Great weekend.

Things around here are finally starting to feel normal again.  We have little stress in our lives which we are truly thankful for.  It's been such a rough summer.  We had a huge to-do list  from the spring and we didn't accomplish any of it so we feel like we are 6 months behind, and here it is winter now.

Oh well, now we just press forward and do what we can do.


My good friend Kevin's birthday is monday, so for his celebration he wanted to go to the SAIT lounge to see Delhi 2 Dublin.   http://www.delhi2dublin.com/  A crazy fusion band from Vancouver.  An Irish Fiddler, Hindi Singer, DJ, Indian drummer and Korean guy on the Sitar.  Fusing Hindi rock with Irish/Celtic bonded by electronica.  WTF?  SO AWESOME!  We had a lot of fun!

The next morning something crazy happened.  The night before I was the designated driver so I only had two pints of beer at the beginning of the night.  I was fine when we left and got home at 1:30am.  Saturday morning, Lair got up with Quinn.  They kept trying to wake me up  but I just couldn't wake up.  Like seriously, I just couldn't open my eyes.  I laid in bed till 1pm.  I have no idea what that was all about.  It sure wasn't a hang over.  Maybe my body just shut down cuz it needed some good solid rest?

Last night was my company Christmas Party.  It was at the Deerfoot Casino.  The food was amazing.  We had a good table, both won door prizes and had a good time.  We bailed around 11pm to go home and change so we could catch the end of a party our friends were throwing.  Glad we did as we had fun!

While we were at the parties, Ivy had her 6th birthday party, so Lisa/Ursula took Quinn to the party (to see the movie Tangled), then to have a sleepover.  It was a nice night out for us and for Quinn.

This morning we dragged our buts out of bed to go for breakfast at Lisa's and have a visit with good friends.  It was a super weekend!

"Does this River go to Heaven?"

Danny passed away on Wed. Oct 20 with Goldie by his side.  The news was expected, and such a feeling of calm came over me, so relieved that his suffering had finally ended...  Lawrence headed to Medicine Hat after dinner to be with his mom & sister.

Quinn took it pretty hard... He and I had a quiet night of cuddles.

I took Thursday off work.  I took Quinn to his school bus.  He had his first school field trip and begged to go.  Lair came home Thursday night.

Because I knew I needed days off for the funeral, I went to work on Friday... I should have stayed home.  I was miserable, crying all day and stressed out trying to arrange coverage for the days off I needed.

We had a Chill weekend.  Just stayed in and enjoyed our little family.

Mon-Thurs, is was hard at work mostly caused by the stress covering my leave.  My boss wasn't managing the situation very well which caused me great anxiety and I was irrationally emotional.

I left work at noon Thursday and we headed to Edmonton...  On the way, we stopped in Airdrie to see Dave Lymburner at the cemetery....  His ashes were put in a column thing - and we were quite surprised that it had no memorial plaque!??   I don't know what we wanted stopping there, but we left feeling like we never have to go there again, as he is not there, but with us always in our hearts...

Friday morning we headed up to Valleyview, 4.5 hours north of edmonton.  This is where Lawrence grew up.  Man is it ever a tint town!  Was neat to see his old stomping grounds and hear his childhood stories.  We met up with all his family at a new hotel.  I took Quinn to bed at 8pm and Lair visited with family.

Saturday, a beautiful day, we all drove about an hour north to a spot along a river where Danny wanted his ashes scattered.  It was a most beautiful spot.   We played some music.  All had red carnations and Kerri poured his ashes into the River.... It was tranquil....

That's when Quinn looked up at me and said "Mommy, is this River going to take Grampa to Heaven?" ...  I couldn't answer him.   We then threw the flowers into the river and Danny's favorite hat.  Quinn asked me again "Mommy, does this river go to Heaven?".... and again, I just couldn't answer him... I just hugged him.

We all then had a glass of Red Wine in Danny's honour and all took a moment to say a few words.


It was truly the most beautiful and moving Memorial/Funeral I've ever been to.


That evening, some close friends of the family opened there home for a Celebration.  Food, Friends, Family and drinks.  It was a lot of fun!

Lawrence read the Eulogy.  He worked long and hard on it.  When he stood up to speak Quinn stood up with him and held onto his leg.  It was a beautiful moment.

