St Albert it is.

It’s been one week since Sampi, Danju and Papa went back to their respective schools in our new location. I have had to pinch myself a few times to remind me that this is St. Albert. You know I am driving along and then I see a building that my poor brain registers as unfamiliar and I go “… has this always been here or…” then I recollect that this is not Oakville but my new home for the past one month – serene St. Albert, a quiet mini town of about forty thousand residents where I have been told a few times that everyone seems to know of everyone. This is no truer than the Catholic Parish on Vital Avenue where Sampi, Danju, Papa and yours sincerely are the only spice to the colouration. The children and I were talking last Sunday after Mass and we say this may be a golden opportunity to expand the horizon and positively shift the paradigm for some members of our Parish whose only contact with the world outside Alberta is what the ‘boob tube’ had fed them all this while. And we all know some of this, tends to be embellished for pure ratings anyway.

So to get ready for back to school, the family- Papa, Danju, Sampi, Siya and I went mini golfing last weekend. It was lovely goofing around on the course for two hours plus and we capped the day with dinner at the Earls.

We got home later and the children picked out (as if they had not done it many times before) what to wear for the first day of school. This was special though because it was the first day in new schools in a new town. I must say (even if it is with a little bias), that they looked very nice as they stepped out that Monday morning in August. Danju and Papa rode on the school bus and I dropped of Sampi all through the week. This changes from next week as Sampi finally got a seat on the bus to her school.

The children have made a few acquaintances at school and Siya and I have also gone to meet their homeroom teachers and be introduced.
There have been the odd homework and also pictures day at school.
Today is the first weekend since the children went back to school and we have all been basically in doors at home except for when Siya and I drove to her job to kick off a seminar she has for new intakes. We had planned to scoot over to the gym at Servus Place but changed our minds on the way back from Edmonton and headed home. Sampi, Danju and Papa have taken today as a rest day because Monday is a holiday and it just doesn’t feel wrong that all they have done is play computer games, eat and or get on the lap tops. I guess we have to cut them some slack some time and why not do so today especially after staying up into the wee hours of the morning yesterday watching movies as part of the family night.Well tomorrow is Sunday and to Mass we must go so I’d sign off the diary at this time.