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Ever feel like you just can't keep up? Me, I'd like to hire out someone's brain (Jake, you busy?) to read everything ever written about the new Lego robotics system so that I could then transfer that info into my own brain and just know it. Like, already. I'm back in the saddle at school - giddyup! (as Saira would say) - and while everything is going swimmingly I sure would like to know now what I'll know by the end of the year. I'm entirely thrilled about my schedule. Two drama classes, two robotics classes, and then yearbook and video yearbook. I don't just say this because there's a chance my boss could find this site and read it, but I like it when there's lots to learn. Just wish I could speed the process up a bit.

Getting back to Delhi was in most ways not nearly as difficult as it could have been. First of all, in Toronto, I PASSED MY DRIVER'S LICENCE. Finally. As far as I can tell, the only big bonus with this final level is that in addition to being able to renew my licence, I can also drink and drive. Right on, Ontario, I say! Back in the day I had to have zero blood alcohol. Not anymore! Yehaw! Passing my licence meant that I could make key trips out to Walmart to buy very necessary stuff and, well, if I hadn't passed I would have had to literally go back to square one and get a learner's permit again. So to sum up: I rule.

Calgary was great but the time we had there was way too short. Seung Yi was very busy and active on the flight, but chipper and pleasant. Dad picked us up when we got in late at night and drove us out to the farm with both the glitter of a sunset still on the horizon and a giant, brilliant full moon hanging above us. There are some definite advantages to living way up north (of course, snow in August and long johns in July not being two of said advantages). It was very sad driving in to the farm to see Grampa. I knew it was my last visit to the farm and while of course I am happy that Grampa will have more help and assistance in the future and he won't have to take care of such a big property, it is really my home. We moved around like crazy when I was a kid - I think something like ten different houses before I hit high school - but the one constant was always the farm. Gramma went out of her way to make it a special place for me, not just because she and Grampa were there, but because it was the farm. Although at first I wasn't sure that Balzac would be as perfect as McKnight had been, it turned out to be a wonderful place as well. Walking up the stairs to give my wonderful grampa a hug out under that moon, with the air crispy-fresh, well knowing that I wouldn't be able to do that again made me feel pretty weepy.

Happily, Grampa is doing great. With Rob being off the farm and getting help, he's been able to enjoy himself without worrying, and I think it's been a long time since he was able to do that. He seemed to be having just a fine time with Dad around; he's started drinking Starbucks iced blended coffees twice a day and he was happy to get out in the car and be trucked around to Dad's various errand-destinations (fresh cherries, pie, pancakes, gnocchi, noodles, rillettes, salisbury steak, brioche, borscht, beans, you name it, Dad can find it). Grampa's looking happy, healthy, well-enough-padded-but-not-too-padded, and he even puts his teeth in now and then. While I know Dad was sorry to miss out on the fun in Toronto and especially hanging out with his AWESOME daughters and FANTASTIC grandkids, he nonetheless also seemed happy to be able to spend time with his father. Hey, maybe that as the theme of the summer: hang out with your Dad. My dad and Phet both did it and have been very pleased that they did.

Best memory from the summer was definitely the following: me, Seung Yi and Dad are hanging out in the fancy living room at Grampa's. Seung Yi starts playing a game of roll-on-the-floor. Grampa comes in, says, "I bet I can do that, too," and proceed to get down, knee by knee, lie down, and and roll around on the carpet. Also liked his comment the day we parked at the mall and he directed us to a particular spot. Dad asked, "What, you want to be here for a better view of the ladies?" Grampa replied, "Well, you've got to break the monotony somehow." And on another day when I asked (thinking about Uncle Rob starting smoking again after going through the DTs), "Hey Grampa, was it hard for you to quit smoking?" Without pausing, he answered, "No, I just started chewing snuff." Cue chortles from me and Dad.

Uncle Rob was doing relatively well. He had a few good visits with Seung Yi and she would shout out as soon as she saw the hospital, "Uncle Yobby! Uncle Yobby!" Now he is staying in Airdrie and Dad says he's doing well enough. Best of all, so far, he's sober. Let's hope he keeps it up.

Seung Yi very much enjoyed being at the farm - and of course, that was sad too. Wah, wah, Oscar winning moment, cause she'll never go there again! Dad bought her a fun ride 'em bicycle and she had a hoot pedalling it up and down the driveway. She was scared of the dogs and chickens but was concurrently very interested in them and was desperate to see more of the goats, who were exceedingly uninterested in catching sight of human beings. She liked getting the stool out in the kitchen and helping with the cooking, and she also had fun turning the TV on and off many times, and found it absolutely the height of fascination that if she wiggled in bed she could make the headboard squeak.

While we were in Calgary, we dropped over to Ash and Turner's for their annual porch party and happily caught up with Mark Heard, the Bristowe gang, and Sloane. Mark proposed an excellent idea: how about a ten year reunion in Hanoi in 2010. Whaddya think, y'all, want to do it? It would be fun with a capital pho. Seung Yi was obsessed with all the fun kid stuff and so I didn't get much of a chance to chat...Turner started explaining his plans for his next project and I'm all like, "Ooh, my baby's on the trampopoleeeen I gotta run!" In other catching-up news, we also had lovely meals with Shirley, Zoe, Leigh and her parents as well as Cecylia, Dean, Sam, Tyler, Ruth, George, Adrian, and Julie. Zoe is an absolutely delightful little girl. While Seung Yi wouldn't share Zoe's toys with Zoe, Zoe was happy to let Seung Yi test out all of her goodies and didn't complain at all when Seung Yi became ultra possessive. (Hm, too many ssss's in that last word? Let me know, huh.)