EVERYONE got pretty drunk!  Especially me an Lair.  But it was a good drunk.  We had fun and got to talk with family and have a good old time.

That is of course, until Sunday morning.  Oh my gosh we were both So hungover!!  But we had to get our buts in gear as it was Halloween and we had a 4.5 hr drive to get to Edmonton in time to go trick or treating with Ursula.  She bought Quinn an awesome costume - a Clone Trooper (new age star wars thing?).

The kids had a blast.  The love and support from Albert & Ursula was exactly what we needed after our exhausting weekend.


Monday afternoon we packed up and headed back to Calgary.

Upon arrival, it was late so we put Quinn straight to bed.  I was mortified to discover Quinn's fish & snail (Johnny & zippy) had passed away while we were gone....  :(  What?   How is it they totally survived for 10 days when we were on holidays, then the croak when we're away for 3.5 days?  I was pretty upset (I was very attached to them)....

Lair flushed them and I tossed the tank.  I didn't know how to tell Quinn....  So we didn't....  And he hasn't even noticed they are gone!?   Crazy.

Epic family vacation 2010

We finally made it to Disneyland!  I will try to keep this somewhat short....

Oct 7 - was a travel day.   Quinn figured out pretty quick it wasn't a normal day when we told him he wasn't going to school.  Then he saw the suit cases in the back of the truck.  He guessed Edmonton, Mexico and Vancouver.  We decided to tell him while we were in line to check our luggage.  Lawrence said 'Where does Mickey Mouse Live'  Quinn answered DISNEYLAND!  And he jumped up and down and hugged us and thanked us.  Calgary to Vancouver, Vancouver to LAX was an uneventful trip.  We then took the 'Disneyland express' from LAX to our hotel - the Howard Johnson.
   

We arrived and got settled, grabbed some dinner and were in bed by 10  :)

Oct 8 - Disney!  First 3 rides we did were Peter pan, snow white and Pinocchio, and all 3 scared him lots!  Admittedly, I agree, the stories do have some dark under tones and in the dark with loud noises I can see how he was afraid....  Unfortunately he then became afraid of every ride!  So we had a motto - Try everything once, and if you don't like it you don't have to do it again...   Highlights:  Toon Town, pirates of Caribbean, Nemo submarine, home of the future, buzz lightyear, and our favorite, Indiana Jones!  

  

Oct 9 - Disney & California Adventure Land.

Highlights Disney = haunted house, space mountain

Highlights California Adventure Land:  Muppets 4D,  Monster Inc., a Bug's Land, Pixar parade,

ElecTRONica (Electronic Dance party!! What?!) (Movie to be posted on Facebook)

(Mom - you can click in the pics to see a bigger one)

  

Oct 10 -  We took a 1 hour coach ride to LEGOLAND.  We left our hotel at 8:30am and returned at 6.  It was an ok day.  A cute and interesting park, geared toward little guys (ages 4-8?).  Quinn had a blast, but we were a little disappointed with the $$$ we paid for the day trip.  On our way home the bus passed Bubba Gumps! Oh my Gosh I was so excited!  We went back there for dinner and had a blast!  The restaurant is all about Forrest Gump filled with pictures and items and quirks from the movie - just awesome!  We had a few drinks and got giggly and pigged out on shrimp shrimp and more shrimp.

  

   

Oct 11 - we did both Disney; California Adventure Land.  Did the Indiana Jones ride again, ate at the Rainforest cafe, saw The World of Color (good show but couldn't see much from where we were :( ).

Oct 12 - we did both Disney; California Adventure Land.  Ate in Downtown Disney.

Oct 13 - we did both Disney; California Adventure Land.  Ate at Bubba Gumps again!!

Every night we were home and in the hot tub by 8pm.  Quinn would either join us or play in the splash park beside the hot tub.  We could see the Fireworks well from the hot tub!  I think almost every night we were in bed by 10.

Oct 14 - all good things must come to an end.  We took the Disneyland Express to LAX - had a good flight to YVR, but had rough ride to YYC, we had to circle a few times, Lair was green, and Quinn was starting to feel green.  Once the plane stopped - Quinn grabbed a barf bag and filled it half way  :(  Poor little guy.   We waited till everyone was off the place then got off ourselves.  On the way out I passed the Pilot the barf bag and said "... every ride in Disney and the plane does him in... ".




