Kent has been working late all week - it's grad time - so he's going to dinners/grads late into the night.
Grayce went to see Dr. Woo this week and got the news that she will be getting her braces off in August!
At school - Rosedale Elementary - Grayce had her last Primary Fun Day - stations all morning and races after recess. She placed 1st in both her races this year! Bethany ran in the preschooler race and placed 4th. I ran in the parent race with 5 other ladies and 1 man and I placed 1st. Nolan - as a peer helper - got to help out with the stations and he enjoyed that. We were all very happy.
On Thursday I worked for Lorrie who had a funeral to attend. She is going to work for me on Monday. Mom came and Bethany got to have a "Nana Day" - both of them had a wonderful time. In the early evening I took Grayce and her friend Abbey to the Robert Munsch performance in Mission. Both Grayce and Abbey are HUGE Robert Munsch fans. I bought them each a new book and afterwards they were able to get them autographed. He performed about 8 stories and had various children come up and pretend to be the character of the story. During the second story, one little girl wandered up on her own and then for the rest of the performance children kept magically appearing on the stage (the parents were sending them/not stopping them from going up) That was disappointing because Grayce eagerly had her hand up and wanted to participate. She zipped into the line (on behalf of herself and Abbey) to get their books autographed and Bethany and I positioned ourselves for a photo op. Well, Grayce couldn't jump up to the height of the stage to sit beside Robert, so he told her to go around (the route all the kids had "snuck" up). Unbeknownst to me, a stage hand stopped Grayce and sent her away! She spend a good 5 minutes in the corner, crying, trying to pull it together so I could get her back over for a picture. In the meantime my camera battery (on my phone) died. I quickly located a friend in line and borrowed her camera! WHEW!!! I saw several ladies there I hadn't seen in ages. Leanne Fleming who I taught when she was in gr. 4 who is now a teacher herself. Suzy Savage who, with her hubby Scott, own Baby's World where I worked when Grayce was 2ish. Barb Wilson, a lady I worked with a Blue Jay Elementary, Kam Kooner and Faye Cassius who I work with now at Dave Kandal . I saw several familiar faces that I didn't get a chance to talk to.
On Saturday - at 6am - we headed to a Swim Meet in Mission. Nolan and Grayce both swam a 100m IM (1 length butterfly,
1 length backstroke, 1 length breaststroke and 1 length front crawl) and a 50 m freestyle (front crawl). They did amazingly well considering that they have only been in swim club for less than a month! Grayce placed 3rd twice and Nolan placed 3rd and 4th in his races.
Mallory, James and Mila's baby shower was at 1pm on Saturday so we left the meet early to be there. Nolan helped me set up the "gear" for making a vase with Mila's footprints. Dee held her while I put her footprints on and Nolan set up the heat gun and helped with setting it. Grayce gave the gift and we were off again! Heading home for what we thought would be a movie for Nolan and Christopher to attend, but it didn't work out in the end.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
May 19th - 25th 2008
This week we took a trip over to Salt Spring Island to find a rental place for Kent when he starts his new 4 year posting over there.
On the drive to the ferry we saw 9 heron and then just 5 minutes into our ferry ride we saw a pod of whales.
Our first hotel room was at the Fulford Inn - we were above a pub/liquor store that shut down exactely at 11pm - the music would stop right on time and within a half an hour, the lights outside were off. We were quite a drive from Ganges, but we had the beach across the street, a view of the Fulford ferry, and Drummond Park within walking distance.
We spent most days in Ganges - playing at the park, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We went into the RCMP Detachment and met several co-workers of Kents.
We found a 1 bedroom rental place - an annex attached to a home right on the ocean - for $500.
The couple who own it live in Victoria and vacation in California. It is 90% sure to be a go. Let's hope so because Kent will have to live off of $1000 a month.
Our second hotel room was at the Seabreeze Inn. They had a continental breakfast and a kitchen so we made steaks one night.
There are a lot of studios on the island and they are all organized onto a brochure so you can find out about them and then go and see them. We went to several gluten free bakeries and the cheese place - mmmmmm free samples!
On Saturday there is a market at Centennial Park in Ganges - we went there for about an hour and then we rented a double kayak for 4 hours. Kent and Grayce went first, then Kent and Nolan and then when Bethany fell asleep, I went out with Nolan. They LOVED it.
