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We're home! We had to drag ourselves out of our warm beds at 5.30 am yesterday (UK time) to finish packing and get to Jersey airport for 7. We left on schedule and had about three hours of free time at Heathrow so we could eat an early lunch and browse the shops.

The flight from London was 9 hours which I spent watching the in-flight movies, eating the (quite good) meals, doing puzzles, reading a magazine and, eventually, knitting. As it was a daytime flight, none of us slept. However, we were pretty tired when we arrived in Calgary.

We had a couple of spare hours in Calgary - the two younger boys fell asleep across the seats of the waiting area - the rest of us just sat there with our gritty red eyes. When they called the flight, I had to carry S (he's only 10 but he's heavy) and K had a hard time getting vertical! All the boys slept for the 45 minute flight to Kelowna.

I still don't have photos organised - still waiting for L to give me a disc full of them.

The anniversary dinner went well. The restaurant had made an effort with vegan meals - not the best we've ever had, but OK. There were 14 of us - apart from my parents, R's parents were there, my sister, her two teenagers and her partner, an old friend of my parents, and our family of five. Sitting in the restaurant was like being in a boat, with wood panelling and porthole windows, and a large bay window looked out over a pretty harbour - the tide was up, the sun was shining. Lots of photos, lots of wine consumed, lots of laughter. No one made a speech but I did propose a toast to my parents.

On Friday, R's side of the family were informally invited to see us at R's parents' house. Many of the cousins were in the island for another anniversary party on the weekend. It was a good turnout, with R's aunts and uncles and many of his cousins showing up.

Lots of laundry to do today!

Thanks for your comments - I did make an effort to read them while I was away, but it's nice to be back on my own computer.