Chest X-Rays and a sick boy ....

Darlene and Charlene (oh I just realized NOW how their names rhyme!!)  These two friends have stepped in to help me this week figure out how to care for Isaac.  Both are experienced nurses, Darlene is an ER nurse and nurse trainer, and she is married to Bruce, a doctor ... and it wasn't until Wednesday night, almost an entire week of a flattened Isaac, that they all said a chest x-ray at this point would be beneficial.  At this point, a flu should be leveling out and he should be improving...not staying exactly the same ..... so to wake up Thursday morning to texts from both of these minutes apart, made me feel pretty loved.

In the meantime, Elliot has been holding his own ... he goes to school, plays with Mittens, floats around on the hover board .... but I think he really misses his brother.  We all do ... a quiet, constantly sleeping Isaac is actually quite un-nerving!  Elliot has made a treasure hunt of clues for Isaac and has been waiting until he is better to play. 

So until Isaac is better, Mittens has been getting alot more attention .... to her dismay I think ....

Wednesday at work ... Randi is one of my favorite co-workers ... here she is walking me to the bus stop to go home a little early to look after Isaac.  Our car has been in the shop all week ... so I have gotten to know the bus system.

Once home, it is back to cleaning and feeding the family .... it is pretty mundane and quiet around here right now....Chris has been either out mushroom picking or here at the knitting machine making socks and scarves and blankets!

This is the common scene.....for the first while, he was drinking ginger ale because that is what he asked for ... but there is so much sugar in that, so we have switched to 'Bubbly' ... a healthy water based pop with no sugar .... better!

Our Dr was able to squeeze Isaac in at 1:30.  We had to wait in here til 2 .... so he went between laying there, almost falling asleep:

Or poking around in her stuff .... I pulled out the stirrops for his feet, but he wasn't too interested in putting his legs in them for some reason .... 

Within an hour and a half, she had given us a requisition for a chest x-ray and bloodwork ....I don't think we have ever been through the hospital this fast .... he was told to put this mask on ...

Bonding time??

It wiped him out ..... he slept all the way home ....

In other food news, I have made the best shepherds pie that we have been eating since Thursday (its Saturday at the time of this writing) .....

Looking for a shake-up ...

It has been a little too slow for my liking these days .... so I reached out to Julie, one of my old co-workers from SUN FM who is still there and one of the top dogs.  We are going to meet for coffee on Monday, just to chat.

Happy 21st Anniversary!!

.... you two will be celebrating by napping, laundry, and taking care of this sick kid.   Happy Friday the 13th ..... 21 years together!!

The glasses duo!!

The funny thing is they both have “work/school” glasses that are wire and stay in their faces better during the day.  

But at nighttime, they both have thicker frames that are pretty comfortable and more casual.  This shot was taken on their way out the door to work and school. 

Instagram appearances and wooden snakes ....

Somehow this Aaron kid came across my Instagram page and look who makes an appearance on it?  Such a ham ... so glad he doesn't care about social media or having a phone of his own. 

He would rather work on prototype after prototype making a wooden, bendable snake for Reid ... who asked him for one a while back.  He didn't forget and surprised him with it at dinner on Monday. 

Summer 2019 Cabin Pictures!

Well here they are!!  Cabin Pictures from summer 2019 in order they occurred for our boys!  One goofy and one proper!!

Intermediate 2 - Elliot just turned 13!

 Junior 2 - Jack is 11!

Teen 2 - Isaac just turned 15!

First day off together after summer 2019

Such a beautiful day today and so hot .... one of the last ones.....after Chris went back to bed this morning, we were off on the big lake just after noon (because we still aren’t allowed on our lake though we saw ‘them’ happily skiing this morning) but alas, more to see on the big lake and it holds less hurt on it so off we went!!!

We zoomed to the end of Lake Cowichan when Chris heard the alternator belt get loose so he pulled out the little tool box to tighten it when he says “whoa! We’re screwed!”   Lol, he doesn’t normally jump straight to that so it was a touch alarming.   Turns out while tightening one of the 3 bolts that holds the belt and alternator in plate, it broke off, leaving the screw part inside.... he ended up tightening the remaining 2 and we headed back towards home so if it broke in transit and the belt flew off, we wouldn’t be stranded so far out.  We ended up finding a little beach close to the home and had lunch and a swim and he metal detected while I read a book.  

We headed for home when the kids were done school and made it.  Right as we were pulling up to the ramp, the belt started squeaking and we were able to turn the motor off and laugh saying “We made it!!”

