Somehow, with one hour of sleep, Daddy and I woke our monkeys up at the ungodly hour of 4am to get ourselves to the airport. We thought we'd have plenty of time to grab a coffee before boarding. After spending twenty minutes fruitlessly searching for Quinn's lamb, I found Lamb 2.0 and hoped he wouldn't fuss. Then we couldn't find the correct entrance to the parking garage. A bit of a hiccup as our boarding passes were printed and we were sent off to another counter to check in the car seats. Then the ridiculous wait for the screening. At least, we didn't have to take off our shoes. We ran to our gate as our names were being paged for the final boarding call. Of course, our seats were at the rear of the plane. The passengers glared as we bopped them in the head with our backpacks and Quinn's errant foot.
It was a four hour flight. Hours 1 and 2 went smoothly, all things considered. Aisling slept. Devlin and Ceilidh occupied themselves with the television. Quinn started to lose it somewhere over Manitoba. By Saskatchewan, he was in full temper tantrum mode. I gave him a dose of gravol. It didn't help. I think it made it worse. We were that family with that kid - the one that was screaming loud enough to be heard over the roar of the jet's engines. Twenty minutes before we landed, Quinn finally fell into an exhausted sleep.
And so, our vacation started.
The highlights and low lights of our trip out west:
- being greeted at the door by a very excited cousin Mia
- seeing a bull elk, meandering near the parking lot, no more than 15 metres away, in Banff
- watching Mommy turn green on the 8 minute long gondola ride up Sulphur Mountain
- learning that both Aisling and Ceilidh had no qualms about the high ascent on the gondola ride, unlike their brother Devlin
- carrying Quinn in my arms,up a gazillion steps, to the summit of Sulphur Mountain
- relaxing in the hot springs
- Quinn having a full on meltdown on the side of the TransCanada highway 10 minutes from our exit
- picnicking next to a stream in beautiful Lake Louise
- hiking along Moraine Lake, breathing in the fresh mountain air and filling up on the gorgeous vista
- climbing up the rock pile with Quinn on my back and realizing the view up there was worth the effort
- watching Aisling's excitement at petting a brave and fat chipmunk that crept close to her
- realizing no matter how fit I thought I was, I was wiped out by running in the hilly neighbourhood where Auntie Shunaha lives
- Ceilidh's triumph at riding her first real roller coaster, loops and all
- hearing Quinn belch, loudly, during the baptism
- having strangers compliment me on on my well-behaved kids (that's because Quinn saved his "I'm sooo tired" meltdown for after the church service)
- celebrating Jacob and Hannah's first birthday in style
- realizing too late, that despite having everyone gathered together under one roof (16 people in all), we never managed to get a family portrait, formal or informal (this is the only one of the Kim sibs)
- driving through the Alberta badlands to visit some dinosaurs
- picnicking in Drumheller, and having the prairie dogs come begging for food (one ate a chip out of Mommy's hands)
- watching the kids try to tempt other prairie dogs with chips and celery sticks
- seeing Quinn stuff a handful of food down a prairie dog hole, in the hopes of tempting one to stick his head out (see Quinn pointing to the hole!)
- visiting the dinosaurs at the Royal Tyrell Museum
- bribing the kids out of the museum with the promise of candy (and dinosaur souvenirs - the tour ends in the gift shop!)
- spending time with our extended family
- sticker shock at spending $64 on 24 bottles of beer (thank gawd for the Beer Store and the LCBO in Ontario)
- cooling off at a splash pad
- Mommy having a meltdown at the airport when she couldn't find the passports (they were in a suitcase pocket and she forgot having put them there for safekeeping)
- realizing Quinn only slept 30 minutes yesterday, and didn't show any signs of sleepiness on the flight home, and yes, he was dosed with Benadryl in the misplaced hopes he'd have a nap
- Quinn getting a black eye just before boarding (he tripped and hit his face off a metal structure)
- Aisling having the puke bag up to her face for most of the flight home
- Mommy turning green on the flight from all the getting up and chasing Quinn
- both Mommy and Daddy forgetting where they parked the car after landing at 11pm
Conclusion -
Devlin already misses Calgary. And Mommy is vowing not to travel with Quinn again, for a looooong time. At least, on a flight longer than two hours.
