We’re back! We were away on an epic journey to New Brunswick and PEI – along, it would seem, with most of Ottawa. We didn’t actually run into anyone we knew while on the trip, which is kind of a shock considering our neighbours, and the people one street over, and the folks I randomly ran into on the street last week, as well as a full third of Little Miss Sunshine’s kindergarten class, were going to PEI at some point or another this summer. We rented a cottage there and it had a guest book and like half of the people who signed it were from Ottawa. I guess we hear the call of the island strongly in these here parts.

Anyway! More on our trip later (short version: AWESOME). Mostly I just wanted to check in, say hi, and let you all know I’m miles behind on my blog reading so if any of you got married, or had a baby, or (say) won the Little League World Series in my absence, please comment below accordingly.

In the meantime, two small notes. First, as I don’t think I can sneak in a full Dance Show post before it airs tonight, let me just say that I was disappointed in last week’s show, and it’s not because of the dancing (which was great) or the All Star-led choreography (also, for the most part, good) or the choice of elimination (which I agreed with). My problem was with the “who inspires you” bits they played for each dancer – specifically, Tucker.

Tucker was inspired by his Dad, and it was very heartfelt and moving. But was I the only one listening between the lines here? He cited his father as his inspiration because even though his dad was a big and brawny football guy, he found it in his heart to support his son’s love of dance. I just got the strong feeling while watching this bit that it was about more than his son just choosing a different sport – it was about Tucker’s sexuality. Now, maybe Tucker himself did not want to talk about that, or maybe I’m assuming too much, or maybe it was a privacy issue. But given Nigel’s past borderline homophobic comments, I felt like maybe they had asked Tucker to couch his interview in euphemisms. Was I being oversensitive? Or was this show, which only a few weeks ago was using the (awful) Bullying Dance to pat itself on the back about being in touch with the issues, and a platform for important statements, now backing away from the word gay? NOT COOL, DANCE SHOW.

On a lighter note, we spent all day today at the mall getting back-to-school stuff – this after a 12 hour drive yesterday, WE ARE STUPID – and I am already regretting letting my youngest pick this out:

Now I’m going to have neon pink pissed-off birds searing my eyeballs at 6:30 a.m. every morning for a year.

Come to think of it…I can be a little angry myself at 6:30. Kindred spirits!