canada!

not a goodbye - more of a see you soon (I hope!)... on Monday

with our new friends, that we made just before we left. better late than never!!

We're here, we're home! Well, we're not at our home, but we are home in Canada. The trip back was lengthy: we said goodbye to our Patra home on Monday afternoon, drove to Athens and checked into the hotel at the airport - where we had a rough night's sleep (unfortunately). We were both awake when the alarm sounded at 6:00, and made it over to the terminal with one sleepy babe and one eager-to-walk (in jammies, as slow as mud) babe: Steve and I checked in (at separate counters), said our goodbyes ("see you in Bowmanville!") and went our separate ways - Steve to British Airways and the three of us on to Aegean Air (very poor customer service BUT, at least we had the only spare seat on the plane - quel chance!). The three hour flight to Munich was no problem, but the 10+ hours we spent on the next aircraft.... ugggggggh. We were delayed on the plane after taxi to the runway due to a malfunction with a fuel pump (I heard: "there's something wrong with the left fallanji") and had to stay on board while it was all sorted. We watched TV and Dino Dan, played cards (sort of), drew pictures, played with stickers, ate, slept (the kids did, no zzzs for me), did paint-with-water and ? The kids were very well-behaved, aside from a 25 minute pre-sleep meltdown from Hendrik, after which I downed a drink and closed my eyes for all of 10 minutes... best part of the flight right there! (We also had a set of three seats on this flight; I'm not sure how it'd work if we didn't. No wait, I do: it wouldn't.) And then and then and then it was finally over and we cleared customs in record time, found our bags and found Gramps and spent some time in rush hour traffic on our way back to B-ville. The reunion with Gramps was cute: we spotted him before he did us, and Hendrik pitter-patter-pitter-patter ran to him with a huge smile on his face and gave him a huge huge hug. Alana hid behind a pillar (which was originally Hendrik's idea) and Gramps had to come and find her. And now? We've sort of settled in: there's laundry and to-do lists, and time with family aplenty. Erin and Lennon are here and it's adorable seeing all of the kids together, and watching the two biggers taking care and occupying themselves with the little. The weather is chilly and I'm missing Greece a little bit, but it feels good to be in Canada; this country will always be my home, regardless of where the ground beneath our feet may be.

cousins!

me, Alana and Lennon :)

by the creek for a walk, cycle and play

nice ride gramps!