Well, it's taken me almost a week, but I am FINALLY blogging about my trip. My on-site review of our office went well, but I worked crazy hours. Luckily, I was done working by Thursday afternoon. I was able to relax the rest of the day and Friday morning I drove down to Seattle to spend some time with Aunt Colleen, Uncle Dave and Jake.
Aunt Colleen works from home, so she was there when I arrived. I was able to unpack and chat with her for a bit in between her meetings for work. Once Uncle Dave got home from work, we had chicken, potatoes, asparagus and some white wine for dinner. Afterwards, we played some board games, which was a bunch of fun.
Saturday was a busy day. We went to the Space Needle, Pike's Market, and Kirkland. It was a ton of fun and the weather was beautiful (for once). To wrap it all up, we stopped at Chateau Ste Michelle, which is a winery. There is some amazing wine in Washington! Then we headed back home and played more games, drank more wine and ate some dinner.
Sunday we went to church at Timberlake Church. It was so much fun! Have you ever been to a service that's more like a rock concert? I loved it. Once we got back, we grabbed some lunch and headed to Snoqualmie Falls. Have I ever mentioned that I love waterfalls? They were really beautiful, but it was too cold and rainy to walk down to the bottom. We also checked out the Salish Lodge, which Uncle Dave's company manages. If Keith and I head out the Seattle to visit, we will be spending a night there. It has a fireplace in every room and it overlooks the falls. When we got back, we relaxed, played some wii, ate dinner and I headed off to the airport.
My flight home wasn't too bad. I didn't get too much sleep and I was a total bitch by the time I got home. Once I got home I crashed for a few hours and awaited the arrival of my family. I made some spaghetti for dinner and Kasey came running through the door. He was so happy to see me. Keith was pretty happy. too. :) I bought Kasey a couple of things while I was gone and he loved them.
On Tuesday, Kasey and I hung out all day. We went to visit my grandparent's Reyell. Grandma finally came home from the hospital and she was happy to be home.
The rest of the week was crazy busy at work. Tonight, Keith and I are going to see The Loggerm which ought to be a blast. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will be relaxing.
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Sunday, March 15, 2009
From the other side of the country
I had the intention of blogging before I left for my trip, but that didn't go as planned. Last week was somewhat calmer and I am so grateful for that. I managed to not get anything done until Thursday night. That night, I got my haircut and I worked on my packing. Let's just say that the few things I threw in the suitcase last Saturday were far short of what I actually took with me.
Friday was sheer chaos. Kasey and I headed out at 7:00 to meet with his therapists and case manager for his speech and special instruction. Kasey was discharged from his special instruction and his speech was dropped down to two days a week. Everyone couldn't believe how far he's come in six months. So that's the good news. The bad news is that he will only get services for the next six months, so I had to start thinking about preschool. Well, I actually enrolled Kasey in nursery school at the YMCA. It's only two days a week for 2.5 hours, but he also gets swimming lessons, which is really great. I am so sad that my little munchkin will need a backpack soon.
After all of that, I managed to bring Kasey to the gym and we went to McDonald's for lunch. Then, I dropped Kasey and Meme off at Meme's house and I headed to the mall to pick up some stuff for my trip. Once that was all done, I went to go visit Grandma Reyell at the hospital. She is doing so much better. I sadly had to dash away to bring my brother to Montreal.
Now bringing Craig to the airport was fun, UNTIL I had to drive home. I did get a bit lost and traffic was a mess, but I eventually got home. When I got there, Shannon and Cyle were there which meant a rousing night of cards. It was fun. We haven't done that in awhile.
Saturday, I'd just rather not even talk about. I basically flew around packing, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. I was in bed by 9:00 because I had to leave the house by 2:00 am.
