Tommy's Tonsils and Adenoids Be GONE Surgery

For over a year now we've been watching Tommy's tonsils. Although not prone to infection, they continued to grow, and grow, and GROW. "Have you seen his tonsils?" his pediatrician would ask each time we went in for other issues. Of course I could see his tonsils. It was as if they turned into little creatures in there, things to be watched and admired for their increasing size. Last year she recommended we take them out. Tommy's ENT, who put his tubes in, also marveled at their size, and continued to chart their progress, but left it up to us in deciding what, if anything, to do with them. We decided to hold off. By summer, Tommy's increasing snoring grabbed our attention, and we noticed that one tonsils was completely touching his little flapper back there in his throat. However, Grandpa said it wasn't necessary to worry about it, as he could still outgrow both these tonsils and his snoring. I couldn't help but think of his future wife. If his own mother couldn't stand to sleep with him, or sleep at all anywhere near him, what would a future wife do with him?
In July, Tommy started a pattern of intense headaches, and we got more and more worried, yet it was another issue we didn't know fit with his tonsils. We asked for an MRI to rule out big and bad uglies in his brain, and found only an ear infection that we knew about and adenoids that were obstructing his airway. Hmmmm....
The ENT at that time advised that we had enough now to move ahead with surgery, and thought that his headaches were more likely due to lack of oxygen at night due to his airway obstruction and tonsils than migraine. We took that with us, yet still didn't do much, as Bruce reviewed the MRI printouts and wasn't convinced enough to proceed. We again sat back and waited. Finally, John and I both noticed a change in Tommy' snoring and then in his daytime "snoring". He was breathing with his mouth open during the day, he sounded very nasally and constricted when talking and his speech was getting worse. I decided we would not wait any more, and called and got a surgery date for November. However, within a day of making that appointment, I noticed that Tommy's chest was sucking inward when he tried to breathe, and after calling Bruce down to check him out, we all agreed he couldn't wait any longer. It was a scary night, wondering if your child would continue to breathe under such stress, but by morning, we had a new appointment set up for the following week with a check up for the following day.
Tommy took the news as well as anyone would. He was a bit nervous about it, but we toured that same surgery center he'd been in for his tubes, talked a bit about "sleepy juice" and searched both Fred Meyer stores for just the right "big Lego". We are dropping a fortune on this kid! On the morning of, he did great, only getting tearful when we finished his blood pressure check and headed for the small room he would take his sleepy juice in. Having two years ago watched this little man take the long wagon ride away from me, I was a bit more prepared this time. I was more confident this time in our decision, knowing that he desperately needed this relief in order to breathe. My anxiety was completely focused on the recovery from this surgery, and the days ahead that we faced. Knowing how cruel and painful this recovery is was eating away at me, although, again, we knew we didn't have a choice. We had to move forward with this. When his surgeon came out to talk with us, he reported that both tonsils had been touching, and he had over 75% obstruction of his airway. He remarked, "I'm not sure how he was breathing." Wow. Talk about serious.
Tommy was crying a bit as he came "out" of the anesthetic, but there was no drama, no crying and screaming that they warned us about. The nurses quickly made a spot for us to cuddle with him on the bed. He was in a lot of pain, but the meds kicked in, along with the popsicles, and he held it together very well. He was "drunk/high" coming out, and he couldn't talk, staring off into space and remarking that there were two of everyone. It was quite entertaining, in a sad way. As he continued to get more with it, John took to the bed to play Angry Birds on the IPad. We were so thankful for the IPad in times like this. At noon, we were finally discharged and ready to go.
Tommy had a great afternoon that day. He played, ate, enjoyed his Legos upstairs. We enjoyed this honeymoon time that we knew would be quick to fade as the heavy hitting meds wore off. By Thursday morning, the pain was greater, and he refused to eat, drink or talk, basically sleeping the day away. On Friday, I lowered his dose of pain med by .5, and he was awake a lot longer, although not eating, drinking or talking. By today, Tommy was struggling to eat, but eating, and talking a bit more than yesterday. He felt well enough to not only get out around the house, but to take an outing to get Slurpees and sandwiches at Subway, as well as work up at the house a lot. A lot. The kid had major surgery three days ago and he was hammering away up at the house. We are so thankful that he is making this much progress so soon, and thrilled that we are not worrying about him not waking up in the morning.

