www.WeekendInBC.com

I have officially been labelled an American, by a stranger in a bathroom airport in my own country! How sad. We arrived in Calgary, Alberta 3+ hours after leaving London, Ontario's 84f/28c degrees and shocked and surprised to be in 35f/2c degree's. There was a woman in the bathroom who had packed for her trip expecting the weather to be like home, but it was not! I said something to the other woman and she looked at me and said "Are you American?" I was thoroughly saddened. Nick was happy because he had some of the best Chinese food he had ever had (in an airport no less). My dad and I were bored so we took pictures in the airport for the fun of it!

Anyways it wasn't quite as cold in Vancouver, but it was still cold. We arrived mid afternoon their time, we had gotten I think 2hrs, 15mins of sleep at home the night before and didn't sleep until 2am our time 11pm their time - but to us, the time with family was way more important. We planned the day of the wedding, talked around the kitchen island with Dang (the bride to be) and her friends from Thailand - as well as the rest of my west coast cousins! Once all the important people had left for the wedding rehearsal, the leftovers went into downtown Vancouver, where we had Cheese Cake and hot drinks to warm us up from the cold dreary evening. We returned home to eat pizza and go to bed!

Saturday morning we all got up early for the big day. Mom and I went to the brides house with all the bridesmaids. We did their hair and took pictures - you see my mom was the wedding photographer! On our way to the church we got lost, ended up at a greenhouse so I asked for directions and then asked if we could use the green house for pictures after the wedding. They said yes! The wedding was nice, the bride was absolutely beautiful in her Thai wedding dress!

Oh and did I mention that my ear's never unplugged from the flights so I was deaf for all of the trip!!

After the wedding we went with Michael and Dana Daykin (my cousin and her husband). Since Michael grew up in BC he knew the area, he took us to a west coast burger joint, called "Triple O's" then to "Road 0" and then to the beach. "Road 0" - is right along the border of the USA. He said see right there were the mowed grass meets the wild grass - that is the USA/Canada border, which he told us is always see-able by the border patrol. That was pretty cool!!! Then we went to White Rock beach which was cool and cold but fun to be at the Ocean. The tide was out so the boys played in the sand, found some little creatures!

After the beach we went to the reception where a lot of fun was had. The boys (Michael and Nick) danced to that Ninja song. The little boys copied everything the older boys did. It was a long night, and we were up again the next morning. We went to a country club the next morning and celebrated my uncles 65th birthday. Then after celebrating we went back to my cousin's and we all (17 of us) played Apples to Apples, most of them for the first time! We had a blast! It was hours of playing, laughing etc.

Then we came home, took red eye flights, arrived in Chatham at 8. Slept til 4 and then had a pancake brunch.

Oh and did I mention I'm still deaf, I've tried everything, even putting hot oil in my ears... nothing.... Nick says if I still can't hear by tomorrow night I should go to a doctor.

It was a great trip, I didn't want to leave - I love my family! It was so fun and it doesn't happen very often so I loved having the opportunity to hang out with them all. I learned a lot about the Thai culture. Orathai, the my new cousin, taught us, that Thai people have a formal name and a nick name. Her nick name is Dang, and we were wondering why some of her friends were calling her P'Dang. Turns out the P is a sign of respect, like our Ms. or Mr. Since she is 43, and a lot of her bridesmaids were way younger they called her that!

Twas a great weekend.