Tate McRae Concert fun in Vancouver, clock ticking down to Lynsey leaving:-(

We are just over a week away from launching Lynsey, how is this possible! We are trying to cherish the rest of the time we have with her at home this summer, not much time left:-(. Last week on Tuesday I took Lynsey to Vancouver to the Tate McRae concert. It was a fun evening! We had a bit of drama trying to get to the venue from the hotel, apparently we are not too savvy when it comes to the Vancouver transit system:-S. It all worked out in the end. We had a nice dinner before the concert and walked over to Rogers Arena. I was a bit offended by all the Canucks paraphernalia but I suppose it's to be expected at their arena. The concert was pretty good, even the opener was pretty talented (Zara Larsson). We got a Lyft back to the hotel but that was a bit of a drama, I hate that drivers can just drop your ride whenever they want. We waited so long for someone to actually take and then keep our ride, it's really not a good system after a concert. Anyway, we got back to the hotel around 11:30, and I was glad that I had decided not to just drive home after the concert. I had waffled about that but having a hotel room was the best option.

The next morning we got some Tim Horton's for breakfast and made our way back to Seattle. It was a nice drive, good conversation and we made it back around noon. On Thursday Lynsey got her wisdom teeth out. It was pretty drama free, she hasn't had much pain at all - the worst of it for her was eating those first few days. She struggled with her mouth being frozen and and not being able to chew. She seems to have recovered just fine and even played volleyball for our rec team on Monday which was fun:-). 

Yesterday I had a colonoscopy. Not something people generally look forward to, but I was anxious to get one done to just make sure everything was okay in there. The worst part of it is the prep, the procedure itself was rather painless. I had to adjust my diet starting on Sunday, and then start fasting at bedtime Wednesday night. I ate nothing solid all day Thursday (they do let you have Jello but it really doesn't feel like much) and had to start drinking the prep late afternoon. It was so much liquid, and not very tasty liquid:-/. And then I had to get up at 5:30am yesterday and drink another whole litre of the stuff, yuck. I was so glad when that cup was finally empty, it really felt like an accomplishment haha. The procedure was quick and painless as I said, they found one small polyp that they clipped and sent to the lab, apparently very common and nothing to worry about but they do test it to make sure. I'm relieved that it's over and that in all likelihood I do not have any kind of colon cancer. It sounds like they might recommend another colonoscopy in 5 years because of my family history, but five years sounds like a long ways away at this point!

Brian and I have a Counting Crows concert at Chateau St. Michelle tomorrow that I'm looking forward to! Hopefully the rain holds off!

Turning 46, and Back from Alberta!

Well a lot has happened since my last post, should have posted before we went on our trip to Alberta:-/. Oh well, here goes! Way back earlier in July, Nathan did a band camp with Greg his piano teacher and I went to the final performance on Friday. It was pretty good! Nathan is a good musician, it was fun to hear him play with other kids. Also, it was my birthday, yay me! On the Friday before our family went out for dinner to an Italian place here in Redmond to celebrate and then Brian and I went out on our own on Saturday. It was a Persian place that was actually pretty good - service wasn't great, but the food seemed very authentic. I am now officially in the back half of my 40's, yikes! All good, getting older is a privilege as they say:-D.

Andy came to stay with us again the next Sunday while he was here for work so we got to hang out with him a bit that week. I was also quite busy getting things ready for Lynsey's dorm room since we were taking her things up to Alberta with us on this trip. I'm sure I forgot something but there are stores in Edmonton, Brian just won't have a lot of time for shopping with her when he brings her up. They are flying up on the Sunday before move in day, getting to Calgary quite late. The next morning, they will drive the rental car with all her stuff up to Edmonton and get her settled in to the dorm. Brian will stay in the hotel room right there at the dorm for that night (such a great discovery, convenient and pretty cheap!) and then fly home out of Edmonton around noon. Quick drop off! Apparently they have activities all week for dorm students so hopefully it's a fun time for Lynsey to get to meet some other students in the dorm. I don't think it has sunk in that this is happening! Excited and nervous and all the things! 

We left for Alberta on Sunday the 20th bright and early and drove the whole way to Calgary. Thankfully the trip was without any drama, no long stoppages on highway 1 or anything. We got to Calgary around 8:45 MST and had a late supper, got to visit with Brian's brother Steve and his son Alex who had been in Calgary just for the weekend (they left first thing Monday morning). 