Sideways Tooth-#4

Cooper's 1st Day of 3 Day Preschool

What a wonderful change this morning was! Cooper is eager to go to school, and all week we've tried hyping it up for him. Knowing what a dismal playgroup year we had with him last year, I couldn't help but have doubts and lingering worry over how he would actually do starting back up at Catch The Son. However, I loved Teacher Dana for Tommy, and she was able to pull him through his rough times starting out there, so I had hope going into this day. Cooper was ready, even ate a bite of breakfast before heading out with his huge red backpack that he insisted on taking. I think he put in a stuffed dog and his two dubbies, as we reminded him that he can't suck on his dubbies at school. He didn't put up much fuss, actually, so it was really looking good. Throughout the week, Coop would say, "You will stay with me at my school, right?" He wanted that assurance and was thinking of last year when we would stay and play with him the whole time. We told him again and again that he was a big boy, that we would stay a bit to get him settled in, but would need to go "to the office" and just check in on him. That seemed to satisfy him without too much fuss.
I took him that morning while John got Tommy up to his class. I stayed with him, standing in the back, as he jumped right in playing and exploring all the projects he had around him. After about 15 minutes, I gave him a hug and told him that I needed to check with the office for a few minutes. He didn't seem to care much either way, and quickly went off to play again. I stayed out in the hallway, peeking in on him. He was doing so great I eventually sat down in the hall to wait for John's arrival. We hadn't planned on it being this easy, though. When John arrived, I told him how good he was doing and that we probably should just let him play without going in again. Leaving him was a lot easier than I thought, and John's report later that he did great with the whole morning was quite a relief.

What a difference a summer makes! I can't believe how much change it was going from the tears and fuss of playgroup to this now. I can only hope that Coop continues to enjoy his time with Teacher Dana and all the new projects and fun he will have at his school!

In the pictures....Coop is excited about his big red backpack and Tommy is not excited for another day of school!

Tommy's first day of 1st Grade

This year was not met with the same excitement as kindergarten. In fact, Tommy was down right adamant that he was never going to leave home and never going back to school. He was clearly having trouble facing the fact that summer was coming to a close. The Friday before we made the trek up to the school for Open House, and quickly discovered he had been assigned to a totally new, totally different teacher. I had some inkling of the "teacher pile" he'd been put in at the end of the year, but clearly the workings of Principal Heritage had been hard at it shuffling Ms. Hubner's assessments around during the summer break. I was not at all pleased with this unknown teaching assignment, but after visiting Ms. Hubner down in her room for a quick hello, she assured me that she knew about it, that it had happened quickly, that it had been chaos with all the new teachers and that it would be okay. Really? It was a bit of comfort, but small, meager, too little for such a shock.

The walk up to school actually went pretty well, despite Tommy's misgivings about going. The weather was working for us in that it wasn't a beautiful day out for them to feel bad about missing the beach and inner tubing. We walked with the Cousins Pohlman, so that was fun to be with them. There was lots of encouragement for everyone on that walk up the hill. By the time Tommy was lining up outside his classroom, he was beginning to look scared. I could tell he was trying to pay attention, working to keep it together, but then he would look over at me and there was near panic in his eyes. Going into the class was even worse, as he clung to me, and had to have help putting his coat away and getting his stuff in order. He started to cry as he sat in his seat right up from, and nothing I said seemed to help. I had so much snot and tears on my face at one point I had to use my sleeve to get it all off. Finally, I bet down for one last hold and cuddle, loved on him with all I had in me, then peeled his little body off mine and walked away. He was crying as we all left. Thankfully, Georgia had come up with us and was wrangling Coop so we didn't have to worry about him. What a sad, sad morning to leave my sweet boy. It's not the way any mother wants to leave her child. It's so hard to fight the urge to make it all better and take him back home. It's hard not to paint yourself against the door and watch him all day to truly make sure he is okay. Georgia wouldn't be able to text me updates throughout the day about all the wonderful things he was doing. Six hours? Last year his longest day was 3 hours and 15 minutes on the few occasions he stayed for lunch. Six hours not knowing how my boy is?

