REMINDER: COMPETITION TIME: SUBMIT A SONG AND WIN A PRIZE!

The song writing competition is still on, but there are only a few trembling days left before the competition is closed and the lucky winner is announced. Hurry up and submit your song! It is fun and you can win a snazzy prize! Plus, Ethan will love these lyrics when he is a bit older.

Even more new faces

Yesterday we stopped by Brenda's house for a quick visit. Brenda is Shaena's old boss and friend from back when Shaena still lived in Winnipeg, and we met up with her to catch up and also to talk about a possible business opportunity that we might bring over to the UK. Brenda also gave Ethan his first Bomber-jersey, and he will look stunning when he wears it... When he is about 4-5 years old! :) Thank you Brenda!

Today, we went over to Auntie Dorothy's for what turned out to be a 'Harrison big-meet'. I haven't had the opportunity to meet too many members of that side of the family, so it was nice to get a chance to spend some time with them, and they got to meet Ethan for the first time as well. Dorothy had prepared tons of food and we just had a great time chatting to everyone! What a nice group of people!

I am not sure how many new faces Ethan has seen since we got to Canada a week ago, but I am starting to think it will be in the hundreds before we leave on Tuesday. He is handling it really well though, and doesn't seem to have any problems getting passed around like a joint in a hippie meeting, as someone put it the other day.

Once again, Ethan got a ton of pressies to bring back, everything from clothes to toys to bath towels. We are starting to worry a little bit about overweight on the flight home, but I am sure we'll figure that out. We'll jump off that bridge when we get to it. Thank you everyone!

Tomorrow morning we'll be driving down to Grand Forks, North Dakota to hang out with Auntie Nini and cousin Emily for a few days. We are really looking forward to see what they have done to the house since we last saw it. Last time I saw it, they had only just started the renovations, and now it is almost finished. A trip to Fargo is also on the table, would be fun to see what that city is all about, so we might do that on Friday. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Will keep you posted.

Photos with Brian and rock music with Paul & Gene

As we have to beg, borrow and steal access to the internet while on the road, there is a slight delay in our updates so apologies for that. Monday was another great day for us! We had the photo shoot with Brian Rudolph lined up in the afternoon, and Shaena managed to pull all her strings and score some excellent KISS-tickets for the same evening!

The photo shoot was really cool, Brian is such a pro and he made the whole experience very enjoyable. Obviously, this was totally new ground for Ethan, but he did great and was patient both in the studio and out in the playground that Brian had decided to use for the outside shots. It was truly amazing to watch Brian in action when he captured those split second baby-smiles and how he snapped fantastic, natural shots without making us feel staged or uncomfortable. We had a wonderful time, and if you guys (well, those of you who are in Winnipeg at least) would like your pictures taken, check out: www.empirephoto.ca and www.empirephotoblog.ca.

The concert later in the evening was a once in a lifetime experience! KISS had embarked on their 35th anniversary tour, 'Alive 35'. Opening act was a band called Buckcherry, which frankly I have never really heard of and they were not really that impressive either. However, when KISS entered the stage and Gene Simmons shouted out his standard opening phrase "You want the best? You got the best! KISS!", you could really feel the presence of rock-royalty!

The guys are great performers, the stage looked fantastic with all the lights, video screens, pyrotechnics and so on, and the set list was quite well put together with a mix of old classics and new material. Someone told us before the concert that KISS was the loudest concert he'd ever seen, and I have to agree. The music was loud, and accompanied by tons of explosions it made the whole gig very powerful. Another cool thing was the stage itself, as the whole band could elevate themselves 60 feet up in the air, fly across the audience, and the drum riser even rotated up in the air!

The band also had a bit of an accident on stage, as the guitar player fired shots from his guitar and shot out a few of the lights. This culminated in a part of the light rig to fall down and hit the stage! Later on in the show, the light rig caught fire where the spotlight that fell down used to sit, so they had to take the rig down and a guys with a fire extinguisher came up on stage and put out the fire.

I have to say though; Paul Stanley is a fantastic singer and performer, and to me, it is unbelievable that Gene Simmons is getting most of the spotlight and the glory in the media, but I am sure there is a good reason for that as well. Maybe Paul is one of those performers that just want to play good music and don't care about getting his own reality TV-show?

All in all, Monday was a fun-filled fantastic day, and we just got the disc with all of Brian's photos, so will post some of them here on the blog for you to enjoy.

You show us everything you've got
You keep on dancin' and the room gets hot
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You say you wanna go for a spin
The party's just begun, we'll let you in
You drive us wild, we'll drive you crazy
You keep on shoutin', you keep on shoutin'

I wanna rock and roll all nite and party every day

Winnipeg family-palooza!

