We made it.

We didn't get out until 5:30.  Long drive with heavy traffic.  Jia set her phone up in Eric's van and she entertained us the whole way with her off beat music.  

Kai is hanging with me while Eric sets both units up and Jia and Luk are still in the car having a party.  Kai has his new glasses on and he's actually looking through them and hasn't insisted on the back strap!  Yet.  

The pups are waiting for a walk.  We're camped right by the river.  It sounds fabulous.  

Gotta get walking before dark!

Our walk was lovely.  Kai joined the other two for the van party instead of walking with us.

Snacks happened inside.  I'm learning the glucose meter.  I've been in the green all day.  Yesterday spiked up after eating corn.  I met a lady here with an appliance in her arm.  We had a laugh together about the alarms.  I've had a few.  They're really loud and super alarming.  The kids all hate them already.  The alarms go off for lows, highs, when I'm away from the phone, when the signal is lost and if it's been too long between flashes. Flashing is putting the phone at the disk in my arm so the current number goes in the log. That can be shared with Drs and the clinic.  The alarm in the middle of the night scared me badly and didn't even wake Eric.  

While Luk is doing his flush I went to Cheese to use the other bathtent and Eric had it all set up.  So cosy.  We both laughed because we're in the plush moho and both missing Cheese.  Haha.  

So the current situation is that Jia and Luk want to sleep in Cheese.  I have serious doubts they'll manage away from us.  Jia has already mentioned there are demons in the forest and they were discussing the new Five Nights at Freddy's movie.  Honestly I'll be shocked if they make it.  But they'll make great memories and have some laughs before Eric has to go get them.

I'm tucked in with the puppies.  Watching them use their ramp never gets old.  I rarely get to sleep with Finn and he is the best cuddler of them all. So, we're having a love fest.  Isabel is sleeping with Kai.  Eric is enjoying some solitude outside while waiting to escort Luk to Cheese.  

12:30 and the kids are still tucked in Cheese.  They're watching Nemo.  

Last Day of School

Kai went in yesterday to say his goodbyes.  Luk did the last day.  His classed walked up the hill to get gelato so he didn't want to miss that :) Neither boy was sad about no school for a couple months!  Eric might be the most excited of us all ;)

Fei is done her perceptorship in a couple hours.  She has a job interview Tuesday :)  So exciting.

We did Jia's last grade 8 moment, a hot dog lunch and picked up her report card.  Which was decent considering she turned in so little work.  She didn't want photos and was annoyed with me that I brought a whole grain wrap for my hot dog.  She even asked if I was embarrassed.  Uh, no.  Fun times.

There was a huge stack of these posters at Jia's school on the free table.  Too funny.

Eric is working on getting the pool sorted.  We've sprung more leaks. Now he has the water crystal clear but he can't get the chlorine to stay up.  Not great timing for us to be away for a few days. He's using the pool daily and Lili went in once.  

The cherry tree is LOADED but they need a couple more days.  So it's looking like the birds are likely to get them again this year.  I ate a bunch a couple nights ago that were good but not quite ready.  

I've made a meal plan for camping. Eric has the moho ready. We're bringing Cheese for Fei and a friend. All four dogs are coming.  I packed meds so far for Finn and the people.  Tonights plan is to sort clean laundry and then pack clothing into the moho.  We'll grocery shop tomorrow.  The plan is to leave at 4 but Eric isn't thrilled about how busy the roads will be and wants to leave earlier.  Normally I'd say go ahead we'll catch up except I'm towing Cheese and will want him closer.

Can we talk Ozempic?  I know it's on the news non stop so it's a bit hot topic.  The pharmacist thought it might help my sbs.  It did.  A lot.  I slept for 7 hours the first night. I have had no evil side affects.  It completely took away any desire for food.  I have felt so full all week that I was completely happy to not eat or drink at all.  I'm at the lowest dose.  I'm not supposed to skip meals re:diabetes.  Sometimes it feels like I'm forcing food down.  I'm definitely not drinking enough.  I had a two hour appointment with a diabetes teaching nurse today.  She injected the glucose monitor today.  Sadly it says no hot tub.  We're guessing the heat would melt the glue holding it in my arm.  We're already thinking tagdederm and holding my arm out.  Haha.  Learning curve.  It's been 3 hours, a snack and dinner and I've kept my levels in target range so far.  I did ask if everyone's levels move up and down and no, apparently the non-diabetic people have their pancreas and liver functioning well enough to keep them stable all along.  My pancreas isn't making enough insulin and the liver is resistant to accepting what I do have.  And as usual the teaching person has never dealt with a Chrones person with a total colectomy so she wasn't able to answer any of my more specific questions. Update, the glucose monitor can be worn in water up to 30 minutes and the temp of our spa is ok.  So I just ordered waterproof covers from Amazon.  

