Oh, Canada!

We Made It! We Made It! We Made It!

It's been a long day but a good day and Jason and I are relaxing in our new "home" while our baby sleeps in the master bedroom and we enjoy a cocktail (or 2) in our lounge chairs before we get ready to take a dip in the hot tub...life is gooooood.

Our day started early - 6am for Jas and I to get ourselves ready and do some last minute packing. Logan woke up at 7 and our chauffeur, "Uncle Huy", arrived promptly at 8:45 to take us to SFO for our 12:15 flight to Vancouver.

We arrived in plenty of time (Which was a blessing in my mind because the airport stresses me out), and boarded our plane after eating a delicious lunch with no problem. Logan did fairly well on the plane, and thanks to a kind woman who was across the aisle from us, he did better than he would have if it was just up to Jas and I to entertain him. This very kind woman took a liking to Logan and once we hit our cruising altitude, she handed me her iPad (!!!) and told me there was a fun kitty cat game that her grand-kids love to play and that Logan was welcome to check it out. This game provided HOURS of entertainment for our little laubster - literally. One flight attendant kept walking by us and just laughed that our child had been laughing for 2 hours straight. Hilarious. He definitely had moments of TODDLER-TIME (pouting, shouting and some minor screaming) but for most of the time, he was either watching the kids cartoons on the monitor in front of him (go, AirCanada for having one of Logan's favorite cartoons, Caillou on their TV Show rotation) or laughing hysterically at Tom the Cat on the iPad.

We landed at 2:30 and made it easily through customs. The customs area was divided into two sections - the first for Canadian citizens and the second for non-Canadian citizens. Jason joked at one point that he was going to leave Logan and I to fend for ourselves in the Non-Citizen line and use his ID from when he was 7 to get himself through customs faster in the Citizens line...that theory lasted all of 2 seconds ad he joined his wife and child in the longer line. :) .

We grabbed our 2 large suitcases, 2 medium suitcases, 1 Pak-N-Play, 1 carseat and 1 toddler and made the long walk to the Enterprise shuttle. Once there, we hopped on board and took a 5 minute drive to the rental car office. We were all set to rent a minivan which I was SO excited about (Do not read sarcasm there as I am genuinely excited about the prospect of driving a minivan one day) - but Jas was easily persuaded into renting the fully loaded Ford Edge for the same price...hurumph (At least he asked if I would be crushed if we DIDN'T rent a minivan before jumping on board with the nicer car). Our first stop was Starbucks (of course) as both Jas and I were exhausted and feeling the need for a pick-me-up...nevermind the toddler in the backseat who was 4 hours past his nap and in a state of absolute delirium...he probably could have gone for an iced Americano too...if only he'd known how to ask for one...It was at this point that Jas and I had the same thought at the same time: "Aren't you glad we aren't in Italy? Can you imagine feeling this tired and having to communicate in another language while driving on the other side of the road and having absolutely no idea where you are going?" We are probably the only 2 people who have ever said "Aren't you glad we aren't in Italy" in their lives...That's why I love him...we're meant to be!

It took us about 1 hour to get through Vancouver traffic and to our new home...all the while Mr. Logan was in the back seat either hysterically crying, or laughing to himself...the kid was beyond help by this point.

We got to the house and instantly fell in love with our new home (Sorry, no pictures yet!). The woman who owns the house helped us get settled and showed us around. The view is unbelievable and the size of the space is just perfect for our family of 3 and the few visitors we'll have throughout our stay. And a side note to my Mom and Dad- our host and hostess here in Canada (The couple that owns the home we're staying in and lives upstairs) is NOTHING like the woman whom we rented a basement from during Expo '86...Liz is delightful and i have complete confidence that she will give us privacy and we won't hear a peep from her unless we need to...I don't anticipate having to leave in the middle of the night on THIS trip to Canada! Hahaha!

We learned today that the Nanny Agency we contacted to set up some childcare for Logan so Jas and I can have some nights out together while we're on vacation confirmed all EIGHT of our dates so we are ELATED that we get EIGHT DATE NIGHTS over the next three weeks (And that's not even counting the 1 or 2 nights we'll get while my Mom is here!) I kind of can't believe I get that much alone time with my husband and I'm absolutely giddy over the thought of it!

Tomorrow we're going to hit up Stanley Park in Vancouver and take Logan to the Aquarium - he's going to be in heaven since we just saw they have an entire exhibit on Clown Fish...aka NEMO!!!! Or as Logan calls him, MOMO!!! It appears to be geared towards kids Logan's age or a little older, and there is a ton of hands on stuff so he's going to have a blast.

Jas and I are so excited for the next 3 weeks and feel so blessed to be able to take this time together and enjoy our little family.

More updates to come! Stay tuned...