After VERY little sleep, I rolled out of bed and was out the door by 2:30 am. I got to the airport just in time to find out that Continental AND TSA open at 4:30. So, I had to wait around for people to get to work. One of the x-ray machines was down, so security took forever. My flight to Newark was a bit rough, but at least it was fast. I managed to take a quick nap. My flight to Seattle was a nightmare. We boarded a little late and I was hoping to have the seat next to me empty. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. A very nice man from Tel Aviv sat next to me, which wouldn't have been a problem if he had showered or brushed his teeth in the last week. It was all topped off when he fell asleep. He happened to start snoring AND FARTING! It was SO gross. I almost puked. The plane was full, so I couldn't move. Let's just say that it was a really long six hours. Once we landed I grabbed the shuttle to Enterprise and picked up my car. After two hours of driving, I finally arrived in Bellingham. Now, I am just relaxing and trying to stay awake.
I hope this week goes well. It's really beautiful up here in the Pacific Northwest, but I really miss my family. I guess Kasey kept asking where I went and he doesn't really get it. I feel so bad. Oh well. He'll forget all about me by tomorrow. Anyway, I get to see Aunt Coleen and Uncle Dave at the end of the week, so that will be really exciting!
Friday was sheer chaos. Kasey and I headed out at 7:00 to meet with his therapists and case manager for his speech and special instruction. Kasey was discharged from his special instruction and his speech was dropped down to two days a week. Everyone couldn't believe how far he's come in six months. So that's the good news. The bad news is that he will only get services for the next six months, so I had to start thinking about preschool. Well, I actually enrolled Kasey in nursery school at the YMCA. It's only two days a week for 2.5 hours, but he also gets swimming lessons, which is really great. I am so sad that my little munchkin will need a backpack soon.
After all of that, I managed to bring Kasey to the gym and we went to McDonald's for lunch. Then, I dropped Kasey and Meme off at Meme's house and I headed to the mall to pick up some stuff for my trip. Once that was all done, I went to go visit Grandma Reyell at the hospital. She is doing so much better. I sadly had to dash away to bring my brother to Montreal.
Now bringing Craig to the airport was fun, UNTIL I had to drive home. I did get a bit lost and traffic was a mess, but I eventually got home. When I got there, Shannon and Cyle were there which meant a rousing night of cards. It was fun. We haven't done that in awhile.
Saturday, I'd just rather not even talk about. I basically flew around packing, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc. I was in bed by 9:00 because I had to leave the house by 2:00 am.
After VERY little sleep, I rolled out of bed and was out the door by 2:30 am. I got to the airport just in time to find out that Continental AND TSA open at 4:30. So, I had to wait around for people to get to work. One of the x-ray machines was down, so security took forever. My flight to Newark was a bit rough, but at least it was fast. I managed to take a quick nap. My flight to Seattle was a nightmare. We boarded a little late and I was hoping to have the seat next to me empty. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. A very nice man from Tel Aviv sat next to me, which wouldn't have been a problem if he had showered or brushed his teeth in the last week. It was all topped off when he fell asleep. He happened to start snoring AND FARTING! It was SO gross. I almost puked. The plane was full, so I couldn't move. Let's just say that it was a really long six hours. Once we landed I grabbed the shuttle to Enterprise and picked up my car. After two hours of driving, I finally arrived in Bellingham. Now, I am just relaxing and trying to stay awake.
I hope this week goes well. It's really beautiful up here in the Pacific Northwest, but I really miss my family. I guess Kasey kept asking where I went and he doesn't really get it. I feel so bad. Oh well. He'll forget all about me by tomorrow. Anyway, I get to see Aunt Coleen and Uncle Dave at the end of the week, so that will be really exciting!
Monday, March 9, 2009
Another week has gone by...
Well, the week was relatively calm until all hell broke loose on Thursday. Can’t we just go one week with a bit of normalcy?
Thursday morning, my mom sent an e-mail stating that my grandmother was brought to the hospital by ambulance. Apparently, she fell down two stairs and broke both of her ankles. My poor Grandma Reyell has more stuff happen to her, I swear, but this was pretty bad. Her and my grandfather had just gotten back from there sojourn in Florida a few days before the accident. It turns out that she had a hairline fracture on the left ankle and a compound fracture on the right. Here’s what I don’t understand. The hospital kept calling it a compound fracture, but it never broke the skin. Anyway… I guess after she fell grandma dragged herself to the cordless phone just to find out it was dead and she had to drag herself all the way to the kitchen to get the wall phone.
