Travel to BC with 2 little girls

I recently took Rachel (almost age 3) and Ava (7 weeks old) to visit family and friends in BC for 2 weeks.  Jason stayed behind to get off to a good start teaching, coaching cross country, and training for his upcoming 100km race.

Traveling with a baby and a preschooler by yourself is no easy feat.  I went as minimally as possible.  Since it cost $975 for the three of us to fly in and out of Victoria, I wasn't interested in spending much more money on renting cars, staying in hotel rooms, or catching the ferry with a car.  I also didn't want to juggle any gear I didn't have to.  So I went without any car seats, strollers, travel cribs, and relied on family and friends to help me with transportation and baby gear.  The only piece of gear I took was my baby bjorn carrier.

Flying there went well.  We left early in the morning and Jason was able to help us check in at the airport before going to school.  Unfortunately, I had completely forgotten to notify the airline that a lap child was coming with me, and babies actually need a ticket when flying internationally.  We haven't flown internationally with Rachel because we have flown in/out of Seattle or Spokane previously to save money.  Thankfully, I was able to purchase a lap child ticket and paid less than $20 in taxes for her return ticket and we were good to go.  $25 for my one bag, and no car seat or stroller to fuss over.

The flight from Denver to Vancouver was great.  Ava slept and Rachel was calm and happy with books, quiet songs, and ipad games.  I even took a stranger up on her offer to hold Ava while I went to the bathroom with Rachel.  I left my phone in the seat pocket.  Stupidly, as my hands were full with Ava, I asked Rachel to look in the pockets and on the floor for any of our stuff.  She looked, but didn't see anything.  I spent 2 weeks without my phone and Jason spent the next 3 days tracking it down and retrieving it in Denver.

We landed in Vancouver late morning and had plenty of time to go through customs, walk to the other end of the airport, and catch our flight to Victoria.  Unfortunately, Rachel was getting tired.  When we arrived at the customs line up, I was very thankful when we were waved over to a shorter line up as Rachel was ready to nap and having a hard time standing in line patiently.  No trouble at customs as I presented my Canadian passport, Rachel's Canadian passport, and Ava's American passport and had the requested letter of permission from Jason to travel with his kids (which Jason remembered the night before we flew!).  In the Vancouver airport, Rachel was tired and having a hard time listening while we waited for the flight to Victoria.  As Ava filled her diaper and then threw up everywhere, Rachel was lying on the carpeted floor flailing her legs around and hitting other people quietly waiting for their flight.  Rachel took up 8 seats worth of waiting with stuff everywhere and her own tired body rolling around on the floor, hoping to nap.  We finally boarded the Victoria flight, and all 3 of us fell asleep (it's a 15 min flight).  When we landed, I had to rouse a sleepy Rachel and carry her on my hip / on top of Ava in the carrier and walk out to the arrivals gate.  To our pleasant surprise, a whole bunch of people were there to help and welcome us: Uncle Jeff and Auntie Janelle, Nana, and cousins Teagan, Cooper and Griffin.

We spent 2 nights at Uncle Tony's, 2 nights in Duncan, 1 night at the Fosters' cabin at the lake, 2 nights at Uncle Jeff's, 3 nights at Barney's in Vancouver, and then 4 more nights at Jeff's.

A personal highlight for me was spending time at the lake.  My sister in law Janelle's family (the Fosters) have a cottage on Kemp Lake in Sooke, BC.  It's calm and peaceful and wonderful.  Our family went out there to celebrate Tony's birthday and enjoyed a family day in the sun.  Ava had plenty of people to watch over her, and I was given the guest cottage for the night with the girls, which included a crib and baby monitor!  Teagan swam with me across the lake while Jeff and Nana rowed the boat across to accompany us.  It was about 350m there and we took a short break on Janelle's sisters wharf before swimming back.  It felt marvelous.  I haven't been swimming much this year, and it boosted my confidence to start more swimming soon.  The following week I did it again by myself while Pops rowed the boat beside me, and did it faster and with a very short break.  It was good practice for one of my bucket list items of swimming >500m point to point.

The ferry trip over and back to Vancouver was another logistical challenge.  Thankfully Jeff drove us to the ferry terminal on Tuesday and picked us up on Friday.  I had Ava in the front carrier, a big back pack on my back, and Rachel's hand in mine.  We caught the 9am ferry Tuesday, and Rachel was thrilled that the ferry has a tv that played Treehouse TV the whole time.  I was thankful that the girls were happy and that the ferry has wifi.  We walked off the ferry and went with public transit to get to Barney's house, since I hadn't wanted to carry car seats on and off the ferry because I didn't have that many hands.  We arrived in Tsawwassen and waited in line for the public bus.  We were near the back because the walk was long and took Rachel a while.  Just as the line started to move, Rachel bolted the other way and laughed as I chased her.  I was not looking forward to having to stand on the bus if everyone else took all the seats, so I caught her and had tears in my eyes as I said "Please don't run away!  It's not funny and I need your help to get on this bus."  Rachel looked guilty and said "don't be mad, Mommy."  We ended up with a seat and made it to the sky train station.  Rachel was very tired and wanted to be held at the station, but I made her walk on to the train.  Too bad the train was VERY crowded and we did have to stand on the train.  I had Rachel sit on the floor but she still got knocked around with every start and stop and was upset when she fell over at one stop.  For the last stop, we moved into a seat where Rachel could see more and then she thought riding the train was fun.  After the sky train, we had one more easy bus ride, and then about 4 blocks to walk to get to Barney's.  The 4 blocks took a long time, but the weather was lovely, and we made it.  I was thrilled to see my awesome friend.

