Home Sweet Home

A day late.

Our connecting flight was cancelled. The plane we were supposed to catch in Philadelphia did not arrive from Toronto.  So we had to stay overnight.  The view from our room at the airport Ramada sure was different from our hotel in Orlando:

Florida for 5 days was nice get-away. I never did connect with Adam and the gang.

We had a mix of relaxing times and some action filled ones.  Our shopping sprees were a bit of both...

The novelty of eating out for every meal wears thin pretty fast. It's hard to find a good variety of healthy food.  The T-Rex restaurant in Downtown Disney was a lot of fun though.  And of course, everyone working at the restaurants and shops were friendly and courteous.

While I enjoyed my time with these girls, it was great to get home to my family.  A few hours after getting home, Leah bounced in the door with her brand new purple cast! 

Ah yes, lots of excitement while I was away.

When I checked in with the family on Saturday, Evann was the only one who responded.  She shared her insight into the mysterious rituals of Brandon's First Communion ceremony.  She also commented that when she saw how much money Brandon was given, she was now rethinking the benefits of religion.  Oh and "dad took Leah to Emerg to check out her arm".

Insert mother's guilt here. 

It took several texts and phone calls to explain why Leah looked like this by late Saturday afternoon:

Yeah - this is the picture I was sent - and it looks a lot smaller on a blackberry.
I think she is smiling. 
I think she will forgive me for not being there. 
I think this would have happened even if I had stayed home.


Seems our little jock was playing with some friends at the school and took a bad fall.  Her chin was bleeding profusely which must have obscured the pain in her wrist.  Leah was escorted home by her friends and Carson patched up her chin.  Only the next morning did Leah mention that her arm was sore.  When the adults had a look, they found that her wrist was quite swollen. By then they were all dressed and ready to head out to Brandon's First Communion. As soon as the service was over, Rob whisked Leah to the hospital where the doctor on call thought that she had fractured one of the bones in her wrist, but the x-rays were inconclusive. He encased her arm in a splint and booked an appointment for Leah to meet with the fracture specialist this week.

Today was her appointment. More x-rays revealed that she had dislocated a bone in her wrist. The doctor said that this was to be treated like a fracture, and needed to be in a cast for at least 4 weeks.  A purple cast of course:

She is not supposed to play any sports while in the cast.  Leah told me that she tried to hide her splint from the track and basketball coaches on Monday. Apparently word got around pretty quick about her injury.  

Not surprising - the cast hasn't slowed her down at all.  After dinner, the two of us walked around the block throwing a football back and forth the entire time.  And no, I would not call that a sport!  We were both just letting off some steam...  

I think we will both be fine. (Until she finds out that she won't be able to try out for the rep hockey team next weekend!)

It's good to be home.

Poolside

...in Orlando.

I'm taking advantage of a last-minute opportunity to chaperone Brigid's 13 year-old daughter and daughter's girlfriend while Brigid is at a conference. The conference doesn't kick off til Sunday night so we have some time for the four of us to explore, swim, shop and hit every ride in Universal Studios.

Adam, Yvonne and kiddies are flying down tomorrow. Their trip has been in the works for months. They gave Mom a grocery list a week ago. Some people are so organized...

Even though we live 20 minutes apart, we find it hard getting together back home. But we think we are going to be able meet up sometime Monday. In Disney. Mom and Dad are going to try to make it as well. They are spending their last week at Ken and Pat's - which I think is less than an hour from here.

Organized and optimistic - that's our family!

Wine, women and wishful thinking

Whoo-eee! Just back from another one hour walk and talk with a girlfriend.  I was pretty proud of myself for thinking that I had managed to get in 2 one-hour walks and an hour bike ride within the last 5 days.  Then I checked my calendar and saw that my first gal-pal-power-walk-and-talk was 2 Saturdays ago.  Damn.  Ah well, it's a start.

What has been keeping me off the streets?  Besides keeping the house in order for showings, work, driving kids all around town, hockey parties and welcoming Irma and Leo back home?  A cold - that has almost run its course.  The day I was home nursing my stuffy nose and head, I dragged myself out to Leah's last basketball game of the season.  She had missed a few games as she had sprained her ankle last week (playing soccer with the boys at recess). Thankfully Carson was home that day - with my car - and was able to pick up Leah from school and take her to a walk-in clinic to confirm that the sprain wasn't too serious.

I was looking forward to watching Leah play. This is her first season and she is having lots of fun.  During the warm up I could see that her ankle was still bothering her.  She was in the starting line-up (on a team of grade 6 - 8 girls, Leah being one of the youngest players), and got the team's first basket. And made this foul shot ("Mom, you can't see the ball in this picture!"):

The coach took her out for most of the last quarter.  Despite her assurances that her ankle was fine, both the coach and I could see a pronounced limp to her gallops down the court.  Time for a rest and a chance for the other girls to play.  Guess who wasn't happy with that call?

The big girls have been busy with their part-time jobs - both of them thrilled with the disposable income at their - uh - disposal.  Carson is saving for a car and Ev just paid a deposit on a class trip.  It's interesting that all three of us are taking a crash course in money management right now. So far I haven't had to borrow money from them...

