January Update

Well I guess I'll have lots of time to add things here as I had a fall just before Christmas that has put me on crutches for the last two weeks and now eight more weeks.

The story so far...
On December 23rd, after my second yoga class of the week, I was carrying Grace down the stairs using both arms and I slipped about five or six steps from the bottom. Grace seemed fine, but the impact and the deformed ankle I came face-to-face with let me immediately know that I was not fine. I pulled myself over to where the phone is, taught the kids some new expletives and got Liam to hand me the phone. I called 911 and soon an ambulance crew (4 people - the regular crew, a student, and a paramedic on her first day back after mat leave) and 2 police officers were in my decorated living room. My brother came over to look after the kids and I was on my way to the hospital.

Since I had eaten breakfast, they couldn't knock me out to reduce (undislocate) the ankle, so they gave me a huge dose of narcotics (with an antidote at the ready in case I stopped breathing) reduced it a little and put a temporary cast on it. Though it was x-rayed immediately, it took the orthopedic resident about 5 or 6 hours to come down and decide that it needed to be aligned better. This time they knocked me out with a drug similar to the one I'd had 10 years earlier when I dislocated my shoulder. A couple of hours later it was time for surgery. I opted for the general anesthetic over the spinal block as I wasn't too interested in hearing or feeling anything. I woke up with yet another cast on and some serious hardware. I went home on the 24th and spent Christmas on the couch with my leg raised. Luckily we were ready, so I don't think the holiday was too impacted for the kids. Of course, we didn't make it to the cottage as we planned.
In the hospital they told me that I'd be non-weight bearing (on crutches) for four weeks after my follow-up appointment. I had that appointment 2 days ago and they told me that because of a long screw connecting my tibia and fibula, it was going to be 8 more weeks non-weight bearing!

That means I'll be home - work would be a little hazardous on crutches: I couldn't get there without catching rides from people, and snow complicates things. I did get a much lighter fiberglass cast at that follow-up appointment, and the cast technician suggested getting a hands-free crutch. Today I got the crutch from a medical supply rental company. Hopefully I'll be able to get used to it so I can be a little more useful around the house.

Back From the Cottage

We got back from the cottage this week and we certainly enjoyed the continued hot weather after missing it for most of July when we were out west. Grace enjoyed sliding down a small plastic slide into the water and the boys enjoyed exploring, swimming, fishing, watching wildlife and lazing around. One quiet Sunday afternoon we even had a bear come sniffing around looking for berries.
We had good visits with our cousins on Papa's side of the family with many big dinners with all the leaves in the table. This week we got our classrooms ready and Grace adjusted to her new caregiver, "Nanny Maria!"

Wisconsin

We had a beautiful drive through Minnesota and Wisconsin yesterday. When we pulled up at our hotel there were plug-ins, which makes me think that it must get really cold here in the winter. Frank Lloyd Wright's Talesin is only 35 miles away, but the kids aren't allowed on the tour. I guess that's another item for a later trip.

I'm a big kid now

For some time now Liam has resented ordering off the children's menu in restaurants. So it was with an air of vindication that he pointed out he was too old for the kids menu at Paradiso ( a North Dakota chain of Mexican restaurants) and ordered the chicken caesar salad. He even told the waiter it was really good and he ate the tomatoes. (Usually he remains mute when he's questioned by strangers.) Luke had an after dinner mint for the first time and Grace worked on her straw technique, which she mastered yesterday. That's it from Fargo. No sign of Marg Gunderson.

Regina

Well we're on our way home and our stop for the first night was Regina. This town is football crazy. Everywhere we went people were wearing the Roughrider colours, flying the flag or talking about it. While waiting for coffee this morning, I overheard people discussing the previous night's Montreal Hamilton game. I've never heard people talking about the CFL at a Starbucks in Toronto!

Snow - falling this time

We made it to Banff today. I wouldn't be surprised if it snowed tonight. We drove through snow at Highwood Pass (2200 m - open June 15 to December 1) and took highway 40 through Kananaskis Country. When we stopped for groceries in Canmore, you could see the line on the mountains above which the rain was falling as snow.

