Japan

 

Lili has landed and her friend Devan who left a couple days earlier was at the airport to meet her.  She was on a flight with 15 others from the group.  They are all in a bus on route to the hotel.  So fun.

She was able to join a couple of the other travelers in the airport hotel the night before.  This was their view. So handy.

She left her packing until the day before.  That big case was only 23lbs.  So I'd say she did a great job.

Tinkering.  What he loves the most.

So, Oscar's horn is wimpy.  So when he was mine Eric installed an air horn for me but I said it was also wimpy.  Fast forward to Oscar being Eric's.  We drove by an elementary school the other day and the kids wanted us to honk.  He used the air horn.  And said nothing.  But I found him in the garage set up at a little table working away.  Trying to get two non working air compressors into one working one so he can increase Oscar's air horn capability because apparently he sounds wimpy.  So, how does Eric stay sane....by tinkering, alone with no one talking or having drama or asking for things.

The water is going in.  Since we've been metered our water pressure is so low that I fear this will take days to fill.  

The red lines are appointments and events.  Things that someone has to show up to at a particular time.  It doesn't include school or my work or Lili and Fei's things.  I really do think a cartoon map of our little Jeeps running all over the place would be funny.  

Onyx is still at the dealership.  Sigh.  We're not impressed.  We need her back before Friday.  She is towing the trailer to Jeepapaloosa.  And we are going there is a caravan of Jeeps.  I'm oddly freakishly excited about it.  Fingers crossed the missing part comes in Monday.

Fei texted this morning asking about the weird guy at the porch.  Our front door was open and I had assumed it was Isabel setting off the ring camera.  By the time I got there he was gone.  Fei watched the live feed on her phone from Nanaimo and saw him leave.  He staggered up the steps.  One of Duncan's finest.  Arg.  The dogs didn't hear him and didn't bark.  I'm not delighted with how close he was.  I've asked Lili to recalibrate the camera to alert at the gate versus almost in the house.  

Lili's Graduation Picture.

 

So beautiful.

Such an accomplishment.

Miss Lili leaves on Friday for Japan.  I'm driving her to the ferry.

Graduation convocation is mid June.

Bachelor of Business Administration Majoring in Finance.

McHappy Day

 

It's McHappy Day.  Kai was thrilled to meet Grimace.  Jia and Luk were trying to disappear.  Haha.

Jia is working tonight and again on Mother's Day. Jia is consistently getting 10 hours a week.  Which Jia still thinks is too many.  Sigh.  

There is a long list of things to get done around here but I'm pushing for the time crunch things.  We need to fill before June so he's started.  I found him out there is this contemplative moment.  As always, this job is way bigger and considerably more involved than I knew.  It was shocking to see how bright the old liner is under the coping.  It was definitely time for a replacement.

I just paid for my 40th grad reunion dinner in July.  I'm going with Christine.  This was my date, Rob.  How cute were we?!  Which started a hunt for grad pictures.  Mom came through with this one.

We ducked Jerry

 

He is just the sweetest.

The wee blow up duck was from Shein, we got him a couple wee fabric huts and a better wheel too.

Early Mothers Day

 

Lili and Fei planned a high tea date at Butchart Gardens for me and as a bonus my Mommy came to.

Early because Lili leaves on the 10th for Japan.

I have always wanted inside this dinning room :)

Trifle as a starter.

So fun!!

Thank you girls!

Bucket list events.

The tulips are all in bloom!

My favorite.

Fei's picture.

We were so lucky with the dry weather. It was a perfect day.

Updates,

Luk has some issues with his eyes.  His eye pressure is too high.  The specialist doesn't believe glaucoma.  He has a ring of fluid build up behind his retina.  Eric and I feel this is likely hydrocephalus related but the eye dr doesn't.  He however spouted a bunch of hydrocephalus things from crazy town so faith in him is greatly diminished.  I'll let the Children's team know his opinions and request we see the eye specialist at Children's.  Kai sees both of them.  

It's crazy to me that the three younger kids all see the same eye specialists. 

