Winnipeg, Day 1

I am officially on vacation and loving it. I had a wonderfully uneventful flight to Winnipeg and arrived safe and sound yesterday. I tried to get some family shots yesterday but they didn't really turn out. I did get this one of Corrina though. Hopefully, it's the first of many from this trip (and hopefully hopefully, I will some day soon find a class to take so I can learn how to use my new camera and not always have to borrow Kendra's. Thanks Roomie!)

Dave met me at the airport and then we went to pick up Janie from school and Corrina from daycare. I am amazed at how well Corrina is speaking. We'll have to figure out what she's going to call me. Auntie Claire has a lot of hard consonants in it. The last time I saw Corrina she was barely saying hi and this morning she was sharing her fascination with pockets and helmets and stripped pajamas. Progress indeed.

Last night after a delicious supper Dave & I hit the grocery store. As we stepped out into the parking lot we were met by a true prairie wind. It came up close, entirely too familiar, slipping inside my coat and whispering rumours of winter. I shuddered. I turned to Dave and said "Now that's a prairie wind!" and Dave, battle hardened and much tougher than his thin blooded west coast sister casually asked "is there a wind? I hadn't noticed." You could have had a champion kite flying contest in that wind. It was wind sailors dream of and it bounced right off my younger brother in his wool sweater. Just wait til it rains, I'll have him beat then :)

Today Janie is a school, Dave is at work, Corrina is at daycare and I have the house to myself. I am quietly slipping into vacation mode. I finished watching Dan In Real Life which we started last night. I was completely prepared to be underwhelmed by a Steve Carell movie but willing to risk it on Dave & Janie's high praise. I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised. Maybe I really do need to watch The Office. (And points, big points for either Pierce Garnder or Peter Hedges, whichever of them is responsible for the perfect line of teenage angst "You are a murderer of love!!!!) I passed the rest of the morning sipping tea and reading and now as I'm finishing up this post I have pretzel dough rising on the stove.

It is good to be here, among family. Corrina has warmed up to me much quicker than I expected and already I'm chasing her down the hallway on her trike, watching Elmo and spinning her round and round the living room. There are good days ahead, I can feel it in the wind.

*(And if I can just wrangle a few things to work together better -- I'm talking to you Blogger! -- I'll have more picture soon.)