One Trip Down, One to Go!
Well, we survived the vacation at the beach with the in-laws. Besides the fishing expedition with Jody, we went to the actual beach one to three times a day. After the first mouthful of saltwater when we got hit by a wave, Tripp decided that he preferred to play in the sand and refused to get close to the water. Not necessarily a bad thing, I suppose. I've discovered that he is a lot braver and more outgoing than I am. He was missing having other kids to play with, so every time we went down there, he would go up to other kids and say, "You play with me?" One night he accompanied Jody on a surf fishing expedition and I went down to see how they were doing, only to find little girls running away from him. Here Jody had caught a fish that didn't survive the experience, so Tripp was running up to his nearest agemates to show them the fish. The girls, of course, did not want to see it!
I spent a good portion of my time hunting down shells on the beach. I've decided to just call myself an artist, as that way I can get away with being the eccentric one in the family. The shell hunt was due to a stepping stone kit I'd brought with me to make presents for Grandma and Aunt Ann for their birthdays. We made three, with Tripp decorating one with his handprint and shells. The other two, I actually made scenes out of shells on them, but forgot to take pictures of the final product:
And now that we're back from that trip, it's finally time to book our tickets for Canada. As I was getting everything together, I had a bit of worry when I realized my Canadian passport had expired. A quick hunt on the internet let me know that for traveling back to the US, I only need my greencard. I then called my local Consulate in Dallas and was told that I would need my passport if I were flying in to Canada, but if I travel by land or sea (Train, yes!), then I just need to have my birth certificate (check!) and my greencard. So that's a relief. I'm depositing some money on one of Jody's credit cards tonight, and then will be able to book the tickets by Tuesday at the latest. Looks like we'll be spending a few hours in Chicago at Union station and also have a longer stop in Buffalo as we wait to cross to NF. We'll see, might be better to have my Mom meet us in Buffalo.
I spent a good portion of my time hunting down shells on the beach. I've decided to just call myself an artist, as that way I can get away with being the eccentric one in the family. The shell hunt was due to a stepping stone kit I'd brought with me to make presents for Grandma and Aunt Ann for their birthdays. We made three, with Tripp decorating one with his handprint and shells. The other two, I actually made scenes out of shells on them, but forgot to take pictures of the final product:
And now that we're back from that trip, it's finally time to book our tickets for Canada. As I was getting everything together, I had a bit of worry when I realized my Canadian passport had expired. A quick hunt on the internet let me know that for traveling back to the US, I only need my greencard. I then called my local Consulate in Dallas and was told that I would need my passport if I were flying in to Canada, but if I travel by land or sea (Train, yes!), then I just need to have my birth certificate (check!) and my greencard. So that's a relief. I'm depositing some money on one of Jody's credit cards tonight, and then will be able to book the tickets by Tuesday at the latest. Looks like we'll be spending a few hours in Chicago at Union station and also have a longer stop in Buffalo as we wait to cross to NF. We'll see, might be better to have my Mom meet us in Buffalo.