Jia's 1st day.

So sweet.

Ist day Monday.  She wanted me to pick her up early on Tues.  Now on day 3 negotiations are underway to not go.  Sheesh.  On the up side she made a plan with the teacher to go four days a week and keep her Friday shift at work.  She completed socials 10 already this year and has started on some grade 11 English.  So she's not too far behind.  I love the way this school handles courses.  She is a mash of grade 10, 11 and 12 courses. The work is easy for her.  The getting her butt into the classroom and staying there is the big challenge. She reports it's boring.  And for Jia it is most definitely boring.

The loneliest hwy was closed so this GIANT (bigger than our house) thing could go by.  Something to do with electric batteries.  I think.  He calls infrequently and I wasn't particularly interested in this part of his story telling ;)

Making friends while waiting for the highway to be clear.

The have moved on from Rubicon to Moab in Utah. He reports the trails are super hard.  Therefore, lots of fun.  I asked if Squirrel could do it and he laughed and said absolutely not.  Ya'll know how much I hate to be told no.  Haha.

Sunset.

He is having the time of his life.  Ben did post a video to his fb page that Eric filmed of doing an obstacle in Moab.  He sounded pretty excited and praised Oscar for mastering the challenge.  

We are doing fine here at home.  We definitely miss our Mr though.

A salsa jar almost won.  We all tried.  Yes, we did all of the things.  Even digging out the man strap thingy.  In the end Luk gave it another try and finally got it.  I needed a chair to get cupboard things.  Haha.  I told Eric from now on everything must be lower and the salsa can only ever be the big plastic jug kind from Superstore.

I don't have a lot of free time.  Especially with Jia back in school.  Can't wait to get on this ship and relax. Feeling guilty about leaving the busy schedule for Mom and Fei.

Up at 7, leave at 8:30, walk Kai in.  Leave at 11:30 for Jia.  Leave at 2 to pick up Jia at 2:30, then to get Kai for 3 and wait for Luk at 3:20.  There are two breaks but short ones.  Definitely using strategic planning.  Thursdays Kai has playgroup, so it makes another trip out and a late night.  Friday he has speech in Cow Bay in the morning, so I need to drop Luk early and hang out in the car before walking him into school later.  Then all the extra things.  Right now I'm pretty thrilled we don't have a lot of extra carriculars.

So much easier split between two.  Single parents...hats off to you.

I do not love and adore being inside the high-school.  Soooooooo many teenagers.  So many.

Kai's classroom hasn't had the light on once.  So frigging annoying.  I'm just assuming at this point that the same kid with autism that doesn't like light is in the class.  And I get it that he doesn't 'like' the light but Kai medically needs the light.  Why does that other kid get the accommodation but Kai doesn't?!  We all know why.  The other kid has behavioral issues and Kai doesn't.  So at school and playgroup it's just dark.  All the time.  I could get all mama bear but it feels like a losing battle that we can't win.  If we did, it would be at the expense of another kids comfort level and Kai is way nicer than I am.

And then, don't get me started on the whole accessible parking disaster at the new school.  I mean, did anyone consult anyone about the plan?!  Why is there no drop off section?  Why is no one enforcing the need for placards?  Why not even an email out to parents?  I have reported the issues a couple times already.

So anyways, in my very, very limited free time I'm gathering my packing items for Hawaii.  If only I hadn't just gained all my lost weight back and I knew what fit still.  Sigh.

I did have an appointment this morning with the g.i. doctor.  The one in charge of the Tremfya.  We're both pleased with how well it's going.  The bigger issues now are still just dealing with accidents from the sphincter being cut during surgery.  He is suggesting medical fibre.  Which is not typically advisable for people with total colectomies.  

Why yes, that is a man walking past the dog gate, in our yard, after dark.  I saw him on the ring camera.  I phoned Lili immediately so she could watch on the camera and stay with me while I checked the situation out.  He walked right out.  Then I noticed something on the porch and  checked back on the ring and he was there delivering a bag to fill up for the food bank.  I'm still ticked off.  I can't stand anybody doing door to door for any reason other than emergencies. In the dark seems unreasonable to me.