On Friday, I decided that I would go to the hospital to wait with Grandpa while Grandma was in surgery. They didn’t come to get her until 3:15. They didn’t even know at that point if they could operate because her ankle wasn’t set correctly twice on Thursday. Luckily, they opened her up and she was out of surgery in a half an hour. I can honestly say that I cried when I first saw her. She’s so little to begin with and to see her in that much pain, it just broke my heart. Go ahead, call me a wuss, I dare you!
Backtracking a bit… I went to the gym with Kasey Friday afternoon. Linda, my mother-in-law, said that Kasey is really nervous and timid around other kids and that he wouldn’t going into this bouncy house they have. She said my goal was to get him into the bouncy thing. Once we got there, Kasey was a little shy. Once he went through his little icebreaker of saying “Hi” to the other kids, he was playing and having a blast. I also got him to FINALLY go into the bounce house. The first time, I had to crawl in with him. About halfway through, I snuck out and he was fine. I actually had to coerce him to get OUT of the darn thing. Later on, he got in line to go again and he went in all by himself. I’m happy he’s starting to get over some of his anxiety, but at the same time, he was a little bit of a bully, too. I guess you can’t have everything…
Friday night we were supposed to meet Aimee, Jaramy, Dee, & Mark at PSU to go to the Laramie Project. Crazy us didn’t buy tickets beforehand and it was all sold-out. So instead, we headed to Friendly’s for ice cream and then we headed back to Dee & Mark’s for awhile. Around 1:00, we got home, unloaded the kid and dog and crashed.
As for the rest of the weekend, we didn’t do much. Kasey and I took a long walk on Saturday and bought two street hockey sticks, which he LOVES. On Sunday, Keith and I watched The House Bunny. Other than that, I was trying to get everything figured out for my work trip next weekend. Hopefully it will be warmer in Seattle/Blaine. I’m sick of the cold!
Thursday morning, my mom sent an e-mail stating that my grandmother was brought to the hospital by ambulance. Apparently, she fell down two stairs and broke both of her ankles. My poor Grandma Reyell has more stuff happen to her, I swear, but this was pretty bad. Her and my grandfather had just gotten back from there sojourn in Florida a few days before the accident. It turns out that she had a hairline fracture on the left ankle and a compound fracture on the right. Here’s what I don’t understand. The hospital kept calling it a compound fracture, but it never broke the skin. Anyway… I guess after she fell grandma dragged herself to the cordless phone just to find out it was dead and she had to drag herself all the way to the kitchen to get the wall phone.
On Friday, I decided that I would go to the hospital to wait with Grandpa while Grandma was in surgery. They didn’t come to get her until 3:15. They didn’t even know at that point if they could operate because her ankle wasn’t set correctly twice on Thursday. Luckily, they opened her up and she was out of surgery in a half an hour. I can honestly say that I cried when I first saw her. She’s so little to begin with and to see her in that much pain, it just broke my heart. Go ahead, call me a wuss, I dare you!
Backtracking a bit… I went to the gym with Kasey Friday afternoon. Linda, my mother-in-law, said that Kasey is really nervous and timid around other kids and that he wouldn’t going into this bouncy house they have. She said my goal was to get him into the bouncy thing. Once we got there, Kasey was a little shy. Once he went through his little icebreaker of saying “Hi” to the other kids, he was playing and having a blast. I also got him to FINALLY go into the bounce house. The first time, I had to crawl in with him. About halfway through, I snuck out and he was fine. I actually had to coerce him to get OUT of the darn thing. Later on, he got in line to go again and he went in all by himself. I’m happy he’s starting to get over some of his anxiety, but at the same time, he was a little bit of a bully, too. I guess you can’t have everything…
Friday night we were supposed to meet Aimee, Jaramy, Dee, & Mark at PSU to go to the Laramie Project. Crazy us didn’t buy tickets beforehand and it was all sold-out. So instead, we headed to Friendly’s for ice cream and then we headed back to Dee & Mark’s for awhile. Around 1:00, we got home, unloaded the kid and dog and crashed.
