Friday brought us back to southern Canada. We took two planes on three legs of our journey, each location the weather getting colder, wetter and windier until the inevitable happened; Thing 1 threw up on the plane.
We arrived at our final airport and walked the long cement tunnel to the carousels only to be told our luggage didn't make the last connection and will join us shortly (this is the advantage to a plane being held for you - at least the next "on time" plane isn't long following). The adventure to wrangle 2 kids to the car counter, wait your turn, take the bathroom break, wait your turn again at the car counter then begins which means that by the time you put your carryon in the car and go back to the luggage carousels you are not only an hour and a half past bedtime, but still have 10 minutes for the luggage to arrive.
We eventually go the luggage, journeyed back to the car and began the car seat fiasco that only some one with arthritis ... or maybe a broken hand ... can truly understand. Car seats were not designed to be put in by someone like me. I pull and pull with all my might, put myself, or Thing 1 for "extra weight" to bear down on the strap behind, I yank all I can on the seatbelt and then have to pray to god that it is in good enough.
All of that follows the argument about which side of the car is better to sit on.
Then begins the "trust in Google Maps" saga. Google Maps is great in that it gives you all the names 16th St/TC1/AB 737 the downside is it gives you ALL the names - sometimes too much information is not a good thing. So between trust, memory and a deep breath we began the drive from an airport I've never driven to or from to a hotel I've never seen along a road I've been on as a child (or 14). Things like "turn right onto AB2" are not really required when the road is a dead end and turning is your only option, but eventually we found our road, found our exit and found our hotel. Though the U-turn that had me concerned turned out to be unnecessary.
The hotel attendant says "you're later than your late check in time" which give me my first real indication of how late we are, because I put a 10 pm check in time just in case - and since Thing 1 & Thing 2 should have been in bed at 8 I'm in for a LOOOONG night, as you might guess if you knew that we still didn't have supper. Leg 2 of our airplane ride does offer food - though T1 & T2 were not terribly interested in Shepherd's Pie ("the meat tastes funny") or the Chicken on rice with a bbq type sauce ("I'm NOT eating that") so after check in we walk to the conveniently located Pizza 73 to order and wait for pizza.
At that point I get to turn on my cell phone - which has only been dormant since my med trip in June, not too long ago, and I have messages. It seems strange to be asked to confirm an appointment I booked myself and be told that 48 hours notice is required to change or cancel the appt - so if I don't want to cancel, but I don't confirm will it still be there....I left a message just in case.
After eating the pizza in front of family channel (2 weeks without seems to have been an eternity for Thing 1) Thing 2 actually thinks we're going to go the pool....um no, it's almost tomorrow already.
The only advantage to keeping them up this late is that they actually slept till 830 - the downsides all revolve around the fact that they only slept till 830. Shrek movies at relatives homes become opportunities to fight, wagons at the zoo lead to stomping on feet.
All of which is fine because the whole reason we came was so we could go to the Zoo....something most of my memories of Stampede city revolve around - though usually it is walking through the plant and butterfly areas walking behind my family while they do the Peter.
We arrived at our final airport and walked the long cement tunnel to the carousels only to be told our luggage didn't make the last connection and will join us shortly (this is the advantage to a plane being held for you - at least the next "on time" plane isn't long following). The adventure to wrangle 2 kids to the car counter, wait your turn, take the bathroom break, wait your turn again at the car counter then begins which means that by the time you put your carryon in the car and go back to the luggage carousels you are not only an hour and a half past bedtime, but still have 10 minutes for the luggage to arrive.
We eventually go the luggage, journeyed back to the car and began the car seat fiasco that only some one with arthritis ... or maybe a broken hand ... can truly understand. Car seats were not designed to be put in by someone like me. I pull and pull with all my might, put myself, or Thing 1 for "extra weight" to bear down on the strap behind, I yank all I can on the seatbelt and then have to pray to god that it is in good enough.
All of that follows the argument about which side of the car is better to sit on.
Then begins the "trust in Google Maps" saga. Google Maps is great in that it gives you all the names 16th St/TC1/AB 737 the downside is it gives you ALL the names - sometimes too much information is not a good thing. So between trust, memory and a deep breath we began the drive from an airport I've never driven to or from to a hotel I've never seen along a road I've been on as a child (or 14). Things like "turn right onto AB2" are not really required when the road is a dead end and turning is your only option, but eventually we found our road, found our exit and found our hotel. Though the U-turn that had me concerned turned out to be unnecessary.
The hotel attendant says "you're later than your late check in time" which give me my first real indication of how late we are, because I put a 10 pm check in time just in case - and since Thing 1 & Thing 2 should have been in bed at 8 I'm in for a LOOOONG night, as you might guess if you knew that we still didn't have supper. Leg 2 of our airplane ride does offer food - though T1 & T2 were not terribly interested in Shepherd's Pie ("the meat tastes funny") or the Chicken on rice with a bbq type sauce ("I'm NOT eating that") so after check in we walk to the conveniently located Pizza 73 to order and wait for pizza.
At that point I get to turn on my cell phone - which has only been dormant since my med trip in June, not too long ago, and I have messages. It seems strange to be asked to confirm an appointment I booked myself and be told that 48 hours notice is required to change or cancel the appt - so if I don't want to cancel, but I don't confirm will it still be there....I left a message just in case.
After eating the pizza in front of family channel (2 weeks without seems to have been an eternity for Thing 1) Thing 2 actually thinks we're going to go the pool....um no, it's almost tomorrow already.
The only advantage to keeping them up this late is that they actually slept till 830 - the downsides all revolve around the fact that they only slept till 830. Shrek movies at relatives homes become opportunities to fight, wagons at the zoo lead to stomping on feet.
All of which is fine because the whole reason we came was so we could go to the Zoo....something most of my memories of Stampede city revolve around - though usually it is walking through the plant and butterfly areas walking behind my family while they do the Peter.
Last time we spent our time in the Canadian Wilds - which is a large number of Northern animals. This time the plan is more about Prehistoric park for the 7 year old - who enjoyed himself but seems to have been hoping for more Tyrell Museum and less Zoo....We went off to "Africa" where Thing 2 had fun yelling "Hi zebra" to the Zebras - and then did the same with the other animals - though Ostriches became "birdies". We wandered and looked at other animals, found snacks, played on climbers, looked at the Elephant's big butt until it was finally time to do the shopping - Thing 1 "had to have" a dinosaur shirt and Thing 2 wanted a stuffed bear.
So by 2 pm I was "zoo-ed" out. Well I had learned from auntie that there was a "lego" store in town, so we went up to the LRT and went to the mall. Turns out it was the 1 year anniversary of the store and there was a free play time - which means tables set up with buckets of red lego for anyone to build. After you finish your project you get a coupon to go up to their store and get a certificate of participation.
After we finished up at the mall, we began the process of heading back to the hotel and to the pool as per Thing 2's request.
Sunday was all about Stampede - it doesn't seem right to come this far, this week, and not go but that evening my feet did not agree. The process of getting to the Stampede was much the same as Zoo day. The entrance was easy and the games were aplenty; Fighting the frustration at "can I have" was never ending. In the end when looking back, it was a good day. Now to hope for a good night sleep.
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