Movin' on Up

 The Dundas family is on the move! That's right we're movin on up...not to the east side or a deluxe apartment in the sky....we're movin' on up north to...drumroll please.....Toronto, Canada! After 7 months of having the house on the market, 50+ showings, and 4 different possible move locations (Asia - would Anna grow up in the land of Hello Kitty?, London - would Anna like hot tea & warm beer?, Switzerland - would Anna grow up speaking French? German? Italian? All of the above? or Canada - would Anna grow up saying eh at the end of every sentence?)... we can finally say we are officially moving to Toronto. We'll be making the big move in mid July when the house officially closes.

We're very excited to move to the big city of Toronto... and everyone we speak to that has been there speaks highly of the city. Some of the reasons we're excited for Toronto are...

1. It's an equal flying distance to California and Scotland.

2. It's a new adventure in a big city... both Alastair and I miss that "city feel".

3. Toronto has a very diverse culture which can be found in Chinatown, Litlle Italy, and Greektown to name a few... goodbye chain restaurants!

4. It may be Canada but it's still like being in the US... afterall there is a Crate & Barrel, IKEA, Whole Foods, Walmart and Home Depot.

There are a few cons though...

1. The winter! It snows a lot in Toronto. And it's at or below freezing 4 months of the year. So if you have a current passport, but don't like the cold, I suggest visiting outside of November - February.

2. The wine situation. When we moved to Nashville we had to adjust to not being able to buy wine at grocery stores and not being able to buy wine on Sundays. We went to the LCBO while in Toronto. It's where all wine is sold in Toronto and the selection of Caliornia wines was pretty depressing. As I write this I am enjoying a nice glass of red House Wine - one of my favorite cheap red wines. I am going to miss the selection (and price!) of wines here...looks like we're going to have to go wine tasting in the world famous? Niagra Falls wine region!

3. There is no Target. I have never lived more than 15 minutes from a Target. Every week I make 2 lists - my grocery list and my Target list. I buy my clothes there, Anna's clothes there, everyday goods there... I do not know how to exist in a world without Target. Yes, Target is coming to Toronto in 2013 but that's still 2 years away... When we moved to Nashville I had to learn how to live without Nordstrom (ironically opening in Nashville 2 months after we move) and Trader Joe's (not here for the first 2 years we were in Nashville)... learning to live without Target will be much harder.

SOLD!!

A view of the Toronto skyline from our trip last weekend

The longer winter means flowers bloom later... we enjoyed this garden of lilacs last weekend in Toronto. The lilacs here in Nashville bloomed 2 months ago!

Earlier this week we had a hail storm like none I've ever seen before. I've always laughed at the people on the news that pull the hail from their freezer to show the local news reporter. Sadly I have turned into one of those people. Yes, I collected some of the hail and put it into a bag in the freezer. But it was during the day and I wanted Alastair to see how big the hail was.... seriously the hail measured an inch and a half!

During the summer I always get the craziest flip flop tan line from being outside so much. Much to my amusement this year, Anna has also developed her own shoe tan line despite the liberal amounts of spf 40 I put on her!

 Anna's first original work of art made at school for her Dada on Father's Day!