Friday morning in PEI

Yesterday was the travel day. Got to the aiport on time, plane left as scheduled, no hiccups until we reached passport control at Halifax. I was pulled off the incredibly line because of my cane, and was sent with Nick and Liv to a shorter line.

Jon, Jamie and Nikki were stuck on the endless snaking line. We waited and waited on the other side, killed time, bought snacks and watched every other passenger emerge, except for our three. Finally Jon made it through, and told us they'd gotten caught in the security web: questions, searches, drug-sniffing dogs. Nikki may have -- just may have -- mouthed off a bit when they put her stuff back in her bag, but nothing they did justified the long long wait. We told them that they take security seriously on this side of the border. But we finally made it out, got into our massive rented SUV and took off for PEI.

Nice easy ride, one stop where the kids could check out their first Tim's. We'd planned to go home first, unpack, relax but the traffic was uncooperative and we were stopped dead. It was all because of the Canada games and yesterday's cycling events. No one could move. We decided that it made no sense to fight the traffic to get home and fight it again.

So instead we went straight to dinner at Brothers Two. Nikki and Jamie were going stir crazy in the car, so they got out and walked on ahead, and we met them a little later. Nice meal -- lots of mussels (Thai mussels beat classic mussels), and everyone liked their food (my chicken salad arrived sans chicken, but that was quickly remedied.)

Then to Highland Storm. The kids loved it, which thrilled us. It was our third time and we were so hoping they'd be as swept away and moved by it as we we and continue to be. Big success.

Finally got to the house later, and their reactions were extreme. The beauty, grace and ease of it blew them away. Liv laid across the countertops in a proprietary way, declaring that she was never going home. And the other kids reacted similarly. When we decided to call it a night they were all downstairs, 2 playing darts and 2 playing ping pong. I'd always wanted to have a house not only beautiful and done, but welcoming and fun. And thanks to Susan for all the design work and Nick for all the assembly work on the play stuff, we now have it.

It's good to be home.