On Monday we went to see Duke, Brian's cousin who unfortunately has been diagnosed with brain cancer and is currently staying at Terry and Marilyn's house after his tumor removal surgery has resulted in the left side of his body becoming paralyzed. It was nice to catch up with him, and Zane as well. Zane has been in Australia for the last several years so we haven't seen him in ages. We hung out with Mike and Annie at Mark and Frances' house, did a lot of visiting. On Tuesday morning Brian, Lynsey and I did a workout at the Y which felt really good - always tough to take so much time off of working out! Wednesday morning I met up with Larissa at Edworthy Park for a walk, had a great catch up with her. That evening Brian and I went out for dinner with Bobbi and Jer and had a great catch up with them as well! Lots of catching up on this trip! 

Thursday morning we were off to La Crete. Pretty good trip, although we came across some pretty big pockets of heavy rain north of Slave Lake. Thankfully it didn't turn into hail. We did get a giant rock in our windshield which is always lovely, thankfully in the corner so doesn't affect visibility. We stayed at Tina and Danny's where we had an amazing space in their basement, a full two bedroom suite. Friday we went to Mom's for lunch where Gert and her partner Rick were also visiting. Several sisters stopped in throughout the day while we were there. Brian took the boys back to Tina's early because Nathan wanted to make homemade noodles with Tina (she even let us take them home! Amazing!). We were at Tina and Danny's for supper and then Brian and I went to Patti and Trent's for the evening. I forgot to mention that Jasper was staying at Patti's because Tina doesn't allow dogs inside, he was a bit confused by us coming to visit him there at Patti's and then leaving him there again haha. He did really well overall so that was nice:-). We had a great visit in any case! Love my old friends from La Crete, bonds that never die!

Saturday was Cassidy's wedding! It was a lovely ceremony and the weather almost turned, but then the sprinkles never turned to anything more thank goodness. We went back to Tina's after the ceremony and I dialed into a coaches meeting that was going on. Glad I got to listen in and give some feedback, looks like I will be coaching a 14s team instead of 16s. I really don't want to do a travel tournament to Utah in June and it seems this is non-negotiable for the 15s, 16s and 17s. I really wish they would consider entering a tournament during the season but it is what it is. I actually think 14s will be a better fit for me anyways, I just know I will miss the higher level of play! I guess I will find out what I think of it this season!

The reception was fun and then Brian, Lynsey and I went to the dance afterwards as well for a bit. It was pretty fun, although most of the music was country. Pretty standard for a dance in La Crete! I'm glad we went, it was a fun time. 

The campout on Sunday was a lot of fun, although it was a bit cold for my taste:-/. The sun did come out sometimes and then it would feel warm for a few minutes, and then the second it went back behind a cloud it was cold again! It was still really fun. We played some volleyball which was fun as always, so great that Lynsey could play this year. So glad we were able to go and enjoy so much family time!

On Monday we waited until after lunch to head out to Grande Prairie because Melanie was working until 7. Unfortunately we ended up with a long wait at the ferry which I hadn't anticipated - an hour and twenty minutes! Ugh. We only got to Jake and Mel's around 8:40pm, but we still got in some really good visiting time. They were so much fun to stay with, and Ellie was so welcoming to Lynsey and they ended up having a good time as well:-). Adam got some pool time at like 10pm since they keep their pool super warm so he was happy. She made us a wonderful breakfast the next morning and off we went on our long leg to Kamloops! We got to Kamloops around 7:30, picked up some pasta at BP's and off we went to our hotel to find out if paying half the price to stay at the Travelodge over the Hampton was going to be a mistake:-l. I was pretty relieved with I opened the door and discovered that it was actually a two bedroom suite with a full fridge/freezer for my farmer sausage lol! It was old with the felt blankets but overall I thought it was just fine. Nothing luxurious but I was happy we saved the money. Brian I think would have paid more to stay somewhere nicer, we are different this way. 

The next morning we were finally off on our final leg back home! All was smooth and we got home around 3pm. I got as organized as possible, got supper on the go, then headed over to Willows Prep to help with the 16s tryouts that were happening. Even though we had decided I wouldn't be coaching the 16s I still helped pick the team. I hope they find a good coach for them! There were some strong players there, I hope they all sign (probably won't all sign but there were a few in particular that would be a great get if they do). Yesterday I went to the gym (so good to be back!) and washed the van, went grocery shopping. Almost caught up on life! This blog post is another big thing off my to-do list:-D. I also went to the 15s tryouts yesterday and helped pick that team as well, even though I won't be coaching them. My tryouts for my team won't be until the end of October. It was fun to be back in the gym again, I'm looking forward to coaching again.