Oh, oh, oh....yesterday, while Mom was with me learning the routine for when we're gone...we were notified there was ANOTHER gas leak on our road.  We had passed a neighbor with a digger in the yard.  So figured once again someone forgot to call before they dug.  I did have to call Jia at home and let her know someone might come to give evacuation notices and also that she might have to walk out and meet us to get to school.  Is everyone's neighborhood as exciting as ours or are we just super lucky.

Saturday

 

I load in the order I want and Blogger does what it wants.

Eric sent a few pictures tonight.  They were on the Ruicon trail today.

Jeep goals.

Looks like he's having fun.

I'm jealous.  The area looks stunning.

Oscar the Rubicon on the Rubicon trail.  Doing what he was built for.

I did a scary thing today.  I went to an FSR and Offroad meet-up with a new group.  I took Onyx and the boys. They were happy to come because we got A&W after fir dinner.  Haha. Bribery.

Turned out I knew a few people there so it wasn't awkward ;)

Kai declared after 20 minutes thay he can't stand that long.  Which in Kai speak meant he was bored.  Luk got him a chair from Onyx and he played a sorting game, ignoring everyone but happy in his own world.

I'm easy to find.  Lol.  The hair.

Onyx...swoon.  I adore her.  She got some attention today.  Even though she is clearly a pavement princess.

And we were ducked.

Onyx handed out a few dragons :)

Shannon and Ken came to go to the raptor center.  They fixed the gate for me before they left.  Yay.  Thanks guys.  It's back on the hinges and swings again.

Walmart still hasn't called.

They did an encounter.  Getting up close and even flying one.  I wandered and enjoyed the peace on my own.  We were there at opening, the birds were all front and center.  Every visit there is different.

This Golden Eagle was posing for sure.

He ruffed up for me.  So cool.

We got to see this eagle do a flying demonstration.  Very impressive. This is Shannon's picture.  

Loon Lake, their second night. Near Tahoe.

This picture makes me happy.

I'm so glad Eric is getting to do this trip.

The boys and I are doing great.

Managing to stay fed and keep up with chores.

Sheesh

 

Eric left at 3am.  The gate was wiped out by the Walmart delivery person at 9:33.  We made it a whopping six and half hours without needing Eric.  Sheesh.

The fellow left his back door open on his sedan.  The gate is now lodged into the driveway.  Can't swing it.  Too heavy to lift.  I'm decently sure it's been twisted.  I did send Eric photos.  Then I went to Walmart to report it.  The driver did NOT confess.  Shouldn't he have made an effort to let me know it happened?!  I'm guessing there had to have been significant damage to his car.  I did show the pictures and video of him to a Walmart employee in customer service. Waiting now for a manager from Walmart to call me.

So much for closing the gate at night.

Eric and Ben are making good time.  They just stopped in Salem at a Walmart to stock up on groceries.

Rogers

I have no faith.  It's been an ordeal. I decided on Sunday to get Starlink.  Eric and I are out of cell range regularly.  Clearly this will continue.

It's $75 a month no hardware fees for the mini.  However, the bill was $3985 so I very quickly got out.  

Garmin has options but they're pricey.  I asked Google for advice.  It suggested Rogers Satellite.  

So, I started.  Got shut down after doing all the verification and financial approval part.  Monday was a holiday.  Tuesday we hit the store.  Nope.  Go online.  Can't get online, added security.  Call this number.  I spent HOURS on the phone only to be told that I was all set, just need to scan the qr codes on our phones.  Except I'm locked out and don't have access to the codes.

On the phone again today.  Just told busy, call back.  Arg.

Eric leaves tomorrow.  He is with Ben who has Starlink but wouldn't it be nice if he could message out himself.  

Back to the store.  No help.  I may have been quite sharp with him.  Demanded he attempt to help me.  Then accused him of lying when he said he didn't have access to support. Left in a huff.

Back on the phone and on hold for three hours!!!!!  I'm not a fan of jazz.  This was scratchy, horrible jazz on repeat with a constant message to go to the store or go online to the app.  Except I'm locked out!

Apparently old Shaw customer accounts don't mesh with new Rogers mobile accounts.  Great loyalty huh?!