It was so nice to be home and sleep in our own bed!

  

   

  



Oct 15 - We unpacked, did laundry, repacked, then headed off to Medicine Hat for Kerri & Jay's wedding.  We got settled in out hotel then went to the rehearsal dinner at Jay's folks place.

Oct 16 - The wedding was  awesome, beautiful, emotional and fun.  There was an underlying sadness not having Danny there;  he was 2 blocks away in the hospital :(   ....  We went for eats and beers in the afternoon and the reception was great.  Lawrence did a very nice Welcome to the family speech on behalf of his father.

Oct 17-  All the family members converged on the hospital to visit Danny.  Quinn had a cough so couldn't go up and I had a crazy festering/oozing rash on my wrist so opted to not go past the lobby in the hospital.  Then we headed home... It was hard on everyone as we knew this was indeed our final goodbyes to Danny.

Oct 18 - work...  Ug.

Surprise vacation for Quinn

T-Minus 4 sleeps....

Thursday morning we take off to California for 8 days!

Quinn does not even know we are going on vacation, let alone to DISNEYLAND and LEGOLAND!

Lawrence & I both desperately need a real vacation! Haven`t had a true holiday since Mexico in 2007.

I have been planning this trip since FEBRUARY, so to be in the final stretch is awesome.

We come back on the 14th, then head to Medicine hat for Kerri`s wedding.

As for Danny, all we can do is pray that he makes it to the wedding....


It`s hard keeping this trip a secret! Each of us has let it slip once, but managed to sparkle sparkle away from the slip.

Weepy, excited, knots in my tummy....

WEEPY:

I am weepy today... Hormones + everything? I'm hyper sensitive to everyone which puts me in a dark place. It's hard to pull out of this funk sometimes...

I ate my lunch outside with no jacket in the sunshine. That felt great!


EXCITED:

I am excited for this weekend. A SLUMBER PARTY at Tracy's house, possibly with Ursula! A visit from them is anticipated and welcomed as our last visit got cut short when Lair ended up in the ER :(


KNOTS in my tummy.

Depending on the cancellation/postponement policy of Air miles, I am going to book our trip tomorrow....

We are choosing to not go to Medicine Hat this weekend...

We are trying to focus on our little family right now, not an easy thing to do with Danny's health rapidly failing.

It is my belief that, if he is still here, he won't be able to attend the wedding...


Gut wrenching to think he's in his last days. Poor Lawrence.... Poor Quinn...


Meh :'(

More on Quinn...

Yesterday, the day home said Quinn had a sluggish sad day. As soon as I arrived he jumped in my lap and clung to me like a baby monkey. So we went home and had a great big family snuggle with Lair and a really good chat. Quinn says he wants to stay home, with me, all the time…. Did I mention a few times over the past few weeks he’s given me a handful of change and told me it was so I didn’t have to go to work?

I don't think this is fully related to Aiden. I think Lair & I have been so stressed and pre-occupied since Dad died, the Chaotic summer, Danny, starting Kindergarten.... just everything. I know how overwhelmed both Lawrence & I are, I guess we were hoping Quinn would just float along oblivious....

We told him how much we love him and he’s been such a good patient boy, and how proud we are of him for going to Kindergarten, etc.

This morning he was good. He did ask me if we could stay home but I told him we had to go. He then ran and grabbed a blankie from his room. He called it his huggie-blankie. I asked “When did you name it?” He said “Last night”. I told him he could bring it to Tracys but could not bring it to school. He has never been attached to a blanket, I think I am more attached to it than he, so I was a bit surprised. And I must admit, my heart sank a bit with Sadness…. He must be hurting so much right now. I feel so bad for him.

I can’t wait to wrap my arms around him…

Quinn's sad morning....

We had a rough morning. I would not let him bring his glow necklace to Tracy’s (I don’t think he should bring anything wrapped around his beck to her place). I told him he could bring one bracelet. He turned the necklace into 3 bracelets and tried to bring them all. I said only one. He threw them all and started to cry.

He cried all the way to Tracy’s; It opened Pandora’s box …. I asked him if something else was wrong and he said yes. I asked if everything at school was ok and he said yes. I asked if everything at Tracy’s was ok and he said no and started crying more. He said Aiden is always mean to him and won’t share. I asked him to tell that to Tracy, so she came over and he told her that. So we talked a little bit about it, then he said ‘I don’t want to leave Copperfield’?? But he wouldn’t elaborate on it. Then Aiden arrived with his dad so we tried to have a little feelings session with Aiden & Quinn, plus me and his dad present.