 

Summer in full swing, busy 4th of July weekend!

We are in the thick of summer and we are already through one of the biggest weekends, the 4th weekend! Let's back track to June, the boys had their last day of school on Tuesday the 24th and Adam was quite happy to come running off the bus into summer days:-D. On the first weekend of summer we had an evening at the Kirkland waterfront and had some gelato which was nice, there are so many nice places to go around here. Last week was spent getting ready for mine and Lynsey's trip to Alberta and helping get camping stuff ready for Brian to take the boys camping while we were gone. So much prep work!

Brian drove Lynsey and I to the airport bright and early Thursday morning to catch our flight to Edmonton. Everything was smooth at the airport, we got our rental car and were on our way to La Crete by around 11am which was a pretty good time. We got to La Crete around 6:30 and Lynsey went with Julia to the church to help decorate and I hung out at Mom's. Tina had made some delicious corn chowder and several sisters dropped in to say hello. Friday morning I met with Patti at the Espresso House and had a great catch up time with her. Lynsey was there as well having lunch with the cousins with Julia, I'm glad they had a chance to have a lunch together. The rest of the day we just sort of hung out at Mom's, very relaxed. Tina made homemade pizzas and pie for supper and several family members came over. The pizza was so good! Went for a walk later with Becky and her doggy, I end up doing so little physical activity on these trips so it was good to move for a bit.

The wedding was Saturday and the weather was beautiful! Julia was a beautiful bride, even though I still have a hard time reconciling the fact that she's MARRIED! Crazy! It was a lovely wedding and a really nice day. We stayed right until the end and came back to Mom's. We left La Crete late morning Sunday, had some drama trying to gas up because it is impossible to get gas in La Crete on Sundays even though we had been told that you could (I think maybe there was a malfunction at Coop since it did look like you were supposed to be able to pay but it just wasn't working). Some young guy took pity on me and let me use his cardlock and I gave him cash - life saver! Note to self: GAS UP ON SATURDAY! The drive was uneventful as usual. I had reached out to my friends Ryan and Ruthy in Westlock in the morning and we made arrangements to stop in there for supper. It was such a nice visit! Lynsey and Elijah were born right around the same time all those years ago in Calgary and played together lots until they moved back to Westlock when the kids were toddlers. They are actually both going to U of A next year so I was hoping for them to connect, it's always nice to have at least one connection when going away to school. They played video games downstairs while I caught up with Ryan and Ruthy. We got back on the road around 8:30 and made it to our hotel in Edmonton about an hour later. It was a nice room! Great view of the river valley. 

The next morning we went to this breakfast place downtown and while I was sitting there looking at the menu, I look up and lock eyes with Craig McTavish! I tried to be cool but I'm pretty sure he clocked that I recognized him lol. I didn't go up to him or anything but I had to discreetly take his picture (see below, I think I was stealthy hehe). Anyway, good breakfast and then we got checked out and headed over to the University for our tour. The tour was very helpful! I know it was for me at least, and Lynsey says it was helpful for her as well. It was nice to see the grounds and hear about the things going on at the University and how things operate at the dorm etc. This is getting pretty real! She will be going there in like 6 weeks, crazy! We got her a sweatshirt and off we went to the airport where everything was smooth. Brian was flying out to Menlo Park that night and his flight was delayed just enough that he was able to meet us when we got off the plane which was kind of cool! Hard to coordinate that! We picked up the van from where he parked it just 40 minutes ago and off we went home:-D. Great trip back to Alberta!

While Lynsey and I were in Alberta, Brian took the boys camping at Ocean City State Park from Saturday to Monday. They had good weather (a bit cool but no rain! Yay!) and had a fun, relaxed time by the sounds of it. He started getting things cleaned up when he got home but then had to head out to the airport, so I took over clean up when I got home and finished up over the last few days. I was happy to do it, I'm glad they went and had a good time. Adam was really looking forward to it since it had been a few years since we had been camping, he really enjoys it. So yeah - just been getting caught up on life since I've been back and Brian gets back from his trip tonight so things will be truly back to normal. Until we go back to Alberta in a week and a half! Summer 2025 - the summer for Alberta trips!