Still no word on Onyx.

Jia had to work yesterday and again today.  Jia is doing great at the job and looks oh so cute at the front counter.  As with everything Jia, the actual event seems fine but getting him out of the house motivated and ready is a struggle.  Getting paychecks again has been a plus though.

Lili has a friend coming today to stay for a few days before they leave for Japan.  He's going to stay in the moho. Eric and Lili finished emtying it out. Getting it ready to sell. Sigh.

I have a girl coming today to see the Commander.  She is totally smitten.  Asking tons of questions. Her Wrangler had a tree fall on it so needs a replacement.  I am not thrilled about this. At all. 

Maybe Alaska?

 

I did a possible thing maybe.

Haha.  So fun!!

I booked a STAND BY cruise.

Eric and I 'might' or 'might NOT' be cruising to Alaska on the Koningsdam with Holland America in Aug.

Jia and Luk might or might not be coming too.

I booked for Eric and I and paid today.  $343 each for the cruise rate and $266 each for taxes and fees.  We can add 3rd and 4rth passengers free at time of a confirmed room. We won't find out until 7 to 2 days before the departure. Anything from an inside room to a veranda suite.  

LOVING the gamble part of this.

Love a cheap cruise deal, fingers crossed it works.

My plan is to keep the calendar free for that week and if we don't get picked we'll just do an unplanned adventure road trip.

The program is very new.

The staff were all very unsure of the procedures and I was put on hold a fair amount.  

We shall see.

It's sort of brilliant. They won't have to try and sell rooms last minute.  Cancelations usually happen the week before departure.  Everyone with trip insurance just rebooks but it leaves the ships with empty rooms.

I'll keep making my cruising ducks but I have no clue if Holland America peeps have embraced the duck joy.  

When I tried to get the kids confirmed there was mass confusion.  Apparently it's rare for there to be requests for four people in a room.  Confirming why we left Holland America and moved to Carnival when Lili and Fei were little.

Jia and Luk are both thrilled about the possibility of an adventure. Future gamblers?

Update, Kai's after-school program does summer camps.  I just filled out an aplication for the week of the cruise.  That might help fill his days in a fun way if we end up going.

In other news.  Eric went to the dealership, they didn't get any work done.  Sigh.  Lord only knows how long they'll have Onyx.  

In other, other news, this is happening.

Crews were working all day yesterday just down from us.  So loud.  I have no clue what they're doing.  Today they came to the door. 6 barking, howling dogs, he rang the ring doorbell.  I was on the phone.  Yeesh.  In my jammies and I couldn't hear him through the door, I don't normally open the door when Isabel is in protect mode.  But I did to hear him and she went squirrely.  Even as a wobbly and feeble old lady she would protect us. So, a watermain is leaking and they needed the driveway to hold the hydro pole.  ?  

They asked if I needed out.  I panicked and said no, go ahead.  Except Jia has school and work today.  I should have had Lili move her car out.  I wasn't thinking except about shutting 6 dogs up.  Now we're trapped. 

Eric might be home with Luk in time to save the day.

Missing Onyx

Eric is putting in new exhaust manifolds on Oscar. He loves this stuff.  

Behind him is the loaner car for while Onyx is in Victoria at the dealership getting her recalled transmission/clutch replaced.  

 We've been dealing with a defunct screen/radio head and the dealership/salesman has been vague.  We were told it would need to be diagnosed when it came in. It took a month for the clutch parts to come in. When we dropped it off with service the fellow mentioned that it had been noted in the file that the screen was delaminating.  Meaning they already knew it needed replacement. Arg.  

Slimy dealing.

If they had been upfront the parts could have been ordered and waiting, instead Onyx will be there for extra days waiting.  So frustrating.

We buy from car lots and pay extra to avoid these things.

Our salesman is a nice guy to chat with but I can see now why the Willie Dodge reviews are so horrible.

My trust and confidence in leaving Onyx there is pretty low.

Luk has an eye specialist appointment in Victoria today so Eric will swing by and check on things.  

Meanwhile we're sharing one car.  

