Vegas Vacation

I'm going back in time a bit to write this post.  This actually took place near the middle of November.  I uploaded the pics to blogger a while back, but still never got around to writing.  So here we are, Dec 20.  Let's hope I still remember the details.

 

Way back in August, I turned 40, and instead of putting 40 flamingos on the front yard, Julie thought she would take me to the Flamingo.  What a great present!  So our trip was booked for November and Julie's cousin has very generously volunteered to watch our angels while we were away.

 

November 7th, we took off on our first 'couple' holiday since we had children.  It was awesome.  Julie had booked us a limo to take us from the airport to the hotel.  We're going to Vegas, we might as well do it up right.  We landed at about 8:30 pm Vegas time and were greeted by our driver holding the sign for Julie.  How cool is that?!  We were treated to a bottle of champagne and he drove us to our hotel and around to see a bit more of the strip.  We were already having the time of our lives.

 

We walked around the strip a bit more that evening just taking in the sights.  The next three days were filled with exploring the strip and Freemont Street, shopping and lots of walking.  And shopping.  And we got tattoos.  We had another limo tour booked to tour the strip, the famous sign and Freemont Street.  The weather was unseasonably cool there, so some of the shows (like the pirates at Treasure Island) were cancelled.  These were part of the limo tour, so we had some extra time.  Our driver asked us if we watched 'Pawn Stars' and we said that we had seen it, so he took us to the pawn shop.  It was pretty neat to see, but nothing very big or showy.  It looks more impressive on TV.  At Freemont Street, we decided to do the zip line.  That was very cool.  Neither of us had ever done one before, so what better place than over top of hundreds of peoples' heads in Vegas.  What a rush.  Julie also got to compare tongues with Gene Simmons there (ok, not the real Gene Simmons, but she had him beat, no problem).

 

We rented a car for one day and spent most of the day doing some serious damage at the outlet malls.  Let's just say we went down with two half-full suitcases and came back with three zipper-bursting ones. 

 

One of our dining experiences was at this little restaurant right off the strip called 'The hole in the wall'.  Some of Julie's friends recommended it - said the food and atmosphere were great.  It started out good.  We were serenaded by a little old accordion player who knew where Saskatoon was.  The soup was great and the unlimited garlic bread and wine were nice too.  By the time our main course was there, some commotion occurred at a table close to us.  As it turns out, they had a cockroach come out of their salad!  Did I mention we had the soup?  Whew!  The two women at the table freaked out and were ready to leave.  One husband was supportive of this decision, but the other wasn't.  "What's the big deal?  The place is called the hole in the wall.  What do you expect?  You just got to roll with it."  He was not winning his battle, so he poured himself some more wine before they left.  I don't think we'll go there the next time we're in Vegas.

 

We celebrated our eleventh anniversary while we were down there and took things a notch more upscale and dined at the Wynn.  A little nicer than the hole in the wall. 

 

There is so much to see there, we didn't even come close.  We didn't get to any shows or the wax museum.  But our days were filled and we were tired by the end.  I guess that just means we have to go back.  Here are some of the highlights:

 



 

 

And the girls were kept so busy by Auntie that I'm not even sure they missed us.  They went to a movie, the Fun Factory, the museum and did all kinds of other fun stuff.  It sure was nice knowing they were in good hands.  It sure was nice to see them all at the airport when we got home too.  We missed the little stinkers after all.  Later.



Grade 2

I know it's been a while since I've written again and I haven't posted about our Vegas trip (which was awesome), but I need to talk about our three way conference with Jorja's teacher last night. Her teacher said she couldn't wait to see us so that she could share all that Jorja is doing.

I'm not sure I have ever been more proud and yet humbled at the same time (if that makes any sense). It's not just the fact that Jorja is an amazingly gifted student either. She excels in every subject and reads at a grade 6 level. This alone would have made for an awesome interview.

I guess the part that I take the most joy in is the person Jorja is.

She is a kind and tender-hearted individual who is a true friend to all of her classmates. She helps anyone in need and looks out for others. One boy was moving to a different school and yesterday was his last day. She helped him pack up all his stuff and then made him a card and got the whole class to sign it.

She loves her sisters and talks about them all the time. Her teacher seemed to know everything about them. What a proud big sister.

One of the best parts was when we saw her journal. One page said how she had a perfect family, loved her parents, sisters and God and Jesus. She said her favorite book was the bible and that she read it every night.

I'm so thankful that we went with the catholic school system. They read bible stories, pray and celebrate the real meaning for the holidays (Christmas and Easter). And Jorja feels totally free to share her faith with her teachers. Her teacher told Jorja that she recognized Jorja's tender heart was a result of the book she reads every night. Wow. That was awesome.

