December 22 We made it! We’re back in Canada now and it feels great. It was a long journey but everything went really well. We were on a new plane from Santiago to Toronto and it was as pleasant as is possible on such a long flight. Kirsi was so excited to be on the airplane; even though she’s flown before, she didn’t remember any of those flights so this was a very exciting event for her. She was super in the airport – she just hung out patiently while we waited to board, keeping her backpack nearby. On the plane, she picked out which seat she wanted to sit in and couldn’t wait to get buckled up. She thought it was the coolest thing that she could sit in the seat like a big girl and wear a big-girl seatbelt. Take-off was pretty neat too!
Aidan was a good baby on the flight too. He fell asleep just before take-off at 9:00 and he pretty much slept until an hour before we landed. He woke up often but went back to sleep right away. Kirsi was far too excited to go to sleep. It took her a couple hours to fall asleep and it was only when I was holding her. She slept until an hour before landing too but that wasn’t nearly enough.
The best thing that we did was get a hotel room in Toronto. We landed at 6:30 and our flight to Regina didn’t leave until 4:00 so we had all day to wait. To get to the Sheraton we just had to take the sky train from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3; it was super easy and fast. This was the first time that we had been in the new airport in Toronto and it is great. We only had to wait half an hour to get a room – seeing that the night before had been full due to the storms, a half-an-hour wait wasn’t anything. It helped that Derwin was super friendly when he checked in and that we have two little kids. All of us konked out for a great nap in the morning; I think I was the one who slept the most. I guess that’s what happens when you hardly sleep all night long.
The flight from Toronto to Regina went well too. It was obviously a much smaller plane but it wasn’t the tiny AC Jazz plane that I had to take the last time I was home. My carry-on bag actually fit in the overhead bin!!! lol The kids did well again, though they’d had enough of traveling. Kirsi had one mini-meltdown but she got over it really quickly and Aidan was cranky for a while until I finally got him to go to sleep. That 3 ½ hour flight seemed to take soooooooo long, mainly because I was so anxious to get home and see everyone.
We left Santiago and it was about 27C; we got to Regina and it was -24C (plus the windchill, of course). What a change in temperature!!
When we came down the stairs, we saw everyone – Gramma, Nana, Papa, Kristin, Dean, Jackie, Clay and Kim. It was so great to have everyone there to greet us and to see familiar faces again. Kirsi did so well with having that many people around. She didn’t get shy at all – she was just so excited to see everyone too. She went straight to Auntie Kristin and hung out with her for a while. In the meantime, Gramma, Nana and Papa came over to see Aidan. It was the first time that Nana and Papa had met Aidan so it was a special time for them. Mom couldn’t believe how big Aidan had gotten since she’d left in August.
It’s great to be home!!
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