Canada Part 1

Fiona has the first stamp in her passport:

She is officially an international traveler!

The day began in a most horrible way. On Thursday night, Fiona woke up at midnight or 1 am (I can’t remember anymore, I had a really hard time falling sleep so she didn’t really wake me up, but I was already realllly tired) and wouldn’t go back to sleep. I nursed her, I cuddled her, I rocked her, John cuddled and rocked her, we tried putting her in bed with us, we tried putting her in her crib. NOTHING worked. She just cried and cried, and occasionally sucked on her fingers or tugged and batted at her ears. Finally we decided that she must be in some sort of pain so we gave her a small dose of baby ibuprofen (yup, we are those parents again) because we know that she is teething in earnest per her pediatrician. Eventually it kicked in and she fell fast asleep...at four in the morning, a mere 45 minutes before we planned to wake up to leave the house. She fell asleep on me in the big chair in the living room. After John went back to bed, I moved to the couch, and then to our bed, all with Fiona lying on me, sound asleep. At 4:15 I set her down in bed and commenced last minute packing and dressing. She didn’t even peep even though we were moving around her and going in and out of the room. At 5:30 John picked her up and put her in her car seat and we were off to Santa Barbara airport for our 8:15 flight. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time and had no problems checking in. Our flight to San Francisco was delayed by half an hour but we were assured that we would have time to catch our connection to Victoria.

Here we are in Santa Barbara airport:

Yes, I am actually smiling.

John and Fiona playing in the airport and in the courtyard outside (until the gardeners asked to leave so they could mow the lawn).

Fiona’s first airplane ride:

I’m smiling again, and so is Fiona. She was having a good time playing with her toys, reading her books, eating the magazines, and generally having the undivided attention of both of her parents in a small space. I was smiling because I was not only excited to travel with Fiona for the first time, but I hadn’t slept in over 24 hours and was just beginning to feel the effects.

We landed in San Francisco at 10, supposedly with 38 minutes to walk to our next gate which was not far away. Oh, how naive we were. You see, our plane was supposed to leave at 10:38am, landing us in Victoria shortly after noon, with half a day left to do things like buy diapers and cheese, pick up a stroller, and visit family. But no, our plane did not actually leave San Francisco until 5:09pm. That is the time on my watch as we pulled away from the gate. We were stuck in the airport for seven hours. We didn’t know the plane was going to be there until about 20 minutes before it arrived. I am going to dedicate an entire post to this ordeal and what I think of the airline because of the way everything was handled. Suffice it to say I started turning into a crazy lady at one point, what with the bad customer service and the lack of sleep.

We landed in Victoria around 7pm. Luggage pick up and customs was smooth and did not take long, and the rental car was quickly secured, as was a car seat. It was so nice to be able to rent one and not have to bring Fiona’s car seat with us. We brought the little strap pads from home though, and the hood, so she would feel safer with something familiar. Turns out, it didn’t matter. She is very adaptable.

A weird side note: As we approached the booth at passport control in the Victoria airport, there was a little black spider that the officer flicked away with his pen. We are not sure where it came from, but he said something to the effect that is came from the people in line in front of us and it wasn’t a good thing to bring in to the country. I made a joke referring to some horror movies I’ve seen, particularly the one that ends in a battle in the basement with a humungous and screeching mother spider who eventually is shot and killed with a flaming arrow, but he didn’t laugh.

Our next stop was to find diapers because we used almost all of the diapers in the diaper bag during our seven hour airport adventure. Pharmasave was closed at 8:30pm on Friday, so we went to London Drug, where I bought diapers and wipes, as well as some other things, and Goldfish Crackers. We headed off to Prior House, our Bed and Breakfast and home for the next four nights. We stayed in the Linden Lea Heritage room and I did not take any pictures. It was 9:00pm, so far past Fiona’s bed time that we did not give her bath. We changed her diaper, put her in her pjs and she fell asleep very quickly. She slept in her bassinet, which is really a travel crib. We collapsed as well.

Fiona in San Francisco International Airport, making the best of the time. Luckily, they have a kids’ play area.

Eating lunch:

 

Checking out the tornado:

 

Playing peek-a-boo in the tubes (I think this was her favorite):

Sitting on top of the sand dunes simulator:

The balls and the lightening:

The red tube:

She fell asleep soon after:

 

Waiting in line at customer service:

She’s thinking, “How can I still be here? I ate, I played, I took a nap. It’s hours later, shouldn’t we be somewhere else already?”

Yes Fiona, we really should be somewhere else. But that is another story for another day.

One thing I learned about Fiona on Friday is that she is a great traveler. She did great on both plane rides and did not seem bothered at all by our airport fiasco. She took everything in stride and handled it much better than either John or I did. She’s my little trooper.