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.  

 

French Beach

Another crappy weather trip for Kai and I.  

We had a few minutes of sun when we arrived.  Then hid inside for the next two days.  Movies for Kai.  Books for me.

Eric was busy at home.  The windows are in.  The trim put back and prettied up.  Now he's refreshing the whole peak and adding some more black to the trim.  

He is also tinkering on Oscar.  Who at this point is pretty much rebuilt.  Lol.  He's leaving to do the Rubicon trail, Moab, and Death Valley with our friend Ben.  Two weeks of serious wheeling for the two of them.  They both have Jku's.  Yesterday they met for coffee to go over the list of spare parts they are carrying.  Gotta keep the Lego habit going.

Funny, as he builds Oscar up he then uses the old parts to rebuild Squirrel.  It's very handy having matching toys.  Squirrel is doing great.  I have a site at Kissinger for this weekend.  Leaving tomorrow afternoon.  I'm watching the clouds.  It's not looking great.  I've never camped in the rain as much as this summer.  

We had extremely limited cell service at French Beach.  Frustrating.  Emails, texts and calls coming in but no real ability to respond.  

Kissinger is no service at all.  I get to completely ignore real life.  If anyone needs me they'll have to drive out.

I did get a message that my Anal Dysplasia Clinic appointment for September is canceled.  Arg.  Rebooked for Dec.  I'm supposed to go every three months but this first one is six months past surgery.  Definitely frustrating.  I think I'll call Tuesday and ask to be on a cancelation list.

With chemo and radiation the five year survival rate is 88% for anal cancer.  With surgery alone it's 55%.

I know we can't get bogged down with other people's numbers but it does make me want to be more vigilant about getting to the check points.  

I went to the pharmacy and vet today.  Mine and Sasha's meds sorted for the next two months.  Gets me through the cruise.  Then sat at home cutting all her teeny tiny pills in half.  Yeesh.  I can hardly see them.  It was tedious, but it's done.

Last weekend, Lili and I went to Granville Island to see a play.  Which was hillarious.  Belly laughs.  The actors were sooo good.  

Peruvian music.

Lots of drooling in the market.

Hullo, Skytrain, bus and an Uber.

This girl, loves cities.  Guiding me all over on public transit.  It's like being 17 all over again.  I'm still not a fan of city life or trying to figure out routes but it is fun to watch Miss do all the adulting.  

 

Bittersweet

 

The 1910 windows upstairs are done.  Some broken, all of them warbly glass, the wood is rotten and the wind whistles in.  Today he starts the swap for the new modern windows.  

I know I'm going to love the ability to open them for fresh air.  Control heat better and have a clear view out.  The bittersweet part is knowing I'll miss the look of them outside when we drive in.  The new ones will definitely not match the main floor whatsoever.

Eric is installing them from the outside so the old molding inside stays untouched.  

It will be a long day of pounding.

I had hoped to take off camping on my own this afternoon but the weather is looking pretty iffy.

How is life for ya'll?

 

Last infusion.  Got there and vital check showed blood pressure of 84/67.  Bit too low.  So lots of talks and rigamarole to get through.  My nurse hung around pretty close and did like 20 checks. Even using two machines to make sure the machines agreed.  Sheesh. Then I had to stay extra long for extra fluids.

I did get an appointment for St Paul's Anal Dysplasia Clinic.  Did I mention that already?  It conflicted with the next Tremfya appointment so the date was rearranged while I was there.  The lab, the carriers, the pharmacy drop here, carrier to the island, matched with an appointment date at the private clinic. Phew.

Both happening while Eric is away.  I'll need my Mama to help with the boys to get through those days.

R.i.p. my Queen.

Then heard this morning that Tim Curry passed too. 

The boys were dragged with us yesterday.  School shopping.  Five pairs of pants for Luk, 3 for Kai.  A stack of shirts and shoes for Kai.  We still need to find shoes for Luk that will fit over his orthotics.  Then rewarded with Chinese smorgasbord.