I spent an enjoyable evening last week at a local wine-tasting event.  The one down-side to that night was that the only pen I had on hand to take notes was a big fat sharpie. Usually I love to write with it, but the pairing was all wrong with the wine comment sheet we were given.  I'm still trying to decipher my notes:

Let's see - the 2008 Pisoni Teroldego had "a good spine of acidity". And that 2007 Cave de Montlouis Sec, a chemin blanc, was too young.  These of course were not my observations, but that of Tony Aspler, a noted wine journalist.  Tony was witty, gracious, informative and not the least bit snooty.  None of the wines we tasted were over $19.95.  Of course, these wines were chosen for their potential to improve their flavour (and value) after a few years of cellaring - that is putting away for a few years.   Those of us without custom made wine cellars (the woman seated beside me designed and built her home around her dream wine cellar) were given a crash course on how to turn a corner of a basement closet into the ideal place to store a few dozen bottles of wine.

Very inspiring for a gal who loves good wine and has some daughters she can line up as investors to share in the dividends a few years down the road.  Motherhood has its rewards.

Weekend Round-up

Sunday night, watching the Juno's on TV.  Computer on my lap.  Trying to remember what we did this weekend. Then I check my pix on my phone and start laughing...

Friday night I leave the Hockey Volunteer Appreciation Dance early to pick up Evann and her girlfriends from a sushi restaurant in Burlington.  Ev, Ginny, Jessica and ASHLEY WITH A BABY!?!?!?!?! I was introduced to Sophia - holy smokes that baby looked like the real thing.  I had heard about these interactive babies that the family studies students have to "parent"  but I didn't know that our high school had them.

The girls reported that the baby was a bit fussy at the restaurant.  Apparently that was nothing compared to how sweet little Sophia behaved during her sleepover at our house.  The four girls all slept in the basement apartment - well three of the girls did.  Seems Ashley was up with a cranky Sophia most of the night - in the bathroom with the door closed trying not to wake the other girls.  Feeding, burping and changing the baby.  Saturday morning the girls had me in tears from the funny stories about all the things Ashley has had to contend with while she has been a "mom".

Here she is feeding the baby in the morning.

Oh those girls are so entertaining!

Saturday Leah played her 2nd last hockey game of the season.  She was in net and did well.  She has grown so much the past few months - it was shocking to see her in the goalie gear - almost towering over me.

Here she is getting strapped into the goalie pads...

Today was her very last game of the season - the girls won again. Unfortunately, they didn't make it into the playoffs.  When the final buzzer went, the moms in the stands didn't move.  Hard to believe that we didn't want this season to end - we have been coming to the arena every weekend since the end of September.  Once again, thirteen girls and their families formed a strong bond that for many of us, will continue  for years to come, outside of the arena.  

After the game, our family decided to pop in on Carson at work.  She was the only wait staff working - and my goodness that girl works hard.  We reward her by making her pose for a bunch of pictures... what a good sport.  

We left her a big tip.

Techno Birthday

Ev loved her little gifts set out on the breakfast table this morning. And I'm told that her she had an acceptable number of birthday wishes posted on Facebook.

Rob and I were all happy to relieve Evann of the stigma of being the only teenager in Oakville without a computer...(of course, we are probably the only parents in Oakville who would give their child a laptop for her birthday, on the condition that she contributes 1/4 of the cost.)

Right after opening her gift, she had to update her BBM and Facebook status...

We had a lovely dinner at Il Fornello's. Interspersed with doodling...

...table hockey...

...birthday calls...

... and playing on dad's phone.

The kids graciously posed for a group shot...

On our way home, they tried out a flexi-camera...

apparently, Leah's ears weren't the best subject for  after dinner viewing...

Lots of fun, lots of laugh, lots of love.

HBD EK!

(jk)

Mom xo

Maple Syrup and Oreos

The last day of March Break.  We capped off our fun week with a trip to the local Maple Syrup Festival.

Ev and Carson both worked today but we were able to find one more girl to join us - our Avry. She kept Leah, Vienna and Eli busy as they chased her throughout the park.

Here's Vienna checking out the sap

We watched demonstrations of maple syrup cooking methods.

Took lots of pictures

After we said goodbye to Paula, Ven and Eli, we hit the mall to buy a few birthday goodies for Evann. Made it home in time to pack up the hockey gear, pick up Ev from work and get Leah to one of her last games of the season.  The team was short a full line and a few of the girls, Leah included, were recovering from bad colds/strep throat/bronchitis.  Despite an excellent effort, they lost 3-1.  Leah was very disappointed "We should have won that game. What could we have done different so we could win?"  

Home for dinner, then Leah and Ev had an oreo eating contest.  One of those win-win contests...

 

One last job to wrap up a great week...

Somebody is turning 17 tomorrow!!!

Wasn't that a Party?

Mom's March Break fun...

I went out with my crazy Irish girlfriend last night.
To an Irish pub.
Great music.
Irish dancers.
2 floors of fun.
Met some old friends, made some new ones.

I'm thinking that the start of baseball season (May) will be when I am ready to have another beer...