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Mark and I outside the original Starbucks in Seattle



We are home. I had nothing but the best of intentions when I said I would write on Saturday, I thought it would be easy to sit and write in the airport and on the plane but to be honest it was not easy. Timing and space made it just about impossible. I am still shocked that the seats are so close together on flights now. On our first leg of our journey home on Saturday, the gentlemen in front of me pushed his seat all the way back and his head was practically in my lap. There is zero leg room and they do not even toss you a bag of peanuts these days. On the upside, we did pay extra so we could check our bags (big scam!) and we also had TV which was on the seat in front of us. It was a long day of flying, with us arriving home at 1:30 AM Sunday morning.

Pigs dressed as reindeer...kind of like it!

 Yesterday afternoon Mark and I went with Avery to see Harry Potter #7. The girls had gone to see it when it first came out on Friday, but we had told them we would go with them on Sunday. Aly backed out at the last minute in the interest of homework, so Avery, Mark and I spent the afternoon watching the intense and amazing part one of the final phase of this series. Once home, I was ready for my pajamas. My hope is that in the next couple of days I can kick this jet lag and get back on track.

 

I also made a call to Aunt Nina last night. She shared her list of complaints about her week and I had the distinct feeling that we were heading down the same path we did last year when she randomly decided to move to the place she is living now. The only difference is that this time I am not moving her. I listened to her complaints and let her vent, but I am certain that she is so unhappy about so many things that nothing we do will be good enough, ever. Welcome home!

There is a part of me that would take another week of being away. I needed the time "off", but the truth is that it is not my life that needs to change it is me, and I figured that out yesterday when I was talking with Aunt Nina. Nothing is ever going to be exactly as we want it to be, it is what we make of the time we have that makes the difference. Negative breeds more negative…positive breeds even more positive. I will have to keep reminding myself of this as I make my way through the next few days of getting over my jet lag, buying groceries for Thanksgiving and doing laundry on top of visiting with my aunt and dealing with whatever comes along for the week about my Mom's estate. There never is a dull moment. It is good to be home.

Seattle Day 1 & ½

Rainy roads during three hour Vancouver to Seattle trip



Seattle Space Needle



 In the interest of time, I am going to combine today and tomorrow. Mark is planning to be done with work tomorrow so that we can spend the day together. I hope it actually works out. He has had so many problems with this project he is working on that he has spent a majority of his time working on that and this happens to cramp my hanging with my husband style. I cannot complain, because I am the tag along on this trip and I will take whatever time he offers up. However, if he is off tomorrow, I want all my time to be with him and not writing my blog…sorry folks.

 Yesterday started early, we were on the road by 7:00 AM so that Mark could make one last stop at his Canadian site before we headed across the border to the USA. It rained all the way to Seattle. Once we got near his next location for work we stopped and had lunch and I opted out of joining him at his work site. I decided to have Mark drop me at a nearby Mall so that I could walk around and maybe sit somewhere and read my book. I just did not feel like sitting around where he was working. I was concerned about sticking out like a sore thumb and also having Mark worrying the whole time that I might be bored. By the way it continued to rain until later in the evening. It stopped just in time for us to roam around the area where we are staying.
Walking around Malls seems to be a theme with me throughout this trip. Perhaps it is because there is always a fair amount of shopping near tourist hotels. Plus it is more comfortable for me to step out on my own if I am heading toward a location where there are more people. Here in Seattle and in Vancouver there are a large amount of homeless and I feel somewhat uncomfortable when I am out on my own. Maybe if I lived in this area or spent more time on the road it would not bother me as much as it does. I truly do not believe that I am in danger; I just think it is mainly my own discomfort.
 I have been reading a book I picked up in Vancouver. This has made my time on my own easy and comfortable. It has been a long time since I have had time to sit and read and I am eating this up. I am also missing my girls. I think my being gone is good for all of us. I have wanted my girls to get an understanding of what they can handle without me around and this is a great opportunity for them. This will not change them needing there Mom around, but it will help them see that they know what they need to do every day without mom nagging them.
I struck out this morning to do a little Christmas shopping and to also have some lunch. I was the creepy lady eating alone. I had left my book behind at the hotel, so I found myself listening in on conversations I did not want to hear and trying hard not to stare at people inappropriately. I could not eat fast enough. I wanted to get the heck out of there and come back to the room so that I could write and read. Our hotel room here in Seattle is not as nice as the one in Vancouver, we have no kitchen, but we did luck out with a sitting area which is nice to have. It gives us a little more room to relax.

