Arrived

We all had a pretty good sleep in the hotel, except Carl who complained that the pillows hurt his neck. I had to admit they were ridiculously thick and it felt like your neck was being displaced when you laid down. But I was too tired to care...

In the morning I was feeling anxious and jittery and glad that the end was in sight. Of course it was raining and cool and I complained for the millionth time to Carl, to which he replied, "We're not going back to California!". I know, I know, we are so close to home I can smell the clean prairie air.

We hopped in the car after I changed my facebook status and ate breakfast with the kids. It was a quiet morning as we drove. I tried not to speed, because Carl said that the best gas mileage was between 99 and 101 km, but it wasn't raining and I was anxious to just get there already!

We got to Moosimin SK for lunch and were pleasantly surprised that the Red Barn had a new fancy location. It was a pretty place to eat, but the counter service was slow just like it always is, and Carl wasn't impressed that the prices had gone up. Oh well. As we were leaving the parking lot, a few people looked at our license plate and said, Boy, you are sure a ways away from home. And Carl said, "We're getting closer and closer though,".

The sun peaked out just enough for the kids to do some laps in the gravel parking lot, but by the time we were ready to leave, the storm clouds came rolling in. And it started to rain.

Carl and I chatted a bit about some of the things that we were looking forward to in Winnipeg. For Carl, he was looking forward to seeing friends and family, to be in a familiar place, and to go golfing. I was excited about rekindling my relationship with my dishwasher, seeing my neighbours and going to church. Of course it will be good to be home, but it's a bit weird returning to a place when you've changed. Everything is the same and everything is different. How do you deal with that?

We arrived in Winnipeg around 6:30 p.m. and it was neat to see how some buildings had changed. The new hydro building is really looking beautiful. As we drove, it felt like we hadn't been gone at all. As we turned onto Noble Ave, Joel got excited and asked if the first place we could go is to Uncle John's to see the new baby. So we pulled our van and trailer back to our alley, jumped out and headed across the street. John and Caroline were surprised and excited to see us and the kids were so happy to meet their new baby cousin. John went to help Carl unload the trailer contents into the garage and I visited with Caroline. It was good to catch up with her and to hold my new nephew. So I am a bit biased, but he is one of the most beautiful babies I've seen in ages!

Carl and John came back and said that some of our stuff got a bit wet because there was a hole in the top of the u-haul. Blasted Rain! Well, our mattress was damp and all our bedding, but thankfully we had made arrangements to stay with Judy. The guys propped up the mattress and box spring, and we hopped back in the van to head to Judy's.

Joel and Kezia jumped out of the van and ran to the gate at Judy's. It was a very happy reunion. Kezia was so thrilled she was giddy. Judy was in her glory as she wheeled around with Kezia and Asha on her lap. Joel hung around a few times to get a ride too; even at over 4 ft, he's still not too big for her lap! Carl went and got our travel bags in and went to get some pizza. We visited and caught up on the latest in Judy's life. Joel and Kezia chatted on and on about the trip and California. It was getting close to 9 p.m. and I was exhausted. I got the pajamas for the kids (they were going to sleep upstairs in Judy's room for a sleepover) and headed downstairs to our bed. I did a bit of emailing to let people know we had arrived and then went to bed. Oh I was so tired. I think Carl stayed up a bit and watched Battle Star Galactica on his computer, but I can't remember. I can't even remember falling asleep.