At the end of February, I got to go to Edmonton to stay with my mom while she was attending a teacher conference there. Because she's not in the core courses and often will create and design her own courses, there usually isn't much for her there. But she still got the week off and a free hotel room, so Elsa and I went to join her. I forgot how stressful air travel can be, especially international with a baby! I'm glad we went, but I have no plans in the near or distant future to go again.
It began with my flight out of Columbia being delayed a day. I showed up at the airport, ready to go, only to be told to come back in the morning. Not a good sign. By and large that was the extent of our troubles on the way there. Elsa was a pretty good girl most of the way and 2/3 of our flights had an empty seat next to us so we could stretch out a little. People were kind and Elsa used her charm and smile on them.
I bought all of our winter gear and didn't use much of it. Canada had much milder weather than I was anticipating. But there was still tons of snow.
The highlight of my trip was being able to see family that I haven't seen in 6-10 years. So sad how fast time flies and how ridiculously far I am from my family. This is my sister-in-law Karen and her two kids, Madeline and Spencer. Last time I saw them Rowan was barely a year old and Madeline was 6 months. They are so big now!!
Gotta love Elsa's drooly shirt.
We met up at the mall and wandered around a bit. Karen and most of my family are all planning a family reunion at Edisto Beach this summer and I'm excited to have some more time with them soon.
I bought lots of chocolate bars- Oh Henry, Crunchies, Wunderbars, Aero... MMMmmm!
We took the kids to the toy store in the mall. Elsa enjoyed herself thoroughly.
Spencer and Elsa both made a beeline for the Lego section. It runs in the blood.
The following day, Mom and I went to go visit some of the houses that I grew up in. This was my second favorite part of the trip. I'm pretty nostalgic I guess. I LOVED growing up in both of these houses. A lot of memories there.
The first one we went to was my childhood home in Devon. Some of my favorite memories here happened outside. Snow tunnels, tree houses, snow mobiling in a mini snowmobile called the Kitty Cat, feeding Rozzie the next door horse our grass clippings, eating peas by the handful from our massive garden, ice skating, baby chicks, bicycling, burying treasure in the yard only to get yelled at later by Darren who was mowing the lawn and mowed over it, cimbing out of our windows onto the roof.
It still has the rust stains from our water on the side that I remember. But the greenhouse, garden, play house, tree fort, and brick pillars by the driveway are all gone.
The attached field where we would snowmobile.
Vesta and my bedrooms were right above the garage. I wished I could have gone inside, but that would have probably been asking too much.
Our neighbors with the "barn" house. I remember going here and making crank calls with the kids there back before caller id was available.
There was a dairy there where we used to get our milk that's still there. Not the best picture, but I remember looking at it every time we turned off into our subdivision.
My old school- Gramina. They still had the same totem pole out front. Mom reminded me of a funny story where a political big wig lady was coming to visit and the school was eagerly anticipating her arrival. It happened on the same day where Vesta got sick at school, so mom drove up in our farm van to get her and blocked off the entrance right before the procession with the police escorts and limo came through. They had to wait for mom and Vesta to get in our hick van and move it. Good times.
I know this is weird and doesn't have any revelance, but again, I'm sentimental. This was Gramina Hall where we had a large skating rink and playground. It's right at the turn off to go to our house.
Our next house was out in Westlock. It was nice of mom to indulge me and drive me out to these various places. I have a really strong connection with this house too. Whenever I have dreams about my childhood, it's usually in this house.
A nice gentleman in his 50s answered the door and let us look around outside. Someone in a wheelchair must have moved there too as there was a chair ramp added to the deck and they had a ton of bird feeders and birds so that someone could watch from the window. The place had deteriorated some, but it was still a very peaceful place which made me happy. So many memories there.
Our old swing set was still there, which probably shouldn't be surprising considering we installed it with concrete in the ground. What surprised me about both houses was the trees that were gone. There used to be a whole line of tall trees behind the swing set. Our cat once got stuck up one and wouldn't come down for days until my mom cut it down with the chainsaw. The cat landed in a bush and was just fine.
They still had our steps and clothesline that you can kind of see to the left. Also a kitty, which made me happy. I think we had 7 outdoor cats at one point here.
Our apple tree. Hasn't been pruned in forever and you can see the bird feeders there. It was full of birds even in winter.
I wonder if my kids will feel this way about their childhood homes. Even now just looking at the pictures, there's a lot of emotions there.
The dog house. Literally. We used to put Sadie, our black lab, in here at night. And Brewster, a Great Dane, my stepdad's dog too. Sadie would go nuts because pigeons had made their home in the upstairs and coo all night to her. She hated birds thereafter. I guess it's kind of ironic that the place is now some kind of bird sanctuary. I'm surprised this barn is still standing. There's the burn barrel on the left for our trash. No garbage pickup in the country so we would burn our garbage. Sometimes we (mom) would burn off all our facial hair too if we used a little too much gasoline and decide to poke our face in the barrel when it doesn't light immediately.
My brother Kerne painted both of these barns when we first moved here to earn money for an engagement ring. This barn housed my mom's craft, lace and ribbon business in the upper level. We also had an awesome barn dance for the ward here. The lower part had our horse tack and horses when they were injured or giving birth.
This really may explain my apathy towards recycling...
