we're home!

We were loading up in the car 2 days ago and Ivan said "I don't want to drive home, I want to fly". I agreed with him, but we made it none the less. We set off Tues. at 6:30 am from Fort Qu'appelle, Saskatchewan, went through immigration without a hitch and on through the Dakotas the rest of the day. We stopped for the night at about 10:30pm in Valentine, Nebraska. The next day we set off at 10am (we lost an hour with the time change) and got in to Abilene by 2:30am this morning. The countryside was beautiful on the way home, but not quite so much as the loveliness of my own bed. On the highway, I saw a huge snake (Nebraska), a turtle, a couple of rabbits, a fox, some of the most beautiful canola fields I've ever seen and through the panhandle of Texas, in the dark, we played dodge the deer. I've never seen so many deer on the side of the road grazing. It did keep me awake. Most of them just looked up from grazing, but one darted out onto the road and a few darted away from it. I was very glad we avoided all collisions. Brian saw all of the above in monovision. He got the eye infection Emora started off with at the beginning of our trip. Within about 6 hours, his eye went from weeping, to sticky, to swollen, to shut closed. It was not too cool. The kids saw lots on the way too. They saw a Little Einstein video, the Clifford Movie, The snowman movie, The seventh brother movie... You get the picture. Poor Dominique was miserable that second night on the road. She wanted out!

Today we have been tackling the unpacking, washing, grocery shopping, getting the plates changed over on our new van... I am glad to say that I am only mildly dizzy now from the constant motion and lack of rest. Another night's sleep will do me good.

I've uploaded the pics from the second leg of our time in Canada. We spent 5 days in Fort Qu'appelle. Population 2000. We were there for the forth of July. Once in Canada for the 4th, out in a canoe, Brian got to see a wild eagle. So we said he needed to see one again this year and he got to see 3! They were soaring above my cousin's house, catching the breezes over the wooded hills of the valley. So happy belated 4th.