East meets West

Thomas Hardy once wrote that "east is east, and west is west, and never the twain shall meet." Sam had other ideas. Knowing that he'd be flying from coast to coast during this holiday, he scooped a flat red rock from the Big Red Mud of the Minas Basin on the Atlantic side and squirrelled it away for throwing into the Pacific ocean at White Rock a few days later. Which he did. East, meet West.

The pan-Canadian trip was smooth sailing, from the early morning ride to the airport in Halifax to the late aft (evening for us) ride home from the airport in Abbotsford. Sam couldn't be a better traveller, and he was excited enough upon arrival that he was ready to get the visiting going right away. So happy were we all to see each other that we walked out to the car in animated conversation and didn't realize until we got there that we hadn't stuck around for the luggage!

We spent the next eight days enjoying Grandma & Grandpa's company. Now something of a tradition, Sam and Grandma spent an afternoon co-creating a new watercolour masterpiece—a mountain scene, complete with lakes, trees and a train cutting through the valley. Sam takes the painting very seriously and gets a kick out of sharing this talent with Grandma. He was delighted with the gift of a new set of paints and paper.

Sam's new talent, however, was unveiled for Grandpa, who sat most of the way through the Where's the Dragon? story thinking Sam had the book memorized. The look of astonishment at learning that Sam was reading it to him was priceless. Sam would read another three or four books to Grandpa and Grandma that week. He loves a good story and really likes sharing books with his family (and I learned this afternoon that he volunteers to read to the kids in Child Care, too).

Sam played chess and cards, watched the Jays games (sort of) with the boys, helped the girls chop veggies for dinner, and rolled thousands of times up and down the living room on a yoga ball (nutty kid). We enjoyed a lovely early afternoon at White Rock, strolling the waterfront, exploring the beach, watching sandcastle artists, and enjoying some delicious ice cream. We topped off a great day with a massive order of Greek delivery—opa! And we all went out for dinner a few days later at a fave local spot, La Masia, which serves authentic Portuguese fare. Very, very good. Best lamb Sam's ever had, he reports.

On the last full day of our stay, Uncle Malcolm drove (all the way!) out from Edmonton with Carolyn, Amanda and Marissa to enjoy an afternoon visit and a Sunday dinner, Ashe-style. Roast beef with all the fixin's, including Yorkshire pudding, Grandpa Ashe's famous gravy and "The Green Stuff" (jello-cream cheese-pineapple dessert, served with the main course. Dessert was peach cobbler! :) Sam loved meeting two new cousins for the first time and (as always), he enjoyed a good tussle with The Claw.

We spent the later evenings and early mornings through the week playing in the hotel pool and goofing around in the room. The week flew by, but on the very last morning Sam declared that he missed his house and he missed his dog and he wanted to go home. Excellent timing. Our coast-to-coast family vacation was over....