Just Us This Time

 

Kai has been getting up earlier and earlier.  As early as 4am.  We banned screens before lunch and he is sleeping in until 7 again.  We tried out summer hours but we're already back to school hours.  He just does better on a schedule.

The twin foamy in Cheese was being slept on by Leo.  I won't use it for people now so I told Eric to cut it into beds for Izzy.  It's too high for her ;)  We keep finding her in weird positions. It took hours to convince her to try laying on it.  I think she likes it now.

Mom's move in day was yesterday.  We're all processing that still.

The movers hired were less than desirable.  Definitely causing some trauma. Their communication skills were low.  Not to dwell on the negative but I can safely say we survived and won't be repeating that experience again.

Mom is in.  Overall her stuff made it in safely.  She loves her new house.  Poppy loves her new house.  

It wasn't a picture taking kind of day.

Mom was super organized and she has a lot to do to be all settled. 

Today I have zero desire to move. 

Awe.

I took the Commander listing down and then a girl previously interested contacted me.  Made an offer and we were chatting back and forth about logistics because she's on the mainland and has never been on the island.  Then she asked which engine it was and has now backed out.  I think. I'm back to being relieved.

Our cruise room for two hasn't been upgraded to a quad and we sail in two days, 7 hours and 45 minutes so we're moving ahead assuming Jia and Luk aren't coming.  I could be calling and pushing the fact that it was their mistake however Eric is quite happy to be getting away just the two of us so I'm attempting to accept things as they are.  The kids don't seem upset at all. 

The frugal part of me wanted the better deal.  Four for the greatly deduced price of two would have been a pretty great deal.  We paid $49 a person per day.  We're definitely happy with the rate.  I've always wanted to try an inside room, Eric not so much. We'll finally see if it's manageable.  I do think not seeing daylight will be weird.

Eric has made fabulous progress on Cheese.  The new actuators work fabulously.  He's almost finished trimming the inside. The 12v fridge works. Next he wants to have the gas certified and will need to make some changes to the gas plumbing and stove to pass inspection.  Another project for when we get back. All just to get the csa sticker for the outside to make ferry workers happy.  The mattress went in today and then he piled my hoard in there too.  The house feels better.  Lili is having friends over while we're away and she wanted my mess gone.

It didn't really occur to me that we'd actually get a standby room to Alaska so we were really more concentrated on the contingent plan.  Which was San Joseph Bay in Cheese.  Now I need to figure out a time for that plan ;)

I just did our cruise check in and got our boarding passes.  Our backpacks are out and the packing has begun. So fun.  I found out yesterday the parking at Canada Place is $59 a day. Shock. Plus no reservations were available.  I booked us on Hullo and cancelled our ferries.  Our first time using Hullo. Lili is dropping us off and Fei is picking us up. The next two days we'll be concentrating on getting the kids and pets all set up.

Jia and Luk are on Standby

 

I woke up today to an email confirming that Eric and I have a room on the ship this Saturday with the standby program!  Yay.  So exciting.

However...

At the time of booking there was a mistake made and the kids were given a seperate booking number.  Which shouldn't have happened.  So, they aren't in our room and won't get a room assignment because they obviously didn't pay.  I called right at 8am and Holland America is looking at the problem now and told me to keep checking my email.

The kids are on standby.  Weird.

They have no clue, they're both sleeping.

I'm obsessively checking for an update of course. While making long lists of things to do in my head.  

Eric immediately came downstairs and started making Isabel dog food for while we're away.

On the Isabel front, she's been doing great but last night as I was tip toeing past her, she woke and tried to leap up and she tripped me and I fell and she fell and we were in a heap together.  She yelped, I yelped and Eric leaped up to help me up with me telling him to go check Izzy who ran off.  She seems fine.  I have a couple bruises.  One on my bumbalarie.  Izzy and I are both too old to be falling down.

Eric and Kai's morning project.

Lili is hosting an outdoor movie night for friends while we're away.  She did a trial last night.  I sat in the hot tub (after she moved the projector to the table) and we watched an interview with Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman playing with puppies.  So that was pretty cool.  

Staycation

 

Friends came to stay for the weekend at the Nelson Campground.  

Kids played, adults got lots of deck time.

Birdwatching. I think they spotted a chicken hawk.

