The Royal Visit.

I may have tempted fate in my first blog when I asked "What could go wrong?" when referring to leaving a 14 year-old in the hands of Air Canada.  The important thing is she made it, eventually.

For those of you parents who decide to release your children into the wild, as it were, I have a few words of advice:
1. Always wait at the airport until the flight leaves the ground. Perri's flight actually got to the 'taxiing to take off' point before conking out.
2. Be sure to book summer flights out of Calgary in the morning. Perri's second-try flight (same day), this time to Frankfurt rather than Montreal, was delayed a few hours due to thunderstorms, thereby destroying any hope of making connecting flights.
3. This is the important one - always be sure the cell phone you've given to your child continues to work throughout the course of their trip. I accidentally had the phone plan cancelled half way through Perri's adventure, so she relied on her wits when she landed in Frankfurt to a dead phone. Thanks Dad.

However, I give her all the credit in world for negotiating the dangerous waters of airline customer service and living to tell the tale. I'll admit I may not have been able to achieve the same level of success under the same circumstances. In my version, the Frankfurt airport security officials wrestle me to the ground after I take a swing at the customer service staff. And, as a bonus, her bags arrived the next day at our front door. Pretty good considering she made no attempt to retrieve her bags at any stage of her trip.

OK. So now we're all here and adjusting well...

Perri has a way to maximize the effectiveness of the cats on a cool day. It can be difficult to know if a teenager has gotten over any jet lag issues as sleeping for extended stretches is time zone inspecific. I'm guessing Perri has recovered but there's no way to be sure.

I did drag her off to the market yesterday where she was required to get her own toaster-shaped bread. Apparently baguettes don't lend themselves to being toasted in a traditional toaster.

Don't be fooled. I'll have you believe we get all our food this way. And to be clear, a person could rely on the little farmer's markets for their groceries, if they didn't mind the hassle of speaking French every time they wanted something. However ... shortly after we wandered through the market here, we went to the giant grocery store a few blocks away (think Great Canadian Superstore with French subtitles).

Needless to say, we are settling in with a full compliment of family members. Now for the next challenge: guests. For those of you considering dropping by, I'll advise you to book early to avoid disappointment.