Day 206

Well April 7th was definitely a long day. 25 and a half hours to be exact.
I woke up at 6:30 England time, got ready and did some of the boys breakfasts, plus my own. Once we all got ready, around 9:30, I took the boys for a walk up to one of the parks I'd been to before, but never with them. They complained at first, about how far away it was, but once we got there it was fine. We played some soccer, which Zach complained about, and then we played a How to Train Your Dragon type game which made him happy. After a bit, I decided we better start heading back as we were supposed to be leaving for the airport at 12:30.

When we arrived at the house, Heloise was just heading out to the Garden Centre. It was just after 11. I sat with Nathaniel for a bit while he played Wii, and then Zach and I sat down to watch TV. I made him watch "Princess Diaries". I didn't know what was happening for lunch, and groceries were low because we were leaving, so after waiting a while for someone to suggest something for the boys...I decided to make some popcorn. While the 4 of us were finishing that up, Tim stealing some from each of us, Heloise came in and it was decided we had to get ready to leave.

I had my stuff, and the boys with their hand luggage in the car about 20 minutes before Heloise and Tim were ready. They actually couldn't believe it when they came out to put something in the car at one point. Eventually we were all in the car. We pulled out of the driveway, and the realized Josh didn't have his sunglasses. We pulled back in, and it was probably about 1:30 before we left again. Between Tim not being able to find Josh's sunglasses, asking me to grab his camera, and not locking the door...it was certainly later than I expected to leave.

We were finally on the highway, and as there was no sign...we took the wrong turn. Now heading in the wrong direction, I began to panic on the inside. I of course wouldn't show it, but I was worried I wasn't going to get to Canada after all. Eventually we did. But we were literally just ON TIME. We pulled in, unloaded our luggage, and Tim handed the keys to some guy that was going to park the car. Into the airport we went. We went to line up at the baggage drop off...that took a while as we lined up behind a woman with a toddler and like 5 oversized bags. Good idea? Not so much. We eventually switched to a different line, and got through much quicker.

We went to a couple of different stores, and then sat and had a coffee and sandwich. I had gone to buy Heloise, Tim and I a Starbucks...they were out of soy :( I bought the other two their coffees, and ended up getting myself a not so decent mango blended juice drink. While sitting there we watched a man make balloon animals in the middle of the terminal. Odd. Someone offered him money, he refused, but the guy wouldn't take it back. The Balloon man took it, and I couldn't hear their conversation but he asked the person for their autograph (on the bill), the person signed it, the Balloon man then proceeded to rip the bill in half, keeping what I'm guessing was the signed half for himself, and gave the other half back to the guy...how odd. I watched for a while, and eventually he left. Heloise and Tim went off at different times for different things, and after a while were in a panic because the flight board, said that our flight was boarding. GREAT! We had to go pretty quickly. We went down a floor in the elevator, and then took a bus to our plane. LITERALLY TO OUR PLANE. We stepped out, and walked to stairs on the tarmack leading us directly to the door. We sat down, and the plane was delayed for 15 minutes. Something to do with air traffic control. Then, once we were finished waiting for that, they had to turn the left side of the plane off cuz something went wrong, and they had to reboot the system. I was almost asleep, but Zach had decided to sit in between Heloise and I, and between the 2 of them, they weren't going to let me sleep. I coloured with Zach, and eventually we were on our way.

I was no longer really tired, so I was now determined to stay up to fight Jet lag (I think it worked). I watched "It's Complicated" - So funny, "Romeo and Juliet" - Love Leo in that one!, "Couple's Retreat" - pretty funny, "Bridget Jones' Diary" - A favourite, and then an episode of "Better Off Ted". By the end of that, we were about ready to land. And wouldn't you know it...as wide awake as I was the entire flight...I was nodding off as we touched down. I did for a quick second, and then we landed and I was awake. We walked to Customs, and the next probably...hour and a half...was complete...craziness. I got the bags off the carousel while Heloise and Tim had to take the boys and go to immigration...and that's where I'll leave that story. By the time we got through all of the checks, an entire bus load of people were waiting for us. I must have looked soooooo embarrassed. We then walked to the bus, got on, and drove to where we're staying in Lake Louise. The coordinator/organizer guy spoke, and I listened. When he was done, Josh and I talked and played games, until he got in trouble and was told to be quiet. That's when my 25 and a half hours of awakeness got to me. I nodded off after Banff, and I know it wasn't for long...but it felt sooooo good to shut my eyes.

We got to the hotel, unloaded our stuff, came in and went straight to bed. 5 hours later, I was awoken by Nathaniel. Actually...I got woken up by him probably every hour from 3 o'clock on. I was not happy! Anyway, I'll write today's blog tomorrow...but it won't make a difference to you, because I'm not posting them all until Monday anyway :p I refuse to pay 10 dollars for 24 hours of internet. Good Night xx