The Canucks have arrived...

And Minneapolis will never be the same!

Thanks to all who prayed - the flight went really well. The Boy flashed his squinty-eyed grin at the border guard, who waved us through with a smile. The Girl expressed a fair amount of concern when Mom Teddy had to go through the x-ray screening, but the odorous bear made it through unscathed (good thing the inspectors were wearing gloves - MT is overdue for the spin cycle).

We managed to secure an entire row to ourselves on the plane, so although I did a bit of aisle-hopping, both kids had a window seat. One DVD player refused to work, but fortunately I had enough electronic inventory in my backpack to make Future Shop blush with shame, so I pulled out the laptop and saved the day with Diego.

And, happily, The Husband was at the other end, into whose arms we all collapsed with sighs of relief.

The highlight of today was visiting our new home. It's more beautiful and spacious than I remembered. The kids found all the nooks and crannies and promptly began a game of hide and seek. Our landlord described all of our new neighbours: I'm torn between whether I'm happier about the lawyer two doors down with the "No War in Iraq" sign on his front lawn or the next-door neighbours with teenagers whose response to hearing that small children were moving in was "Do you think they'll need a babysitter?"

We're very much looking forward to moving in, but at this point we don't have an ETA for our possessions more accurate than "somewhere between Sept. 1-7."

So, we're hunkering down in a hotel for now and hoping that our stuff arrives on Tuesday. The Girl's school uniforms were shipped here, so she's essentially ready for school when it starts. It will be interesting doing it all with only one car, and four days' worth of clothes, but we've surmounted much greater obstacles already, so we'll manage this one just fine, too.

Tomorrow will be a day of much-needed rest, with swimming in the hotel pool and some more exploring of our new city.

Thanks to all who made our move down so smooth, whether it was prayers, food, accommodation, rides and/or childcare. We probably could have done it without you, but it would've been terrible!