NEAR

And FAR.

Haha.

The kids were happy to stay home with screens while the adults got dinner out in Cowichan Bay.  The Cook and Butcher didn't disappoint.  Then today we dragged the boys around for the morning and then we gave them a choice of lunch out with us or home for noodles and screens.  They chose home so the adults went to the Osborn Bay Pub for lunch.  That also didn't dissappoint.

We went to Mom's so Eric could disassemble some of her furniture in preparation for the move on Tuesday.  We thought we'd stay out of their hair and take Poppy for a walk.

Poppy didn't get the memo.  She really didn't want to walk with us. Getting belly rubs was more her vibe.

The manly crew off with tools.  

Eric took the freedom panels off Onyx so we got a great windy drive today.  While we were in Crofton Shannon and I went to the resort and booked sites together for the August long weekend, so that's fun.  I'll cancel our Goldstream site. I also booked my favorite site at Osborn Bay a couple nights for Autumn Moon festival. It's mid week so it might just be me there.

A Kai funny.

 So, I'm guessing ya'll have gathered Kai has poop issues.

He routinely yells out that he has to poop the second he is bored, at restaurants, in movies and shows etc.  It's quite embarrassing.  We've TRIED to get him to be discreet.  He is never discreet.

Along with all the other issues we're attempting to get him to tell someone at home when he is headed to the bathroom to poop.  You know, so we can prevent flooding.  Anyways...

Yesterday I was in the kitchen with him for a couple hours and left him watching tv to come up to my desk.  He took himself for a poop.  Dumb luck that I turned off the ac upstairs and heard him calling for Dad who was outside and we hadn't seen him in hours.  I purposefully left him sitting there a while so I could once again say "hey, tell us first so you're not stuck on the toilet".  

Today, I was doing all the things, opening delivery packages, tidying, three loads of laundry, mending pillows, 3 weeks of clean clothing sorted and put away, pet care, dishes and more dishes, making a grocery list, breakfast, lunch, snacks, hot tub, chatting with Lili.  You get the picture...around.  I heard a voice calling out, I thought it was my Mom but Izzy was on high alert, I went to see and it was two older ladies from the Green party come to chat.  Ugh.  Along comes Kai right at that moment and announces super loud and full of authority "I HAVE TO POOP RIGHT NOW!"  I actually laughed out loud and said "he needs to poop" while retreating back into the house.

Hahahaha.  The timing.  I'm sure they walked away confused.  I mean Kai is taller than me now ;)  

Esmei is 9 today!

 

How is she 9 already?!

My upstairs shadow.  

She decides everyday what time I'm getting up.  She pounces and talks while bumping me until she gets all the attention befitting the true Princess.

She's off doing zoomies with Coco now :)

It was Jerry's housekeeping day yesterday and Kai volunteered to babysit while I spruced up his environment.  Kai did a great job.  Kid and mouse both adorable.  Jerry gets quite anxious when I clean his house around him so I find it best to get a sitter for a few minutes.  How can I tell he's anxious?  He's a really calm little guy normally and easily held and picked up.  When he realizes his flooring is being picked up he runs around frantically and charges at my hand. 

As promised.

 

This isn't any of the outside bin 

things. I still need to add a few things here.  

I'm at my desk procrastinating.

The fires in Jasper and Sooke are keeping me glued to local news.  I ate my Cheerios this morning while listening to the fire trucks roar around town.  So many little fires around here.

Eric's new build is underway.  There are rust marks on the floor he can't get off so it's looking like we need new flooring too.  Fingers crossed there is a piece left over in Eric's hoard big enough.  

Mom's Move

 

The rest of the day went well.  We made two trips with boxes, had lunch out and were done by late afternoon.

The movers are doing the furniture on the 30th.  Mom will be back and forth for the week.

The realator wasn't easy to work with but she left a nice gift.  

Arg

 

It's Mom's moving day.  We just came home with her first load, tarped and clean to discover a-hole neighbor has the chipper back in his yard.  