I guess that's what it means to have the faith of a child. Later.

Sent from my iPhone

The last month...

I thought I had some catching up to do last time I actually wrote a post.  It's almost been a month this time.  We've had Julie's birthday, Hallowe'en and in three days we leave for Vegas.

Julie turned 35 on Oct. 28, and I decided to use the force to make her a cake.  Since marrying me, she has really embraced Star Wars and I wanted to give her a symbol of my appreciation.  What better than a Princess Leia cake.

She was quite shocked to find out I made it totally free-hand.  Move over cake boss.  Here are all my girls gathered around the cake.

 

Jorja has been into helping out around the house lately.  After every meal, she likes to clear the table into the dishwasher.  It wasn't anything we made her do - she just started volunteering one day.  It's pretty sweet.  It also makes me stay more on top of emptying the clean dishwaher so things are neater in general.  After she had been doing this for a while, she asked when she could start doing chores.  Wow!  It's not every day a parent hears those words.  I told her that she already was by clearing off the table.  She figures she wants to take out the garbage as well.  She sees our sitter's boys taking out the garbage and wants to get in on that action.  I haven't got her to yet, but she is still going strong with the dishes.  I guess I'm not sure how to approach the situation.  I want to embrace this willingness to help out, but don't want to burn her out too soon.  I think we'll just stay with the dishes for now.

 

Hallowe'en this year was cold.  We've had snow for a while now, and I don't think it's going anywhere.  I think when we went out, it was -13 with the wind chill.  Needless to say, it was a shorter outing than most years.  But the kids still have a pile of candy.  CeCe really got into it this year.  She was very friendly too.  As she was walking away from houses, she would yell, "Have a good day!"  At one house, a woman held bowl full of goodies for CeCe to see and asked CeCe what she liked.  Without missing a beat, CeCe said, "Candy!"  She knows what she wants.

 

A couple of nights ago at the supper table, Jorja asked Ginny what 10 plus 11 was.  Ginny paused for a minute and then said, "21."  Jorja and I looked at each other with equally shocked looks.  How do you know that, I asked her.  She replied that ten plus ten was twenty, so ten plus eleven would just be one more.  Pretty impressive for a four year old. 

 

This morning as we were getting ready for church, I was buckling CeCe into the car.  Sometimes getting all three of them into the car is like herding cats.  Ginny was off eating an icicle and Jorja was off putting the toe of her church shoe into a snow bank.  I yelled at them from inside the car while still buckling CeCe.  CeCe saw the look on my face and asked, "Why you so grumpy Daddy?"  She calls it like she sees it. 

 

I guess the next time I write will be post-Vegas.  It is going to be a lot of fun.  Later.

 

Thanksgiving and preschool

I need to do a bit of catching up here, so I'm going back to Thanksgiving.  We stayed home this year and Julie's parents came to our house.  Julie cooked the whole feast and it was awesome.  Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, salads, home-made cranberry sauce and pecan pie.  When she was asking her folks if they wanted to come, Julie asked her Dad if he had any requests.  He said home-made cranberry sauce and pecan pie.  I'm not sure if he was half joking about the pie or not, but Julie took him up on it.  He may have just been testing her because as it turns out, Julie's Mom had never even made a pecan pie before.  At any rate, the pie was amazing - I've never had pecan pie before but I think I may request it again some time.  It worked for Julie's Dad anyway. 

The weekend of Thanksgiving, there was a world record being broken fairly close to Saskatoon, so Julie's Dad and I took the older two girls to check it out.  249 combines together at one time in one field!  Pretty impressive.

The event was being put on by a charity Harvest 4 Kids, so they had a bunch of other fun stuff going on too.  The girls went for a pony ride - I was shocked that they had the courage to get up there, but they did, and they loved it.  However, I think the highlight of the ride was when Ginny's horse had to stop and pee.  They both thought that was hilarious.

There was also an old threshing display and a bunch of old tractors which Julie's dad really enjoyed.  It was pretty cool to see.  The girls had fun sitting on some of the old equipment.

It was a fun afternoon and when we got home, we were ready for turkey.

