we're back

Just a quick note to let you know, we're finally back in Calgary, after a three week tour of Dryden and Geraldton. Phew! No time to download the camera yet, or share the many, many funny moments. Those will come. I have just three days to turn around and be off for a cabin in BC. It's not much time, considering I had a bachelor living here alone for three weeks. It could be worse. But not by much.

The trip home was rough. John was sad the whole time. After the two hours or so of him droning "noooo...nooooo....nooooo" from the back seat, on our way to the airport, we discovered the photo album Mike's parents had assembled. At first it made him laugh. Then, it made him cry. I've never seen him so genuinely sad before. It was heartbreaking. Then Joan got carsick. That was really fun.

Physically getting on the plane was relatively easy. But then, the moping started. John moped, and Joan squirmed. John perked up a little when he struck up a conversation with the guy behind us. The guy gave him a loonie when he got off in Regina (a 30-min stopover). But when John tried to show it to the girl behind him for the Regina to Calgary leg, he dropped it, never to be seen again, which just amplified the moping. Oh, and then there was the poo incident. I have no idea when it happened. Hopefully very close to the end. John pooped on the plane without telling me. And of course, I have no sense of smell, so I had no idea. But I'm sure everyone else on the plane could tell. So Joan reeked of vomit, and John had poopy pants. I'm sure our neighbours just looooved us! He finally told me just as we were about to leave the plane. He asked if there was a bathroom in the airport, because he'd poped his pants. ANd sure enough, he was doing the poopy walk down the isle. Lovely. So I got him cleaned up, though he had to lose his underwear in the process. As I was cleaning him in the bacthroom, he said "I made the airplane stink. That was really funny!" Delightful child. We made our way down to baggage, where Mike was nowhere to be found. So I got on a payphone to find him. While I was talking, John said he pooped again. So I checked him, but couldn't find anything. But when we got home, we found a giant streak of poop all down his leg and his socks. Don't forget, he had no underwear on at this point. So there just may be a John poop sitting in the Calgary airport, which slipped down the legs of his pants, and onto the floor.

Anyway, it was an adventure. Joan was out before we even got home. John was out, but woke up when we tried to slip him into bed, so we gave him a bath and he crawled in with us. He's still out. Joan woke up just a while ago, and has been shovelling in the Cheerios. (We hadn't fed her too much yesterday, hoping it would keep her from getting sick again.) She needs a bath, badly, but generally seems happy to be home. John, I'm not so sure. He wimpered a lot in the car ride from the airport to home, but seemed happy when he was in bed with us. Hopefully, he'll be OK. We'll have to get him back to Dryden again soon. That was definitely my last flight alone with the kids. I'm not doing that with three! Besides, we're probably blacklisted in WestJet's computer now, for emitting too many unpleasant odours. But we'll find a way. Mike's thinking next time, he'll drive us home, fly back, leaving me the car, and then fly back and drive us home a few weeks later. But we'll see.

Better go! Pictures will be downloaded soon, but I have a lot of work to do first! Mike's hoping to show his friend from work who needs a place to stay the basement room today or tomorrow, and of course we're turning right around and leaving town again, so I need the place tidied up again for the real estate agent anyway. Ugh. Right back to the drudgery of life. But everything else is fine. The baby's still alive - lots of strange contraction type sensations on the trip to Winnipeg, which had me a bit nervous. But I think it was just the sensation of it flipping around. I swear I feel a little head on the side now, and it's kicking to the opposite side, instead of up, so I may be right. But no labour yet, and it still appears to be alive, which is all that really matters at this point. As long as it holds off until August, when we're back in the city and settled in, that's all I care about!