We had to leave Calgary way too soon, but the good news was that Seung Yi slept the whole way back and was even-tempered when we had to spend an HOUR on the runway in Toronto due to lightning storms in the vicinity.

Here's Seung Yi pointing out that the on-sale-on-board food isn't half bad these days, followed by a picture of our MASSIVE box of bikes being shunted up the ramp onto the airplane:

We spent our last couple of days shopping and packing and visiting with Mum, Em, Adam, and Ji got to hang out with Jake and Ryan. The flight from Toronto to London was decent. We had an extra seat for Seung Yi which meant we took up the whole last row of three seats and we were right near the bathroom which, while for most people is NOT where they'd like to sit, but for those of us with a wee child requiring constant trips to pee pee or not to pee pee but just to pretend to pee pee, is actually a terrific spot to sit. Seung Yi helpfully slept though dinner and let me watch the movie 21 (yawwwwwn) and then woke up and ate an entire airline serving of chicken in red sauce.

Heathrow, however, was not so good.

It started out ok. We got off the plane in good time, got on to our transfer bus over to the correct terminal and got to see real outdoors jolly olde england on the way, we got off the transfer bus and made it to a bathroom before hitting security so that Seung Yi was urinarilly taken care of, we got waved into the fast security line, I took off my shoes to put them through the x-ray machine, beckoned Seung Yi to walk through the metal detector, and ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE. Seung Yi started BAWLlNG and would. Not. Stop. She wouldn't let me pick her up, and in fact every time I got closer than a metre to her, she started screaming - SCREAMING - "NO MUUUUUUUUUMMMMM WAHHHHH NO MUM WAHHHHHHHHH!!!" Needless to say every single person thought I was an axe murderer. We couldn't do anything because we were kind of in a holding area and I had to get boarding passes issued, and all I could do was let her cry a few metres away from me, and keep saying pubicly consoling things like, "I know, dear...I'm sorry....I know...Mum's right here..." Meanwhile she has snot bubbles puffing out of her nose, tears literally streaming down her cheeks, and she is shoeless because she won't let me get close enough to her to put her shoes on, and did I mention that everyone is watching us? The ticket guy told us to go take an elevator upstairs, so I had to pick up my writhing, screaming, bawling daughter around her belly and manage to get Ji to push the stroller into the elevator, and then? Oh, that's right: the elevator didn't work. So we had to go back and find an escalator. After the ticket guy said he'd help us get the elevator to work. Which he couldn't do. So she screamed up the escalator.

Finally, we made it upstairs, and after about 10 minutes I got Seung Yi to calm down and come to some semblance of order. By the way: bathrooms at Heathrow SUCK. But most employees are nice. A kind man helped direct me to a quiet seating area within sight of the departures video screens. What else sucks at Heathrow? Well, they don't tell you in advance which gate you'll depart from, so you have to remain at attention the entire time you're waiting, and also? They don't put the screens in the seating areas in many parts of the airport. Handy, huh? Anyways, we rested and Ji napped for a bit, and then I decided we should go let Seung Yi pee again, so since Ji was so tired I let him sit in the stroller and I put Seung Yi on his lap and we went to the bathroom where I then found out that Seung Yi had PEED HER PANTS. I calmly dealt with that, got her changed, ignored the mean bathroom cleaner who was telling every mom that babies couldn't be changed in that bathroom and I'm like "My daughter is wearing panties. Not a diaper. Yes, the panties are wet. But they're still not a diaper." I get Seung Yi all ready, set her back on Ji, and then she hops down and says, "Pee pee!" and she has PEED HER PANTS AGAIN. I pull down her pants but - the panties are dry. In my lack-of-sleep-befuddled state it takes me several minutes to figure out that (and this is totally classified information, if anyone ever leaks it to the person it is about I will be rilly angry and never write funny but embarassing stories on this site ever again) it is actually Ji Hong who has peed his pants and I've put Seung Yi on his lap. Twice! And I have no clothes for Ji to change into. And I'm at the airport.

I push a confused Seung Yi and shepherd a crying Ji Hong into the shopping area of the airport. We rush around hunting for any kind of kids' clothes. Nothing, nothing, but finally - a Nike shop. I grab a pair of youth sized white shorts and pay for them. I think that the clerk says sixty pounds, and I think to myself: it's worth every pence. But happily - and happy moments were few and far between in Heathrow that day - they were actually sixteen pounds. We race back to the bathroom, clean Ji, change his clothes, wrap up his old stuff in the Nike bag and stuff it in the stroller bag, and then run to catch our flight. Where we run into the absolutely best piece of luck, ever: the wonderful Sikh ticket-taker switches our seats from squishy window and middle to bulkhead, and not only that, but we are given a baby seat that even Seung Yi - at two! - is allowed to sit in. She sleeps for 4 hours straight and I thank my lucky stars for that wonderful treat on a FULLY full plane to Delhi.