Good Morning From Vancouver

Well, we're all here in Canada, safe and sound and ready for a wedding. Just in case we didn't communicate it very well or forgot to tell you...we're on vacation. Envy us.

We've done this Vancouver thing many times now, so we're getting the routine down, but there are always tweaks, little changes that we try each new time we come. The kids always do great on the plane, making us look like super parents when really they do all the hard parts like sitting still for three hours, surviving on peanut butter & jelly and tubes of yogurt, and somehow managing to be entertained by the same small toys and books that they've been sick of at home for months. Then we get into Seattle and face a 2.5 hour car ride before we're actually There. This time we spent some time with our Seattle friends Chad & Melinda at a lovely park on an absolutely perfect day, which broke up all the travel time very nicely. The other change about this part was that we've rented a car this time, so no one had to trek all the way down from Canada to pick us up.

Once we actually make it up to Vancouver, we usually pull into my Mom's house and start unpacking, but this trip we're staying with my Dad. So another slight change of pace...the kids seem to be doing fine with being here and look really cute sleeping together in one bed. They might not want to go back to separate beds when we get home again.

By now we've settled into our routine. It's been three days since we arrved, and our body clocks have adjusted a bit. The kids go to bed around 8 Vancouver time, which would be 10 at home, and they sleep until 6 (Vancouver), which is exceptional. On previous trips I've gotten used to waking up at 4 with them because they never really made the switch. And of course I stay up talking and catching up with seldom-seen friends and family every night, so I pretty much just always go on less sleep than usual whenever I'm in Vancouver. Not the norm for being on vacation for some people, perhaps, but I don't mind it. Right now it's 6:39 AM here, and everyone is asleep but Alicia and me. We've already had some breakfast, I've made coffee, written about half of a fairly tedious blog post...Alicia has found some Play-Doh and is being remarkably quiet.

The kids are two and four years old now. A world of difference from one and three when it comes to playing together, entertaining each other, and letting Mom and Dad just relax and chat with the grown-ups. This trip has been very nice so far. On Friday night, my entire family was together and much laughing and joking transpired, but the evening ended with a fairly serious heart-to-heart discussion about life and things arising therefrom among all nine of us.

And my baby sister is getting married on Saturday. She's way more grown up than I tend to think of her, and she's getting hitched to a really great guy, which she absolutely deserves, being a wonderful person herself. All eyes are on her this week. I think Michelle, and perhaps I too, is/am/are (Michelle, what's the rule when you begin a sentence with that?) thinking back to our wedding, wondering how seven and a half years have gone by and whether we were as young and beautiful and ready and not ready as these two kids we get to stand with and celebrate with.

It's great to be here.