At the airport really early because boarding was at 5:50, and because it's the holidays, they want you to check in early because of the security line. Which was completely true. The security line was all the way out, plus extra. Didn't take as long as I thought to get through, but I only had time to grab something to drink (because I couldn't find a water fountain for the life of me) and sit down for a couple minutes before they started boarding.

Flight wasn't anything out of the ordinary, but I'm sure glad it was a direct flight. Too bad it's winter and still pretty early because it was dark the entire flight, so I didn't get to see any mountains. Parents picked me up and I had a big gulp of nice fresh sea air before we headed into town for breakfast. Stopped at De Dutch for pancakes because that seems to be a 'thing' now. I even sent Zach a picture of a tree outside in the parking lot and he knew exactly where I was. I had a 'Christmas' pannekoek with spiced apples and raisins with an eggnog sauce on top. Ate the whole damn thing.

Got a tour of the house when we got there. Some really nice upgrades to the place since we lived there. I mean, new floors and a coat of paint will do wonders, but each room had been redone, including the garage. Beautiful new bathrooms (without the weird stained glass window between the two), complete with bubble tub and rain shower. Definitely going to have to try those out. But the kitchen was the best of all with everything brand new: larger, door to dining room, bay window, french doors on the patio, new island, expanded sky light, bamboo cabinets and beautiful sparkly countertops.

Had a bit of time before lunch, so we went out to see my Morfar in hospital. It sure is a nice place, but it still gives me the willies, not going to lie. Once we were home, Dad made Tom Ka Gai soup with really kafir lime leaves. He promised he'd get me a package of the, to bring home with me because, strangely enough, I haven't been able to find them in Edmonton.

Went down to Gyro park in Cadboro Bay to see the new renovations. It looks WAAAAY better than when I lived there. The pathways are all redone and painted, they've moved and repainted the giant concrete octopus, salmon, and ogopogo. And they've also fixed up the ship a bit and put in a new ramp to the beach from some the new promenade. Apparently there was a HUGE storm a week ago and because of that there was lots of driftwood (ginormous logs) up against the sea wall, a boat capsized right at the shore (and at least 5 other boats wrecked on the shore down the bay) and a lot of the sand had been washed away so the water was all the way up at high tide so we couldn't walk down the beach.

Unfortunately, even thought this is a 'vacation' for me, I still had one more final paper to write for school, so I took the afternoon off to have tea, watch a bit of tv, and continue doing paper research. For the evening, I'd planned to meet up with our good friends Jen and Dave. They were going to Disneyland for Christmas, so this was the last day we could meet, so unfortunately, Zach wasn't able to see them. Went over to their place for supper and had a terrible time trying to find their condo, and not just because of the one-way streets. Had Thai for supper and got to chat with them for a long time which was just lovely because it's been ages. Got to pet their cute kitties too. Dave made a nice fire in their fireplace after supper and I dint get home until almost midnight.