No Regrets

I haven't posted in nearly two weeks and I have no regrets about that. Let me tell you why.

Mia and I were on vacation for the first week and I've been getting settled back into life in the second. The vacation was great, we went up to Montreal on a train out of Albany. The train ride took about 2 hours longer than expected but that gave me plenty of time to read Harry Potter. In fact, I nearly finished it on the train.
I enjoyed this book, it made up for Book 6 by finally providing the context it needed to be a complete story. And, as I've said in the past, JK Rowling is a good storyteller. Her actual writing might not be the best in Western civilization but she knows how to captivate her reader with the story. I can rarely read that much of a book in one sitting but the Harry Potter books make the hours just disappear.

Once we got to the city, Mia and I began our relaxation. That was the point of the vacation so we didn't mind taking it slow. Our first day we went to the Biodome and Botanical Gardens. We knew that we would be walking around so we took our time through the exhibits. The same in the gardens.

One of the interesting parts of the garden was the Chinese area. We saw some lotus flowers but only saw one that was open enough to see how the seedpod fit inside the flower. After walking through the main gardens, we went to the smelling garden. This was an interesting part of the garden. There were guides to show you which flowers to touch, smell, and even some that you could taste. Most of the tasting plants were of the kind that you could rub the leaves to get some of the oils on your fingers.

The next day we decided to go down to Old Montreal. Since it was so close to our hotel we also walked there. This also meant we took plenty of breaks to make sure Mia didn't get too tired. The old city was fun to explore. We went down to the water and walked through the old city houses. Mia also wanted to look at the art galleries, of which there were plenty... with prices that include 1 too many zeros for us to purchase anything.

Fortunately, we did find a man selling his photography on the street and we were very impressed by it. He takes photographs right after snowstorms so that the ground disappears. (His development method also contributes to this effect.) And that leaves striking back and white photographs of the main subjects.

So we bought some.
In fact, we bought a picture of two lotus blossom stems after the petals had fallen off the flower and all that was left were the pods. There were two stems next to each other, just like Mia and I in Montreal :) I'm very happy with the picture. We've been very pleased with our decision to look for local art each place we go on vacation. They serve as wonderful reminders of our trip and give us something unique to show people.

The train ride home also took longer than posted (but this time not longer than expected). We arrived in time for the dinner after the wedding rehearsal. Ethan saw us and then kept playing with Bryson.
I had to go over and ask him to give me a hug. After that he was ready to hang around me. I was happy to see him again though, so I didn't mind.

The wedding the next day went well. Everything happened just like it was supposed to.... almost. The pillow that Ethan was supposed to carry with the rings wasn't found in time (but fortunately he wasn't going to carry the real rings) so he just walked holding my hand as I carried the ring-bearer teddy bear. Ethan got a bit wiggly during the ceremony but he made it and did well during the reception afterwards too.

By the time we finally got home, it had been 6 full days. We were all glad to be back in our own house. Ethan had been having a hard time when he got really tired at nights and kept asking us to go home the 2 days after Mia and I returned from Montreal.

This week has meant some housework in preparation for my parents coming next week.