When we went to pick him up he was all smiles and happy to report that he had liked the day. "It's too long, though," he said, walking home. "Why can't you just come pick me up at lunch?" Once home, it was off to find Johnny and back full steam with play, almost like the day was just a blip in his plan, a minor annoyance for his grand plans of legos, biking and beach. I could only hope tomorrow would be better for him, that it wouldn't be so hard, that there wouldn't be as many tears......

Morning of Ironman Canada-morning hours

What does the wife of an ironman do in the early hours of the morning? Instead of helping John down to the transition area and being there to support and cheer, I am sitting in this chair, in the dark, listening to the snores of our beautiful little boys. Erica and I debated the pros and cons to waking them up and hustling them down for the start, but due to the long day ahead, we will keep them asleep for the start, then drag them down for the finish of the swim! So here I sit, looking out my hotel balcony, watching all the chaos from afar.

Today we went tubing with the kids. We're going to keep track of this summer!

John and Brad do 100!

John and Brad headed out at 5:40 am this morning to get in 75 miles. They completed 100! Heavy training has started!

Summer has started!

Kids, kids everywhere! Today marked the beginning of a crazy summer I think. The Pohlmans are here, the Hutchisons are here, the Ziolas are here, Stephen, Barb and the girls are here, Mark, Robin and the three kids are here! What a wonderful, beautiful start! Let it be know that Josh and John Ziola got up on the ski trainer. Anna and Johnny got up on the trainer. Grace and Emma got up on the trainer. Lily and Tommy got up on the trainer. Amazing kids! And Grandpa Bruce was running the boat and inner tube hot and heavy all afternoon! Wild and Wooley!

Pohlmans Arrive!

Whew! We thought it would never happen! They are here, they are here! And but for a brief update on a crazy, crazy year away, it appears that the kids are picking up right where they left off.....except when Michael was here last he was lying in the grass and now he's chattering away...of course!

Saying Goodbye to the Soares Family

There are many, many blessings associated with living next door to a Firs home. However, with the leaving of a second wonderful family, we are well versed on saying goodbye to good friends. We didn't spend a lot of time socializing with each other formally, but our children spent nearly every day available together, playing, swimming, riding bikes and scooters, racing the go cart around the yard, soaking in hot buckets, dancing, building bamboo forts, creating lego whatnots, cuddling on the couch with a show or video game....the list is long. We tried to forget that time was marching on, to forget about goodbyes. Every time I would bring it up to Tommy, trying to soften the blow so to speak, he really didn't want to speak of it much. A few days before we were trying desperately to cling to every moment together with Tiago, Tommy everyday go-to guy. Driving home from work the day before they were to leave, I was actually fighting tears, although I wasn't really sure why. I couldn't figure out if I was more sad for the loss of a little boy running around the house, or sad for all that Tommy was going to miss with Tiago leaving. When Julia Allen left a year ago, it was difficult, but nothing like this. Getting older brings on a deepening understanding of permanency, of friendship. Tommy "gets" this more than he ever did back then. He was losing a great, great little buddy. A friend that understood him. They shared their second to last night with each other, as I couldn't stand to see it end. I asked Susan if she would let Tiago stay with us for the night. Tommy's first sleepover. It went well. Fabulous. Couldn't have been better. They stayed up late of course. I would have let them stay up all night just to allow them more minutes together. It wasn't enough, though. By morning, it was sweetness to peek in on them curled up so peaceful. Tommy asked as I made them chocolate chip cookie for breakfast, "Mom, will I see Tiago again today? Will he stay as long as possible?" In the afternoon, Susan stayed as long as she could, and the boys continued to race around the beach, swimming and lounging in the hot buckets as if nothing was about to change. When it was finally time, Tiago was hardly ready, and let his mom know it. He ran, he hid, he refused to leave the property. It was heartbreaking. Tommy watched it all, trying to encourage, but not really knowing how other than to follow my lead and tell Tiago we would always be friends, always love him. Tommy was tearful, but appeared resigned.
Walking back after watching the van drive away, he said, "Mom, when do my new cousins come?"

Thank goodness for the diversion of cousins coming to town.

Tommy and the Girls

The other night, after showing up for a soccer practice that had been canceled before I had a chance to read my email, we were playing on the school playground instead. There were three "older" girls hanging on the monkey bars as well. A quick glance over, and I could see them eyeing each other. Tommy stood up a little straighter, and I could tell he was trying to get their eye.
Oh, brother.