The side of the garage where you can still see a piece of wood that held up my chicken cage off the ground. We put it up to keep the chickens out of Sadie's reach (again, a determined bird hater) and she wore grooves into the side of the garage jumping and trying to get them. All it took was a day of cleaning out the cage and Sadie was ready and waiting for one of my chickens to fall out of the bottom door. Stupid dog. It had laid it's first egg the day before and I kept the egg in my jewelry box for a long time thereafter until I realized it probably wasn't a good idea to keep a rotten egg lying around anymore.
The miles and miles of fence. Mom gave us massive buckets of white paint and we painted all summer long. It took forever!
Our LONG driveway. Walking to the bus, flipping my bike on the side of the road and breaking my collarbone (and mom not believing I broke my collarbone and leaving me out there for a good hour or two), the dogs leaving their calling cards all down the road which would freeze in the winter into speed bumps, 4 wheeling, exploring the forests. So many memories.
I remember the night Mom and I were watching Arachnophobia and we screamed at the part where the spider jumps out. Sadie nearly jumped through that big window trying to save us because she thought we were being attacked.
It was such a beautiful place to grow up. I wonder if my kids will feel the same way about where they grow up? Probably not. There's something special about growing up in the country. Most of my memories surround being outside and having animals, which makes me a little sad that I'm probably never going to be able to provide the same kind of experience for my kids. Walmart just doesn't do it.
We drove by two other houses that we renovated in the area, one of which we lived in for a short time. They were in town and I really have no attachment to them, but it was interesting to drive by.
The one we only renovated. My stepdad eventually bought and lived in this house after the divorce.
The one we lived in. This was actually an old pastor's home that used to be next to a church in town. It was moved to a new lot and my mom fixed it up. It actually had some cool features and cabinetry upstairs.
Westlock hadn't changed too much. It was interesting to return to a country I left in a recession only to see it now booming. Our friends had opened a Subway there, only to have to close it later on because it wasn't sustainable. Mom and I ate at the new Subway there. We used to shop at second hand stores when times were rough and be absolutely ecstatic when we found something brand name. Mom and I went to Goodwill in Edmonton and I got 5 pairs of Banana Republic jeans that were brand new and a Helly Hansen coat. That would have been unheard of 15 years ago. Edmonton has the same population as Columbia, where I live, and the shopping there is unreal. Crate and Barrel, H&M, Sephora- all of the American chains are now there. I remember someone telling me that a boy I grew up with would go down to Montana and shop at an American store called Old Navy where you can get super cheap fashionable clothes. Oil has changed Canada.
Elsa has ear infections constantly. I could tell she was off on this trip, especially towards the end even though we had just finished some antibiotics prior to leaving. Of course when we got home the doctor confirmed what I already knew. I have a standing order for antibiotics at the pharmacy now. Anyways, mom tried various things to help Elsa be happy. One included corrupting her with banana splits. Elsa didn't buy it and wouldn't even try to taste the whipped cream.
We went to West Edmonton Mall (largest mall in North America) and all I bought was a couple of Canada shirts for the kids. I'm a Goodwill girl at heart and rightfully so considering the stuff I found there!
Grandma finally getting Elsa to take a nap. Overall she did pretty well at the hotel. We had to switch rooms at one point because our neighbors had 6 people and 2 dogs in one room and verbally abused their kids until 3am. Some people don't deserve to be parents.
Another highlight was getting to see my other sister-in-law Nila who I hadn't seen in 10 years!!! I was so happy to get to catch up with her and the kids (who are hardly kids anymore). Afrika and Dakota came too and we caught up with Haven later at Nila's house.
Love these guys. Miss them too.
The trip home was horrible in every sense of the word. We got to the airport fine and had plenty of time to spare. I was waiting to go through customs and saw a guy from the middle east get the full security treatment and felt a little sorry for him. Little did I know it would be my turn soon. I reached the desk and soon realized that I was supposed to bring my US permanent resident card to reenter the country. The officer was not pleased and took me to what I now call "the you-might-be-a-terrorist" waiting room. I started to freak out because I know how long it takes for the government to work and I didn't want to miss my flight. While I was waiting, I got to hear a lively interrogation going on in the next room. Thankfully, the guy eventually got to me and was able to confirm my status online. He also waived the $585 fee that I was supposed to pay for needing a waiver to get into the country without the proper paperwork. We made our flight with minutes to spare.
Elsa had a harder time on the way back, probably because of her ears. At one point I put her in her carseat without strapping her in and the whole carseat flipped over. I could have sworn she cracked one of her teeth, but thankfully she didn't.
I got her to sleep here, but she was so unhappy. Poor sweet thing.
It didn't help that my layovers were 4 hours long and that I sat next to people who clearly did not want to be next to a baby. One bright spot was I was able to come home a whole 2 hours early because an earlier flight had been delayed. The lady at the desk took pity on my and my poor nose-less baby. Unfortunately, on this last flight the lady next to me was clearly very upset I was next to her. Elsa fell asleep the whole way and was a good girl, but all I could feel was absolute hatred vibing off of this lady. As we were landing, I leaned over to put something away in my bag and I hear her voice say "Excuse me, please move her legs. They are TOUCHING me." I had been through so much at that point, my temper was at a tipping point. All I could manage was a sarcastic "sure thing" when I wished I would have said that my fist was going to be touching her pretty soon. It took me a long time to calm down.
Seriously, how could you hate this poor scraped up face? We called her Baby Volemort for a while afterwards because she was grumpy with the ear infection and had no nose. We love her anyways.
I hope it doesn't scar. She still has a bit of a red nose a month later. Not the kind of souvenir from Canada I was hoping for.
I'm still very happy we went. It was bittersweet in many ways.
