Suprise visit

Chris' parents called last Tuesday evening informing us that Chris' paternal grandmother had been admitted to the hospital and not expected to go home again. We were up until 2:00am trying to decide what to do and all we came up with was to sleep on it and call in the morning and check on her condition.
The next morning was a blur of phone calls to his sisters, his parents and checking flight and hotel prices.
My family tends to be very logical when it comes to a crisis; you assess the situation, the pros and cons of each possible reaction and act on the best option for those involved. I'm a super geek so I was busy weighing all the options in a logical thought out manner. What are all the variables? Does grandma have dementia? Would she even know we were there? If this is the end should we go now or wait for a funeral? Is it worth it to go and say goodbye if she doesn't know us? Should just Chris go and take Arwen so they can meet? After a few calls we did find out that she did know where she was and who most people were.
Mid morning I was talking to my mom and told her that I was working on showing more feeling instead of just logical and she advised that Chris, Arwen and I all go to Florida, have her meet Arwen and we could say our goodbyes.
Poor Chris had been so tolerant of my calloused logic while wrestling his own thoughts and feelings of his grandma. I came in from my mom's house and said "ok, we should all go."
Chris' parents would fly into Orlando at 5:30pm, his sister Jenni had already bought her tickets, and Cindy said to let her know which one we would pick out and try to get on that flight. (On a funny side note we picked the same flight as Jenni without coordinating, great minds think alike). We would land at 4:30pm.
Chris made hotel and car reservations while I called all the people our absence would impact, the kids I baby-sit, small group, Sunday morning, a couple meetings to cancel. I pulled out the luggage and started packing.
We stayed with Cindy and her husband Pete Wednesday night. Arwen who will go right to sleep at home doesn't travel well. It took an hour to get her to go to sleep and she was up every hour and a half the rest of the night. We needed to leave the apartment by 6:30am so her tears through the night made for some pretty tired parents in the morning. We made it to the airport with the perfect amount of time before our flight. There's a real benefit to flying with an "infant in arms", they had a special line at the security check point. I guess that it's really only a benefit if there aren't a lot of families flying that day, which there weren't.
I was so proud of Arwen on the plane, she didn't fuss much, took a nice little nap and was able to entertain the children sitting in front of us.
We didn't go to the hospital that night because they were moving grandma to a rehab center.
There's more travel stories, getting the car, finding the hotel, yada, yada, yada, but let's just get to the pictures.

Arwen enjoyed sitting on the tray on the plane.


Arwen and Great-Grandma Butler.
Arwen's not too sure what to think.


Arwen did give in and give a few "high fives".




Kisses for Great-Grandma


I do love my great grandma!


Chris and Grandma


Margaret and Grandma


Arwen cut her top two front teeth on this trip which might explain why she had so much trouble sleeping. She was also allergic to something her eyes and nose wouldn't stop running. I would think it had something to do with the teething but it was more severe outside of the hotel room and she a dry teether. I bought some benedryl which did make the runny eyes and nose stop but she was pretty dopey, not sleepy though.

Chris' grandma is 101 and 9/12 years old. When we got the phone call Tuesday night it sounded like there was no time left. Now I don't know if everyone over reacted, if she was healed or if I'm totally fooled but when we said our goodbyes Saturday evening I thought there was no reason why she couldn't go home and live another year or so.

We woke up at 4:30am Florida time and headed to the airport. Because we had to get tickets at the last minute our seats weren't together so we were hoping that someone would be kindhearted enough to switch places with us. Thankfully a gentleman was willing to give up his window seat for the middle. As it ended up the whole plane was packed except for the seats where Chris and I were so when we were in the air Cindy was able to move up next to us, (Jenni was on a later flight).

It was a lovely trip, short as it was.

An oddity

I like to eat tuna fish out of the can with chop sticks.

To pierce or not to pierce

My parents said I needed to be 16 before I could pierce my ears. When I turned 16 I really didn't care about my ears that much and decided not to do it.
I revisited the idea when I was engaged but you never know what's going to happen and I thought it would be just my luck to get an infection and my ears would have to be removed just before my wedding day. Sure, call me crazy but it could happen.
When I see a pair of earrings I really like I think I should just go ahead and do it. Then I remember a couple of things.
I'm lazy. When it comes to cleaning new piercings I would do terribly. By the time I get Arwen to bed and the dishwasher loaded I would rather just sit in my jammies and work on FarmTown while watching TV.
Also, I want earrings that would dangle and with all the kids running around that just wouldn't work.
I'll wait. Maybe someday the mood will catch me just right and I'll go for it.

