Tennessee Haturday

Woohoo! I’m here, in beautiful Tennessee. The trees are green and the birds are singing. They were even singing at 2am. Don’t you sleep, birds?

Speaking of sleeping, the twins and I got 13 hours of sleep last night! We needed it after our adventure! But before I tell you about it, here's a shot inspired by the #haturday tag @saffisara came up with a while ago.

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The Journey

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My twin 3.5 year old boys and I started out in BC, Canada, at our local airport. So nice to begin a journey from a small airport where it isn’t busy and the people are nice. In fact, every WestJet employee I encountered was wonderful. Yay for WestJet!

We took a small plane to Calgary airport, where we had just enough time to get to our next gate before they started boarding. Then came the longest leg of our trip, flying across much of the country to Toronto.

I’ve never been to Toronto before, but I can’t actually count this trip as a visit, as we only saw the airport and a hotel, where the same staff member who checked us in just after midnight was there when we left in the morning.

I didn't really sleep in that hotel bed. The kids did, at least, but I kept waking up, wondering if it was time to get ready to catch the next flight—even though I had two alarms set. At least I got up with enough time to do yoga.

Apparently they want you to get to the airport 3 hours early for international flights now. WTF? That’s too much time.

Oh well, back to Toronto airport we went, me and my kids and one large suitcase. We went through a ridiculous amount of lines to do security and customs, then got to our gate with nearly an hour to spare.

Did we camp out on some chairs and get more sleep? No, the boys and I did sets of stairs.

(via giphy)

Okay, maybe not like this, but WOW! Something to work towards. ;)

We were at a little gate at the bottom of an escalator, and the boys haven’t done moving stairs much, so we walked up the regular stairs, then rode down. Again, and again, and again. We probably did ten sets of stairs. It was good to get a bit of a workout. I would’ve liked to do it faster, without my crazy-heavy backpack, but hey, at least we got some exercise.

We boarded one more plane, and were on our way to Tennessee!!!

Sometimes you luck out with the person sitting next to you on a plane. This was the case on the last leg of our trip. The plane was small, so the boys sat on one side and I took the aisle seat on the other side, next to a gentleman who lives in the country outside Toronto. We talked almost the whole time. Absolutely fascinating person—he’s a pilot and runs a charity helping kids around the world, and I feel blessed just getting to know him a little on our journey. We landed in Nashville, where my parents were waiting for us.

I’m super impressed with how well my kids did. This was my first solo trip with them, and the boys were troopers!

Today we got to a small playground, but are mostly sticking around the house. They’ve got a bit of sniffles, but are in good spirits and I expect they’ll be feeling 100% soon. We’ll explore the area playground by playground, and hopefully meet up with @enginewitty and his kids soon!

There’s something wonderful about staying with my parents, feeling taken care of in a way I don’t get otherwise. I’m writing this from the comfort of their living room. Outside, the birds are singing.

I hope you’re doing well, wherever you are. Thanks for reading!

Peace. @katrina-ariel

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Author bio: Katrina Ariel is an old-soul rebel, musician, tree-hugging yogini, and mama bear to twins. Author of Yoga for Dragon Riders (non-fiction) and Wild Horse Heart (romance), she's another free-spirit swimming in the ocean of Steemit.

dragon art: Liiga Smilshkalne

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