conclusion

I have come to the conclusion that people in other countries are skinny because they WALK everywhere.  After being in one such foreign country, I observed several times that there were not many "bigger" women.  And by "bigger" I mean Big.  And by Big, I mean American.  (No offense to my friends and family. I am, of course, not talking about you.)

I have also come to the conclusion that I don't really care to live in a foreign country.  I am all Kansas, all the time.  I don't like the feeling that people are looking at me because I am in the minority.  How do I know I was in the minority in this foreign country?  One day we went to downtown Montreal.  It was beautiful!  However, after we stood in line and watched a polka-dotted-stocking-wearing clown make our children overly priced incredible balloon animals (as seen below)...

the next lady in line looked at me and said, "Goodbye blonde hair, blue eyed family!"  Which was sweet at the time, AND made me feel a little weird sensation- like I didn't belong there.  

So, what do I do with my new found conclusion?  Do I start walking to school every morning?  No, because there are those "emergency" days- kids get sick at daycare, daycare kids get to sick, I need a milkshake from Braums during my planning time... you know... emergencies.  Hmm... I need time to think about this.

At any rate, I had a GREAT time on our vacation, in that foreign country mentioned above.  I LOVED spending time with family we don't see often enough.  And I LOVED that they live by a large body of water.  I LOVED that I got to see historical sites I would never have seen otherwise.  I LOVED that my children were incredible travelers, and were not the reason (most of the time) that we stopped to potty on our 3,000 mile adventure.  And lastly, I LOVED that we (Chad, Brad, Tracy and I) were seated at our table in a restaurant by a vampire, we saw a movie that we could have seen here in the states, we took our family photo in front of a very large statue/fountain of a naked woman, and I got to see a national American treasure called Niagara Falls on the way home.

 we were on this look out before headed down the 

elevator to the Maid of the Mist

(same boat that Jim and Pam, from The office

got married on)

see the Maid of the Mist?  It was very wet 

down there!

BTW- double rainbow, all the way!

Trey did NOT want to wear that blue

poncho, and cried almost the entire boat ride.

THANK YOU Tracy, Brad, Wesley, and Maddie

for making it such a wonderful and memorable

vacation for us!