I kept a close watch, or as close as you can out of the corner of your eye. Enough to see the girls start preening, tittering to each other and pointing. Tommy glanced back over their way, and I heard one of the girls say, "You're cute."

WHAT? Are you kidding me? He's in kindergarten, I wanted to yell at the top of my voice!

Tommy was closer, and struck up what looked like back and forth conversation. Pretty soon they were running around together, jumping on the around, chasing each other in tag. Tommy came up to me, and I said, "What did those girls say to you?"
"They said I was cute."

Hmmmm....

The neighbors have a friend name Keri. She is quite the little tomboy from what I can tell. One night, late in the evening, Tommy comes running up. "Mom, I'm going to Keri's house!"

I stopped. "What? No you are not!" I called. He was trying to be all big about it, but his face crumbled, his lips curled into a grimace and the wailing commenced. "But I want to!" he wailed, over and over.
"Tommy, I have no idea who this Keri is. I don't know her parents. I don't even know where she lives."
"But I waaaaannnnnnt to," he continued to wail. "She's my friendddddd!!!"

The other day Keri was over again, and of course all the kids were playing together. Keri's dad came over to find her and take her home.
"Hi," I said, offering to shake his hand. (My son thinks you're daughter is pretty cool, and I'm not sure what to make of it...in my head of course.)

Tonight, the kids come running in. "I invited Keri over, Mom" he says, as 4 kids run through the house into his room.

I looked over at John and exchanged...what? A look? The look? Am I looking down the barrel of a gun right now and seeing the beginnings of something I wish I could slow down? He's in kindergarten...

Mother's Day 2010

Tommy woke me up this morning by crawling into bed and snuggling with me. Cooper pulled me out of bed yelling for daddy. Quickly calculating in my head that I'd been the one with more sleep, I crawled out of bed to get him and let John sleep.

At one point, Cooper said, "I need to tell daddy Happy Modders Day, Mama."
"No, Coop," I replied, shuffling to the coffee pot.
"Ahhh. But I need to," he cried, inching towards the bedroom.
"Coop. No, baby. It's Mother's Day and I'm your mother. You need to wish me the Happy Mother's Day."
"Ahhh..."he whined, crawling back up onto the couch all dejected.

Tommy came up, wrapped his arms around me and wished me a Happy Mother's Day.

While still at the coffee pot, Coop came back up to me. "Happy Modders Day, Mama."

Bless his heart. That is all I needed today. My two boys. My coffee. The sunshine out. Perfect.

While John was sleeping, I decided to go get breakfast out. I wanted a particular muffin from a coffee shop downtown. Cooper wanted sausage and Tommy wanted hashbrowns. I needed to try to get a gift for Grandma Lil before going home, too. We stopped at Avalino first. It was so peaceful downtown. When Tommy started to whine about not wanting to go in for the muffin, I asked him to enjoy the beautiful morning we had...and the fact that I would appreciate him not whining on Mother's Day when all I wanted was a muffin. Coop then decided he wanted a bagel. Then we hit up McDonald's for hashbrowns and sausage. When at the Garden Spot looking for Lil, I realized I didn't have my credit card on me. So much for a Mother's Day gift this morning. Once back at home, we spent the day enjoying the beautiful sunshine out on the beach. It was a great day together!

My gifts? Tommy brought home a plant with a seed in it that Teacher Kathy had them put together. Cooper got mad at Tommy two days ago and hucked the pot across the grass.

Tommy brought home a bag with a gift in it. While he was throwing a fit about a Lego, Cooper ripped open the present and showed me the gift. Tommy cried even harder.

See the pattern here?

I bought myself a new jacket on an outing to the concert the other night. I love my gifts, boys!

Concert Chaos-Needtobreathe

A concert used to be just that....a concert. These days, however, it is much more of a process, a series of events that must all align perfectly to actually turn out in our favor. We must now be resigned to the fact that we may click on the send button assuring the band our money, but we may never actually GET to the venue at all.

