<p><img style="float: left; margin-right: 8px;" src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/09/schneider_blog.jpg" alt="" border="0">Now that we've had a good couple months in Vancouver, we're all settled into life here and surprisingly, the transition has been very smooth. The whole family loves the city and the kids love the school so everything's been great so far.</p><br>

<p>With the busy schedule it's been a little difficult to really see the city but my kids and I have had some time to do a little bit of sightseeing via biking up and down Jericho Beach and Spanish Banks. I've got a baby seat on the back of my beach cruiser so Ella sits there while the other kids bike with me.</p><br>

<p>We tend to gravitate towards this woodsy area near the Yacht Club because there are rabbits running around everywhere and my kids just want to go rabbit hunting when we go out there. We go there and feed them and chase them around – Abigail has even started naming them!</p><br>

<p>Three of the kids are in school and everything's been great so far except for an issue with the boys: their hair is too long. The school has a code where the boys' hair has to be no longer than the top of their collar and our boys are California surfer boys so they're just used to the long hair. In California, their hair is short compared to some of the other kids.</p><br>

<p><img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/10/oct0909_schneider01_t.jpg" alt="" style="float: right; margin-left: 8px;" >We got Mathieu Jr's hair cut once already but it wasn't quite short enough. I think she secretly (or not so secretly) is trying to hold on to it – she's pretty much going to get it cut inch by inch until it's short enough. I think the boys might be taking after me a little bit – well at least when I was younger – because I used to have long hair when I was a kid too but not as long as they have it. We'll get that all under control shortly I'm sure.</p><br>

<p>My kids are something I will never get tired of talking about so I'll give you a breakdown of each of them so you kind of know them a little bit as I talk about them in the coming year. Like all kids, they are all very different and have very unique personalities. Here's the pecking order:</p><br>

<p>Mathieu Jr is a bit of a mama's boy and a typical boy – he's kind of scatterbrained, a little sloppy and he loves hockey. He just started with the Thunderbirds out at UBC and he's pretty excited about that.</p><br>

<p>My oldest daughter, Abigail, is the diligent one – she's left handed, very detailed, studies hard and loves to read. We think she's going to be our doctor or lawyer.</p><br>

<p>Neither my wife or I are left-handed but we think our second son, Micah, might also be left-handed too but actually we're not sure – he might be ambidextrous. He writes with both, throws with both but I'm not sure if he's scatterbrained or if he's just able to use both hands. He's our wildcard, you never know what you're going to get with him. He's go, go, go all the time but when he crashes, he's down hard and he can sleep 12 hours straight.</p><br>

<p>And Ella, the three year-old runs the house – she's the princess. Whatever she wants, everyone (me, my wife, and the kids) jumps and tends to her need and she knows it.</p><br>

<p><img src="http://cdn.nhl.com/canucks/images/upload/2009/10/oct0909_schneider02_t.jpg" alt="" style="float: left; margin-right: 8px;" >Getting to some hockey… the rehab has been going great and I'm feeling really good and practicing with the team everyday. I haven't been able to get out of the rink in under three hours too much these days so I've been putting in a lot of time here, which is good. I'm looking forward to getting into the lineup soon, hopefully by the end of the month.</p><br>

<p>Right now, it's really about taking it one week at a time and I haven't had any setbacks, everything's been really positive and I'm getting stronger so there's no reason to believe I can't be in by the end of the month but it's something I'll discuss with the doctors and the trainers.</p><br>

<p>The practicing can be monotonous and there have been stages where at the beginning I wasn't on the ice with the rest of the guys and that was frustrating. Once I got back on the ice, I was skating double sessions and doing two practices at the end of training camp. On the positive side, I'm in great shape and on the negative side, I have been getting a little antsy. I wanted to get into that first game but I want to be able to have an impact when I come in so it's a good thing that I'm taking this time to really get better before I come back.</p>