We just returned from a weekend on Vancouver Island. It was a mini-family reunion for Reid. His sis & husband were visiting from Nova Scotia, his brother & wife live in Deep Bay/Bowser and their daughter and her partner flew in from Yellowknife. We brought another niece from New Brunswick and a cousin joined us from Parksville. It was a good time of being family. I do love the Island but I hate how much it costs to get there. $160.00 round trip. That's just ferry costs - not the gas used to get there and back. But what can you do - and for this weekend it was money well spent.

Reid's niece has been staying with us from NewBrunswick. She's been with us for 3 monthes and today (minutes ago) we said good-bye. I am sadder than I thought I would be and the girls are missing her already. She's at a great stage in her life - just finished University and the world is wide open to her - the good and the bad is that she has so many options that it is hard to know what to do. A frustrating place to be at times - but oh to have so many adventures left on the horizon!!

So as of today I have my home back, we've got no travels scheduled on the horizon and we are back settling into routine. All good. It's time to reclaim some lost time in terms of lifestyle: what we are eating, how much we are excercising, schoolwork, bedtime...

...time spent being.