Early Christmas in Ontario

this is more for our records than for your enjoyment...

after filling our ford focus wagon up with all of our possessions, we were ready to hit the road from Vernon - only to discover we couldn't get past 80km before the car started shifting all over. the back of the car was too loaded down, so we opted for the smallest u-haul van against our will (i'm sure you've seen the u-haul documentary by now. our salesman asked if we'd seen the summer or fall addition). 9 hour drive to calgary instead of 6 due to poor roads around revelstoke, a sleep at the kemper's, dropped of books at ABC, and on the road again.

i love the prairies! no hills or mountains or black ice or visibility problems - just smooth sailing from the Hat to home. nice to be at Len and Carol's for awhile. headed out for bday supper with the Mooney's, Jason B, Amy, and Andrea. so nice to come home to friends.

we headed out to Thunder Bay via airplane!! yeay! after 17 hours driving from BC, we were so glad not to have to drive another 16 to ontario. funny part is i realized in the winnipeg airport that we hadn't renewed our driver's licenses - mine since the end of november, craig's since end of september. thankfully we never had to pull them out on the road.

spent lots of time with craig's parents and his sister, especially when craig got sick and had to stay in bed for 2 days. had early christmas dinner at pam's and exchanged gifts. then spent 3 hours in emerge that night just so the doctor could tell craig he has a virus and to sleep it off. at least we knew why he was sick.

got to spend sunday evening at Craig's church - Faith Chapel for their christmas dinner/presentation. was great to see everyone again. amazing little congregation.

made it to the metropolis of Emo, Ontario to visit craig's family. mainly to see nana and grandpa in long-term care of the hospital. nana is 86 and grandpa is 92 this year. they've seen a lot in their lifetimes. their daughter has opened a gym in Emo recently and grandpa asked to go and see it. Gaydonna took him there and he road the bike for 10 minutes and then walked the tread mill for 10 minutes! wow! she said it was quite amazing to see a man of his age realize that exercise is so important. got to see uncles and aunts and cousins. it was great.

Leaving Thunder Bay was a bit harder this time - after all, we aren't moving to the Okanagan. Korea is half a world away. But we'll be back in a year. It was great to spend time with family.