 I have only two photos to share today. We borrowed Avery's camera for our trip since it was smaller than ours and it has been malfunctioning. Apparently it sucks down the batteries like they are water. I discovered this after I have lost out on some awesome photo opportunities this trip. One photo in particular was the skyline of Seattle all lit up as we headed downtown last night. You will just have to take my word for it that it was beautiful, because I got nothing.

 My plan is to write again on Saturday as we prepare to fly home. We will be taking a flight that gets us back home about 11:30 PM. I am looking forward to getting back on my home town time, right now it is 5:00 PM at home and it is only 2:00 PM here. Every day seems like a day and half.

Vancouver, Canada Day 3

I made another attempt at finding a Mall yesterday. I looked at the maps they gave us at the hotel and I figured out where to go and I went. I do not need a thing, but I wanted to keep busy and see something of the city, so I got dressed and headed out on my adventure. Here are some things I have learned.

Vancouver is not a sunny place. Yesterday there was sun, but it is not common. I mentioned to Mark this morning that they must take a lot of vitamin D around here to keep their spirits up.

Vancouver is not a terribly friendly place. I am generally a chatty person that enjoys engaging in conversation with just about anybody. I found that this habit is not appreciated here. As I roamed the mall yesterday, I found it odd that the sales people rarely spoke to me. I also found the prices at the mall quite high. Between the price of food and the price of items at the mall, I have determined that either the people of Vancouver are quite wealthy or they are in deep debt.

Vancouver is larger than we had time to see. Since this is a work trip for Mark it was mostly, in the evenings that we would walk around near our hotel and check out the local flavor. It was fun to see a basic idea of the city, but I will be just as happy to get back to Seattle, on American soil, where I can call and text my family and friends and not have it cost a fortune.

Traveling for work is tough. It is not glamorous or fun. It is hard to be on the road in places you do not know. You are away from your family and friends with none of the luxuries that you enjoy at home. Being here is even more difficult because of the three hour time difference. I find myself waking up at 3:00 AM which is 6:00 AM at home. In the evenings, you are trying to relax and regroup and end up tired and ready to sleep way too early by the clock and not early enough according to your body.

Being with my husband and having this time with him is precious. This is not something that we will do again for a long time. He will be on the road for most of December, and I need to be home with my kids and pets. Perhaps in a few years if the chance comes up again I will join him, but for now I am happy that we had this chance to be together.

We are heading back to Seattle today and will remain there through Saturday. I hope the people of Seattle are at least friendlier and easy going. I am not sure I can take much more of the cold shoulder I have been getting here in Canada.

So that is pretty much what I have learned so far this week. All in all a great time with my husband and an OK time by myself. Just having the chance to not think about doing laundry or making sure someone gets thier homework done or the trash out, has been a nice vacation on its own. Having the added bonus of someone else preparing my meals has been a nice treat too. Over all, so far so good.

Vancouver, Canada Day 2

Perhaps you remember that a week ago I innocently mentioned my Sciatic nerve to my doctor which resulted in a quite a bit of pain in my back. As the week wore on the pain had subsided some and was more an annoyance rather than a full on issue. I had noticed that the more I walked the better it felt, so I tried to do a lot of walking. As we traveled on Sunday I had a small amount of pain, but I ignored it because I was excited to be on the road with my hubby.