Snow

We hiked to Forum Lake today (10 km round trip and 350m vertical.) We crossed into BC, endured lots of mosquitoes and crossed a big section of snow on the trail. Our destination was a pretty alpine lake surrounded by a curved ridge. We looked up at the snow covered Akamina Ridge, one of Waterton's premier hikes. Thunder echoing in the mountains chased us down. Grace slept for most of the descent.
Since we were in the area we stopped for a quick look at Cameron Lake. On the drive back to town we saw two bears feeding really close to town. It was really windy today. We could hear the wind whipping around. It would probably have been a rough boat ride over to the Crypt Lake hike which awaits our return another summer.

Bear's Hump

We hiked the Bear's Hump yesterday. It was surprisingly steep (200m vertical over 1.2 km) but afforded a beautiful vista of Waterton town and lake. Grace had a short nap on the way down.

Back in Canada

After some more majestic Montana scenery we arrived back in Canada and have stopped for a few days in Waterton Lakes. The kids were pretty excited to see their grandparents and finally the scenery made an impact on them. Deer are freely roaming around. Two fawns and a doe grazed as I unloaded the car (which has a nasty expanding windshield crack from a stone chip.) We'll have to return to Montana. It seems such a shame to rush past all the nickel and quarter casinos that are on every corner as well as the historical sites such as the Custer battlefield and the many Lewis and Clark sites.

Great Falls, Montana

We drove 800 km today through three states (started in South Dakota, spent 30 minutes driving through a corner of Wyoming , and ended up in Montana.) We took secondary highways and it was incredible to see the big skies and the endless ranges and of course the cattle grazing. As we got closer to Great Falls we saw our first snow capped mountains of the trip!

We should have stretched this part of the trip out to see more of the Rushmore attractions and some of the western towns like Deadwood. It would also have been nice to see Yellowstone and Glacier Parks. We've done 3400 km so far and I don't think we're even up for the Going to the Sun road in Glacier. Next stop is Waterton Lakes. All those other sights will have to wait for the next trip.

It's unbelievably built up around Rushmore. The actual monument is well done, and your 10$ parking fee gives you access for the year. Outside in Keystone and Rapid City there's an air of a western flavoured Niagara Falls. It's what I imagine Anaheim is like around Disneyland.

Oh and I should mention he generous speed limits - 75 on the interstate and 70 on the secondary highways! What a pleasant contrast to the 2000 km we've done in the past at 90 km/h just to get out of Ontario.

South Dakota

Hundreds of kilometres across flat, then rolling, then hilly plains. Saw some cool grasshoppers at one of the rest stops. We made it to Mt. Rushmore. It was not as big as I thought it was going to be - impressive nonetheless. Dinner at the Olive Garden. Grace ate everything offered to her.
Craft beer from New Belgium brewing in Colorado - Fat Tire Amber Ale.
After last nights debacle, decided to pay a bit more and stay in a so-so Ho-Jo (looks clean and smells clean.)

Beware the $39 special

We stayed at a clean but decrepit 39$ motel in Sioux City last night. Lots of unsavoury types about. Police cruisers at the bar across the street. Smoky smells around and an unappetizing breakfast.

Chicago

We were only in Chicago to see U2 (now postponed!) Since the hotel was paid for (89$ on hotwire) we went anyway. We were at the Hyatt by the convention centre - walking distance to Soldier Field and not much else. We'll definitely return to spend some more time here - the city looked great and there seemed to be lots to do. Dinner wasn't Chicago style pizza, but rather California Pizza Kitchen. We had the roasted vegetable salad which I had been dreaming about since Naples (FL) in March. Local craft beer from Goose Island.

Kalamazoo

After one long day that involved my longest ever border crossing we arrived in Kalamazoo. Dinner was at the Cracker Barrel. Lodging was at a $45 hotwire special. You get what you pay for I guess. At least the internet was free and breakfast was included.

