I have talked a little bit about Grosse Isle, my hometown, but today, I look at Kit's hometown. We moved to Portage La Prairie when I was pregnant with Kit, so to him this will forever be his home. This is a very strange thing for us to think of. "You mean our kid won't grow up where we did? In a super small town where literally everyone knows everything you do, you play every sport if for no other reason just to make sure there's a team, you don't have to choose between french immersion or other etc..." and the list goes on...

The most striking thing we noticed just by driving around the city before we moved here, was how many and how large the trees were. One in particular, is in our front yard, a maple, with a swing hanging from one of the branches. Portage seems to be an amazing place for growing things. The soil is rich and being close to water I find everything in my garden from hydrangeas, to rhubarb, to cedars and rose bushes all grow extremely well (without a lot of help from me, thats for sure). 

For Chris and I, this tree, though seemingly unimportant, makes our home in a city feel more like a home in the country. The natural beauty of the trees, the Island Park across the lake, and of course the people, have helped to make Portage feel like home for us, and we are happy that Kit will grow up around some of this priceless nature, flora and love.

Our decisions as parents will be plenty and have just begun, but we know one thing for sure, nature will always be a teaching and learning tool for both us and Kit, and our new found home has an abundance of it.