"It's a BOY!!!"

Enjoying a quiet moment

I left Ottawa early morning and by 9 am I was getting off the plane in the somewhat familiar airport at YYC.

Prince William!

Somewhat, because even though it's only been 4 years since I lived there, much has changed.  There is lots of new construction, road closures delays and traffic is worse than ever.  There are also many people out of work, vacancy rates for rentals are skyrocketing, equipment auctions are rampant and the current economic forecast for the Province is pretty bleak.  Driving across Canada I found that many (many) people have no clue how much this downturn and bickering and politicking is hurting the country.  It seems everyone has an opinion sometimes based on what their neighbor has told them or some 60 second news clip.  We're hurting!

Can't start him too early

Okay, there's my rant for the day... back to the reason for being in town in the first place...

My very first impression of William was, "geez he's quiet!"  Of course he was in his elaborate stroller asleep, which explains it. 

Over the next couple of weeks I would get to know him a wee bit, after all his vocabulary is limited to "crying/crying and more crying..."  punctuated by periods of smiling and maybe even some go gooing!

Rick and I while walking the pooch were mistaken for a May/October gay couple with adopted son and dog .

MY primary 'job' while there was to take a little pressure off both Rick and Lisa.  I walked the little guy up and down stairs, from front to back, took him for stroller adventures (like the time we went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, man that was refreshing) and secondarily I kept Jagger company, taking him out to the dog park, and adventures like panning for Gold in the Congo!

Meanwhile, Jaxie just chills...

It was brutal hot the first couple of days and having the A/C in the Flex driving to the off leash (for dogs not babies) park gave us a cool break.

'Can we go for a walk can we huh, can we?'

I fully remember the days of infancy, how tough it can be for new parents especially those that work.  It's fortunate that now a days a family member can take time off a job and stay at home during those critical first few months.  Speaking of which, I got involved in a conversation (unwittingly) while in Quebec city about the low birthrate most western countries are experiencing.  At the center of the conversation (with people I just met) was this refugee thing.  People have amazingly strong feelings about these things and as our family were also refugees coming from a war zone (Hungary 1956) At the center of the discussion was the low birth rate hence the immigration aspect.  Seems to me that since families (both parents)  have had to work to survive and day care was taking over raising children I thought, 'wouldn't it have been great about 30 years ago to have government implement a long term plan to pay a parent to stay home instead of spending billions on welfare systems that often get abused.'

Hold on for a moment would  you guys...

"soft background music plays"

Okay, I just had to go out and burn my soapbox, but don't worry I'll build another one later I'm sure.

While in Calgary I saw some old friends.  Yes we are getting old aren't we! 

The hot weather cooled substantially during my stay and in fact for a few days I actually had the comforter on the bed! 

This was not only my first introduction to {Prince) William but also to the Golden's new home.  Lots of room and lots of stairs, no need for a stair climber there! 

The NEW Bowness Park

We had a chance to visit with Holly several times and learned she had  been accepted to a firm working from Seattle.  As I write this, she is packing her bags to be there for work Monday morning!  Many long years ago I had a conversation with her about what the world would look like in 30 years. I remember telling her that she may not finish school all in one place, would likely live far from her birthplace (Fort McMurray) and could even end up working in another country altogether.  Kevin and her have certainly proved that!

My couple of weeks were fast approaching an ending and it was time to pack my little kit, load the winter tires in the Dodge Caliber and begin my drive back to my home on the east coast while making a couple of slight detours.  You see, the flight was a one way.  I would be driving Lisa's low mileage AWD R/T home, but not before I stopped over in Leduc and southern Saskatchewan for a visit with Ed and his BSA Bantam.