and then there was the rest of the holiday weekend...

We came home late last night from our 3 day/2 night trek to Victoria.  We all had an amazing time and were thoroughly glad we spent the time and money on this little Thanksgiving 'break'.  Our first night it snowed, and in the morning everything in Victoria looked so beautiful.  The fountain in front of Parliament was still frozen, but by the end of the day it had thawed, along with most of the snow.  Our Thanksgiving day is not the same as Canada's Thanksgiving Day (Canada celebrates Thanksgiving in October--and from what I can tell it to Canadians Thanksgiving means head to the U.S. and go shopping), so we didn't have the traditional roast beast feast.  Instead, our family had afternoon high tea.  The kids loved it.  The finger sandwiches, crumpets, scones, lemon curd, all of it.  I lost track of how many pots of tea we consumed, but it was a nice switch from the traditional stuff-yourself-'til-you-pop Thanksgiving meal.  That night I made pasta and we played games in our hotel suite. 

Incidentally, our hotel was fantastic.  A block away from Parliament, 2 bedrooms, living room, kitchenette, bath and a half.  We could spread out and not get on each other's nerves.  It was wonderful.  We weren't tripping over suitcases.  I wasn't trying to keep everything neat and tidy.  The only problem is that the next time we have to all share one hotel room, I am going to be cranky.  We even used the exercise room (which was also fabulous).  Annika got to swim, which is always a good thing for her. 

On our final day in Victoria, we went to the museum.  Our family is a museum family.  We can spend more hours in a museum looking at exhibits, reading placards, participating in interactive displays.  It was especially neat this year when Annnika made some connections between what she had been taught in science class and the visual exhibits.  We took a break to eat and watch an IMAX movie on Van Gogh, but she was the first one begging to head back upstairs and continue thru the museum exhibits.  That was VERY unusual.  By the end of several hours of this, we were all exhausted, but it was a good exhaustion.  Our brains were tired from taking everything in.  We headed to the ferry and began the trek home.

Today, we began the re-entry to our routine.  Kirsten had to be at work first thing this morning.  Josh's car had to go in to put the studded tires on.  I had to get blood work done.  Dean had an appointment and worked on church 'stuff' most of the day.  Oh and laundry, of course laundry.  Dean got the Christmas lights up.  He and Annika hauled the Christmas decoration boxes down, but they are still stacked in the garage.  Oh and then I cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal to fulfill a promise to the kids that they would in fact get their turkey dinner.  So I made the pumpkin dessert/pie, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatos and gravy, sweet potatos, asparagus, cranberry and did I forget anything???  Oh that's right, the wine.  Nope, I actually haven't had that yet.  We have to head to get my Mom at the train at 9 pm, so I will wait on my glass of wine.  OH and then the best part, we got to have Evy (Josh's gf) and her mom Nadia join us for dinner.  Nadia amazes me, but that is another blog.  She is such a warm and fun person, as is Evy. Dean's Mom was able to join us too.  Yup, back to the routine. 

For now, I am thankful that the five of us can still spend time together and enjoy each other.  Sure we may get testy with each other once in a while, but the laughter and good discussions always outweight those moments.  I am also thankful that we can return back home, even though that routine can often be a little overwhelming to me, its comfortable too.