We made it in to Winnipeg on Saturday evening, and as expected, we were greeted at the airport by a whole horde of family and friends! As soon as we came down the escalator the guys were all over 'the main attraction', and rightly so. They had obviously waited a long time to see little Ethan (and us) again, and cousin Emily had never met Ethan in real life at all. We all headed back to Great grandma's and Grandma's house for food, pie and coffee, and let me tell you; that apple pie is so good, it makes the whole long haul trip worthwhile!

Auntie Nini and Emily had been out shopping once again, and had found some really cute Swedish stuff for Ethan and I; a 'Super Swede'-bib, a sign saying 'Parking for Swedes only - all others will be towed', and a little Swedish wooden doll painted in blue and yellow that they were hoping could come with us on future trips and appear as a cameo in our photos from around the globe! They had also found him a few other items of really nice clothing, and I am dead certain he will look absolutely stunning in these as well. As always, excellent pressies! Thank you!

The visiting continued the day after, and Ethan got spoiled once again with Winnipeg Blue Bombers apparel and toys. This time from Jan and Rhonda, the nice ladies that helped Shaena with her morning sickness when she was pregnant. Like that was not enough, he also got pressies from Martha & Lorraine, friends to the family, who had bought him a brilliant contraption called 'Walking Wings' which is a harness that wil help him practice walking. They had also bought him the cutest little reindeer-hat, which you will all see in the upcoming professional photos by Brian that will be with us hopefully later today. This is totally starting to lean towards a thank-you-blog once again, but thank you, thank you, and thank you!

Other than that, we have enjoyed just sitting around talking to our friends and family and been eating fantastic home cooked meals. Ethan seems to really enjoy his holidays, but then again, isn't every day a holiday when you are 4 months old and your only responsibilities in life consists of eating, sleeping, pooping, and sending a few smiles mommy's and daddy's way from time to time?

We have a pretty packed schedule ahead of us for the rest of this week, and I am looking forward to every bit of it! I have to say; this holiday I have actually found it quite easy to not think about work, and it was easy almost from day one, which is nice. Usually it takes a few days to wind down before you can fully relax and enjoy the holidays. I think it has to do with the fact that my mobile phone is dead and that we did not have access to the internet for the first few days when we were in Trenton. Whatever it is, it works. I am enjoying every minute of this holiday!

Niagara Falls and Toronto

Our next port of call after Trenton was downtown Toronto and the Delta Chelsea hotel. We wanted to spend some time exploring Toronto and also meet up with our friends before heading off to Winnipeg, so a hotel from Friday to Saturday was the best option.

This however, is not entirely true. We did one more detour before going to Toronto. As we were in Ontario already, going to the famous Niagara Falls was a given, and so we did. It was a bit of a drive to get there, as it is right on the border to the US, but well worth it! What a spectacular place! Very powerful and commanding. A word of advice though, for those of you who are thinking about going there at some point, don't be surprised if you get there and find yourself thinking 'well, this is very beautiful and everything, but really, it is just a waterfall'. After all, it is just a waterfall. A very, very beautiful waterfall nonetheless.

When we arrived in Toronto the same evening, we headed out for dinner almost immediately. Do we know how to fill a day or what? The Litwiller-sisters and Sarah, our friends from the Dublin-years had organized a dinner at The Mill Street Brewery, a neat bar/restaurant in the Distillery Historic District and Brad & little Liam, Lindsay, Paniz, Justin, little Lilly & Tina and Mayuara also showed up for the event. Good chat, good food, and great to get a chance to catch up with the old Dublin-crew!

On Saturday morning we woke up bright and early and had breakfast at the hotel before heading out on the town. We had tickets for the CN Tower, so that was the main goal for the day (well, that, and actually making it on time to our flight to Winnipeg of course) and we made sure we made it there with enough time to spare to be able to take our time in the tower, snap photos, and finally make it out to the airport on time.

For those of you who are not familiar with the CN Tower, it was the tallest building in the world with its 553.33m or 1.815ft until very recently. They also have a famous glass floor on their observation deck where you can stand on the glass and look straight down to the ground! Wicked! Well worth the free ticket! ;)

After the visit to the tower, we drove off to the airport to catch our flight to Winnipeg, but did one more final stop: Outside Much Music's live studio window! (Europeans: Much Music is Canada's equivalent to MTV)

Anyway, it is late night/early morning in Jess' & Bain's basement, so over and out. Love to all!