In Ganges there was a toy store called "West of the Moon" where both Nolan and Grayce liked to spend their money. Bethany played endlessly at the train table there. I'm going to look into getting her one.
On Wednesday we went to Vesuvius for the infamous fish and chips place where they have all you can eat. Nolan was ready to challenge the record 16 pieces of fish until we saw the size of them! They were almost 2 inches thick and about 6" x 4" - HUGE!!!
On Thursday (opening night), Kent and Nolan went and saw the newest Indiana Jones movie.
On Saturday we went swimming at the new indoor pool - it has only been open for a week.
We found out the school week there is Monday to Thursday. They go an extra hour each day and get Fridays off!
On Sunday we attended church - it was Stake Conference, so we only stayed about a half an hour, then decided to head out early to catch the ferry 2 hours earlier. We saw Denise Bascomb there and chatted for awhile - she and Lauren adopted a 6 year old deaf girl, Elizabeth, at Christmas - it was wonderful watching Denise signing so fluently.
We got home by 6pm which was nice because the kids are back to school and I'm back to work (and Bethany to Shannon's) tomorrow - Kent has Mondays off lately.
On the drive to the ferry we saw 9 heron and then just 5 minutes into our ferry ride we saw a pod of whales.
Our first hotel room was at the Fulford Inn - we were above a pub/liquor store that shut down exactely at 11pm - the music would stop right on time and within a half an hour, the lights outside were off. We were quite a drive from Ganges, but we had the beach across the street, a view of the Fulford ferry, and Drummond Park within walking distance.
We spent most days in Ganges - playing at the park, eating breakfast, lunch and dinner.
We went into the RCMP Detachment and met several co-workers of Kents.
We found a 1 bedroom rental place - an annex attached to a home right on the ocean - for $500.
The couple who own it live in Victoria and vacation in California. It is 90% sure to be a go. Let's hope so because Kent will have to live off of $1000 a month.
Our second hotel room was at the Seabreeze Inn. They had a continental breakfast and a kitchen so we made steaks one night.
There are a lot of studios on the island and they are all organized onto a brochure so you can find out about them and then go and see them. We went to several gluten free bakeries and the cheese place - mmmmmm free samples!
On Saturday there is a market at Centennial Park in Ganges - we went there for about an hour and then we rented a double kayak for 4 hours. Kent and Grayce went first, then Kent and Nolan and then when Bethany fell asleep, I went out with Nolan. They LOVED it.
In Ganges there was a toy store called "West of the Moon" where both Nolan and Grayce liked to spend their money. Bethany played endlessly at the train table there. I'm going to look into getting her one.
On Wednesday we went to Vesuvius for the infamous fish and chips place where they have all you can eat. Nolan was ready to challenge the record 16 pieces of fish until we saw the size of them! They were almost 2 inches thick and about 6" x 4" - HUGE!!!
On Thursday (opening night), Kent and Nolan went and saw the newest Indiana Jones movie.
On Saturday we went swimming at the new indoor pool - it has only been open for a week.
We found out the school week there is Monday to Thursday. They go an extra hour each day and get Fridays off!
On Sunday we attended church - it was Stake Conference, so we only stayed about a half an hour, then decided to head out early to catch the ferry 2 hours earlier. We saw Denise Bascomb there and chatted for awhile - she and Lauren adopted a 6 year old deaf girl, Elizabeth, at Christmas - it was wonderful watching Denise signing so fluently.
We got home by 6pm which was nice because the kids are back to school and I'm back to work (and Bethany to Shannon's) tomorrow - Kent has Mondays off lately.
Monday, May 19, 2008
May 12th - 18th 2008
This week the musical "Grease" that Kent has been practicing for was on. The kids and I went to the performance on Wednesday night. It was awesome and the kids had a blast - Bethany even watched the whole thing! At intermission they had a concession and sold 50-50 tickets - the kids each got a snack and then Nolan bought 3 tickets for the 50-50 draw. He told me that the tickets were 3 for $1 or 20 for $5 - so I gave him $5 to go back and get 20 more. Well, guess who won!!?? NOLAN. He won $70. What a treat! He is saving up for an i-Pod and this gets him almost there! WOW.
Grayce started swim club this week and both the children are enjoying it - the water has been warm and they have both made friends. Their group - called juniors - has about 8 - 10 kids in it. Grayce is in Division 1 and Nolan is in Division 3.