Yesterday, while Mark was working I decided to head out and walk around downtown Vancouver for a while. It was raining so I inquired about an umbrella in the hotel shop and she informed me that they have umbrellas in the closet in each guest's room. My first thought was how nice that was, which was immediately followed by the thought that if they do that, it must rain an awful lot here. I headed up to our room, found the umbrella and headed out for a walk around the city. As I roamed the area I noticed that my back was feeling much better. Towards the end of my walk I found a little market on the corner near our hotel and decided to go in and buy some soup for lunch and maybe some cheese and crackers too.As I headed back to the hotel I realized I was having no pain at all. I even mentioned to Mark when he called that my back was doing much better. I was thrilled! I warmed up my soup and decided to sit on the floor and eat at the coffee table. BIG mistake, after I finished my soup, I went to stand up and TWANG, my back went out! I am now "back" to square one. Today while Mark is working, I will try another tour of the city to see if that will help the back situation any.

Last night when Mark got in from work we walked a bit looking for a place to have dinner. One thing to note if you ever decide to come to Vancouver is that there are no inexpensive places to eat. The food is delicious and the atmosphere in each place is wonderful. I am guessing that Vancouverites are big foodies and that they refuse to skimp when they go out to eat. We stopped into one place and sat at their bar for a drink and looked over their menu and decided to move on. As we walked we came across an Italian restaurant that was above a shop, (This is another thing we have seen a lot of, each street is filled with a variety of shops and then there are restaurants above them). We looked at the menu that was posted outside and decided to check it out. As we went up the stairs, it was like walking into a different world. It was a beautiful restaurant with high class waiters and an extensive expensive menu of delectable Italian cuisine. We ordered a light meal, refused the wine list and skipped dessert and still paid $70.00 for dinner. I told Mark, I did not care, because we might never be back to Vancouver and I want to enjoy our time together.

 After that we headed to our hotel and sat by the fireplace in the hotel lounge and enjoyed a drink and some conversation. At this point we both were thinking it was at least midnight, but no…it was only 8:00 PM.

I am sure my body clock is going to be very out of whack when we get home. That will fit in nicely with my out of whack back won't it? Today is a new day and I intend to find a Mall in this town. Apparently, there is one just up the street, but it is underground. That would explain why I could not find it yesterday. Back pain or no back pain, I will find the Mall today. No Sciatic is going to ruin my trip.

Vancouver, Canada Day 1

 

Yesterday was a very long day! We woke at 3:00 AM and then drove to the airport at about 4:00 AM. After checking in for our flight, we headed to the security line, where instead of going through the usual security measures that require you to go through a metal detector they tapped me to go into the scanner. Inside the scanner I was asked to stand with me feet apart and my hands over my head. Then as I stepped out of there a female security officer proceeded to pat me down. Once it was determined that I was not a threat to national security I was allowed to put my boots and jewelry back on and head to our departure gate. It was now 5:30 AM and our flight was boarding in about 15 minutes.

 Once on our flight we got as comfortable as we could since the airline we choose was Frontier and apparently they do not like to allow for much leg room. We were crammed in like sardines. I guess that is the price you pay for an inexpensive flight. Honestly, once we got settled it was fine. We had a little over two hour flight to Denver where we changed planes for our flight to Seattle. The next leg of our journey was uneventful other then the glaring fact that there was no food and my prepackaged snacks were no longer filling the bill. If we had wanted we could have bought a sandwich from the airline for $6.00, but the cheapskate in me would not allow it.

 Once in Seattle we picked up our luggage, (since at the last minute I decided I did not want the hassle of fussing with the bags) and got our rental car. At this point my protein bar was not enough to sustain me any longer and I asked Mark to locate some food immediately. I was feeling weak and shaky, and did not want to pass out before I even started into the trip. We found a restaurant that we were familiar with from back home. We were just too hungry to look for a fun new place to eat, so we would have to save the adventure of that for later. Once we were filled with food fuel, we were on our way to the next part of our journey, the three hour drive to Vancouver, Canada. The drive was a bit grey and drizzly and but many of the sights were interesting. We arrived in Vancouver at 3:00 PM their time which would be 6:00 PM our time. This meant we had now been up for 14 hours, traveled across America and into Canada. Once we were in Vancouver, I was shocked to see how congested it was. Somehow in my mind I had pictured it differently. Even thinking back to the pictures of Vancouver from the Olympics a couple of years ago, I did not remember the city looking like this. Our hotel is beautiful. We booked on hotels.com and we are delighted. The room is like a small apartment with a living room, kitchen, dining room, bedroom and bathroom. We spent a little time last night roaming around the city sights near our hotel and had a nice light snack and headed back to our hotel with the idea that we would head out for dinner but the day caught up with us and we climbed into bed at 7:30 PM Vancouver time, or 10:30 PM our time. We were exhausted!