As for the rest of the weekend, we didn’t do much. Kasey and I took a long walk on Saturday and bought two street hockey sticks, which he LOVES. On Sunday, Keith and I watched The House Bunny. Other than that, I was trying to get everything figured out for my work trip next weekend. Hopefully it will be warmer in Seattle/Blaine. I’m sick of the cold!
Monday, March 2, 2009
Blood, Bruises, and Other Chaos
I apologize for my delay in posting anything new, but it seems that we are always busy. I realize we probably create the craziness ourselves, but oh well.
Now, let’s see… Going back to 2/21, Kasey and I drove to Albany for Emma’s birthday. I realize that driving three hours each way in one day sounds like a lot, but my kid is awesome and I like traveling with him. With that being said, please note that his bladder does not travel well. We were about an hour into the trip when I noticed that Kasey’s cheeks were bright red. Can anyone say sunburn? What can I say? He’s irish, he burns in any sunlight. So, we stopped at Target in Aviation Mall. I had intended on taking him to the bathroom there, but he had already peed through his pull-up, pants and into his car seat. Needless to say, he was changed in the back of the car and we went to Target to get a towel for him to sit on, an extra pair of pants, and sunshades. We bought a few extra things and we were on our way again. We somehow managed to be only about 10 minutes late, which is quite impressive for me.
I arrived just about the same time as Stacy and Robin. That’s right! I finally met Robin! Her mommy travels with kids, too! She looks so much like Stacy when she was little. I almost feel like I’m watching my best friend grow up again. Anyway, Kasey had a BLAST at the party. There were about ten kids, including Kasey. He just loved every minute of it. We stayed until just before Kasey’s bedtime. I then packed a sleepy kid in pjs into the car and we were off. Kasey fell asleep around 8:30 and slept until about 10:00. Then, he woke up and finished watching his Backyardigans DVD. That’s right, I cheat. Anyway, we got home around 10:30 and Kasey was up to party. Too bad he was swiftly carried to bed for the night.
As for Sunday, we just relaxed. I think I even took a nap in there somewhere.
On Friday, we had to take our cat, Hermione, to the vet’s. Apparently she has gingivitis, which resulted in her having two teeth pulled and an extensive cleaning. She was really out of it Friday and she was still a little loopy on Saturday.
This Saturday, we just hung out around the house. I cleaned through most of my kitchen cabinets and I washed all of my stemware. Once that was done, I just read a book and took a nap. Kasey helped me make spaghetti for dinner, which was fun, but he is a little too excited to shake oregano into the pot. Oh well. How else do they learn, right?
Now yesterday sort of sucked. To be honest, it started out fine. Kasey and I went to Price Chopper, like we do every Sunday and he helped me grocery shop. He was really good, so we had McDonald’s for lunch (Keith also asked that I pick it up). After lunch, Kasey went upstairs for a nap. Two hours later, he still wasn’t sleeping, so we just let him out of his room. While he was upstairs, Keith and I watched Pineapple Express. What a crazy movie. If you want to read a review, check out Keith’s blog.
Here comes the sucky part… We have told Kasey about a million times not to play on the stairs and not to ride his big Tonka truck anywhere near the stairs. He actually has log rolled down the stairs twice, but he didn’t get hurt, but rather it just scared the hell out of him. Yesterday was a different story. Kasey somehow decided to ride his Tonka truck down the stairs. At the sound of the first thud, we knew what was happening. Kasey rolled multiple times down the stairs and crashed at the bottom. What scared me the most was that he had a terrible bloody nose. He also scratched up the left side of his face and got a black eye. I can honestly say, he scared me to death. What I don’t understand, is why he wanted to go play with his truck as soon as the blood dried. What is it with boys??
Anyway, Keith and I had planned to go to my in-laws for dinner, so we left early to try to find a gate for the stairs AGAIN. I’ve been trying to find one that will work that is pressure mounted, but our newel post is only 28.5” tall, so that makes it so much harder. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find one in Plattsburgh, but I did order one that I hope will work. If not, I may have to ruin the banister by mounting a gate. I didn’t really want to do that because we don’t plan on staying in our house too much longer. Oh well. We’ll see!