Nolan got back to Tae Kwon Do this week and his chest seems to be better.
We are enjoying a wonderful long weekend with a Pro-D day on Friday and Victoria Day on Monday. Everyone seems to be heading out our way for their vacation time - which reminds me that we live in such a wonderful place. The weather has been glorious - almost too hot.
I took the girls to see Charlotte Diamond in Harrison on Saturday. They had a blast. Bethany was getting an autograph and Charlotte asked her what her name was. "Bethy" Then Charlotte asked her if she had a favourite song - and before I could answer for her, Bethany says, "Banana" So Charlotte sang a few lines of the song for her! During the show Grayce got called up on stage twice! At the end Grayce went back to get an autograph for Mrs. Henderson her grade one teacher who is a HUGE Charlotte Diamond fan.
On the way out a lady was giving out happy face helium balloons and Bethany's flew away!
She got another one and didn't seem too upset as we watched the first one fly out of sight.
That evening she was looking at her replacement balloon and she started to cry and cry. She was so distressed! She sobbed, "Balloon, flew away! Up, up. Higher. Want it." I have never seen her so upset about something! Poor doll.
Kent bought a fire pit and we enjoyed it on Saturday night as he finished up putting the shingles on the lean-to. It was glorious sitting there with the children, the mountains in the background - just fantastic. There could be no better place to call home.
Grayce started swim club this week and both the children are enjoying it - the water has been warm and they have both made friends. Their group - called juniors - has about 8 - 10 kids in it. Grayce is in Division 1 and Nolan is in Division 3.
Nolan got back to Tae Kwon Do this week and his chest seems to be better.
We are enjoying a wonderful long weekend with a Pro-D day on Friday and Victoria Day on Monday. Everyone seems to be heading out our way for their vacation time - which reminds me that we live in such a wonderful place. The weather has been glorious - almost too hot.
I took the girls to see Charlotte Diamond in Harrison on Saturday. They had a blast. Bethany was getting an autograph and Charlotte asked her what her name was. "Bethy" Then Charlotte asked her if she had a favourite song - and before I could answer for her, Bethany says, "Banana" So Charlotte sang a few lines of the song for her! During the show Grayce got called up on stage twice! At the end Grayce went back to get an autograph for Mrs. Henderson her grade one teacher who is a HUGE Charlotte Diamond fan.
On the way out a lady was giving out happy face helium balloons and Bethany's flew away!
She got another one and didn't seem too upset as we watched the first one fly out of sight.
That evening she was looking at her replacement balloon and she started to cry and cry. She was so distressed! She sobbed, "Balloon, flew away! Up, up. Higher. Want it." I have never seen her so upset about something! Poor doll.
Kent bought a fire pit and we enjoyed it on Saturday night as he finished up putting the shingles on the lean-to. It was glorious sitting there with the children, the mountains in the background - just fantastic. There could be no better place to call home.
May 1st - 11th 2008
Grayce's 8th year went out with a bang on Saturday! She was waiting for her turn on our new trampoline which Kent and Nolan had set up last night. Bethany was having a blast on the new trampoline and Grayce was spending time on the old tramp. When Grayce jumped off the trampoline, her left leg went up behind her, under the bar of the tramp, and her heel caught on the hook of a spring. She fell to the ground screaming that she had ripped half of her foot off and that she was going to die. The "I'm going to die" comment is an old standard for Grayce when she is injured so I didn't leap into action immediately. I got Beth off the other trampoline and then checked on Grayce. She was right, she had almost ripped half her foot off. I elevated her leg and sent Nolan for ice. We managed to keep the bleeding to a minimum. Margie (our wonderful-I'll do anything for you - neighbour) came over to help. We headed to the ER in Hope (a 5-10 minute longer drive than going to Chilliwack, but the wait is ALWAYS short). The nurse cleaned out her wound and applied the numbing cream and the doctor arrived to stitch it up within 15 minutes. The needles for freezing were hard on Grayce as were some of the stitches - it was the first time I have felt entirely helpless. She got 20 dissolvable ones on the inside and 6 on the outside. The next day when I was changing the dressing I noticed that there were 2 places that seemed to need a stitch too. I wondered if the doctor left them open for drainage...
We were home by 9pm and Grayce fell asleep right away - exhausted from the whole ordeal.
