Recap: Trip to Edmonton
I'm currently babysitting and seeing as the kiddies are actually being quiet (watching Toy Story 2), i thought i'd catch up on my blog about last week.
I left for Edmonton last wednesday and after a LONNNG day of travelling, i finally arrived. I stayed with Leon and his family that night and then we got up nice and early to go to the Greater Edmonton Teachers Convention that we were speaking at. Since it had snowed for the first time the day before i got there, the roads were backed up like crazy and we missed the free breakfast, but that was ok because we found some muffins and stuff on the way. The convention was HUGE but not many people showed up to ours. too bad. our presentation was called "Cancer in the Classroom" where Leon talked about what a teacher should do if one of their students was diagnosed with cancer and i talked about the Survivor Network. i thought it went well and they gave me a free yoga mat as a thank you for participating. pretty amazing.
we stayed at the conference for some free lunch and Leon went to a couple of other presentations as i wandered around looking at booths. when we got back to Leon's house i gave Pam and call and we ended up heading over there. Pam and i went out for dinner at Boston Pizza and spent the night watching CSI and chatting away. met her awesome boyfriend who very kindly drove me to the greyhound station the following morning.
I then hopped on a bus for 2 hrs to Red Deer to meet up with Jeff who couldn't drive to see me in Edmonton because he'd put his snowboard through the back window of his car the day before. He met me at the station and we had a blast. we fixed his window with cardboard and duct tape and sat around watching hilarious SNL episodes he had on his computer.
Taryn also happened to be in town so we went out with her for dinner to celebrate her 5th year off treatment. after dinner we headed back to jeff's house where we watched a movie called Waiting with Ryan Reynolds and it was super funny. I ended up going to Taryn's house that night and sleeping there because she decided she was going to drive back to Edmonton with me. Her mom made us yummy french toast in the morning and we headed back to Edmonton where we picked up Pam and went to West Edmonton Mall. The mall is really cool. we watched a seal show and saw flamingos and penguins. they also have a HUGE waterpark and a skating rink and rollercoasters. it's amazing.
We wandered around the mall until everyone else arrived for dinner. Mel, MaryBeth and Leon joined us and we all had a yummy dinner at Tony Romas. after dinner, Mary, Leon and Pam left and Taryn and Mel and I went out to meet Katie for dessert. we chatted for a couple of hours and then Taryn and I headed back to Mel's house with her.
Mel kept me up till about 3am (or 4, i can't remember!) chatting about so many things and then when i finally dozed off....it was time to get up for my flight. so, having roughly about 3 hrs of sleep, Mel and i set out for the airport....and she got lost. so lost in fact that i came THISCLOSE to missing my flight back. silly girl. when i finally got through security, i ran to my gate and got on the plane. close call.
after a 4 hour flight, we touched down back in Ottawa and it was time to go home...and sleep.
such a fun 5 days. glad i went...but now i have to deal with all the homework i avoided while i was there. aaahhhhhh.
