That’s how we are measuring the time before we reunite with Karley, Ian and Makai and if you want to know if we are excited, the answer is a resounding yes.

This morning after breakfast, Rich, Laura, Rick and I headed into Eugene to do some shopping at Costco and Trader Joe’s. It will be the last time we shop at Trader Joe’s until the fall (sadly there are none in Canada) so we stocked up on a few of our favourites. We scored at Costco with some fresh wild halibut, which made for a yummy farewell dinner with Rich and Laura.

This afternoon Rick loaded the car back in the trailer and I started putting things away in preparation for our early morning departure. We are planning to be on the road as early as we can manage in order to get to Mission before dark and preferably before one little boy goes to sleep. It has been four months since we last saw Makai and in a toddler there are a lot of changes that happen in that short period. He’s walking, he’s talking and based on the photographs Karley sends, he has stretched a few inches in height too.

While watching the weather news we have learned that though most of the rest of Canada and the US will be enjoying a warm dry weekend, we have more rain to look forward to. But honestly, right now the outside climate has no bearing on the internal sunshine we will be sharing with our family members. It was great to spend time with Rich and Laura, a great sendoff from the US, but we are definitely anxious to return to Canada after our long time away.