Well, I have half a moment to catch my breath here, so I wanted to do a quick update! I finished work on April 30, which was bittersweet, but mostly sweet. :-) As almost everyone else that I worked closely with had already left, it certainly felt like it was time to go. And I knew I wouldn't just be sitting around at home!
The next weekend we went to Victoria for Mother's Day, as Todd's grandmother was visiting there from Edmonton. We stayed with my aunt and played tourist, visiting Craigdarroch Castle, Butchart Gardens, Hatley Castle, and getting a great tour from my aunt. We had lunch on Sunday with Todd's grandmother, sister and some other extended family, and visited one of the university parks before heading home. Pictures are here.
Then it was time for our honeymoon! We left Vancouver on the 12th, and travelled for 26 hours, through Los Angeles, Washington DC and Sao Paolo before finally arriving in Rio de Janeiro. We had booked at a bed and breakfast in Santa Teresa, an old aristocratic neighbourhood which is somewhat run down now but still has some lovely old mansions. The place we stayed was one of the lovely ones, with a garden and pool. We had a great breakfast with fresh fruits every morning on the patio, and got to feed bananas to little monkeys in the backyard!
We were in Rio for 6 days all together and had a great time exploring the various neighbourhoods. The cable car up Sugar Loaf Mountain was a highlight, as was the Botanical Gardens. I also really enjoyed the National History Museum. We also did a couple of day trips from Rio - one to Petropolis, a former summer retreat for the royal family in the mountains, and one to Parati, a beautiful old colonial gold rush town further down the coast. The weather was warm and sunny almost every day. Here are lots of pictures from Rio.
The second part of our trip meant taking another series of flights to Manaus, in the middle of the Amazon basin. We stayed one night at a resort there, and then boarded our riverboat, where we stayed for the next week while travelling up the Rio Negro and on to the Amazon river. We saw various types of rainforest and flooded forest, tons of wildlife, went piranha fishing, visited some villages, and saw the famous "meeting of the waters", where the Negro and Amazon rivers meet. We were almost right at the equator, and the weather was about 35 degrees each day with 95% humidity! It was a very unique experience, and though we were both ready to see land again after the 7 days, we enjoyed the whole thing very much. You can see lots of Amazon pictures as well.
Finally, on our way home, we had a day's layover in San Francisco, so we spent a lovely afternoon at Fisherman's Wharf before heading home to Vancouver. The last few pictures are from there.
Since we've been home, we've been busy with our three missions - packing, getting immigration documents in order, and finishing our to-do list in Vancouver! Our condo sold while we were in Brazil, so we move out on June 25th. We are selling our big furniture and moving the rest to London with us, so there's lots of activity going on for both of those goals.
Getting my settlement visa has been a bit of a headache (and very expensive!), mostly because I wanted to get my name changed before we get all the paperwork done, but I hadn't been able to change it before the honeymoon as everything for the honeymoon was booked in my maiden name! So I have finally got the new passport and everything, and made the visa application - now we just wait and hope it is approved in time for our flight!!
Finally, we have visited the Vancouver Aquarium, gone to a few shows at the Arts Club, and are trying to re-book our whale watching trip before we leave the city for good next week. We are flying to Calgary on the 25th, and spending the weekend with family for Elizabeth's baptism and Alex's 3rd birthday party. I can't wait to see everyone and to meet Elizabeth!
And now, I am heading downtown to meet Todd after work, so I'll end this here. I don't know if I'll have time to update again before I move, so it may be that my next entry is from London - stay tuned!!
I have a niece!! After three (wonderful) boys in a row, we finally have the first little girl in our family. Her name is Elizabeth Anne, and she was born April 18. Here's a picture!
 Todd and I were in Seattle when she was born, and our phone wasn't working, so we didn't find out until later in the day. We're not entirely sure when we will get to meet her for the first time, but hopefully it's soon. And on a random note, this means that Caleb is still the only one of my nephews or niece where I've actually been in the country when he was born! Our trip to Seattle was very nice - we basically went just because we hadn't gone yet while living so close. We were supposed to go back in November for the Billy Joel/Elton John concert, but it got postponed (to February - boo!), so we never went. This time there was no particular occasion, we just decided to go. We rented a car and drove down, and stayed at the Best Western hotel in Pioneer Square, which was a great location, and a good free breakfast, so we were both happy. The Saturday rained quite a bit, but we managed to visit the Aquarium, Pike Place market, ride the monorail to the Space Needle, visit the Science Fiction museum and Experience Music Project, and take in a Mariners game. Sunday (Elizabeth's birthday!) was a beautiful day, and we did an underground tour and visited the Klondike Museum, plus went up the Smith Tower for the views. We had really good food - good Italian the night we arrived, yummy clam chowder in the market, and a great pub lunch outside in the sunshine. Overall it was a great trip - pictures are here. We've also just spent a lot of time lately trying to not be home. :-) Our condo has been listed for sale, and there have been tons of showings - no offers yet, but lots of interest, so that's a good sign. We were really pleased with the pictures that we ended up with (you can take a look at them here), and our realtor is very optimistic. We've having another open house this weekend, so we'll see what happens! Just one more week of work left! Enjoy your weekend!
I'm now into the last stage of my job. There was the pre-Games period, the Olympics, the Paralympics, and now we're into post-Games, or dissolution. Basically the entire organization has to be dismantled over the next few months! Of course, I'm involved in the people side of things, so making sure everyone is paid up to the right date, gets all their paperwork, and has a good experience while they're losing their job. :-) My official end date is April 30, and I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. The whole thing has been a great experience, but now that the Games are over, I'm ready to move on.
Speaking of moving on, we have started the process of selling our condo. We've met with the realtor, and this week we had a home stager come in and a photographer to take pictures for the listing. It will be officially listed tomorrow, and then there's an open house next weekend. Todd and I plan to be out of town. :-) I hope it sells pretty quickly - it's hard to start making plans for a place in London when we don't know yet when we will be wrapped up here!
There's also lots of preparation going on for our honeymoon, which I am getting more excited about every day. We had all our travel shots done, and I should get my visa back from the consulate this week. Todd didn't need to get one because of his British citizenship - unfair! We also went out and bought new backpacks, hiking boots and binoculars. We're now debating on whether we should take our regular camera, which is a bit bulky, or just buy a cheaper point-and-shoot which would be easier to carry around and we wouldn't be that upset about if it were stolen.
We spent Easter weekend at home in Alberta, travelling between his family in Edmonton and mine in Provost. My sisters and their families were also there, so we got to spend some quality time with the nephews. Pictures are on Facebook. I should also have a new niece or nephew any day now - Dawnelda was due on the 8th!
Other than that, we are just keeping busy with packing and getting out to enjoy the lovely spring here in Vancouver. We plan to go whale-watching another time over the next few weeks (hopefully to see some whales this time), and to try Tojo's Japanese restaurant. That's about all that's left on my "must-do" list for Vancouver - I think we've done very well in the year and a half we've been here!
Hope you all had a lovely Easter, and are enjoying the spring wherever you are!
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