First Day of School 2019 - Grade 10 and Grade 8

Our beautiful boys!!!! They both happily went off to school today ... both excited to see the friends they hadn't seen all summer.  They actually got up before me!  New clothes and happy faces .... it was a nice morning!

That afternoon, I got home from work and enjoyed a little rest in front of my garden!  It really is excited to pick all the greens I want .... for smoothies mainly ... but this evening I was making a HelloFresh meal that had a quick fry of bok choy over rice but the greens cooked down SO fast and into such a small portion, that I didn't have enough for all the extra bowls since Cristin and the girls were here for dinner too ... so off to the garden I went for handfuls of swiss chard and beet tops ... I can see what my mom gets all excited about now!  Not that the kids really ate the greens but they were there for them to pick around! lol

Last Day of Summer 2019 with the Williams family!!!

It really was a great summer .... at the end of camp, when every last person was gone and the gate was locked ... we agreed as a family that we would lock the doors on ourselves and hunker down together ... but when we got a text on Sunday asking if we wanted to go adventuring with the Williams family on Monday, we said 'absolutely' ..... 

Ben and Isaac picked up the silver 'Tank' fishing boat on the way out .... and they inflated their paddleboard ... so there were lots of options to get around on the water!

Even a swinging hammock chair!!!

The adults decided to take a trip to Cowichan Bay around the corner to pick up ice cream ... leaving the kids alone ... all alone ... on the boat ... this is what they were doing when we got back.....



Such a laid back friend ... she was one of my highlights this summer as someone I genuinely enjoyed the company of.  My 7:45am coffee date every day we could ....

Danika and Isaac have become good friends ... here they are hanging out on the mast ....

And Shannon and I have both been pretty pleased at these guys and their new friendships .... we joke about having to make playdates for them since guys don't really do that kind of thing.

The trip back from Cow Bay and watching the seals on the rocks ....

Power Couple .... we had to race back to shore for 3 so Phil could get to the airport for his shift.  He is flying one of the bigger planes to Barcelona this week ....

My beautiful boy ....



My other beautiful boy ... such a sweet kid.



9 people on a small boat and we all crammed in where the snacks were at one point and everyone was talking ... it is what i love about this family ... everyone has a voice ... and everyone feels free to talk ... Phil asks pointed questions to the kids (like the first time we were invited to their house for dinner, Phil texted Isaac directly to ask him what his favorite food was, and then he made that!) ....



The oldest is 16 and youngest 9 .... so we have a gauntlet ... super enjoyable ....

Once we docked, Phil had to run to the car and get on the road for the airport....here are the 3 teenagers helping pack up the boat ... i was just so impressed at their work eithic .. i loved that isaac got right in there too ... he is used to working with Ben and Danika because they were on staff together this summer ... so its a nice dynamic.  Shannon was packing up the food, Chris was carrying things up the dock...and the 3 younger kids were running down the dock squishing jelly fish (eye roll ... there is still time for them right?) ....

Perfect ending to summer ....

Mushroom Picking with Chris in his happy place ....

He was up at 6ish and pacing already on his first day of freedom.  I finally looked at him and said 'Go Outside!"  So he went picking for the morning and came and got us around 11 and we all headed back out into the bush with him.  He took us to some easy and beautiful spots and we all picked for awhile ....

It is so beautiful in our back yard here on the island ....



There came a time where the terrain was high and more arduous than the rest of us cared for ... so he set us up on the side of a mountain with pretty views, food and comfy chairs ... and then he left us for another hour or so .... we were happy ...  here is Elliot roasting his wiener...complete with wiener jokes ... he really showed his "13 year old colors" today .....

Happy hanging out .... Isaac knocked half Elliots wiener into the fire .... see below for remnants.

Here he comes out of the busy!!  Totally dripping with sweat ... super gross.

He had a couple hotdogs over the fire and chilled out for awhile with us .... and then it was time to put the fire out ... we didn't think far enough ahead to know how to put it out.

We stayed for so long making sure it was cold ... we put ALL our remaining liquid that we had on the fire ... including ALL the liquid we all had inside us too ... and as a side note, my family is totally sexist in WHO is cool enough to put urine on the fire....like if it goes into a Tim Horton's iced capp cup, its suddenly disgusting and not helpful?  I was slightly offended but also slightly hoping that Chris would now see pee whenever he ordered an Iced Capp. lol