I had a chat with my sister-in-law a few days ago. I think it was over the Easter weekend. We decided to call her as we were eating our massive slices of Blueberry pie as they inevitably reminded us of J. During the Summer, she took care of Sash for a week while we flew off to Warwick for a conference, and she took Sash blueberry picking every day. Each and every picture of Sash taken during that week had her face and butt absolutely covered in blueberries. When we arrived back at the cottage after a long flight from Heathrow via Toronto, via Winnipeg and a 3 hour drive to the cottage, we found Sash crawling around chasing runaway blueberries with her Granpa trailing after her with a broom. J mentioned that she and her dot L will be starting their March/Spring break this week. I was a bit confused because D had just finished his. J explained that in Canada the provinces stagger the school breaks. This is to avoid overcrowding at the few tourist and ski hills that they have, and also enables parents to book holidays. This may not be overly convenient for extended families across provinces to get together, but then for a majority of families, this is not an issue. I thought that this was rather smart. In Malaysia, I recall avoiding any holiday destination during the school holidays because of the hotels charging peak rates, that is if you can even get a room. I think now you have to book a year in advance! Why have the States not thought about staggering the school breaks, to give parents a break??

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Sash had her last Kidnasium class for the Winter session yesterday. I don't think I will be signing her up for the Spring session as we will be away in KL/Montreal/Quebec City for a large chunk of Spring. Also, why have her running like a maniac indoors and pay for this privilege when she can be doing the same thing outdoors for free. After the class, when the certs were being handed out (I don't know why they do this. Am I going to frame it up? I don't think so), a nanny asked me how old Sash is. I told her 2 in April. She told me her charge, Leo, turned 2 last week and said Sash was "big" in the "I am trying to figure out if your kid is a freak" kind of way(But then I am hormonal so I may be imagining things). I ignored her ..I mean seriously, I didnt make a single comment about that honker of a nose your kid has, so why not return the compliment??!! I have been noticing her at the classes as she speaks French to Leo. She then asked me if I lived near the gym. I told her which street I lived on. She said "What? That's my street? What number?" I gave her the number. She said "Are you sure!! That's my number!" And for a second, a nano-second even, I actually thought "Hmmm, maybe that isn't my number..". I snapped out of that mode pretty quickly and re-assured her that that was indeed my number. Turns out she just moved in next door. She said that the family is renovating their new home..gave me address...up and coming neighbourhood..and have rented the house from Mexicans for 5 months. I explained that B and wife are not Mexicans but they have a third home in Mexico where the winter (and a cottage North of TO where they Summer). I welcomed her to the neighbourhood. I am thinking of inviting the family over for Sash's brunch, to get to know the gang or more importantly the kids. They have an older daughter who goes to the Toronto French School and I am sure that while we will probably never be able to afford the tuition (Nursery, 2 hours a day: 11 grand; Kindergarten: 21 grand; Grade school: 25 grand per annum (not including 5 grand Registration fee (and that is NOT the most Elite school)) it will be interesting to find out what they do there. But D wonders about the change in dynamics (I think he has been hanging with the wifeys too much)..so we shall see. The good news is that should we ever decide to go on sabbatical, we have the option of renting our home out as there seems to be a market among people renovating their homes...

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We file our US and NY State taxes today, and are looking into filing our Canadian taxes this week. Tax season is scary...