A Hobbit's Tale

"How do you pick up the pages of an old life?" -Frodo
I find myself wondering what to do with my time. For the past 8 months I've been focused on weddings. Thinking about decorations, dresses, what to do with Arwen at each of them. For the past 2 months I've spent my evenings putting decorations together, wrapping favors and sewing a little dress. Now I'm done, no parties to plan no large up-coming events.
I think I'll take this time to relax and un-pack more boxes. It's an odd feeling to create a new routine.

I'm tempted to recreate some of the things from the wedding just so I can always remember. I don't have any pictures of Arwen standing in her dress or me and Chris. Also the wreathes.

In filling my newly found time I've been watching "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman" and I have to wonder, did the rest of the world have issues with the fact that Superman only stayed in Metropolis? I mean why not come up with a time share, because am I really to believe that no other city in the world has super villains? And why is it that every one from the future wears shinny spandex? Does it suddenly become comfortable and not ride up? And even if it were comfortable I don't need to see that. Did anyone besides me feel awkward about the eighties hair band spandex suits?

Those are my thoughts for the evening. I hope you enjoyed them.

Wedding day part 3

My third and final wedding for the year was this last weekend in Victoria Canada.
This post is the stories of getting there and back again.
There were three sets of decorations I was making for the ceremony; pew ends, aisle runners, and wreathes to hang on the front doors of the church (these came back to bite me in the end). I also made the favors and was bringing the candles for the tables.
Monday morning I woke up, started breakfast and gathered up the last things I needed to pack. Chris gets off work at 6:30am so if I can get everything together we can be on the road by 7:00am. I fed Arwen as quickly as I could and was out the door by 7:13am.
I was driving the first leg so Chris could get some sleep. I noticed that I forgot to pack the tissues but decided oh well it's not that big a deal. A little over an hour on the road I was walking through the house in my mind making sure I had put away all the perishables since my mom was going to bug bomb the house while we were gone. Thinking about the baby room I had forgotten to move the pack and play but that's ok because the wreathes weren't hanging in there anymore, they were hanging in hallway. WAIT, HANGING IN THE HALLWAY!!! I called my mom and asked her to pack them up and send them to Canada for me.
Ironically if I had turned around and gone back for the tissues when I was just 2 miles away I would have seen them and this whole incident could have been avoided.
Four hours later I'm on the phone with the UPS guy. It would cost $50 just to get to customs on Friday but they couldn't guarantee that I would have them by 3:00pm Saturday. They could get there on Wednesday though for the easy payment of $216. I could buy the materials and make new ones for less than that. I told my mom to skip it and I would make some calls and see who hadn't left town yet. Our pastor, Bill, and his daughter were flying out on Wednesday so I asked him if he would mind taking an extra bag on the flight and I would pay the extra bag fee ($25). Crisis averted but annoying nonetheless.
The rest of the drive was without adventure. Arwen did pretty well. We bought a power converter for the car so she watched movies on the laptop and enjoyed the calming smell of "Peace and Calming aromatherapy".
We spent the night at my cousins house just outside of Seattle. It was great to visit and catch up with her and her husband. I went to their wedding when I was 9 or 10 and after seeing her wedding dress I decided I wanted one just like it or at least off the shoulder, which I did get by the way. Who knows the kind of dress I would have picked out had it not been for her.
We left bright and early the next morning to make it to the ferry in time. While on the ferry I was reminded that I get motion sickness. It wasn't too bad but the next ferry was going to be an hour long not just 15 minutes.

Arwen and me on the ferry from Edmunds to Kingston Washington.


Arwen on the ferry from Port Angeles, WA to Victoria, BC


Going through customs.
I heard that it's really easy to get into Canada but very difficult to get back into the US, I'm not sure about that. You know it's going to be an interesting time if you can't decide if the customs agent is a man or a woman. The agent (ended up being a man, but it was a close call if he didn't have those sideburns) asked us a series of questions and then what we were doing in Canada and we said a wedding and he ask "so you have gifts in the car?" Our answer "no". Which I'm sure he was thinking that we were the cheapest people ever, not taking a gift to the wedding but why should we waste more of the couples time taking the gift back to the US?

