We went down to Edmonton for the long weekend that just passed (Thanksgiving) with a couple of things on the agenda. First was to get some of our warm stuff (like my winter boots) from the camper (yes, it’s still down there) before it’s too late. There was also the fact that young Thomas had an excessive amount of money burning a hole in his pocket from his birthday, which meant Toys ‘r Us was unavoidable.
There was a potential trip to Costco – wholesale warehouse, where you buy your washing powder in containers big enough for boat people to swap continents and your candy in quantities to employ an army of dentists.
And of course there was the fact that we were staying with the Duells and thus a thanksgiving dinner was in order.
Oh, and perhaps a bit of shopping – after all, one can’t escape Fort Mac and not do a little shopping.
We got away Friday night without drama (always nice) and collapsed in St Albert around 11:30pm with the only disaster being that the DVD player decided not to work in the car on the way there and the only near disaster being a random elk that decided to wander across the road and cause me to go from 100 to 10km/hr in a short space of time. The next day we went to the RV repair shop, retrieved our stuff (and drooled over a few new Jayco vans) before continuing down into Edmonton.
After surviving Toys R Us, (if Thomas walking out with a nerf gun almost as big as he is is surviving) where we met up with Bob and Nancy and their girls for the Costco extravaganza. I must say that the control exercised by Caroline and I was quite remarkable and probably assisted most by the fact that we knew there was bugger all room left in the car after clearing out the camper trailer.
Part of the plan for Sunday had been to send Caroline off shopping whilst I took the four kids to the movies, but by the time that we got around to the movie bit, Caroline decided that she didn’t really want to do anymore shopping and so she’d go to the movies as well.
I think that the last movie that I saw in the cinema was Return of the King. Yes, the third installment of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. It’s been that long. So imagine just how much I’d enjoyed going through the now screening list to find a movie that all four of our children would sit through and at least enjoy a little. Think about how excited I was when the result of the search was, “Beverly Hills Chihuahua.”
But of course with Caroline going as well, Michael quickly seized on the concept of one parent going with him to see something he wanted to see and the other taking everyone else (or at least those that preferred) to see the dog movie. There was the briefest glimmer of hope that I wouldn’t have to be that second parent when Michael was quite firm on wanting to be accompanied by Daddy to the movie. Sadly, so were the other three. And of course majority ruled and I got to see the dog movie.
The funny thing is that when I was taking four of them, I was quite resigned to the fact that I was going to see it. But with an alternate option, a glimmer of hope emerged. A glimmer was quickly smashed against the rocks, reason dispersing it to the furthest reaches of the universe and dog movie it was.
Did I enjoy my first trip back to the cinema. Well, it wasn’t as bad as getting a needle stuck in my eye, but the fact that I had to pay so much to watch that movie …ouch. Now I remember why I love DVD’s and a home projector so much.
After the movie it was time for Thanksgiving dinner. Which in true Aussie style, meant a BBQ and good red wine. But then, thanksgiving isn’t really about turkey anymore than Christmas is (apparently) so we were lucky to get to share it with friends from home and to have escaped Fort Mac for the day. I’ll tell you about the harvest festival in a whole other tirade.
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