 Today I am on my own while Mark works. I plan to walk to a Mall that is nearby and poke around and also read and relax. From the looks of things, grey and drizzly is on tap for today too, so I might need to find a nice umbrella to have as a souvenir.

Final Count Down

Here we are in the final hours before we leave. We will be leaving our house at 4:00 AM and my hope is that I will be able to get some sleep before that. I still have to pack (screaming in my head), finish up some laundry (towels, sheets etc) vacuum my basement, go to church and come up with some type of dinner for my family.

I am sure right now you are thinking "Vacuum? Wash sheets?" But that's what I do when I leave. Especially since, I am leaving my children home with our lovely caregiver. I want the house somewhat tidy and pleasant. Honestly when we travel I usually will pull my house together before we go so that when I open the door to my house after the trip, I am not faced with all the travel laundry and a messy house.

Odds are very good that in this instance I will walk into a bit of disarray. Keeping the house tidy is my issue and my idea of clean may not be the same as my kids, so I have lowered my expectation that I will come home to the house the way I left it. In the big picture it truly means nothing compared to seeing my family after a week.

I am planning to continue blogging throughout our trip. So keep your eyes peeled Monday for the first exciting update on our travels.

 

Full Steam Ahead

Yesterday, I drove two hours to sign papers so that my Dad's boat could be sold. Today, I will drive an hour in the opposite direction to take steps to have my Aunts hearing checked. I am running back and forth trying to cover all of my bases before I head out of town with Mark on Sunday. My week has slipped through my fingers. Each day this week was less productive then I had hoped and I am now staring right down the gun at Sunday. I will now do a silent scream in my head!

There is no time to look back over my shoulder and recover the lost objectives for the week. I am going full steam ahead into Sunday. If there is a missed task or item it will just have to stay missing. Whatever the missing pieces are, when I climb on that plane on Sunday they will just be part of the cluttered landscape of things I wish I had done. I will have to forget about them and move on.

I have had a number of people tell me this week not to worry about my kids while I am gone. I have been advised to relax and enjoy my trip. I have been told that they are old enough to take care of themselves. I have also been told what great kids they are and how it is good for all of us to have this break. The thing is, I am not worried about my kids at all. I have never really been concerned when my children have stepped out into the world…well, except for when Ashleigh was in 8^th grade and I would not let her go on the invitation only class trip to Chicago. That is a black mark on my parenting record. I was too protective. I also let Aly and Avery go on the same trip in their 8^th grade year, so believe me this bad decision has been tossed in my face many times. I would like to publically apologize to Ashleigh one more time for my poor judgment.

Now that I am finished groveling, I should tell you that I intend to complete several more tasks (before I leave) to prepare my home for our lovely caregiver for the girls to arrive. My home will not be as clean or prepared as I had hoped, but the most important thing is that the girls are happy and excited that she is coming. They are also just as excited that they will have a car to use for the week. When I told them about the trip, Aly asked me "Does this mean we can drive the car to school?" and when I replied "Yep.", there was a lot of knuckle knocking and high fiving. A weaker mom might have been hurt, but not me (that's a lie). Why would I be hurt that the highlight for my kids is the car and not my being gone? Honestly, I am happy that Aly and Avery are confident and independent enough to survive without Mom. I am also just a little excited for them to have to keep up with all the little things that have to be done each day to keep our home running.

So, enjoy the car ladies, but get the dogs fed and out, the dishes cleaned, your laundry done, your homework done and keep my house tidy, because I am full steam ahead…outta here! Well, I am after I go see my Aunt and finish some last minute dog washing, house cleaning and food shopping.