We went for a walk with friends down to the fisherman's warf and the bride and groom came over for a visit. I had decided not to tell her about the forgotten wreathes just so she wouldn't worry but that didn't last long when she asked to see all the decorations I brought. I assured her they would arrive on Wednesday in plenty of time.

Wednesday the groom took us sightseeing and souvenir shopping. On our first stop I discovered my camera wasn't working so I ended up using my phone camera.

Parliament building


Where they hold Parliament


That evening I texted Bill to let him know I needed Rachel to try on her flower girl dress before the wedding. Bill didn't have a car so we picked them up and they joined us for dinner and Rachel tried on the dress. We took them back to their hotel and were about to drive off when Bill asked if I wanted the suitcase with the wreathes. HA, how many times can I forget these things?!
They arrived in perfect condition, hooray!

Thursday I decorated the church. The camera still wasn't working but believe me that it looked great!
That night we grilled burgers and the boys went swimming. I wasn't prepared for how much cooler it was going to be, we averaged 20c, that's 68f. When we left Idaho it was 80! I never got in the pool or hot tub.

Friday was a whirlwind of craziness. Rehearsal was at 3 and it went pretty well. You know it's going to be interesting when the sound guy wears hearing aids. :o)
We rehearsed and then to dinner!!! It was at the Macaroni Grill, I've never been but with a name like that you know it's going to be good. I lost count of the courses but my favorite was the last one which was chicken. Although I was enjoying the food my mind was on the next days schedule.
Saturday
I needed to
-drop Rachel off at the salon (didn't know where it was)
-pick up the centerpieces from the bridesmaids who would be at the salon
-clean up the mess I had made at the church
-meet the make-up gal, photographers, decorator and the groom and groomsmen and make sure they were all set to do their thing
-I thought the decorator was coming at 11:00 to set up the arch. I called to confirm, she said she wasn't planning on being there until 2:30. I told her I needed her there sooner since we were expecting guests to arrive at 2:00 and the wedding was going to start at 3:00!!
-go to the hotel where the reception would be held and decorate there, centerpieces, candles, favors, table numbers, guestbook table, name placecards... where are the place cards?!?! Text bridesmaid and find out where the cards are. At the house (40 minutes there and back). Someone will bring them to the wedding and we'll rush them to the hotel after the ceremony.
-Back to our hotel to get dresses and grab the baby. (Thank you Brekers for watching her so much!!)
-Pick up Bill, Paul and Alicia.
-Arrive back at the church just in time for the chaos.
-Pin flowers of groomsmen, mothers, fathers, three pastors and a grandma. I couldn't find the other two grandparents so they went without.
-IT'S TIME!!!

Natalie with her dad Larry


First Dance


Arwen enjoying my corsage


Bill was kind enough to put Arwen to sleep so Chris and I could have a dance


The reception ended, we packed up the decorations and went back to the hotel to pack, in bed at 1:30am. Our alarms were set for 4:30am and we needed to be at the port by 5:10am.
Customs. There was a big to do to get on the ferry leaving Canada. An officer came around to every vehicle to check passports and such then Chris needed to go through the office and have them checked again.
We pulled up to the customs on the US side, the agent asked "why'd you go and what to you have to show for it?" Chris answered "A friends' wedding. Some t-shirts and sweatshirts..." "Ok, see you later." And that was it.


We planned on going to the Seattle Aquarium and to go and see my childhood home in Bremerton.

Arwen enjoyed the up close encounters with the marine life.






Part of the ceiling was glass so you could walk under and see the fish


I had envisioned calling the people that lived in the house that I used to live in and asking if I could walk around and take pictures and rekindle the memories. For some reason every time I thought about calling it was as if something were holding me back. I decided that I would just pull up and see what happened.
I was glad I didn't call. The lawn was covered in trash, the raspberry vines were dead and there was trash piled up in the windows. I took one picture from the van and we drove off.


It was a good trip but I'm happy to be back home.