We're packed and ready to go!

Monday morning - the car is packed, Luke is wedged in the back and we're off.

Summer!

School ended this week and now the whole family is ready for summer. Tomorrow we begin our bi-annual road trip out west. Too bad we're packing this weekend as the weather is perfect for relaxing at the cottage.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe a decade has past since our Y2K party at our apartment on Yonge Street. Lots of changes have happened: two houses, three kids, two sister-in-laws, a niece and two nephews, my parents moving to Edmonton and a new teaching career are among the highlights.

For New Years, we spent four quiet days up north where there was lots of snow. Grace mastered climbing the stairs and kept saying "No, no, no" to the fireplace! She is also blowing people kisses which is really cute. Grace is saying so many words these days along with cruising along the furniture and trying to open cupboards. I should write her words down before I forget. Some of them are: baby, book, milk, nose, head, hat, clap, Miam (Liam), Mama, Dadda, up, nap, night-night and NO! And her favourite sentence is "No night-night!" Yes, we are still working on that. She did not enjoy sleeping in the Pack and Play at the cottage. In fact, I am pretty sure she cried each and every time, including for naps. Well, I guess we were bound to have one child who is a difficult sleeper. I keep saying one of the reasons we have 3 kids is because Luke was such an angel baby (Liam was sweet too but Luke really was an angel).

Luke is a different kind of angel now and he sure is funny even when he doesn't realize it. On our long journey home from the cottage (snowstorm) Dan pointed out some wild turkeys at the side of the road. Luke exclaimed "Oh, those are the turkeys that survived Thanksgiving!"

Happy New Year and all the best for 2010!

Photos with Santa

I have lots of half written posts that I've started and have yet to finish... I am in major sleep deprivation mode - kind of like how a brand new Mom should be. We were lucky that Grace started out as a fairly good sleeper but she has continuously become worse except for the odd night once or twice a month when she sleeps through...We've been trying to do the cry it out method but it really is terrible. Between Luke's school and hockey issues and less than 25 hours of sleep in the last 5 days (yes, I counted!) I feel headed towards a little - or big - meltdown. At least in a week Dan will be home for the holidays. He does have a paper to write though...

Grace took to Santa the way I expected (though she did love the Merry-go-round). I remember Liam having the same reaction...

Disney 2009

What did Dan want for his 38th birthday? To go to Disney World for free dining! Disney has offered free dining the last week of August for the past few years and Dan has been wanting to do this for a long time. Usually I am getting my room ready for school so it isn't really possible. However, since I am on mat-leave it was hard to say no.

Grace hasn't been enjoying her car seat these days so what better to do than take a road trip? After a few trips of crying all the way to and from the cottage and a whiney trip to Montreal it was time for the car seat boot camp!! The drive wasn't too bad except the day Luke was vomitting every hour and the day Grace cried all day! Grace only took two 1.5 hour naps out of 40 hours of driving though she did take some catnaps here and there. I mostly sat in the back with her while Luke was in the front (with the airbag off) and Liam in the third row. Dan mapped out all the Starbucks and Paneras along the way so I had my coffee and nice cool places to nurse Grace. We quickly noticed that Grace is a lot more efficient now when she nurses. In March, our stops were much longer as she would sometimes eat for 40 minutes. Now she is done by the time Dan has the lattes! On the last day of driving, Liam did not leave his seat for 10 hours! Boy did he have to pee when we got home...

Coles Notes version of the trip: the weather was really, really hot; Grace got to meet some princesses - even got kissed by one; Luke lost a tooth and fell in love with water slides; we found a new ride that is even better than Soarin' - Toy Story Mania in Hollywood Studios; the boys tried to eat Mickey ice creams but they melted in less than five minutes, Grace got two teeth; and the boys were super surprised. They thought we were going to Naples to check out Nana and Papa's condo for the upcoming year.

Oh, and did I mention that it was HOT?!

Cottage Pictures