We booked another Mexico cruise for February with Shannon, Ken and kids!  Royal Carribean, Voyager of the Seas.  It was a mega sale.  We booked two inside rooms.  40% off 1st passenger, 60% off the second, 3rd and 4rth free.  What?!

It's a huge ship.  There are street parades and an ice show.  So fun.  Even better, Shannon found it, I just had to book.  

Woke yesterday to the news of an active shooter.  He was caught.  Good lord, what is happening to our little town?!

Thanks Facebook for the memory.  Sob.  Is there a way to turn those off?

So, I have no plans yet for the day.  A responsible person would get Luk going and hunt out shoes.  Or at the least find Crocs in bigger sizes for the boys for their February trip.  

I didn't eat a snack before bed.  I'm usually high after an infusion so I was hoping to combat that.  Diabetes won again.  You can't overthink it.  Woke to a low.  Surprise, surprise.  There is no way to get all 42 factors aligned all the time.  I've eaten my cereal with milk.  The shaking has stopped.  I anticipate likely being wonky all day.  Yet again, cursing the surgeon that removed part of my pancreas.

When you witness a miracle.

 

Home from the hospital to see this going on in the kitchen.

Miracle.

Luk said he asked Kai to help and he simply did.  Luk said I obviously didn't let him touch the knives.  Lol.

My boys.  Growing up so fast.

Love ❤️ 

Today is my last Tremfya infusion.  Next month it's needle injection training.  Following that it will be delivered to the house.

So the boys are coming with us today.  Thrift store stop.  Then to drop me off.  I have my lunch packed.  Afterwards our plan is to hit the mall for a bit of back to school shopping.  They don't need much.  Pants and shoes for the most part.

Jia and Rob got hit.

 

They're ok.

Just off a shift together, on the way home and they were hit hard on the back passenger side.  

They dealt with reports.  Called his Dad to come and deal with the other driver who wouldn't talk to Robert.  Rob's uncle was there too.

When the other driver left, the uncle followed him.  He went directly to a pawn shop.  It was also reported to Eric that he was driving an old red van full of jerry cans.

So, there have been a lot of suspicious fires around here.  A fellow has been named as our local arsonist.   I have zero clue what is needed to get him.  Anyways....same guy who hit the kids.

They believe he was high.

We met the kids at the hospital to get Jia's health card to her. And visably "see" that she was ok. Then back again later with cords and power packs as they both had dead phones.

They were seen relatively quickly.  All good.  Rob's back is hurting though.

Jia was teasing gramma that her leg was broken and her lung was punctured ;)

Unplugged Again

 

A weekend trip to Nitnat River.

Plus 2 more that came Saturday.

So quiet, so peaceful.  It's insane how much I enjoy no phone.  For short periods.  No noise or light pollution.

Love.  They stay like that when the door is open until I came back.

I asked Eric for a screwdriver so I could open my water tank on Squirrel.  A butter knife (girl tool) wasn't strong enough.  I didn't know why Mr wasn't producing one for me.  I was contemplating a trip to the thrift store.  Haha.  The delay was so he could find a tool that specifically fits this opening.  Too funny.  I was shocked such a thing existed.  It took him a minute to find it.  It was from our old boat 20 plus years ago.  And he had 2 :)

He also installed a bracket to hold the umbrella from Cheese.  So I have a dry kitchen in case of rain.  We only experienced a drizzle.  The wicked storm didn't hit where we were.

Late night and dinner cooked in the dark.

Right by the river.  Man did we sleep great.  1am to 7:30!  

Eric found gold.  Lots of veins and glitter in his rock.  His find got everyone having a look around for a few hours.

We found a scary guy in Youbou.  He stood like that and stared at us for half an hour!!  Once we were done with goodbyes and were all aired up it was sure nice to drive away from him.

The gold hunting trek.

Squirrel's first night wheeling.  It went better than I expected.  No oncoming lights.  No road glare.  Easy to follow the lights in front of you.  Plus Squirrel got to show off all her fancy extra lights.