Recap of the last few days...

Where to begin?? Our last few days in Canada were a little hectic and busy. What we had been procrastinating on for so long had to finally be accomplished, so by 6 days to liftoff we were pretty focused on getting stuff done.
We also started to do our goodbye visits. On Thursday (the 24th) we took the Suburban down to Victoria to our friends Dianne and Ernie who were willing to store it for us and we had dinner and a nice visit before we headed over to say our goodbyes to Fei and Fang.
On Friday Phaedra popped in to say goodbye to her friends at Discovery and on Friday night Carole and Vic had us over for a fantastic dinner and some good cards (the girls won!!)
On Saturday, Phaedra's mum Susan hosted a going away potluck dinner party for us and we all had a fabulous time visiting with our friends and eating the awesome food that was brought. The kids were totally excited because Susan arranged for them to be able to use the schoolhouse at the property where she lives to have their friends stay over with them. We had quite the crowd! There were a few people we missed at the party (you know who you are!) but it was lovely to be able to visit with everyone who could come!
Sunday was great - the packing was getting closer to complete and Ian powered through a bunch of things while Phaedra and Joisan went for some girl time at the spa!
Monday was all about the cleaning and the final packing of last minute bits and pieces and we couldn't have completed it without the support of one very special person! Thanks to Erin we were able to get it all finished and thanks to Phaedra's dad Bill we got us and all our bags over to Susan's house by 6:15! Once we finished dinner and Bill took Ian back to the house to find his wallet, we weighed and adjusted all our checked luggage to make sure each bag was under 50 lbs. This is no small task either - luckily Susan is a master packer and all the bags appeared to be around the proper number.
In the morning we did a few last minute things like cancel the car insurance and we headed for the airport. We were going to take the Brentwood ferry over but Mill Bay Road was closed by the police and we were turned away at Noowick Road and had to go around by the highway. We still haven't heard what was up but whatever it was it delayed us enough that we missed the ferry by a minute! We still had plenty of time though and we made it to the airport and were all pleasantly surprised that our hard work with the bathroom scale was all pretty accurate! We only had one bag that was over and it was only over by .8 of a pound! Whew! Massive overage costs averted!
We had about a half hour at the airport to visit with Mum and Dad (who had to both drive to get all of us and our luggage down there). Mum worked out some of her issues with some retail therapy and she and dad bought us each a nice neck pillow for the plane ride. We said our goodbyes and our timing was perfect - we walked through security and right onto the plane.
By the time we got into the terminal in Vancouver and made our way to the departure gate we only had about 20 minutes before boarding. Phaedra stopped at a duty free shop and picked up two bottles of Canadian Club for gifts. It was great that we didn't have to wait around in the Vancouver airport but unfortunately there was some "passenger adjustments" needed so they ended up opening the plane up again and we waited at the gate for 1/2 hour before leaving.
The flight was fairly uneventful. Joisan and Phaedra discovered that you don't have to be in first class to get your meals first - just order a special meal and you get it way before anyone else! The food was good - the electronic entertainment was unending and there were cards to play if you got bored of the movies. Paradise! Ian got 1/2 hour of sleep but no one else did.
We arrived in Tokyo late (due to that 1/2 hour delay and some serious headwinds) so we didn't have as much time as we thought we would in the airport. With the time it took to go through immigration and customs and then check in for our next flight we actually had only about 45 minutes of leasure time. We were all pretty fried by this point but we hung in there. The plane from Tokyo to Chitose was only an hour and a half and had minimal services. Joisan fell asleep almost instantly which was good as she was looking a little fragile.
When we got down to pick up our bags in Chitose we could see our welcoming party waiting for us outside the baggage area. There were two official gentlemen (still not sure of names) and Hiro (Taran's teacher who Phaedra has been corresponding with) and Gerhard (the man who takes care of the travel arrangements). They waited patiently while we collected our things and then ushered us onto a school bus. We will post photos of a Japanese school bus at some time in the future - they are nothing like what we are used to!
We were driven here to Ohtaki and there was a small delegation of people waiting to welcome us - complete with a colourful sign! Again, photos to come. They had a small party ready for us with food and drink - we stayed long enough to toast and then they could clearly see that we were much the worse for having had 20 hours of travel! They sent us off to bed and promised to connect with us the next afternoon. And that, dear friends and family, is where we will leave you today - we have had a busy day and are all in much need of rest. We will continue the saga tomorrow. Good night!