Once the dad was gone and Quinn collected himself and went downstairs, Tracy said one major thing is, Quinn says Aiden isn’t sharing, but Quinn doesn’t always give Aiden time to play before asking if he can have a turn. As well, Aiden really likes to rough house, where as Quinn does not.

My final words to Tracy was, I think this meltdown has a bit to do with everything going on in our life as well as months of holding in his emotions about Aiden.



=( I can’t handle this right now….

Another Trip to Medicine Hat

Since Lawrence worked on saturday, he had today off so made another Trip to Medicine Hat.


By the sounds of it (he's not actually home yet, but phoned), he had an ok visit with both his folks. Talking about stuff that needs to be talked about.

We have no idea how much longer it will be. His mind is mostly there, but his body is just imploading. :( So sad.

He wants to go home; the home care nurses and such are so under staffed, and it would be a great burden on Goldie. So it looks like his final days will be either in the Hospital, or a Hospice.


I was weepy today at work. Just over whelmed with the pre-grieving... When the end does comes, it will be a bit of a relief if that makes sense.


Not sure how Quinn is doing. First Dave, then Grandpa P.... Quinn has an issue saying 'goodbye' even just to house guests and such... I think this stems to his last goodbye to Dave. Poor kid.



This morning he didn't want to get out of bed. Me neither. We've just been so go go go and focused on the craziness... I hope we manage to go to Disney, we could all use a little break in a fantasy world.

Finally have my Mazda back!

Yesterday I had an Epic 12 hour drive round trip to Revelstoke and back in the POURING rain... The clouds were low making many passes poor visibility and I can't believe how much construction there was!

Coffee and pounding PsyTrance was the only thing that got me through! Coming home, just the stint between revelstoke and Golden was aweful. It feels like forever driving that and I was getting sleepy! More coffee!

It was nice to have it back. It's still packed with Camping gear - haven't unloaded yet. Meh - will do later this week, what's a few more days!?


In the end, Warranty covered $3,400 and us $500. Plus $300 for the 'courtesy' car which I am very thankful for.



One more thing off my list...

Day trip to Red Deer

Lair had to work on saturday and I was due in Red Deer to meet with Marianne and Jason to sort through a pile of dads personal stuff we removed from his house.

Quinn wasn't happy at all. He did not want to go on another long car ride, even with a movie. This through him off all day (all weekend actually)... and he was so not acting like himself. =( This made me sad.

It was just a quick visit. Arrived at 12:30, left at 6.

The 3 of of sorted through the personal items we removed from dad place. Keep, Toss, Donate kind of deal. The final thing to go through are tapes and CD's but will wait till can have a sleepover and have drinks and go through it all (dad was a real music lover!)...


I go tto tell Marianne and Jason exactly what my thoughts were regarding his estate and I just pray that we have it all finalized before November.

His estate is Bankrupt and this is NOT my fricken problem. It's the banks problem now. >:-\

Fun Flex - our saviour!

A new business opened up on 130th. A drop-in Playcare center for kids 1yr – 12yr! And we indirectly know the owners, they are our dayhomes neighbours (a stay-at-home-dad, and grade school teacher), so Quinn actually knows them and their kids well.

We took Quinn to the open house and he just Loved it! There is a fun slide and the tubing for climbing etc., lots of toys and games, dress up clothes, a fun dance floor that is bottom lit and the kids can play programmed games on it (Like dodge ball), a movie theatre, Wii and X-box, 3 computer stations for homework, a food bar (we pre-order food, drink, snack at $1 a piece)… They have a calendar of pre-planned activities and movie night listings...

And all this for $7.95/hour! We can’t even find a sitter for that price!

Why am I so excited about this? Because of their hours!

Mon-Thurs: 7am – 9pm
Fri: 7am – Midnight
Sat: 9am – Midnight
Sun: Closed


For my birthday, Lair took Quinn to the fun flex at 9am, and we were able to sleep in peace for the morning (after a late night b-day celebration).