I did go over.  The conversation went as expected.  It would have been better if Eric had let me go alone because we could feel his tension for sure and his tone was definitely angry.  Neighbor was also ticked with our opinion.  He was shocked when I showed him the pictures.  He did agree to not chip today.  He is contemplating ways to mitigate the mess, with my suggestions of moving the chipper, facing a different direction and waiting for wind change or rain.  He is adament that chipping is the environmentally sound way to deal with limbs and trees.  He seems to think I care about his trees.  I don't.  I could care less what he does with his land, I care about the extra work impossed on us.  

Also, don't we all know that piles of mulch are fire danger?  He says not.  Idiot.

Okay, so this week is more frustrating then our normal level of frustrating. 

Life = a series of problems to deal with. We'd like a little break though.  I have that thought and immediately feel like I've challenged the universe and I need to be grateful for the problems we do have.  

Kai has been without screens for 3 days.  We've talked lots.  And lots.  Does he understand, no, not really.  But I needed him home out from underfoot today.  Luk is watching him today and Kai happily stayed home on his couch enjoying YouTube when we left.

Then we got to Mom's on time to meet someone to get the keys and hang around for half an hour while no one showed up.  Because they left the door unlocked, with keys inside and no one thought to tell her.  Wild.  She just tried the door and was in.  

We'll see what the rest of the day brings us.

I'll get new home pictures later.  We have the first load at the new place now.  

On the upside of things, I'm almost done collecting things for Cheese.  I should get a picture of the pile.  It's funny.  Eric is positive it won't all fit in.  I know it will because I basically just recreated the old set up that all moved into the Falcon.  I pieced it all together from the garage (moho things), from the house, the thrift and dollar store.  I forgot a cutting board and I'm still searching for a mattress protector that should be in the house but I suspect might have been left on the moho mattress.  The actuators arrived today so that's fun.

Eric is putting a rush on the project because if the cruise is a no go then the plan was to take off on a road trip but the teens aren't enjoying being out and about so much so we're considering doing a day trip to science world and then dropping them at home and Eric and I taking a road trip with Cheese.  I'm picturing San Joseph Bay.  Where the hike is simply too much for the boys.  So much wait and see.  But at least Cheese will be ready.

Kai's 6th flood.

Poop post. Skip if you can't deal.

Kai has rules.  One of them is that he isn't allowed to flush poop.  He disregarded the rule today.  For the sixth time the poo toilet water went downstairs to the bathroom below.  I'm not counting the plugged toilet close calls, just the standing water seeping downstairs.  The actual floods.

Now, Eric, Lili, Luk and I are all home.  He told no one.  He did clue in there was water flowing and attempted cleaning up with hand towels and face cloths.  Ew.  Just dumb luck that Lili wondered why he was taking drippy things to the laundry hamper and investigated.  He took himself to his couch and was watching tv.  So of course his screens have been taken away and he's been crying for quite a while.

He has repeated the rule to me so he does know he broke a rule.  I don't believe he has any clue what the problem is and he definitely doesn't see that ignoring the problem and going back to his show is another problem and there are natural consequences when bad things happen.  Oy.  Screens have been removed.  

He's bored and he's mad.  I found him napping while I'm still dismayed and pretty mad myself so I marched him downstairs and had him wash the floor with a wet cloth.  Eric had already cleaned and disinfected so it was really pointless except for him to clue in he made a mess so has to clean it up.  It was a hard watch.  He has zero clue how to wipe or clean anything and he isn't capable of following verbal direction or copying movements by example.

Also, he once again used an entire roll of paper.  Why? Is it fun?  Does he just like rolling it?  Normally he calls us to come and wipe him and flush.  I have no clue what happened today.  He didn't even try to call out.  He has no answers.

So, to all other better parents than us, please tell us, how the hell do we potty train this kid?  CLEARLY, we aren't capable.  He's 13 in a month.  He's been with us 8 1/2 years and it's not improved.  He used to play in his poop and smear it everywhere and we had to disinfect the whole room and kid and here we are today, slightly different but kid still needed a bath and the room still needed disinfected.  And there is a wack of laundry to do.

I want a separate room off the house with a composting toilet just for Kai.  Eric doesn't like this idea.  I mean 8 years and he isn't ready for a flush toilet.  He has not shown the skill set for this.  He needs a toddler potty but they don't come in his size, wouldn't a composting one be similar but easier for us to deal with than an open potty that he could spill.  We need to take water right out of the equation.  

