The days do get away from you

Saturday was filled with some chores. Even on vacation, the laundry has to be folded. We also visited with JJ and Sheldon Choo for a great visit and haircuts (I abstained, believing that a haircut goes against the whole rugged vacation beard thing I've got going on).

Ahh, bonding over multi-player gaming.

Saturday night was pizza and donairs (finally) with Dad, Ellen, Mike, Christy, Brady and Mackenzie. The best part of the evening was watching our kids reconnect with their cousins. My brother felt the urgency of making the most of our vacation by taking in the sites and offered some great advice on how to maximize some of the deals here.

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My cousins went to Abu Dhabi and all I got was this T-Shirt!

Sunday: There were enough new faces at church to make us feel like we were visiting. People seemed genuinely happy to see us and many claimed to have missed us. Is it selfish and self-centered to enjoy being missed?

We do miss grandpa's cooking!

James' new best friend.

So calm. This is not the dog we remember. 

After a great dinner of barbecued steaks, we were off to the our friends the Pinsents for game night in what was once our home. Game night was a weekly/bi-weekly tradition while we were living in Nova Scotia. Many Sunday evenings we would be a little more strict in enforcing bed-times and have friends come over for a round of Carcasonne, Settlers of Catan, Ticket to Ride, or Dominion. It was a great way to visit with people. The games were lots of fun and having a purpose to the visit often kept the conversation of devolving into a late night gossip session. Apart from family and friends, Game night is probably the thing I miss most about Nova Scotia. Yes, even more than Costco or Donairs. The Glanfields showed up to join in the festivities and, apart from the new coat of paint in the dining room, it felt as if we had never left. We essayed a new game, Snorta, that was more for the kids, but it was great fun to witness the chaos. The only thing that made the whole experience feel different than game night was that we were able to wrap things up before eleven.

Game night at the Pinsents!

Monday: I spent the morning and afternoon visiting with friends from work. There's been a real increase in the Saudi population of students, so the TESL Centre has added prayer rooms which made wandering the halls feel a little like Abu Dhabi (minus all the classroom gadgets and extensive support staff). Talking with people about our experiences in Abu Dhabi has really helped me appreciate what a great experience the year has been. After the first few months of novelty, we had settled into some nice routines with work, school and church and the adventure seemed, well, less adventurous. But when people start asking about our lives over there, that puts me into storytelling mode, and in storytelling mode, everything is an adventure.

While I was gallivanting about Halifax, the kids had a piano lesson with the world's best piano teacher and then spent a little time at the library.

We love our libraries!

Teenager expressions keep popping up on Liam's face.

Monday night was dinner with the Kirchner's. Again, it was like we had never left except for the fact that James was totally cool around their massive dog, Boomer. The last week hanging out with Miley has really raised James' confidence level around animals. It was another great dinner and visit. I've felt that we've done a pretty good job at making the most of our time here. In the week we've been here, we've accomplished just as much as we accomplished in that week in London only it's been of a more personal nature. Instead of seeing shows and sites, we've been reconnected with people and places.

Tuesday: The rain, glorious rain, kept us mostly housebound. Julie took the kids to another library for a bit (we do miss libraries) and then another trip to Costco (is the novelty wearing off so soon?). After dinner it was off to the movies.

While we were living here, going to the annual Pixar release with the whole family got to be a bit of a tradition. It was nice to get out together, but the only thing missing from the equation was the actual Pixar movie. Sure it had the logo at the beginning, but where was the wit? Where was the clever plotting? Where was the emotional payoff? The kids enjoyed it, but the first thing Lucy said to me after the movie was, "Do you think that will be the first pixar movie we don't own?" Even though there are layers to the better Pixar movies that the kids don't fully understand, they notice it when it's not there. And this is one movie that had absolutely nothing under it's very glossy exterior. It was a movie of interminable product placement and, no doubt, James will be adding a few of the cars to his collection before we leave Nova Scotia. Even the Toy Story short at the beginning of the movie felt like a crass exercise in keeping the brand alive to sell more merchandise. I'm disappointed, if you can't tell. For the last fifteen years, there has been one thing I could count on every year and that was excellence from Pixar and without that constant, I feel a little bit adrift. It wasn't a bad movie, it was just mediocre, but when you expect excellence, it makes mediocrity worse.