American Thanksgiving in Canada

As told by Beth: We just returned from a somewhat impromtu visit to Prince Edward Island. I know many of you check in on Barry's Blog (http://barryl.blogspot.com/) to see how Jamie's dad is doing with his battle with brain cancer. The tumor is starting to have a bigger impact and Barry is no longer able to travel very far from home, so we took advantage of our four-day weekend and headed to PEI. Aside from the travel adventures (left home at 7:15 a.m. arrived at Barry and Pam's after 11 p.m.) and Air Canada's mean stroller policy (you have to check it with your bags!), we had a good trip and an enjoyable visit. The Canadians were even kind enough to provide a Thanksgiving feast even though they celebrated their Thanksgiving back in early October. Jamie's brother Dave was able to get away from hockey for a few days, so the whole family was there.

Katie was so excited to see Bates and they picked up right where they left off this summer. All three of the kids had a sleep over at Jamma's on Friday night. Which allowed the rest of us to enjoy a quiet family dinner and Jamie and I even got to go out to the bar to meet up with a few of his friends. Saturday was the day we celebrated Thanksgiving. Jamie's aunt, uncle and grandparents made the trip over from Nova Scotia, so we got to see everyone and Aunt Mo participated by phone. That night we ventured out to the Charlottetown Christmas parade and I got to experience the Canadian cold. There were 100 floats and we were all freezing by #3. We bundled up as much as we could and after a while took turns sitting in the car, as we awaited Santa. We did make it to the end and the kids had a good time. Thankfully, Jamma brought some extra winter gear for all of us.

On Sunday we left to head back to Ohio. The return flights were a little easier, although there was one rough stretch where my poor conversion of military time made us think we had only 40 minutes to clear customs, retrieve our bags, re-check our bags, go through security again and get to the other terminal. I have never been so happy to be wrong! The girls were as good as could be expected and we got our money's worth from Katie's new Leapster game, which was an early birthday present.

We concluded the weekend with McDonald's for dinner in the car while en route from Columbus back home. After that, both girls quickly fell asleep and were down for the night-- that's something to be thankful for!

And speaking of thanks-- we are all thankful that we had a great visit with Jamie's family. And a few others: thanks to Suzie for driving to Moncton to retrieve us when we were delayed and missed our flight into Charlottetown; thanks to Janet for hosting the sleepover and giving us the opportunity to sleep in until 9 a.m.; thanks to James and Danielle for sitting at the "kids table"; and thanks to everyone who brought over all of those delicious meals and desserts while we were there.