I saw many close friends in Vancouver, and, although Rachel made bed time difficult during our stay, it made me miss BC very much.  Rachel was thrown off and struggled a bit during this section with a whole summer of changing routines and rules.

I repeated the bus, sky train, bus, ferry scenario on the way home again - this time in the pouring rain but stopped half way for a visit with friends.  I had more help from people on the bus with Rachel this time, and was hoping Rachel would nap on the ferry but she didn't.  I carried her and Ava off the ferry and was happy to hand Rachel over to Uncle Jeff at the pick up point.

As we prepared for our flight home, I noted that I would not fit everything in one bag for the return trip.  I had forgotten to pack an extra bag in my first bag, so I ended up buying an ice hockey tote for $10 at Canadian Tire to fly home with - sweet deal.

Tuesday we didn't fly until 1pm, which was exactly when Rachel would nap, and this concerned me.  We didn't have a lot of extra time in Vancouver for any tantrums or slow walking.  I wish I had a stroller because the walk at YVR from the Victoria arrival to USA customs is LONG.  I asked in Victoria if we could be driven and they said no.  I requested a wheelchair assist instead.

So we made it on and off the Victoria flight and found a very large wheelchair for Rachel to ride in.  Rachel thought riding in the wheelchair was fun, but she was tired and cranky.  At one point we passed a gift shop with stuffed animals, and Rachel tried to jump out of the chair without warning to go look at them, so I ran her over with the chair.  She howled and made quite a scene and then wanted to buy the stuffies... but I got her back in the chair quickly and upped my pace.  I was sweating.  Ava was asleep in the front carrier.  We got to the end of the long walk and had to go through security, so we ditched the wheelchair.  No lineup.  Went through, collected stuff, rounded the corner toward the customs line.  A huge room with very few people appeared, and lines and lines of roped off alley ways presented itself.  We could walk right up to the customs officer... but then Rachel sprinted away.

She ran through the room, under all the ropes, so she could go far but I was stuck with Ava on my front and a backpack on my back, running around the ropes.  Left... right... left... right... sprint... "stop! ... freeze!"... "Rachel!!!"  When I caught her, I was holding back tears and begging her to stay still.  I picked her up on my hip and apologized to all the security folks and made my way to the customs officer.

I presented the same documentation: Ava's American passport, my Canadian passport, and Rachel's Canadian passport.
Officer: "How are you doing today?"
Me: "A little frazzled, honestly. But thanks for asking."
Officer: "Where do you live?"
Me: "In Colorado."
Officer: "Do you have a green card?"
Me: "Oh yes.  Here you go."
Officer: "And does Rachel have a green card?"

Oh crap.  Rachel does have a USA passport, as well as her Canadian passport.  And we have been recommended to bring both and use the one for the country we are entering.  But I don't want to travel with both.  I've never had any issues before - but we've always had NEXUS and gone through the NEXUS lines without questions.  Ava does not have NEXUS, so I couldn't do that this trip.  So I didn't have Rachel's USA passport.  Only a Canadian passport.  And she was born in Canada.  Nothing with me at all to show that Rachel is legally living in the USA.

Me: "Oh no.  Rachel does have a USA passport, but I forgot it on this trip and only have her Canadian passport."
Officer: "Ok ma'am.  Well, if you could just go through that door right there, then another agent will assist you."

The time was about 2:08pm, and our flight left at 2:39pm.  I explained my situation to the first agent inside the scary customs door and was told to sit and wait.  Rachel wasn't really interested in sitting still.  A second agent asked us to tell us our situation again as he tried to look up everything he could about us.  Eventually, he found Rachel's USA passport information and stamped us through, telling me that I have to travel with her USA passport to properly re-enter the USA.  Right.  Got it.

I scooped Rachel up on my hip and started trying to run.  Running with Ava, Rachel and the backpack was difficult.  I saw a wheelchair and was excited to get it, but it was locked up.  I got to the gate area, and was disappointed to learn that E78 was the furthest gate away.  Rachel was back on her feet and we had a race down the hall.  I was nervous and sweating, and had hoped to eat and go to the bathroom before we boarded.  But we arrived at our gate just in time for regular boarding.  So we got on, and all was well.

The plane wasn't very full, so there were plenty of extra seats.  We were sitting next to a kind lady with 5 of her own grandchildren.  She was on the aisle and we were window and middle seat.
Before take-off, after discussing the fact that we were very tired and Rachel needed to nap...

Me: "Oh good.  It looks like there are lots of extra seats so we might be able to stretch out more.  I won't be offended if you move to another seat."
Lady: ""Oh no.  I love kids.  I am happy to help you in any way that I can."
(Hmmmm... she didn't get the hint.)

By the time we reached cruising altitude, she did move and Rachel laid down across 2 seats and fell asleep.  Thank goodness.  All was well again.

Back home now, and time to get back into routine.  We've been spoiled all summer with other help.  I haven't cooked my own dinner more than a couple of times since Ava was born.  I haven't had much time alone with the two girls.  Rachel needs structure.  I need some friends to be social with in Colorado.  I need to get fit and strong.

I have decided to stop writing this as a blog.  I have some concerns about being so public with our family affairs.  I would still like to continue writing, however, because it's fun for me and I hope to be able to share this stuff with the kids if they are interested one day.  So I plan to write this as an email instead, and send it only to an email list, for anyone who is interested.  Please email me to confirm that you would like to receive these and I will add you to the email list.

Thanks for adventuring with us.