Meet The Fortins

Don’t fret people! We are still very much alive and kicking, we have just been a bit offline lately. The reason for this is of course our Canada-holiday that we are currently enjoying. Here’s a quick update from the first leg of the trip:

We locked the door to our apartment in Edinburgh at 5am last Wednesday morning when a taxi picked up us and drove us all the way to Glasgow International Airport. We know, it sounds a bit over the top to hire a taxi for a trip that far, but it made total sense and was actually the cheapest and most comfortable option available, especially with a baby on board.

The flight over to Toronto from Glasgow lasted for 7.5 hours and was actually quite enjoyable even though we had chosen to fly cheap and cheerful with Air Transat, which is about 2 notches up from Ryanair and 2 down from KLM or Air Canada, but as always, you get what you pay for. Surprisingly enough, the food on the flight was good (or as good as economy class airplane food can be), and Ethan even got a baby-kit with nappies, wet wipes and other and essentials. In the baby-kit there was also a teething ring that he has become fond of and is now using every day. Overall, Ethan did really well for his first flight. The takeoff did not faze him at all; he got a few hours of sleep mid-flight and only really cried on approach to Toronto. The pressure change did a number of him, and he was tired after a very long day as well, and we did expect that his ears would be hurting during both takeoff and landing, so no complaints there. Our little trooper!

When we had picked up our baggage at the airport, we had a rental car waiting for us, complete with a GPS (very much needed, as it would turn out), and off we went to find Trenton, Ontario! An hour and a bit later, we had arrived at Jules’ and Catherine’s beautiful log house outside Trenton. We received a warm heartfelt welcome and soon Great grandpa Jean Noel came to the house, along with Pierre & Lorraine and George & Joanne. Bonjour to us, they said!

They were obviously thrilled to meet little Ethan, who inevitably will be the center of attention for everyone over these two weeks. Catherine and Pierre are amazing cooks and for the next few days they whipped up fantastic suppers for us, and it was really nice for me to meet this side of the family and get to know them a little bit better, as I have not yet had the pleasure to do this. Unfortunately, I missed out on a very intricate pork roast dinner, as I was not feeling well one night, but I was told it was something quite spectacular. Something else that was spectacular and very amusing was Ethan bouncing around in a jolly jumper hanging from the ceiling, dressed in his green skull and bones onesie doing an Irish jig! Shaena caught it on video and if the technology works in our favour, we'll post the video here on the blog.

Jean Noel had also organized an outing for us on Thursday morning. He took us to the RCAF Memorial Museum in Trenton, as he knows that I am interested in old airplanes, wartime history and trivia. Among other things, they had a Spitfire in mint condition in there, a wide variety of other interesting airplanes, and their pride and joy – ‘The Halifax’!

Quick history update: In 1945, a Handley Page Halifax bomber on mission to deliver supplies to the Norwegian resistance movement was hit by shrapnel from a German artillery gun and had to perform an emergency landing on a Norwegian lake, and sank as a result. Tragically, 5 out of 6 crew members died in the incident. The bomber was recently extracted and has been rebuilt to its original condition by volunteers, spending over 350.000 man hours on the project. The 6th crew member, now an old man, visited the extraction team while they were still working on getting all the parts of the airplane out of the lake, and got his old thermos back! Later, once the airplane was fully restored he also paid the museum a visit to see how the end result had turned out. Apparently, he was extremely impressed.

Definitely a gripping story and a very impressive effort by everyone involved! On Friday afternoon we said bye-bye to the Fortins and headed to downtown Toronto to check in to our hotel for the night and to prepare for our dinner with friends later in the evening.

Thank you to Jules & Catherine, Jean Noel, Pierre & Lorraine, and George & Joanne for your warm welcoming and great hospitality! Hope to see you again soon!

Tea with the Queen?

Christmas is around the corner. Literally.

Every year here in Edinburgh, a German Christmas market is held from the last week of November and throughout December, just around the corner from us. Well, almost around the corner at least. Wooden huts and stalls, various amusements, and a lit up Ferris wheel are all set up in the gardens alongside Princes Street right in the centre of the city. It is always nice to stroll around the market in the evenings and just look at the lights, the people, the reindeers, and inhale the Christmassy smells from the mulled-wine-and-German-sausage-stalls, all whilst listening to traditional Christmas carols. The Christmas market is also where I proposed to Shaena, outside the gypsy fortuneteller’s cart, so it brings back happy memories of course.

Right now, the shops around town are slowly starting to sell their Christmas decorations and the pre-Christmas madness is about to kick off with full force. I guess that’s inevitable, expected, and kind of charming in a crazy way.