I'm happy and exhausted to report Rogers 10th employee that I dealt with was able to link the accounts.  The e-sims are loaded and it appears that both of our phones have active second phone numbers with access to Satellite.

The only way to test this is to get out of range.

I really have zero faith that this will work.  Bell is releasing the same option in the spring.  Right this second I'd like to switch the home cable and internet and jump ship when Bell catches up.

Sheer determination here. I told Eric today that filing a missing person report in the USA from here might be easier than getting the damn Satellite access working.

I'd like to get back to normal life.  Several days was just nuts.  Hands down Rogers has the worst customer service I've ever come across.

Why do things feel more and more frustrating?  Why is customer service just gone? I've become the classic old person moaning that things used to be better.

Boys in Grade 10

 

1st day of grade 10.

Luk had a good day, only got lost once. He left campus with friends at lunch.  I'm working on my feelings about that.

Kai's skills for life classroom has 19 students.  Only 2 are in grade 10.  The rest are in 11, 12 and 13. It was only 10's in school today so it was very quiet for him.

He was the first one there today.

After school we put the top back in Onyx, blasted the music, had icecream and watched a hovercraft doing maneuvers in Cow Bay.  

The photo try was a total bomb but funny.  Lol.

Solo

My first solo trip in Squirrel.  It went ok overall.  Kissinger lake on a long weekend.  Not quite the peaceful experience I was hoping for.  Music too loud.  Lots of hooting and hollering.  Spectrum kid beside me.  Everyone has led lights outside now, so it never got dark.  Kids cutting through my site past my windows. Damn smoke from fires.  I much prefer propane.  I won't be rushing to get back there for a while ;)  On the plus side, my set up worked great.

Bounty.  They're huge this year.

Mom made the trek out for an afternoon at Kissinger.  Her 1st time there.  She didn't completely love the  bumpy fsr road.  The lake is worth it though.

Brenda's Birthday.

It's the night before school. Sigh.  The boys have clothing picked out, new shoes, Kai has his hair cut and lunch is planned.  Back to early mornings.  Yuck.  

Lili, Fei and Jia are all back to school too.  Different schedules and starts.

Countdown to Eric's trip.  He's ready.  I'm not.  I'm already excited about him coming back.  

Kai's 15th Birthday

We started our day out right with whole grain, low fat, high protein and fibre pancakes with bananas and sugar free syrup :)  Yum.

It's crazy that he's 15!

Goats! Is it a clutch when they huddle?

Kai and I love hanging with the goats at Beacon Hill.

Luk made it up in leg braces but needed a bit of help with the down part.

Lol.

Hey boys, let's get your pictures on this iconic tree.

With great effort and a great Dad, we made it to this moment.  Kai was proud that he was 'up'.  Luckily Eric didn't hurt himself.

We did laugh about all the adaptions.

Kai and his new phone.

It took a lot for me to get this dang thing happening.  I bought it from Amazon.  My young people were no help.  I muddled.  A lot.  He has all of his games plus a few more.  The screen is set with dinosaurs.  All apps cleaned up so his page is simple.  Luk did a bit more set up with Netflix and loaded him with a couple movies.  He was pretty excited.  He knew it was happening but didn't get it until his bday.  There were tears.

He was overwhelmed so we held back the bag of little treats to dole out slowly at home.  

Spaghetti Factory.  He wasn't impressed with the sparkler.  He wanted to eat and he had to wait for it to finish.

The Happy Birthday in cinnamon sugar wasn't his thing either...too hard to eat :)  

He tried to eat the writing anyways.

We were supposed to stay another night but someone borrowed medical supplies from the trailer and didn't replace it or bring any out.  So we skedaddled home and ate Kai's bday cake at 10pm.  Eric baked a cake as well, so yes, Kai had three pieces of cake.  So, all in all, it was a great Birthday.

Two handed.

Normally Kai likes to make an effort to pet all of them.  He wants to know their names and check the board to see if we met them all.  He likes to croon "awe, look at the babies".  This time his strategy was to sit and let them come to him.

Big yawn.

Luk doesn't usually pet but he did this time and this little lady settled down and layed with her head on his lap and Luk later said it was the best part of the day.  Awe.

At one point a worker introduced us to great gramma, gramma, mom and baby.