It hasn’t been a good couple of weeks for sleep. Bethany has had a cold, which has had her hacking continuously. The cold has increased her need for sleep, but the hacking has decreased the amount of sleep that we both have received. Plus she has been busy with work.

We had a good start on our packing, but were behind on many of the other myriad tasks we needed to complete before the trip. The biggest of those was the Queensway Carleton Hospital Surgical Assistant Group’s call schedule for the next 6 months. Due to a combination of factors both internal and external, we completed the schedule at 3:30 AM this morning!

Our flight left at 7:30 this morning. We attempted to book a taxi at midnight, but because of the transit strike, they weren’t taking reservations: we had to call when we were ready to go, and then we’d get a taxi “if we were lucky.” I also tried the YOW transporter, which stops at a hotel one block from our place, but they were closed for the evening.

Thus we woke up a little earlier than we would have. This did allow us to beat the commuter rush and we were at the airport shortly after six.

We arrived in Vancouver without incident. The car rental personnel talked us into upgrading to a 4x4 because of the incoming storm, and we headed off to start visiting friends and family.

The first stop was Bethany’s friend Jenny and her 6 month old, Katie. Adorable! It’s amazing how little kids can put smiles on the faces of everyone, even sleep deprived zombies like us.

We packed up Katie and went to the nearby White Spot for lunch. According to Jenny, Katie was fussier there than she has ever been at a restaurant. That makes Jenny a very lucky mother, because Katie was quite well-behaved!

We borrowed one of Jenny’s beds for a 10 minute nap and drove to Abbotsford to visit Bethany’s friend Farha, her husband Ken, her 3 year old Kiera and her 1 year old Riley. Both of the children were getting over a cold. Kiera likes to talk, but she only said two words as she was still dopey from a nap. On the other hand, Riley has just learned to walk and has become quite skilled at moving around and getting into things.

Farha made a very nice meal for us, and we had an enjoyable visit. Hopefully next time we visit we have some more sleep and hold up our end of the conversation better!