letters to translate, thank goodness, as the only approved translator in Saskatchewan is in Regina, on the other end of the province. I am grateful for both the provincial bus system, and friends that live in that city who pick up documents and send them on the bus to us!!
As a bit of a preamble (a bit late, I know, in the middle of the post ;), life has been crazy/busy (to at least the power of 100) these last few months as my husband wraps up his cases and court appearances, and documenting the rest of the files in his care for hand off to another prosecutor. Plus, the madness that spring and summer bring to our area is intense. (Imagine being cooped up inside at -55 degrees Celsius for much of the winter, then having spring arrive late, then putting the snowsuits and winter boots away at the beginning of May, then bringing them out again as it snows in May as late as the 19th, and then the mud, and the rain, and then soccer season - all six weeks of it - starting, then halting due to snow and rainstorms, and the general crabbiness that goes with the aforementioned craziness, OH! and birthday parties, and sleep and laundry, and bedding plants freezing on the front deck as late as June 2nd, well, I haven't completely recovered yet!) :) So, in the midst of chaos, I attempted to pack for the five of us to go to Toronto, where the weather is a different specimen than what we experience here in the western prairie provinces. In Toronto, there is this phenomenon called humidity to consider, and as summer hadn't really arrived yet, I had no idea of what summer clothes still fit my mightily growing children (my five year old has grown a full inch in the past 10 weeks!), what clothes fit my altering body, and which ones were actually clean. So, I spent the day washing, packing, trying on clothes, and attempting to breathe... My oldest child came home early from school that day with an upset stomach. Great, said I, the day before we fly to Toronto, upset stomachs!! As it turns out, he was so busy running around at recess in the 31 degree heat, that he forgot to take off his hoodie, nor did he drink enough water... A couple of hours of laying down in a cool room, stripped to next to nothing and sipping cool water was sufficient to revive him. *Phew!* So we finally finished packing, running the dog to the kennel, and completing various other tasks, and we made our way on the three hour drive to the city we'd be flying from, to our home-away-from home at my very good friend's house.
We were up and cheerful the next morning, and made it to the airport in good time, and found Ginger tablets for the children to chew on, to help prevent airsickness... The flight was uneventful, and enjoyed by all the members of our family, and we were lucky enough to snag an airport taxi with a car seat for my two year old! The children were particularly excited by the taxi, because it was virtually the same as our minivan back in Saskatchewan. They entertained themselves on the drive to our hotel with seeking out the differences between the two vehicles, and catching glimpses of the CN Tower out the taxi windows.
We arrived at the hotel, ready for dinner and a pre-bedtime swim, and were only able to have dinner before bed. As it turns out, the hotel was in the midst of renovations, and the pool and exercise room were closed. C.L.O.S.E.D. (So, it wasn't a bad thing after all that I forgot to pack the life jacket for the two year old!) After dinner we took a little walk, and bought some milk, and yogurt and fruit for snacks in the room... The children all went to sleep quietly enough. Miss M fell asleep well ahead of her big brothers, but then, a bit into the evening, at about 9 pm, started screaming and crying. And she was still sleeping!! Soundly! Poor baby... She wailed and screamed and I couldn't get her to stop, and then, about 45 minutes later, she just suddenly relaxed and slept the rest of the night.
We had a free day in Toronto the next day, but we didn't have a lot of energy. (Or cash, really, to go the many of the big attractions. Surprise flights and hotels and feeding three ravenous children at restaurants takes a bite out of any budget.) Lloyd read in a brochure about the Toronto Public Labyrinth, and as our boys LOVE mazes, we agreed that this would be a lovely morning walk, and then we'd find a place for lunch, then toddle back for naps at the hotel... Well, we started walking, and let's just say that next time, I will take the map and navigate. We walked for 50 minutes, to get to a place from where it took us only 10 minutes to walk back to the hotel... We witnessed a drug deal a mere 10 steps past the front doors of a courthouse, we saw lots of pigeons, and squirrels, and many random pieces of paper that Miss M continually tried to run back to pick up. "Your list, Momma, your list! I hafta get it for you!!" It took some doing to assure her that Momma did not have a list today, at all... :)
When we finally reached the Labyrinth, the children delighted in it. They followed the paths at a run, a walk, a trot, and another run. Then they proceeded to do it again! (Photos forthcoming...)
(More later... It has taken me several days to get to this point, and this post is long enough already! lol!)
* paralysis of packing is when, for the first time in many years of packing for quick trips, you proceed to lay out all the clothes that everyone owns, and try to put six outfits together for each person, and it doesn't work!! And you then proceed to spin in circles and whimper quietly until you lay down for a 20 minute cat nap, then get up and just throw things in the suitcase, almost at random, but really turns out to be outfits, thank goodness! Then the anal part of your soul that occasionally weeps at mismatched socks and clashing colours can mellow...
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