Til Next Year, Edmonton!

Gracie saying good bye to Ong
My 7th and last bubble tea... I definitely plan to take some Fresnans to try these out!

Well, we're back in Fresno... It's hot and muggy outside, but thank goodness we have a/c! Yesterday, we went to church in the morning and then to my mom's cafe for lunch. While Grace napped, we packed up our stuff. We came back with a lot more than what we went with! Since saying goodbye is so hard for me, I asked my parents and friends not to see us off. Only my sister came with us to the airport. We had no idea what a long day it would turn out to be. I really thought that customs would give us a hard time since I was traveling without a passport. It turned out that this was the easiest time we've ever had returning back to the States (I used my green card)! The flight from Edmonton to Seattle was fine- we are so grateful that we have a portable DVD player. Gracie watched Dora the Explorer and was very content. However, the flight from Seattle to Fresno kept getting delayed. We were scheduled to leave at 8:30pm, arriving in Fresno at 10:30pm. After the many announcements that the flight was delayed, we were finally told that our plane had mechanical problems and it couldn't be fixed in time to take us back to Fresno. The airline decided to fly us to Portland instead so that we could switch to a plane that would take us back to Fresno. By this time, it was 10:30pm. We got to Portland, switched planes, and arrived in Fresno at 1:15am. Grace was extremely hyper and could not get settled. During all of our time waiting and on our flights, she slept maybe a total of a half hour. She was definitely not herself, and it's not surprising- her usual bedtime is before 8:00pm! Anyway, despite the time and all the delays, our friend Jill still came to get us. We didn't get home until after 2:00am, and it wasn't until about 3:00am that we finally went to bed. Phew! What a day! Today, we slept in and have been taking it easy. Late in the afternoon, I went to get some things at Costco and FoodMaxx, which leads me to my next thought... Is it just me, or in this last month have businesses started being more "green?" At both stores today, I noticed displays for reusable shopping bags. I had to laugh to myself because seeing those displays reminds me of an incident that happened when I first moved to Fresno 8 years ago. It was my first trip to Vons and when it came time for the bagger to bag my groceries, I produced my own bags. The cashier and bagger made me feel so uncomfortable with their stares. One of them commented, "We do provide bags, you know." I was so embarrassed that I have never done that again in Fresno, even to places like Trader Joe's or Whole Foods. In Edmonton, I had gotten in the habit of bringing my own bags to places. One of the grocery stores I shopped at most often (called "The Real Canadian Superstore") charges money for grocery bags. The first question they ask you is, "How many bags would you like?" and they ring it up- it is the first thing on your receipt. The purpose is to encourage people to bring their own bags or buy reusable bags. They even have plastic bins that fit inside the shopping cart so when you're done, all you do is put the bins in your car. Our friends, the Macks are one family in particular that comes to mind with all this "thinking/living green" stuff. I've decided to now go back to bringing my own bags when I go shopping. Maybe the Macks could somehow work that into a future "Green Idea of the Week!"