Seats must be purchased, a babysitter secured for the night, work schedules arranged, no illnesses need arise, presents bought to butter up the children for a smooth getaway and less tears, figure out a time to get to the venue to jump into just the perfect spot to watch the show, but not too early so that you're near collapse by the time the band you came to see actually shows up on the stage. If you add other people to that mix, it can lend to even more chaos. Or if you lose your mind momentarily, like I did at our last group show, you will actually get everyone down to Seattle, ready to party, then realize you invited people you didn't actually purchase tickets for. Nice.

This Needtobreathe concert turned out to be no different. Only days before the show, I realized our second line babysitting defense would not be in town. Molly B. was ready to go, but I'd intended to spent the night down in Seattle to avoid the late night drive home. With Bruce and Lil leaving town, they would not be around to relieve Molly at bedtime and listen for the boys until we arrived home the next morning. We also realized that Tommy had a soccer game scheduled for bright and early 9 am that next day. Lovely. No Seattle hotel. My favorite time to be out at Northwest Fields with 3-4 hours of sleep. With this one development I was ready to forgo the show in favor of sleep. I am so old.

Rhonda was scheduled to go with Jason. She was ill all week, missed all week of work, all with some unknown but contagious illness that was still to be determined. Jason couldn't get out of work, but Rhonda wouldn't know that until late Friday afternoon. She wasn't allowed in my car due to said unknown illness, so she was left to try to find someone else to come down with.

Jenny and Lance were lined up to go this time, as they were the ones left out of the tickets the last time around. I was bound and determined to make this work for them this time around. Unfortunately, their babysitters suddenly had other plans, as Jenny's sister in law went into early labor. How dare she. With the uncertainty of impending delivery, Jenny's babysitting plan went out the window, or down to Seattle, really. Plan B was to leave Lance at home, but he wouldn't be able to relieve Jenny to leave for Seattle at the time John and I were heading down, so she was scrambling to find a ride down to Seattle. She would not allow Rhonda in her car due to above illness, so the game was on to secure transportation.

On the way down, John and Brad had pretty much decided they weren't down with waiting for one opening act, much less TWO. They figured standing that long was just too much to ask and we should eat a leisurely dinner and show up late. I had a moment when I almost laughed. Almost...really if this were a cartoon, smoke would have been coming out of my ears with this new development. This coming from two Ironmen, planning and training for another Ironman competition...hmmmm.

Turned out to be a lovely afternoon lounging in the hot sun at Alderwood, leisurely checking out all the stores we don't get much chance to see when with the boys, and taking our time. Taking our time. What a concept these days. It was late afternoon by the time I felt that intense sense of urgency slip away, and I found myself relaxing a bit. I feel that I must always operate in an anxious state, as even at home I am anticipating getting ready for work and juggling multiple schedules and such. Work schedules, nanny schedules, court schedules....it took time to come down from that.

We joined Brad and Erica for a fun dinner together while Rhonda and Paige drove for Seattle and Jenny caught a ride with David Halgren as well. Rhonda met up with us just as we got into line, but Jenny missed the two fun opening acts. However, she did get to see the main show, though, and for that I was thankful. And despite my prediction that we would be in the very back of the room for the show, John managed to find a spot directly up at the stage, to the side, for a perfect view the whole night! Fabulous!

And even better? John didn't get into any near-fights this time around. Pretty good for a pretty chaotic event!

Cooper's 3rd (10th) Birthday!-Dophin-Penguin Party

For weeks now we have been talking about this party. First Coop came up with the idea for a Dolphin Party. We still do not know where this came from. Then it turned into a Dolphin-Penguin Party. We just scratched our heads and waited to see if he'd change his mind. Not Handy Manny. Not a Hot Rod party. Not tractors or monster trucks. Dolphin-Penguin Party it had to be. After Tommy's huge success with the grandparent's gift of a go cart, we decided to get Coop his own ride-on toy. John went out and purchased a Green Gator four-wheel drive tractor. Unfortunately, after hours putting it together and then trying it out, even Tommy had to agree that Cooper would only be frustrated by its inability to get traction on any surface. What a big disappointment, as we were all super excited about surprising Cooper with his own gator. We just had to hope that the gifts we had bought as side gifts would be enough for him at this age.
By afternoon, the Hutchisons and Lawrences were here, Uncle Stephen and Aunt Barb were here, and the party started. John had decorated the dining room with blow up dolphins, dolphins swimming in vases and snuggly dolphins as party favors. Although Rhonda and I had piped icing on green trees for the party cake, John ended up decorating the cake with penguins, blue icing for the ocean and a cute little igloo. Our poor little trees didn't find a home! It didn't matter, though, as I was thrilled with how John's decorations turned out and happy that we decided not to buy an expensive cake.
The rest of the afternoon was spent out in the yard watching the kids swim, play on the beach, play with the new water toys that Coop received as presents, and then an afternoon of bbq, once Jason arrived with yummy food, and campfire smores. What a wonderful way to spend a birthday!
Happy Birthday, Coop! We know you want to be 10 today, but we love the little 3 year old you are! What a wonderful, sweet, beautiful little boy you are to us. We love you so very much.