As many of you know, we have decided to stay in Edinburgh for Christmas this year so we have invited our favorite Canadian-Swedish couple, Erin and Svante, to celebrate Christmas with us. Actually, we have never met Svante but we hear he is a really nice guy! His wife told us so! :) No, but all kidding aside, we are really looking forward to see them both!

We are of course also looking forward to the actual Christmas celebrations. It is Ethan’s first Christmas so hopefully we’ll be able to pull off a grandiose Swedish-Canadian combo-Christmas party with both a turkey and a roast ham, meatballs and sweet potatoes, Christmas crackers and ‘Kalle Anka’s Christmas TV-show’ along with the turkey-roasting on TV and an appearance by Santa. Svante also promised to bring his Santa outfit, so an appearance by Swedish Santa is to be expected! It will be interesting to see how E-man reacts to that. Come to think of it, introducing Ethan to Santa will probably involve the same procedure as introducing him to Piers' and Lesley's Doberman/German Shepherd!

More Halloween

Getting ready for the Canadian tundra... Brr!

My guest blog entry: When Shaena met Granny! - By Orlaith Philomena Iseult Brogan

Dear All,

I would like to start by thanking all those who have made this guest blog possible, the academy, my great friends and mentors and of course granny. It's been a long road, but I'm sure you will all agree that all the hard work paid off in the end!

I was so excited to introduce Shaena to my granny. Granny is, without any shadow of a doubt, the funniest person I have ever met and I wanted to share her with my friends. At 91 (sorry granny 39) years of age, she is still on the ball and as witty as ever.

We left Dublin at around 2.00 pm and were hoping to arrive in Ballina at a suitable hour. There were lots of songs sung and jokes made to kill the time... but at the back of my mind I was hoping that granny would be in good form i.e. make us laugh. We arrived in Ballina just before 5.00 pm (which was quite late as most of the shops close at 6.00 pm) and headed straight into see granny. Mam (editor's note: for us mortals who don't have a thick Irish accent, mam is pronounced [MAAAAM] and = mom) made us some tea and cut us some cake and I introduced Shaena to Granny. As you can imagine granny struggled to pronounce this swanky Canadian name, although she was adamant the little polish girl that cuts her hair was also call Shuuna.

We sat for about an hour and chatted about this and that including my love life and how 'even with my boobs hanging out I could not keep a man'.

At approx 5.50 pm I realised that time was an issue and if I was to show Shaena the sights of the town, we needed to move fast. We decided that, whilst down the town, we would get something nice for dinner and granny agreed she would have 'one or two chippies' (you wonder where I got my love of chips from!).

As we were leaving, I asked granny if she would like anything else.... expecting her to say a loaf of bread or 20 blue silk cut. She responded with OH YES, A CAMEL COLOURED COAT. I looked at Shaena, knowing she would be in stitches laughing, and she was. I said granny it is ten to six - most of the shops close in 10 minutes we won't have enough time- she responded 'well I thought you might see something- you know I have no one to do anything for me. I could hear mam in the kitchen washing the dishes!

Laughing, and with time against us, Shaena and myself went on our way to find granny a camel coloured coat (seeing the sights would have to take a back seat). There were only 2 shops open after 6.00 so we headed straight to my fav one.... Penney's. Shaena spotted a camel coloured coat, almost instantly, and I tried on the size 8 while Shaena took photos from various angles so granny could decide if she wanted us to buy it for her the next day.


After a whistle stop tour of 'THE NA' (and a quick delivery of chips to granny) Shaena and myself went to my house and had some dinner and dolled ourselves up for the night on the town. We decided we needed to laugh some more so we wanted to have a few drinks with granny before going to the pub so I grabbed some vodka and Shaena took some cans of beer from under the sink (out of date I might add!) and headed back to grannys at about 9.00 pm.

We walked into granny's bedroom and found her in her silk pajamas, with pearls around her neck and a wine glass full of brandy in her hand. Her eyes light up when she saw us. Shaena wore a lovely purple top and jeans and I was wearing my new size 8 jacket and leggings. Granny soon asked us about the coat and Shaena showed her the photos. She decided it was perfect and all that was left to decide was what size to buy it in!

Granny weighs about 6 1/2 tone but is convinced she is a size 12- I wanted her to buy a size 8 but this was proving difficult. I said granny, this jacket is a size 8 and I have loads of room. She looked at me, I knew that look- she was about the let out a corker! She said ' loads of room, your boobs are pouring out of it dear'. I looked at Shaena and we both laughed - granny was right! We compromised and granny said that she would buy the coat in a size 10. Hungover, Shaena and I bought the coat for granny the next day.

If you would like to hear more granny stories, let me know - as there are lots more and I am ready to tell them.

Chat soon x x x x