My head hurts.  Honestly this is just the stupidest parenting problem ever.  

Oh...and he attempted pulling attitude when he finally realized I was planning to repeat the rules a lot with him and hand out chores.  Because a teenager with attitude that isn't yet potty trained is what I need today.  Arg. 

I'm hiding in my room.  

No adventures.

 

So yesterday I was up and ready for an adventure.  Eric was quite happy to be here working on his projects.  He was stuck here waiting for his neice to deliver propane tanks.  So I called Mom and she came out to play with me.  We started at our thrift store and hit thrift store gold.  Haha.  Mom found this cute bench/stool/hassock? For a mere $5. It has storage, fits under the shelf and means a comfy 2nd seat for at the table.  I also got pillows as seat cusions, blue and green pillow cases and some fabric for a wee curtain to hide the sink waste water container.  We brought our score home and Eric didn't show any excitement.  Hmm.  He's come around and agrees that it's a great plan.  I think he was grumpy from the heat.  He joined Mom and I while we did Canadian Tire, Dollarama and Walmart.  I got a fair amount collected for the new set up.  Today Eric is choosing to skip adventures and keep working.  I'm a tad bored but happy to see the projects getting done.  He's currently using his new welder to attempt fixing the accuator that was snapped off Cheese while he was away.  He's at the point in the repair where next he will see if it works after it's wired back in.  Update, it worked until it started smoking.  New one on the way from Amazon ;)

The bench/shelf frame is in.  I went out to discuss the table slide idea.  The slide table from under the counter was going to be a few inches short so Eric went and got a table we originally picked up for Cheese and it fits perfectly and can even stay set up when we fold the roof down.  Garage shopping for the win today.  So many treasures squirreled away in Eric's world.

I have a ton of stitched ducks to frame to take on the cruise that we may or may not be going on in two weeks.  Not as exciting as an adventure day but it will fill some of my day. Plus laundry, pet care and more and more dishes.

Lili is at the Broken Islands Lodge.  She says it's very remote and definitely a get away from it all place.  She is enjoying the amenities and the food is great.  

This guy has moved back home.  I'm loving all my cuddles.  I do wish we could get him to stop going near or on the road!  Forcing him indoors just wouldn't work.  He's way too big a personality to be contained.  Feral cats are a different sort.

Saturday Plans

 

We had 8 of us to Nanaimo yesterday for a movie so we took both Jeeps.  Eric got ducked again!  So fun.  I still have not been ducked in the wild.  Jealousy for sure.  Haha.  Oscar really does stand out way more than Onyx.

Eric gave me the duck, it's pink, missing the point, I don't want the duck...I want the surprise joy.  

Despicable Me 4

We all loved it.  Jia worked all day and napped through most of it.  I also had a wee nap and missed some plot but Fei filled me in on the way home.

I've read on community sites that there are new owners coming into the Duncan theater.  I can't wait.  It's a lot to go out of town for a movie.

We got to take Kaleb last minute so that was fun.  He was playing country music in the car on the way there for me, Luk and Kai.  Not our usual listening genre so that was fun.  Kaleb knew all the words and is a fabulous singer, we were definitely entertained.

Kaleb takes such great care of Kai, I'll admit it's a nice break for me.

Eric and I measured and measured and negotiated and plotted.  We think we have the plan for Cheese sorted. You know, 'if' we were speaking the same language. Twin bed out.  Waste water container going in.  Food shelf.  Permanent place for the fridge and port-a-potty.  A padded bench seat and wee table.  All set up for just me and occasionally for one other person if they're willing to share the bed.  

Shannon and Dagen came to play yesterday. We went to ride the train.

And watch the train.

Ignore the driveway weeds.

Back to his and hers units.

All is right in the world again.

Now, it's Saturday and we have soooo many options.

I wanted to get up at 7 and escape just Eric and I and go to the Jeep event in Lake Cowichan.  Other options are Jeeping with friends, going to Parksville to play with Mary and Charles, staying home and working, taking the kids to secret beach, hitting Costco because we're out of pee pads, shopping for Cheese decor, or take a much needed couch/movie day.  The last option annoys the heck out of me.  I'm currently lounged on the front porch while Eric zips all over the place.  I never really know what he's doing but it sort of looks like he is searching and gathering.