The Daily Chai -- Pre-vacation Evening

Today's Chai was delicious but not as delicious as tomorrow's latte that I'm going to buy in VANCOUVER.

The next week or so will likely be recaps of what we're doing in BC, so I hope you like travel diaries. I was smiling all the way home from work because I love to travel and I couldn't wait to get started. There is something about being in an airport and watching people come and go, plus the added anticipation of the trip in front of you that is amongst my most favourite things.

When I picked the kids up today after work, they were riled up and raring to go! Anna stretched her arms up to me, asked me to pick her up and told me she had tears in her eyes, but she wasn't sad. Very good. Off to a good start then! MacDonald's for dinner (Dear Big Mac for what we're about to receive, oh let us be truly thankful!) and then off to Toronto for a night in a hotel. BEST THING EVER, Mom! We played the music loud, chair danced and sang at the top of our voices all the way there. Made it to the hotel in record time (the GPS keeps challenging me with arrival times and I keep beating it).

The hotel has a pool. BEST THING EVER, Mom! Very cold pool. Very hot whirlpool. I spent 30 minutes spending 30 seconds in one and then switching to the other at her Majesty, Queen Anna's command. Then Anna finally let Kate take her to deeper water and as I watched her cling to her big sister and saw them laughing together, I realized this might be one of Anna's earliest memories. A foggy, misty picture in her head of her screaming and laughing while her sister twirled her around in the pool. A memory that she doesn't really understand when she gets older, doesn't connect with Vancouver or even a plane ride. Just swimming in this strange, shadowy room and her sister smiling at her, being her best friend and keeping her safe. I am so happy they have each other.

And then I made them go to bed. Enough of that! Time for hotel snacks in bed and some TV! BEST THING EVER, Mom!

Everyone keeps asking me if I'm nervous about flying with two kids on my own, but I'm not. I travelled on my own with Kate to and from Europe a couple times when she was three and managed just fine, even that time my luggage got lost in Amsterdam. In fact, when I have no one to rely on but myself, I'm much more patient with the kids. I'm starting to realize more and more that I like being independent and doing things my way and not have to check with someone else or argue with someone else about how to handle everything that comes up. I always have had a lot of one on one time with the kids when we went on adventures anyway because I love taking them to the beach or exploring little towns in the region, things like that, so this trip is just a longer version of those adventures. I am so excited about these kids seeing something different from Ontario. Those mountains and the ocean are going to blow them away.

Kate is very structured though, she likes to know the plan ahead of time and I think my laissez-faire attitude about what comes next when I'm on vacation makes her a bit anxious. It takes her a couple days to unwind and accept that I'm just not going to plan every second of every day. I have no idea what we're going to do on Monday, okay kid? It's Thursday night, go to sleep.

However, I do find as long as I keep the snacks coming, she's generally pretty content. Thank god for beef jerky and granola bars.

We fly tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. Anna is so so so so excited to go on a plane. Poor kid. Planes are cramped and loud. I doubt she will like it. I hope she doesn't have to pee. The sound of the toilet flushing on a plane when Kate was three made her terrified of toilets for three years. She was six before she stopped running out of public washrooms screaming.