Leaving - Days 5&6

Sunday was such a relaxing day. I slept really well, until about 4:30 a.m. The sun was up and I wasn't used to having so much light in my bedroom. I lay there for a while and it was too quiet. I missed hearing the leaf blowers across the street in the Vallarta parking lot. I chuckled to myself; how many times had I cursed that crazy blower when I lived in Fresno?

Chris had to work, so Carl had another day just to himself. He loaded up the kids after lunch and took them all on a bike ride. It was nice for Maegan and I to have a few minutes just to visit. Joel, Kezia and Ethan played outside for a good part of the afternoon. Although I don't know how many times my kids came in complaing that it was too cold. It was probably 12 degrees, in the low 50's, but I had to agree with them, it did feel cold!

The rest of the day seemed to go by quickly and soon it was time for dinner. Maegan made a lovely meal. After the kids were in bed, Maegan pulled out these great ice cream sandwiches by Skinny Cow. You can hardly tell they are fat free. Now they aren't any saucy hot fudge pudding or chocolate cinnamon torte, but they are better for you.

That evening we adults all played Wii. I had a really good time playing tennis; I have amazing hand eye coordination. It was hilarious watching the guys box. Around midnight we were all tired and so we headed to bed. I packed up our things and was thankful I could do some laundry at Maegan's. How is it possible that 5 people can generate so much laundry when all they do is sit in a vehicle? I also re-folded a bunch of clothes so that I could see what we had packed. Unfortunately I had packed more like we were in California in June instead of B.C. in June. Did I mention that it still was raining and cold?

The next morning, Monday, we got everyone up and had a quick breakfast. We said our goodbyes to Maegan, Chris and Ethan. As we were leaving I realized that it would probably be at least 3 years before we saw each other again, and they probably will have moved somewhere else by then. So I got a bit emotional as we left. Darn it! I should have thought and processed those things beforehand, maybe that would make leaving a bit easier.

The drive was quiet in the morning because the kids were tired. As Carl and I drove, I think it hit us that no, we aren't on holidays, and we're not going back to Fresno. And it was Monday and instead of looking forward to homegroup in the evening, the best we could hope for was burgers in some tiny B.C. town. No organic salad by Michelle, no Rhonda dessert, no cool vegetable medley by Kelly, no fresh fruit from Simonian farms that Mika brought. And it would be lonely in that restaurant, no lively conversation with friends. So we cried because it was Monday and our Mondays won't ever be the same.

As we headed down the highway, Kezia all of a sudden said that she had to throw up. ACK! I quickly dumped out the Trader Joe's suckers and tossed back the container. Kezia caught it in one hand, put it under her chin and puked. I was so proud of her because she didn't miss! And then we stopped on the side of the road to empty the container and Kezia was thrilled that she didn't even spill any barf. Aren't you proud of me Mom?

For lunch we stopped in Kamloops for sushi (Kezia just had noodles; I wasn't taking any chances with her). Maegan had recommended the place and it was nice change from fast food. The meal didn't take very long. Carl thought he was Mr. Funny when he said it was because they didn't have to cook anything!!

And as we drove, it kept raining and raining. Carl and I haven't driven in B.C. since we were lil' gaffers in junior high with our parents. So we saw some very beautiful mountains, waterfalls, deer. We had a 20 minute delay because some rocks had fallen onto the highway. We drove through some pretty amazing tunnels and Joel thought it was the neatest thing that we were driving through the belly of a mountain. Every 10 miles there were warning signs, Do Not Stop! Avalanche Area! Falling Rocks! Yikes, can we drive a little faster?

I really enjoyed seeing B.C. again, but with the rain and the risk of getting smooshed by falling rocks, we couldn't stop and look around anywhere. Well, that's alright because we had quite the miles to go. At about 8:30 p.m. Asha was starting to get restless and wasn't happy with anything I was passing her. I can't blame her because she had three naps and had been gloriously happy all day. I fed her some strawberries and she was happier. But soon that wasn't good enough and so she started to complain and wail, not cry, no, just this annoying yell.

I'd pass her a toy.

No! Toss it over where I can't reach it.

I'd pass her another toy.

Toss

Pass another one

Toss, Yell

Pass

Toss

Yell

Okay, no more passing, it's 9:13 and we're 14 km from Calgary

Yell, Yell, Yell......quiet

Laughing at Kezia making silly faces

Thanks Kezia

And so at 9:30 we pulled up in front of my parents' place and we all jumped out of the vehicle. It felt so good to be there and done with our long trip. Carl mumbled to me afterwards, "Today was too long, let's never do such a long haul in one day again". Okay Carl that's fine. We've already driven 3000km and we're almost home.