Update

Since I don't know what else to call this post than an update.. that is what it is going to be! :)

Anyway, so I spent sometime in Alberta which was great, but by the time I went back to Sunnyside it was nice to be going "home". At the same time you do adjust to being in your parents' home for a while pretty quickly.. at first it was a little wierd, but I definitely got used to it pretty quickly, which I didn't notice till I got back to our small home. The first morning that I was back it was really interesting waking up in my own bed again, and not on the floor between my sisters' beds like I had been doing for the past week. At the same time weirder still to be back in such a quiet house!

Anyway I'm going to have to do a post with some pics from up in Alberta yet.. but for now I'm just going to continue on with how my trip back home went etc.

So on Monday morning, it was time to pack.. and of course now I know there are several things I forgot... which wasn't to bad.. except I was almost sure my suitcase was going to be overweight since no carry-on's were allowed coming into the US ugh.. annoying rules.. but definitely understandable after the bomb scare! So that meant I was trying to stuff everything, including my regular carry-on amount into my suitcase.. not to much fun!

Once that was done it was time to run over to see Oma one more time before I left and say good-bye. Like usual that takes a little more time than you expect it to.. but you can't just run in and out either. She was busy washing dishes when I came, and then was also working on fixing the binding on a book cover, so pretty much just little things here and there. Her first comment to me was that now that there isn't someone constantly waiting for you and expecting you to get things done in a certain order you do whatever you want to first and last. Then we drank some tea, and talked some more. From what Oma said to me is that she really wants to come and visit us in Sunnyside sometime, we will have to see how that all works out, because someone else would have to take her. I did mention it to Mom and Dad so hopefully something can be figured out, because it would definitely be really nice if she could come down for a visit. Anyway as I was getting ready to walk out of the door, Oma being Oma figured she should give me a chocolate bar! As kids whenever we went over she would usually have a candy, and sometimes a roll to send us home with, or something else, and other times nothing LOL :)

Now that Opa is gone the whole family is definitely going through a big adjustment, and it leaves a huge empty spot. Coming over to what was "their" house and now is only Oma's house makes it feel pretty empty, rarely did we ever come there and not see Opa somewhere tinkering on something, or reading a magazine in his chair in the corner. Which we noticed over the last week has become Oma's corner now.  Or you would almost expect him to show up on the farm sometime to do the little things that he always did in the last few years. Feeding the calves, and dogs, moving the buckets of water from the front of the barn to the milking parlor. Even Oma said, that with his coveral's hanging in the garage at their place makes you think that he will be back and will put them on to go to the farm. Then for our family as well, Opa always walked across the field between the homeplace and his house, which we will never see again. There are so many memories that we are faced with all the time. Even though I'm not at home anymore, just thinking about it is really hard, at times more so than others, and I'm sure there will always be those memories!

Anyway, so when I got home it was time to head to Calgary, I pretty much pulled up walked in the door and walked out again! When we got to the airport, we stopped at Timmies to grab a bit to eat... and me for my last (in a while anyway)1/2 French Vanilla Cap, 1/2 Coffee. Then it was off to check in with the Airline. The lady at the counter took one look at my suitcase and asked if I could put it on the weigh scale for a minute so she could check what it weighed. ummm ya... 54.7lbs... eeekss, almost 5lbs over.. but like I had said to mom, Hey they aren't letting me take carry-on which normally weighs more than that. So that is what we told her. She told us.. you know that is a good reason. prints my luggage tag, grabs the Heavy Luggage warning and puts them on.. and away I went!

That is when I got to start the fun part.. Customs!! or NOT!

Anyway so like usual when you fly from the Calgary International Airport, when you come to the door opening for US Customs there is a officer there to great you and make sure that you are supposed to be coming through the door, but this time a little further ahead there was another one. Then you go fill out your declaration form and the into the line for Customs. All in all the line moved forward pretty quickly and I didn't have any complaints about it! Anyway.. finally my turn.. the officer asks me, So why are you going to the US. Me: well I live there, Him: Oh in that case.... and he looks up my info on the computer, yup you just received your status and don't have your card (freaky, or not lol but it all shows on his computer), he wants to know why I came back to Canada.. so I told him.. done deal.. welcome HOME!  Here's me thinking to myself.. umm that is so wrong!!! ya I live here, but to me Canada is always my home, not the US.. LOL! Oh well.. such is the way it goes! I won't offer any other complaints, at least I was allowed back into the country.. that is all that matters to me! :) Anyway then once you get through that there is a line and another bunch of customs officer checking you purses since you are only allowed to have a purse the size of an 8 1/2x11 piece of paper, and pretty much minimal amount of stuff in it. Anyway so that takes a while, then you drop your luggage with the luggage guys, and on you go to the Security area. Which is packed and taking forever! You pretty much had to take everything out of your bag/purse, laptop had to come out of its case... camera got looked over.. your jacket/sweaters and what not got a thorough going over and you got patted down by either a TSA officer or a Calgary City Police officer. Ladies got a lady and men got a man.. etc.. they check the bottom off your feet  etc etc. I was like WOW Security is def at an all time high...

Then came the wait.. since you have to make sure you check in through security on time with it being that tight that also means a long wait period before you take off in general :( Boo! But I was so glad that I had my laptop with me, because guess what.. Free WiFi!! YAY! LOL :)  Same thing for the Seattle/Tacoma airport.. since I had quite the layover there as well.. it all worked out quite nicely.. and then finally after a kinda bumpy plane ride to Yakima.. finally get to see John again... LOL :) All I can say is I think it was a long week for both of us! But definitely not a bad thing.. Absence makes the heart grow fonder as they say.. LOL :)

So that is that for now.. pics coming up sometime soon!