A New Challenge!

Posted by Ian On June 5, 2009

I'm pleased to announce that I have started my own little company - mare ad mare, which is latin for 'sea to sea' and part of the Canadian motto (check the cover of your new passports). Our goal will be to build a fresh new brand of clothing for Canadian (and wannabe Canadian) girls. I will be using this blog, much as I have in the past - to continue showing people around the globe (over 50 countries now!) what it's like to be a Canadian girl, tracing the footsteps of our 3 girls as we explore more of this great place we call home.

Un petit baiser

Unique shirt for Canadian girls

'Gimme a little kiss' - says it all. Now for big girls! Check www.mareadmare.ca for more details. All designs copyright of mare ad mare.

JUMP IN!

Fall shirt for Canadian girls

A big pile of leaves for you here! As a Canadian summer turns to fall, the leaves change colours and then fall off the trees. Kids rake them up and play! So go on, Jump into Fall with this Orange T. Check www.mareadmare.ca for more details. All designs copyright of mare ad mare.

Pass the Marshmallows!

Summer shirt for Canadian Girls

Summer in Canada is the time for camping, camp fires and of course - Marshmallows! Get ready to go roast some in this summer yellow T. Check www.mareadmare.ca for more details. All designs copyright of mare ad mare.

Spring...Finally!

Spring shirt for Canadian Girls

After a long Canadian winter, spring can never arrive too soon! Pull on this Spring Green T and go planting girls! Check www.mareadmare.ca for more details. All designs copyright of mare ad mare.

It's not ALWAYS cold in Canada...

Winter shirt for Canadian Girls

How many times have you had to tell someone that it's not always cold here? Well, sometimes it is cold - but to make your point, grab this little winter blue T and let them know that it's not just snow and ice up here all the time! Check www.mareadmare.ca for more details. All designs copyright of mare ad mare.

Un petit baiser

Unique shirt for Canadian girls

'Gimme a little kiss' - says it all. Girls, grab this little white T, and go get your kiss ;-) Check www.mareadmare.ca for more details. All designs copyright of mare ad mare.

In my last post, I told you about touring around a new Canadian - one of his many questions was -

What do you do for fun in Winter?

Skating

So, I told him about our outdoor arenas where kids can skate and play hockey. In fact, I had my girls out just the other week for a skate.



They haven't done much skating in their lives... I could probably count the times on one hand. Living in Virginia, U.S.A and Germany, not too many chances really. But I can remember skating and playing hockey on the outdoor rinks almost every day when I was a kid... The outdoor rinks provide one of those primieval sounds, that whenever you hear it - it takes you immediately back to what you remember about growing up in Northern Ontario. I used to walk to the rink, and the second I stepped out of my front door I could hear it... the cutting of the ice with the skate blades, the crack of the stick slapping the puck and the thud of the puck hitting the boards. It's nice that we're back now, and I can take the girls to share the same experiences that I had growing up.

There are so many outdoor rinks in the Ottawa area, and you can pick up used skates fairly cheap at places like 'Play it Again Sports' making it a very economical winter activity.

Tobogganing

In case you're not familiar with the term, check out wiki's definition for tobogganing. Basically, you find a hill you can walk up, take a piece of plastic - or the old school wooden toboggans, sit on them and race down the hill. Some people also refer to it as sledding...but at the same time, some people say sledding when they mean snowmobiling...
Here's an edit of the girls toboganning in North Bay at Christmas time.




There are hills all over the place in Ottawa, and pretty much everywhere in Canada... and it's another cheap and easy fun winter thing to do...

What else? Well, there's cross country skiing, downhill skiing, snowshoeing, sledding or snowmobiling, ice fishing, hockey, ringette, curling - there's no shortage of ways to stay busy.

With winter taking up a decent chunk of the year - Dec-Mar, it's better to get along with winter than to fight it!

2 Response to "So what do you do for fun in Winter???"

  1. Anonymous Said,

    oh fun, Emma & Meghan were doing pretty well ice skating & oh my,that looked like a lot of snow coming down in the 2nd video. i wish we had snow, send some our way!! ya know, ya'll can come down to visit in F'burg & we can go to the indoor ice rink here ;-) hehehe!!

     

  2. Unknown Said,

    Thanks Cindy - I know Sara would love to steal away for a bit... maybe we could arrange something for a weekend that you guys could see each other again.

    And the snow? Sara says you can have it!

     

    About Me

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    It's not about the money you make, the toys you have, the clothes you wear - it's about the life experiences you go through, the challenges you face and the stories you tell... Having just moved back to Canada (after almost 8 years in the U.S and Germany), we have lots to show our girls and our friends around the world about Canada. We're going to be telling our stories, hope you enjoy our adventures. Mare ad Mare means 'sea to sea' and we want to show the world, from Sea to Sea - this is what it's like to be a Canadian Girl!