I'm so glad to be home

Conditions at 6:00 - 6* and clear
Expected later -chance of rain and a high of only 11*

After trying for some 24 hours, I finally got home yesterday at 2:00. 
As I flew over the island, the sun was shining and it just looks breathtakingly beautiful from the air this time of year. I wish everyone who lives here could see that, if they've never flown. They would truly appreciate how very fortunate they are to live in such a gorgeous place. I don't care if I ever go back to Ontario again, especially after driving in virtually bumper to bumper traffic at 120 kms an hour to get to the airport.  I just can't do that anymore. I was never a great passenger, as Lloyd can attest to, but now it's worse.

The young coach

We had a great weekend with the kids. Saturday morning we went to Cambridge to watch Tristen's hockey practice. He can actually move around on his own now, shuffling along. Of course, he does have his own personal coach, James, who is on the ice with him. You can see how proud James is of his little brother as he helps him. On the way home we stopped at a nearby Zehrs to pick up groceries and didn't I run into my friend Jolene. It was SO nice to see her and she says all the other IAAP girls are going to be so jealous that she got to see me. It was funny, because she was just going around a corner in the store when we saw each other. She was looking at me and she told me she thought it was me but kept telling herself, that looks like Sandy but she wouldn't be HERE.  So that was a very special thing to have happen.
When we got back to Patti's, we started prepping for our gathering on Saturday night. There were 4 couples coming over so we had lots of work to do. James and Meghan were a huge help.  We were making potato salad, and Ceasar salad and making mini burgers for the kids. I cooked the potatoes, and James peeled and cubed all of them. Meghan cut up green onions and radishes, and James made the filling for the deviled eggs. Lloyd wanted fried onions with his burgers so they both took turns cutting up whole onions and the contest was to see who could go the longest without crying. James won that one hands down, as he didn't cry at all, even though Meg and I were both in tears.  They were both extremely helpful and I couldn't have gotten everything done in time with out them.
Meghan was supposed to go to dance class at 12:30 but she didn't want to miss any time with Grandma so was permitted to stay home. Mid afternoon we went over to visit our friends Martin and Lan and we were ablt to visit with them and Martin's parents, as well as Dave and Sook and Terry and Darcel. It was really great to see everyone and the weather was absolutely perfect. It was sunny and warm and all the trees were in splendid colour. We left Martin's in time to go over to the arena and watch the last period of James' hockey gam (they lost ). Patti and Greg had taken him to hockey and they left from there. We took James with us and we headed home. Not much time left before people started arriving.  We started out on the deck but it soon got very cold outside. We had a nice evening and it was great to see everyone. After everyone left, we loaded the dishwasher and then went to bed.
Sunday morning we got up and made French toast for breakfast then headed out to Durham to deliver the Neon to Mike and Carol, who were buying it.  Lloyd and Tristen were in the car and James and Meghan and I were in the van. We had a great time chatting all the way there. Part way there, in Fergus, fortunately not too far, Lloyd realized he'd forgotten the paperwork necessary for the transaction so he had to turn around and go back and get it. So the kids and I went to Tim Hortons and had hot chocolate and donuts (except Meghan, who had hash browns).  By the time we were done, Lloyd was back. We gave him the coffee we'd bought him and headed out again.
We had a lovely visit with Mike and Carol and I got to see their new house. They've been working really hard inside and done a ton of work and it looks great. It has lots of character and the lot is lovely. I'm particularly envious of their front porch!

Lunch in the sun

When we left there we headed out to find a place to take the kids fishing as there's a place outside of Durham so we brought fishing poles. But unfortunately they were closed for the season. What a disappointment!  Lloyd got the number for a similar place near Milton and we tried all day to reach it but couldn't get an answer. But our first destination was to find a chip wagon for french fries as there used to be one just south of there. Our efforts to find one were finally rewarded when we located one. We almost drove past and had to turn around and go back.  It was a beautiful day to sit in the sun at the picnic table and eat our fries. 

Fun at the fall fair

We had at least a good our to get back to Milton but we still weren't getting any answer. After we got back through Guelph and were headed out highway 24, I saw the sign for Erin. I remembered that Erin Fall Fair is always on Thanksgiving weekend so I suggested we go there instead of all the way to Milton (and likely only to find the fishing place closed as well). James was very disappointed to not go fishing but he other two kids thought a fall fair was a great idea. So we went to Erin and enjoyed the fair for a while. After some rides and some games everyone was happy.
On the way back, Lloyd suggested we go to Pizza Hut for supper so it was quite late when we got home, full  but happy and tired. Needless to say, everyone was in bed by 10;00, including grandma and papa.
Monday morning Lloyd went to work and due to a series of missed communications I missed my 11:00 flight and never did get out until Tuesday at the same time. But the up side is I got to go to dinner and a movie with Lloyd before heading back so it really wasn't so bad.

A weird thing happened though, and I think it was just stress from trying to get home and get everything organized. When I got off the plane and was walking across the pavement to the terminal in Charlottetown, for some  unknown reason I just started to cry. Tears just started streaming down my face and I have absolutely no idea why. But I was glad to be home. It all worked out in the end. I had a chance to get what I needed for my class before the end of the day, I picked up the dog and gathered what I needed and still was able to pick up Brenda before she left. I had called her and told her to go on ahead as I expected to be late but in the end, it all worked out.


I didn't have the recipes printed out but it was simple stuff and I promised I'd bring the recipes next week.