Welcome to Canada! Yes, it IS always this Cold. No, you can't go home.

So, I grew up in Northern (Central by Northern standards, but everyone else considers it "North") Manitoba in a small town called Flin Flon! :-) YAY Flin Flon!

(dog sled race, circa 1945 in Flin Flon)

It was a pretty awesome life. Growing up outdoors, boating, canoeing, skiing, sledding, skating, camping, wrestling bears wrapped in bacon. You get the idea.

I wonder, what will our new daughter think of Canada? I mean, we have:

(moose in a car)

(I donno what to even say about this... "dude, I TOLD you to check for the alarm!")

Now, our Ping is going to be coming from Southern China. Which, judging by the pictures, is warm... and sunny... and pretty... and warm... I know my wife has been wanting us to move someplace warmer for a long time now. And she was born and raised in Canada! How is our cute little precious snowflake Ping going to adjust!?

(found this on Google, its in the Canton province)

I mean, would YOU want to leave a place like that?

If Pings adjustment to our Canadian winters (and Ottawa is WAAAAY warmer than where I grew up, I mean, we moved TO Winnipeg FOR the warmer weather), is going to be anything like our friends from Kenya, Barbados, or Jamacia, then I fear Ping may take one step off the airplane at the Ottawa International Airport and go running back on screaming to go back to China! :-) My wife might just go with her as well.

(snow day in Montreal)

But hey, it is not all bad... I mean, we do have snowmen, and snow angels, Tim Hortons, Hockey, and in the summer, sometimes, if we are lucky, and its not raining, we do have some nice things to see and do. But at the end of it all, I'm damn proud to be Canadian, cold and all.

(kids at Niagra Falls, after their Maid of the Mist boat ride)

(me and the kids at Gatineau Park)

I just hope Ping is going to be okay with it as well... and not try to escape back to someplace warmer. :-) Now, my wife may try to escape someplace warmer...

... I think the only thing keeping her in Canada is the sad realization that if she moved to Caliafornia she would have to vacation in Canada (where it is cold, and that to her is just too depressing).

So there ya go!
Welcome to Canada kiddo!
Yes, it is cold.
No, you can not go home, because you are home.