Last Friday, Scott & Dee were in town, so we dropped him at the fun flex and went for a late dinner and picked him up at 11pm. However, this will probably be the last time we pick him up so late. The place is so new that there are not that many customers, so he was the last kid to be picked up (11pm). We were hoping he would fall asleep in the movie theatre, but he was still up, very sleepy and bored. So note to self – maybe an early movie or early drinks, we will still try to pick him up and have him in bed by 10pm.

He wanted to go there last week on a weeknight, so we dropped him off for an hour and went grocery shopping.


Lawrence & I are excited at the idea of Date Night, something we have opted not to do as finding a sitter can be problematic (I should mention, we have had a few of our fantastic friends come hang out with him so we could go out, just haven’t found n actual babysitter).

Lucid dream

I had a lucid dream last night.

I was running up a spiral staircase, it was like I was in a tower of a castle. It was me now, I was kinda afraid, but really confused.

So I stopeed and I thought 'THIS IS A DREAM". There was a gold hand railing and it was a long way down, but since it was a dream.... I hoped the rail.....

I was falling downwards, but was not afraid, then BAM, I landed on my feet, standing on 9th Ave outside the Continental Towers downtown. What the heck!? LOL

Even then as I stood there looking around, a little confused, I knew I was dreaming.... then it faded away.

Another trip to the Hat

Sunday morning, Lair let me sleep in a bit (Thanks Baby!!). He woke me up at 10 saying we had to get going, we were heading to Medicine Hat.

Danny had a big scare this weekend. His body is making too much Potassium. Did you know that when they do Lethal-Injections at prisons, they inject Potassium? It makes the heart stop.

Well, a normal person, like you and I, would have a 2.

Lethal Injection is 7.5.

Danny's was 7.2...


Close call!



So we booked it out there. and in doing so I got my first ever speeding ticket. Thankfully I had a very nice officer who took my birthday and Danny into consideration when writting up my ticker for doing 166 in a 110 zone...

He let me go easy. He could have done 6 demerrits, $500, suspended lisence and mandatory court date... instead, he did 3 demmerits & $177. Thank Goodness! Whoops! Guess I'll slow down a bit.

So that has been paid via mastercard.



Any how. We got to the hospital and had a nice 2 hour visit. His spirits are really high. He's seems to be taking every day in stride.

Then we turned around and came back home. Another long day, especially for Quinn, but well worth it.


We still haven't booked our trip to Disneyland. We want to go Oct 7-14, followed by Kerri's wedding Oct 16.

We're not confident in Dan's health so will hold off till the last minute (8-9 days before is when we have to book our airmiles flight).

My Birthday!

So it was my birthday weekend. I turned 30 Again.... I'm ok with it, mostly. Once I get this body of mine back into shape I will proudly wear my age on my sleeve, so give me another year!


I didn't want an over whelming large party so just had a few people over. It was a lovely evening filled with friends, drinks, music and love. Both Lawrence and I have been uber stressed and really needed some good down time to just not think about the real world.

So recharged we are!


We went to bed when the sun came up. Lisa offered to get up with Quinn for us (thanks!!), but we were still awake when he got up so let her sleep and had a family cuddle and snooze, and Lair to him to the new Fun Flex (Drop-in day care) up the road, and came back to sleep.

We got up at 2, picked up Quinn and dropped him off at Lisa's then Lair whisked me away to an unknown destination. Swizzle stix spa! Yeay me! I had a 90 minute pamper session and it was awesome.

At first once I started to relax, i broke down and cried, just over whelmed with emotion about our dads and such. My Massuse was very attentive to my emotions. I enjoyed a 10 minutes whirlpool and got it all out of my system and was ready to relax and let her take the stress away. Man that was good.

Afterwards we went to Julios Bario (?) in Kensington for some Mexican (One of my favorite cuiseans). Then we picked up Quinn and came home for a family snuggle and went to bed!


So yes - all in all, my birthday was super awesome!

I love my family. I love my friends. My friends are my Family...

Another Good Cry....

An aquaintance at work was by the side of a dying friend and her family (hubby & 4 kids) for months. Her friend just passed (Breast cancer).

We had a good cry in her office and a wonderful talk about caring for those who are terminal. It was light hearted and emotional.

I'm so sad for Danny & Goldie. There 30 year anniversary is next month. I hope Kerri & Lawrence will be ok after. I hope they can give the care an attention their mom will need.




:(