On Sunday we decided to still make our trip to Bellingham to find a bike for our birthday girl. We stopped for lunch at the Mexican place and they put Grayce in a HUGE sombrero and sang to her (and took a polaroid for her to take home). We stopped in at Walmart and Grayce got to use one of the scooters - she was embarassed at first, and then she was having fun zooming around. Nolan and Bethany each found a shirt for Grayce for her birthday. We also found a snow cone maker for her! After much searching we did find the PERFECT bike. We let her coast around the parking lot on it, but it's too soon to use her foot, so she hasn't gotten a chance to pedal yet.
Grayce celebrated her 9th birthday on Monday the 5th. With her heel still feeling very sore and her being a rookie on crutches, I took the day off to be with her. Grayce's classroom is up 3 flights of stairs - so she had to learn how to balance and hop etc.... Her classmates and teacher were very helpful getting her settled in and helping her all day with whatever she needed.
Grayce and I had made cupcakes for sharing and they were a hit.
Nolan and Grayce started Swim Club this week (well, Nolan started anyways). They are going to swim with the Agassiz-Harrison Aquanauts (AHA). They are not so sure this is going to be something they enjoy, but the complaints have been kept to a minimum.
On Tuesday, Nolan decided to show 100% empathy to Grayce by getting injured himself! While playing baseball at school, he collided with another child and got the wind knocked out of him. Then his chest ached so badly that he lay down in the medical room and fell asleep for most of the afternoon. He stayed home on Wednesday and part of Thursday with what I'm guessing was a bruised diapraghm.
Grayce enjoyed being on her crutches for about 2 days until her ribs started to get sore! She started walking on her foot (with the crutches) on Wednesday and by the weekend we had tossed them! Her foot seemed a little pink so we went to the doctor and were told that there might be an infection starting, so we got some antibiotic cream.
On Tuesday we sold our van. We bought that van just over 10 years ago. Nolan and Grayce grew up in that van! We bought it for $35,000 in 1997 and sold it for $2,800 in 2008.
On Friday was the annual Rosedale Elementary carnival. Nolan signed up for the Flush 'Em tank which, on previous years, had been a toilet that flushed water onto the person below (Nolan) when the thrower hit the target. He had done this last year without a change of clothes, so this year we were prepared. The PAC managed to get a hold of an actual Dunk Tank this year, so it was even more exciting! I stood in line several times trying to get a chance to dunk him! They switched who was to be dunked fairly often so that they didn't get too cold. I never did get my chance. Nolan was a hit up there! Each time he was dunked he would go completely under the water and give the person who threw the ball a double thumbs up.
Grayce's friend, Taylor, joined us after school and at the carnival as she was going to be busy at a wedding and miss both the carnival and Grayce's birthday party. Nolan was off volunteering, Grayce and Taylor were off playing games, and Bethany and I were playing any games that she could manage. She did the cake walk and won a chocolate cake with smarties! We ended up using that for Grayce's birthday cake on Saturday. There was a bouncy castle that I volunteered at to supervise and Bethany got lots of turns on. When asked about the carnival Bethany starts a list of what she did, "Bouncy castle, swings, slide, bubbles, food, cake walk, fishing."
The big challenge this week was to get Grayce well enough to enjoy her birthday party on Saturday May 10th. We had booked a Build-A-Bear party in Coquitlam. The children arrived at 8am for a pancake breakfast. The hour drive into Coquitlam was fun as we borrowed Gram and Bop's van (ours was sold!) and they have a GPS. The hour and a half long party zoomed by and each of the girls picked out a special "bear" and had a great time. We stopped at McDonald's for happy meals for the drive home. When we got home Grayce opened presents and we ate cake.
Next week Grayce and I are going to make thank you slideshows of the pictures I took of the party for her friends.
Mother's Day was special with the children's extra love and attention. They made beautiful gifts at school - Grayce made a basket with "Mom means hope" on it, Nolan wrote a poem and Bethany and Shannon created a flower pot full of Bethany's handprints. We went for breakfast (prepared by the guys) at Gram and Bops place. Mark and Kathay were there too. Shar was going to come but couldn't join us at the last minute (Kyle had to have a spot on his back lanced and spent hours in the ER - Chilliwack - the night before). We heard that he (Kyle) has gotten on with a HUGE trucking company out of Ontario - that is fantastic news.
We were home by 9pm and Grayce fell asleep right away - exhausted from the whole ordeal.