Soccer Mudfest

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Tommy's 6th Birthday Weekend!

This birthday weekend was full of legos, fun with cousins Emma and Grace, a BBQ and beach party with friends, and Sunday filled with....Grandpa and Grandma's gift of a go-cart! John's present of a BMX bike was almost lost in the excitement of multiple sets of legos! John and I find the memories of Tommy's birth and baby-hood are strong this year. For some reason, 6 is just hard to wrap my mind around. No longer even a little boy. A genuine BOY. He told us multiple times that this was the best, most awesome, so cool...you get the idea. Tonight we culminated the big weekend with a small dinner at Red Robin, just the four of us. He wanted the Red Robin crew to sing, then shyly barely held up the sundae they presented to him. Cooper clapped and clapped right along, a huge grin on his face for his brother.
How thankful for this little boy we are. What an amazing piece of our life he is. How special, how life changing he was to us six years ago. What better parents he forces us to be. The enormous amount of love that I have for him came on so unexpectedly six years ago and has exploded since. He is our pride and joy.

Our little Cooper. What an amazing little guy he is. He's big into legos and tractors right now, loves to dance and wants to be right in the thick of things. He's starting to come around on the cuddling, and I am sure thankful that he is starting to snuggle more. The boys fight over flushing the toilet and who has the most space around mom. He full on fights a bath, and out and out screams if he must wash his hair. He loves puffs, Pirate Booty, chocolate and green popsicles. He'll tolerate pancakes but prefers sausage, and only one type of sausage unless it's grandma's, and then she can somehow get him to eat cereal and oatmeal up there. Not a chance downstairs, though. He'll also eat clam chowder, but grandma told him it was chicken. He'll eat pieces of chicken and Dairy Queen, sometimes chicken at home, and more often than not he'll eat a nugget or two at home. "no salad on it" he'll say if he spies anything with lettuce and tomato on it, and only lately will he try to eat some of John's Subway or Quizno sandwiches, "no salad". Mr. Picky, and he'd much rather refuse to even try it than give it a shot. He enjoys Red Robin as well. He still sleeps in the laundry room, as he hasn't quite decided to sleep with Tommy in the big room. We're getting there on sleeping through the night, but most nights he's still up at least once to ask for something. Mornings he's quick to ask to "go wake Grandma?" and we try to hold him off until at least 8 to at least allow them some time in the morning.

Date Night With Thomas

It's nights like this when I am transported back to the days when Tommy was an only child. Days when it was just him and I together, where my focus was entirely on him, and not split in many different directions as it seems now. With Coop tucked away in his crib, and John asleep on the bed, I looked at Tommy and asked him what we should do with the rest of the night. He suggested Red Robin. The night was young, so we hit the town! We played video games in the game room, shared crayons and colored, laughed together and shared a milkshake. At one point, Tommy said to me, "Mom, this is the most wonderful night EVER." Tears brimmed in my eyes, knowing this was a priceless moment with my little boy. Moments that are so rare, so precious to me. When I went on further to ask, "What makes it so wonderful Tommy? He said, "It's just me and you, Mom. No Daddy to boss us around, no Cooper to mess it all up." We were able to just be together, and enjoyed the ease at our conversation, the laughter we shared coloring and playing menu games. We held hands walking out, and he snuggled to my side as we walked, then tried to get me wet stomping in a giant puddle by the car, laughing all the while. We then did something we hadn't done since he was little. We went to Barnes and Noble. Tommy couldn't believe all the books, letting me know he didn't remember our last adventure there. This time, though, he was old enough to browse through the books, quite impressed with all the different ones he found, then showing me what he would like to get. We even took time to sit down and share a book together. We did not have this time when he was little and we tried it the first time, nor would Cooper have allowed this time had he been along. It was such a fun time together. I got a chuckle when we headed for the check out line and Tommy asked if we were checking out his selections. I again reminded him that this was a buying store, not a library. He laughed his little laugh, grabbed my hand and started complaining about the long line in front of us. Some things don't change, but this time together was an amazing treat for us both. Simple, but a treasure none the less.