Lili helped out with some driving yesterday, Jia to a watercolor workshop, me to the dentist and she picked up her Yen at the bank for Japan and we also enlisted Fei on Tuesday to pick Kai up from social skills playgroup.

It takes a village occasionally.

I ordered Eric over 200 ducks to have in his Jeep. So fun right?!

His response...."where will I put those?".  I think he was secretly pleased. Haha.

I told him his selection was better than my duck stash and he immediately offered to trade. 

Yesterday afternoon Jia had an appointment and afterwards wanted a hair cut, Eric ducked a Jeep in the parking lot while we waited. He's been ducking with me but it's never been his idea before and he's never been the one to place the duck.  

This little face.  

Her ear is slightly back and the whiskers are forward.  She's having mischievous thoughts.

A few nights ago I woke up to a really loud crash.  I knew it was Jerry's cage hitting the floor.  YIKES!

I made it downstairs and found the cage on it's side, the roof was off and most of the things had flown out.

I yelled up EMERGENCY to Eric.

Shockingly Jerry was still in the cage.

He was under the fleece flooring and sleepy.  I don't think a cat would stick around to catch him after the scary loud crash but I thought we'd be up all night looking for Jerry.

It definitely could have been disastrous.

Eric and I cleaned up and settled Jerry in the little cage.  He spent the night in the guest room behind a closed door.

Eric got up the next day and anchored the cage to the cabinet.

I've given the family permission/orders to clap, yell, stomp and scare any cat looking at Jerry.

We don't know which cat it was.  Eric thinks Oliver, kids think Walter, I'm fairly certain it was Esmei.  She was acting weird afterwards and she had previously been spotted having a look in the cage.  As an indoor cat I'm sure Jerry's home is catvision tv.

She is also a cat klutz and the most likely to have had something go wrong.  She routinely misjudges her leaps in my room.  I can't leave things on the desk top near the bed, she jumps from the bed, lands on the things and slides off the other side.  Total cat klutz.

The new pool liner is being delivered today.  There has been debate about keeping the pool or not.  We finally chose to keep going.  If the heat, fires and drought are as bad as anticipated then having water here is a good thing.  Eric is trying to figure out how to keep the water currently in the pool.  We haven't come up with any viable options yet.  We have to do the swap before June.  He is starting to mumble about not enough time at home to do all the things. Once again asking for less camping.  Sigh.

Eric found a welder on Amazon he wanted and he brought me his phone to show me.  It was only $180.  I ordered it right away with the one swipe.  The look of joy on his face at a new tool/toy.  He has a bunch of projects in his head already.  Prominently he's excited to have a portable welder for Jeepapaloosa.  With the new box on the trailer holding the generator and welder he can fix things away from home.  In these moments of marraige it just becomes more and more clear that we have nothing in common.  He's all prepared and I'm totally fly by the seat of our pants on a wish and a prayer.

Shannon and I entered the cruise talks again.  Then played with calenders, ideas and some cruise math.  We didn't make any actual plans yet.  However....I found stand by cruises through Holland America!!

I sooooo want to book one and see if we win a room.  

$49 a person per day plus port fees and taxes. You prepay and they let you know 7 to 2 days before departure if you're going.  Money back if you don't get picked.  1st on the list gets rooms.  Rooms can be from inside to suites.  It would really only work if you're in driving distance to the port.  It would be perfect for us on the Alaskan routes. 

I'm intrigued.  Eric is almost game.

The decision part is hinging on kids.  3rd and 4rth passengers are free so we 'should' bring a couple.  I want to take Jia and Luk.  Eric struggles big time with this.  Five in a room isn't an option and booking a 3 and a 2 doubles the cost. It would be a relaxing holiday for four of us if Kai stayed home.

Eric just left with Kai and Luk, we have Joey and Rosie here.  Joey howls when he is alone or thinks he's alone so his howls are beckoning me downstairs.  Sigh. Joey avoids me, I can't catch him but he'll accept my presence versus the dreaded alone thing.

And so another busy day starts.