Ginny is starting to get a bit more excited about going to preschool these days.  She will come home from daycare the day before preschool and want to pick her snack to take along the minute we walk in the door.  She gets her lunch kit out, packs up her snack and gets her backpack all ready before supper.  It's pretty cute.  This week had a special day at preschool - Ginny's special day to be exact.  It's been a while since I've written about preschool (3 years probably) but the special day is where the parent gets to come along and be the helper.  Since I don't work Fridays, we requested to have Ginny's days on Friday and that means I am forced to go...I mean am lucky enough to go.  I volunteer in the toddler room nursery at church and let me tell you, I would take a room full of two year olds over a room full of four year olds any day.  I guess I shouldn't be so harsh - most of them were good, but there are a few that are let's just say - handfuls.  Two boys who like to cause destruction and mayhem everywhere they go.  Jorja's class had some interesting characters too, but I never witnessed any time-outs helping in her room.  On Friday, I witnessed four - each boy had two.  My biggest nightmare is the bathroom break.  The rule is that all preschoolers go with the parent helper to the bathroom of the parent's gender.  Boys and girls together and just wait their turn.  One of the problems with that is urinals.  Now, I don't remember learning to use a urinal and not having boys of my own, I have not had to cross this bridge.  Where am I going with this?  Well, it always starts with one child saying they have to go pee.  Then the teacher asks who else has to go.  Suddenly there's eight kids lined up at the door all doing the pee-pee dance.  It's amazing how that works.  So for the first trip, both the little 'ray of sunshine' boys had to go and were at the front of the line.  When I opened the door, they were off like a shot, and the rest of us walked.  I got to the bathroom and there were these two boys, pants at their ankles using the urinals.  I put the brakes on the girls, but not before a couple of them saw the bare butts and snickered.  They finished their business and then the girls went.  Four year olds never lock the stalls I have discovered.  So there I was, holding one door shut with my foot, balancing on my other foot, and holding the other door with my hand.  All the time trying to keep an eye on my two boys.  Couple that with the occasional older boy walking in to use the bathroom and the occasional kid saying they need help (to which I reply - wipe yourself and come out, you can figure it out) and it's all very stressful.  By the third trip, I was ready for a drink.  But everyone survived and Ginny did have a really good day, so that's all that matters.  She brought in a Zooble for show and tell and did a really good job explaining what it was and where she got it from.  Here she is in the seat of honor.

I was definitely ready for the weekend after that.  Yesterday was piano lesson day for the little two, Jorja had a birthday party to go to, and we had friends over for supper.  A busy day, but it was a lot of fun to sit and visit after the kids were in bed.  This morning was church and then we raked some leaves and did a bit of yard work this afternoon.  Back to work tomorrow and someone elses 'special' day at preschool.  Later.

2/3 = ∞

One year ago yesterday, Julie went to Mexico to have a Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy (VSG) performed.  You can check out the amazing company and surgeon at Weight Loss Forever. 

What can I say about her transformation?  It is truly amazing!  There are so many things I want to say, but I'm having trouble finding the words.  She has always been beautiful, funny, outgoing.  I think her humour was in part a defence for the lack of self esteem she felt though.  It's easier and hurts less to make a joke about yourself before someone else does.  Now, as every pound sheds, her self esteem and confidence increase.  That is the most amazing part for me.  Now everyone else can see the beautiful woman I fell in love with and no prejudge her on her appearance.  It is still taking her a while to see what everyone else sees.  She will look at clothes and say, 'this won't fit' and I tell her that 'yes, it will!  You're a lot smaller than you think.'  I guess old perceptions take a while to go away.

She can do a lot more things now too - like jump on the trampoline with the kids.  I think this summer is the first time she has ever enjoyed spending extended periods of time out in the heat.  She used to hate the heat, now she is always cold.  I mean always!  This is taking some getting used to for me.  She has always been hot, and now it's the opposite.  Her toes are like permanent ice cubes. 

So here she is - physically she is less than two thirds of the person she was a year ago.  Mentally, emotionally, spiritually, she is infinitely more.  Way to go Julie!  I am so proud of you.  You are a great wife and a wonderful mother and role model for our girls.  We are all lucky to have you in our lives.  

Later.

Fall morning 2

>> I'm not sure why this didn't send with my picture, but this was what I wrote while watching the kids play:

>> Our Saturday mornings now involve music lessons for CeCe and Ginny. CeCe starts at 9:30 and Ginny at 10:00. It's across town so we've all been going along for the morning. Julie takes CeCe and I kill time with the older two and then I take Ginny while Julie hangs out with Jorja and CeCe. There aren't many stores open on broadway before 10, so walking down the street was getting a little old. Today I found a park a couple of blocks away. Jorja and Ginny are having a blast and I'm enjoying a cup of coffee listening to the sounds of their laughter and enjoying the fall scenery. There probably won't be many more days like this this year. I'm going to enjoy a few more minutes watching them have fun before I have to leave. Later.
>> Sent from my iPhone

Fall morning