As for this week, I think I, personally, will be busy. I have a work trip to Blaine/Seattle coming up on the 16th and I have to get the house, my packing, and my work stuff all in order before I go. I think on Friday we are going to see the Laramie Project at Plattsburgh State. Other than that, who knows what the weekend will bring!! Hopefully, less bruises and blood.
Now, let’s see… Going back to 2/21, Kasey and I drove to Albany for Emma’s birthday. I realize that driving three hours each way in one day sounds like a lot, but my kid is awesome and I like traveling with him. With that being said, please note that his bladder does not travel well. We were about an hour into the trip when I noticed that Kasey’s cheeks were bright red. Can anyone say sunburn? What can I say? He’s irish, he burns in any sunlight. So, we stopped at Target in Aviation Mall. I had intended on taking him to the bathroom there, but he had already peed through his pull-up, pants and into his car seat. Needless to say, he was changed in the back of the car and we went to Target to get a towel for him to sit on, an extra pair of pants, and sunshades. We bought a few extra things and we were on our way again. We somehow managed to be only about 10 minutes late, which is quite impressive for me.
I arrived just about the same time as Stacy and Robin. That’s right! I finally met Robin! Her mommy travels with kids, too! She looks so much like Stacy when she was little. I almost feel like I’m watching my best friend grow up again. Anyway, Kasey had a BLAST at the party. There were about ten kids, including Kasey. He just loved every minute of it. We stayed until just before Kasey’s bedtime. I then packed a sleepy kid in pjs into the car and we were off. Kasey fell asleep around 8:30 and slept until about 10:00. Then, he woke up and finished watching his Backyardigans DVD. That’s right, I cheat. Anyway, we got home around 10:30 and Kasey was up to party. Too bad he was swiftly carried to bed for the night.
As for Sunday, we just relaxed. I think I even took a nap in there somewhere.
On Friday, we had to take our cat, Hermione, to the vet’s. Apparently she has gingivitis, which resulted in her having two teeth pulled and an extensive cleaning. She was really out of it Friday and she was still a little loopy on Saturday.
This Saturday, we just hung out around the house. I cleaned through most of my kitchen cabinets and I washed all of my stemware. Once that was done, I just read a book and took a nap. Kasey helped me make spaghetti for dinner, which was fun, but he is a little too excited to shake oregano into the pot. Oh well. How else do they learn, right?
Now yesterday sort of sucked. To be honest, it started out fine. Kasey and I went to Price Chopper, like we do every Sunday and he helped me grocery shop. He was really good, so we had McDonald’s for lunch (Keith also asked that I pick it up). After lunch, Kasey went upstairs for a nap. Two hours later, he still wasn’t sleeping, so we just let him out of his room. While he was upstairs, Keith and I watched Pineapple Express. What a crazy movie. If you want to read a review, check out Keith’s blog.
Here comes the sucky part… We have told Kasey about a million times not to play on the stairs and not to ride his big Tonka truck anywhere near the stairs. He actually has log rolled down the stairs twice, but he didn’t get hurt, but rather it just scared the hell out of him. Yesterday was a different story. Kasey somehow decided to ride his Tonka truck down the stairs. At the sound of the first thud, we knew what was happening. Kasey rolled multiple times down the stairs and crashed at the bottom. What scared me the most was that he had a terrible bloody nose. He also scratched up the left side of his face and got a black eye. I can honestly say, he scared me to death. What I don’t understand, is why he wanted to go play with his truck as soon as the blood dried. What is it with boys??
Anyway, Keith and I had planned to go to my in-laws for dinner, so we left early to try to find a gate for the stairs AGAIN. I’ve been trying to find one that will work that is pressure mounted, but our newel post is only 28.5” tall, so that makes it so much harder. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find one in Plattsburgh, but I did order one that I hope will work. If not, I may have to ruin the banister by mounting a gate. I didn’t really want to do that because we don’t plan on staying in our house too much longer. Oh well. We’ll see!
As for this week, I think I, personally, will be busy. I have a work trip to Blaine/Seattle coming up on the 16th and I have to get the house, my packing, and my work stuff all in order before I go. I think on Friday we are going to see the Laramie Project at Plattsburgh State. Other than that, who knows what the weekend will bring!! Hopefully, less bruises and blood.
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