Robson St., Vancouver Olympics

Valentines Day 2010

Short and Sweet...the boys could care less about Valentine's Day. We have all been pretty sick for a while now, so we weren't really in the mood to party. Tommy didn't even get to attend his party at Kindergarten, as he was running a fever for the 4th day in a row. Cooper enjoyed his party, and the little cards he received, but he didn't even attempt to draw on his own cards, leaving me not only do fill out Tommy's but his as well! On Valentine's, I surprised the boys with their bags and their treats/cards from Andrea and Nana, and they were thrilled....with the chocolate. I don't event think the cards were glanced at! Because we were sick, it didn't seem like any real big deal for John and I to go out, but we braced ourselves for some dinner, got Bruce and Lil to listen for the boys as they slept, and had some Red Robin. While there, we are always reminded that this is where John bought me a soda for the first time, and love was blossoming so many years ago. It never fails to start up a conversation about how it all started and where we've come to since. I am thankful that even though it took effort to drag our sick selves out of the house, it was nice just to get out and away, even for a bit. Tommy was still up and waiting for us when we returned....and we loved it!

Mid-Winter Swim

Riding through Whatcom Falls Park

Whistler Tubing

So, sometimes my husband just goes along with some wild hair I get, so when I said last night that I thought we should head up to Whistler, just for the day, just to try out the tubing park, somehow he agreed to agree with me. We packed up our gear and headed up...for the day. We've always talked about just going for the day, but we've never actually committed to it. After checking out the pre-Olympics prices, it just didn't make sense to pay those prices for this type of adventure. With a stop at the Lynden McDonalds for breakfast drive thru style, and another stop to buy gloves for me in Squamish, we made it up in three hours. Not bad at all. Easy, beautiful drive and the kids were great!

A couple things to remember about this adventure...

1. Do not always believe what Whistler advertises. We had to hike up a snow field and dodge flying skis and snowboards just to get to the area that is used for tubing. Imagine hiking through a snow field lugging Cooper in all his snow gear all the way up. Tommy wasn't much better, but at least could haul his own body up. I was huffing and puffing, sweating in all my clothes, too, just getting up the mountain.

2. The "tot area" that is described does not really exist, aside from one lane they have for kids. However, it's a full on sledding lane and parents are not allowed to ride with the little one in their tube. Cooper could barely sit in his kiddie tube, much less be expected to fly down the mountain in it by himself. So, Cooper would not be joining in on this little adventure after all. It was decided that John and I would take turns pulling him around the bottom in his tube instead. Fabulous...hmmmmm....

3. The magic carpet does not go all the way up to the top as indicated. You have to take your tube, hike up midway, scan your pass, THEN get on the magic carpet.

4. The magic carpet moves at the speed of the slug on my patio.


At about the hour mark, Tommy flopped down on his tube and announced he was done. Cooper was asleep on his tube, bundled up against the 23 degree chill. When asked if he wanted to go up again, he said, "No, it takes too long to go up. I'm cold." And that was it. We still had an hour left on our passes, but he was done. So, we woke Cooper up and started back down the mountain again. Feeling like we at least needed to make the effort, we hauled the boys through the village, John carrying Cooper and Tommy being pulled along by his coat sleeve. Thank God the Brewhouse has a train, but even that didn't quiet the whining, the fighting and the arguing from the boys. Exhausted, we blew out of town.

How do we feel about this adventure? Good experience, glad we tried it out. Would we recommend it to our friends? No, not really. Would we jump to do it again? No, probably not, unless we were already up there for something else. Am I glad we did it? Yeah, it was good to try it out, and fun to just take off and do something. Mixed results, but at least we tried.

Happy New Year!