The whole tattoo conversation has been hillarious.  Surprisingly all 3 girls and Eric agree a ladybug is a good idea.  However.  Everyone's vision of it is different.  Everyone wants it in a different spot.  Fei wants a black outline on her forearm.  Jia wants a fancy one on her shoulder blade and in Jia fashion she already wants dozens more and is already busily planning her full body coverage. Lili wants simple and maybe on her ankle. Eric wants bicep but hasn't said what size, style or color.  Mom was in, but no color.  Now she's out again. I think I want cute/cartoonish, red with 5 hearts for the spots, also on my forearm but further up than Fei.  We'll see how long this takes to put together.  We won't consider it for Kai.  Luk has huge fear of pain so I know without asking he would be a no.  I think we are mostly missing the part about 'matching' tattoos.  It might have to be matching themes.  Haha.

James

Middle of the night messages.  He finished his Masters!  

We're so proud of him.

Love.

He's here in BC the end of July and we get to have him here for a few days.  So fun!

A relaxed Tuesday

The girls are ready for a sunny nap, Finn joined us and circled and sniffed but didn't end up settling.  

Eric and I went out last night and picked up this table and chairs for the 5th wheel.  Eric modified it today.  It was already made smaller/narrower and he then made it a little less long.  Perfect size for the rv now.  

I met with my new Dr. today for a meet and greet.  He accepted me officially and had my file made up.  Follow up in a month and every 3 months after that.  He put in standing blood work orders and renewed a prescription.  It's going to be so nice making appointments and not relying on the stupid walk-in system. The receptionist congratulated me.  

After my appointment I went to pick up Jia.  She asked for lunch out and a trip to the dollar store for a new sketch book. She picked McDonald's.  Our 1st time seeing the new renovation.  That's her shoulder, she flew out of the picture.  Haha.  A new phase I hope.

She got her 1st paycheque.  So she spent freely.  I love it. I can't wait to see what she paints.  It was super fun watching her make selections without a budget.

Fei is VIU Facebook famous ;)

This puppy has hydrocephalus and needs a home.  She's in Texas.  Guys, if she was within driving distance she would be here with me right now.  She is seriously the cutest little thing I've ever seen.  

Eric has been busy as usual.  He got his lawn tractor turning left again.  He's attempting to get the 5th wheel put back as an rv.  Putting things back in and hooking up the propane again.   At the same time getting it set up as a guest suite for Lian who is visiting in a couple weeks.  

Kai went to his last speech appointment and gave Tracy some Hedgehogs.  It's sports day at school today so the boys chose to stay home.  They have two days of school left.  Jia is done but gets to pick up her report card tomorrow.  Fei's last day of perceptorship is Thursday.  

We're camping Friday.  We've made zero plans.  We're not even sure who is going.  What work schedules are.  Or what we're eating.  It will all have to fall into place last minute.  

Dawn-Marie and Rosa got matching tattoos today.  I'm jealous.  I don't even want a tattoo.  Haha.  Lili said she'd do one with me.  Fei too.  Neither of them have ever mentioned wanting one before.  Fei suggested little matching Ladybugs today and Lili and I like the idea.  Now to muster up some courage.

The next day.

Christine came to visit this morning.  We had a nice catch up.  Coco took a while to let her guard down but trusted enough to nap beside her.

Sassy stayed awake and beside me :)

Then Mom was over and Poppy tried out the cool dog bag I found at the thrift store.

Coco went full nap mode 😴 

Eric, Mom and I went house hunting for her.  This new development is pretty nice little patio homes, single garages with really small yards.  Might be better suited to her than where she is now.  We analyzed them all and picked the best one.  Haha.  They aren't built yet and we don't know the plans but based on Eric telling us where things will be by the foundations we think we picked the best one.  

Fei was out with friends last night.  She's not home yet.  Lili is working all day.  The other 3 are being super quiet.  Kai just had a good long nap.  Not much going on here for a bit. Phew.   

Yesterday after we left Fei with her friends we stopped to visit Albi.

Penny and Haley had the same idea so we scored a bonus visit.  Lili and Haley hadn't visited in two years so this was fun.

So good to see them together.  

We ran a few errands and while we were picking up groceries we got a text from Mary and Charles asking us to join them for happy hour so we dropped Lili and the van full of groceries at home, jumped in the Jeep and took off for the evening.  Which was spontaneously a bit crazy.  I don't think I've ever gone to Nanaimo twice in one day before.  

Fei's Graduation

Tons of pictures to share later.  It was a great morning.  She had fun.  We're so proud.  I'll update this post when I have some free time.  

There are soooo many pictures to sift through. 

Lili went right up and took pictures. I need to zoom and crop them.  Later.

We don't have any pictures from Fei or the other grads or from the school or her friends.  It's possible there will be more to post later.