On Sunday we decided to still make our trip to Bellingham to find a bike for our birthday girl. We stopped for lunch at the Mexican place and they put Grayce in a HUGE sombrero and sang to her (and took a polaroid for her to take home). We stopped in at Walmart and Grayce got to use one of the scooters - she was embarassed at first, and then she was having fun zooming around. Nolan and Bethany each found a shirt for Grayce for her birthday. We also found a snow cone maker for her! After much searching we did find the PERFECT bike. We let her coast around the parking lot on it, but it's too soon to use her foot, so she hasn't gotten a chance to pedal yet.
Grayce celebrated her 9th birthday on Monday the 5th. With her heel still feeling very sore and her being a rookie on crutches, I took the day off to be with her. Grayce's classroom is up 3 flights of stairs - so she had to learn how to balance and hop etc.... Her classmates and teacher were very helpful getting her settled in and helping her all day with whatever she needed.
Grayce and I had made cupcakes for sharing and they were a hit.
Nolan and Grayce started Swim Club this week (well, Nolan started anyways). They are going to swim with the Agassiz-Harrison Aquanauts (AHA). They are not so sure this is going to be something they enjoy, but the complaints have been kept to a minimum.
On Tuesday, Nolan decided to show 100% empathy to Grayce by getting injured himself! While playing baseball at school, he collided with another child and got the wind knocked out of him. Then his chest ached so badly that he lay down in the medical room and fell asleep for most of the afternoon. He stayed home on Wednesday and part of Thursday with what I'm guessing was a bruised diapraghm.
Grayce enjoyed being on her crutches for about 2 days until her ribs started to get sore! She started walking on her foot (with the crutches) on Wednesday and by the weekend we had tossed them! Her foot seemed a little pink so we went to the doctor and were told that there might be an infection starting, so we got some antibiotic cream.
On Tuesday we sold our van. We bought that van just over 10 years ago. Nolan and Grayce grew up in that van! We bought it for $35,000 in 1997 and sold it for $2,800 in 2008.
On Friday was the annual Rosedale Elementary carnival. Nolan signed up for the Flush 'Em tank which, on previous years, had been a toilet that flushed water onto the person below (Nolan) when the thrower hit the target. He had done this last year without a change of clothes, so this year we were prepared. The PAC managed to get a hold of an actual Dunk Tank this year, so it was even more exciting! I stood in line several times trying to get a chance to dunk him! They switched who was to be dunked fairly often so that they didn't get too cold. I never did get my chance. Nolan was a hit up there! Each time he was dunked he would go completely under the water and give the person who threw the ball a double thumbs up.
Grayce's friend, Taylor, joined us after school and at the carnival as she was going to be busy at a wedding and miss both the carnival and Grayce's birthday party. Nolan was off volunteering, Grayce and Taylor were off playing games, and Bethany and I were playing any games that she could manage. She did the cake walk and won a chocolate cake with smarties! We ended up using that for Grayce's birthday cake on Saturday. There was a bouncy castle that I volunteered at to supervise and Bethany got lots of turns on. When asked about the carnival Bethany starts a list of what she did, "Bouncy castle, swings, slide, bubbles, food, cake walk, fishing."
The big challenge this week was to get Grayce well enough to enjoy her birthday party on Saturday May 10th. We had booked a Build-A-Bear party in Coquitlam. The children arrived at 8am for a pancake breakfast. The hour drive into Coquitlam was fun as we borrowed Gram and Bop's van (ours was sold!) and they have a GPS. The hour and a half long party zoomed by and each of the girls picked out a special "bear" and had a great time. We stopped at McDonald's for happy meals for the drive home. When we got home Grayce opened presents and we ate cake.
Next week Grayce and I are going to make thank you slideshows of the pictures I took of the party for her friends.
Mother's Day was special with the children's extra love and attention. They made beautiful gifts at school - Grayce made a basket with "Mom means hope" on it, Nolan wrote a poem and Bethany and Shannon created a flower pot full of Bethany's handprints. We went for breakfast (prepared by the guys) at Gram and Bops place. Mark and Kathay were there too. Shar was going to come but couldn't join us at the last minute (Kyle had to have a spot on his back lanced and spent hours in the ER - Chilliwack - the night before). We heard that he (Kyle) has gotten on with a HUGE trucking company out of Ontario - that is fantastic news.
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