NC 17 - WARNING - This is Going to be a LONG One...

Hello "Bring It On" Followers!

Once again, so sorry for the delay in posting - I have barely had 5 minutes to relax these past 10 days and am now only here because I woke in the middle of the night with no apparent interest in sleep.

As you know, Tim and I were lucky enough to have the kids all of last week for a 7 day summer vacation. When we returned home early from Sand Hills, we were able to spend last Monday unpacking, cleaning the house and visiting Tim's mistress (read - COSTCO) in order to treat each of the kids to one of the new Halloween costumes that the store has on display already. Riles decided on the Knight in Shining Armour and Avers (quite inevitably) picked the puffiest, pinkest Princess costume she could find. It lead to hours of fun in our house and if anyone had to wonder where Avery had disappeared to right after waking up or as soon as we got home from other activities those next few days, you only had to wait 5 minutes and she would suddenly appear from her bedroom as her new alter ego, "Sleeping Beauty."

Our Little "Knight in Shining Armor"

And the Princess he protects from the Dragon...

Coolest thing EVER - the Elephant show at ALS...

On Tuesday, we got up early, packed a picnic lunch and headed out for your second trip to the African Lion Sa-Party (as Riley calls it.) I have to say, I was a little trepidatious as we had only just been there a few months ago and was worried we would be a bit bored seeing it again. WRONG.  I think I/we had more fun this time because we got to do all the things we didn't do last time....



I can't say enough good things about the Elephant Show they put on, it made me squeal with laughter, it made me marvel at the gentle nature of these creatures and it made my soul sing to watch the the kid's faces light up in excitement. I loved it - may have been one of the coolest things I have ever seen...and I recommend it to anyone who loves animals. In the picture to the right, you will notice that she is laying ON her trainer, totally NOT hurting him even though due to the placement of their eyes, they are unable to see where they place  their feet and have to rely on touch
to know she is not about to step on him.

Such gentle, smart, amazing animals

They were painting, kicking soccer balls and scoring on net, dunking basketballs, pulling and pushing large logs to show their strength and laying down for ear rubs.It is amazing to me how these incredibly large, strong animals allow their trainers to crawl all over them.  Then the coolest thing of all for our little family was the opportunity to ride "Maggie" after the show. SO cool and I was definitely on Cloud 9 that day.

How cool is that?????

That night turned out to be a really tough night for me with respect to chemo side effects. The finger and toe neuropathy continues to plague  me with very little respite from it. It's gotten to the point that most days Tim has to help me with buttons, hair ties and pill bottles. I was having constant nose bleeds, and after brushing my teeth that night some significant oral bleeding, but I wasn't sure if it was from my gums, my throat or what. It seemed like a LOT to be from just my gums and it freaked me out quite a bit. Thank Goodness for Tim and his positivity, because I became an absolute weepy mess that night.  He decided that the day was too much for me and that if I wasn't feeling well, we would change our plans the next day for the zoo and do something a little less ambitious. But luckily after a good night's sleep I was feeling much better and we decided to go ahead as planned. SO...
The very next day (and likely too soon after the A-L-Sa-Party) we took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed into Toronto to go to the zoo. We were all tired and a bit cranky from the very long day the day before and it was quite obvious throughout the morning. The second we walked in the gates, we rented a stroller and bought hats for me and the kids - best decision of the day.

The front gates at the zoo

Just beyond the entrance of the zoo is a beautiful animal carousel, the kids LOVED it. (Me too)

Tim and Riles on the carousel...

And the girls..Avers loved it - she was fist-pumping most of the ride.

HUGE HIBISCUS

To be honest, the morning at the zoo was a bit of a bust. It was hot and most of the animals were in hiding and hard, if not completely impossible to see. The biggest disappointment for Tim was the wolf enclousure - didn't see a hair. Oh well...we had a bit of a TSN Turning point when we started seeing all of our favorite animals....

Riley's favorite animal

My favorite - along with the orangutans...

Avery's favorite

Tim's favorite...along with a beaver display where we could see right into his lodge...(I know there's a joke there somewhere, but I digress.)

And our best experiences of the day happened very near the end - first, when we visited a cage full of little grey and black monkeys.  Now this story needs to be prefaced by the fact that Riley is a bit of a Bam-Bam...why walk when you can run? Why go around something if you can climb over it? Why stay close to us and not run away to investigate on your own? BECAUSE as parents, it freaks you out JUST a bit when you turn your head for one second and all of a sudden your child is no-where to be seen, that's why. The kid has no fear! And to be honest, by that time we had lost track of him twice and were on high alert about his penchant for wandering. They other thing you need to recognize to get this story is that Riley has come of a certain age where he has a certain fascination with a certain special appendage, if you know what I mean.(I can't tell you how many times he has come into the TV room from the play room and the first words out of Tim's mouth are, "Riley, where are you pants???" 

Fast forward to monkey cage - and the little guys are climbing and jumping and running all over the place - monkey pandemonium. SO as soon as Tim sees them he automatically says they remind him of Riley and that we should call them Riley monkeys. And as if on cue, the monkey nearest the glass, RIGHT in front of me, Tim and Avers decides to reach down and start playing with his "special appendage."  And Avers says "Look, he's playing with his weiner, just like Riley!" Well, needless to say we were absolutely howling. And it got even better when I looked up to the cage sign and realized they are called Macaque Monkeys. And that pushed Tim over the edge, we started laughing and couldn't stop until I literally had tears streaming down my face and Avers started asking why we were laughing. Oh Riley - you are always a source of entertainment...

Then we got the opportunity to visit the Stingray/Shark exhibit and feed and pet the stingrays. Very, very cool - although Riley wanted NOTHING to do with that whole scene. Luckily on the way out the kids requested a pony ride at a time when there was NO line-up. I got to lead "Dollar" and Riley around the ring and Tim took "Cookie" and Avers around. Unfortunately, we were picking up the rear and Cookie left us a few "presents" to circumnavigate - no problem for an old farm girl from way back.

Old Dollar got a bit frisky with me at the end, but over all was a pretty sweet ride

Avers' pony "Cookie"

And that was the end of our Animal Adventure for the week, unless you count the characters in Ice Age 4 - Continental Drift, the movie we took them to on our last day of holidays. Super funny, as always.

On Friday afternoon, we took the kids to their mom's house and spent the rest of the weekend unwinding and cleaning up. Sunday morning we drove into Toronto and met up with some good friends of Tim's, Jimmy and Justine Chiang and their beautiful little boys, Owen and Ryan. It was great to finally meet them as I have heard so many stories about Jimmy over the years. Then Tim drove me to the airport and I flew back to Saskatoon.

My sister Pam and niece Kiana were here waiting for me when Chantelle dropped me off from the airport. So we spent the evening together. Telly took me to my appointment at the Canser clinic on Monday morning - it was perfect timing because she had some calls to make at the hospital and it took FOREVER to get my blood_work done. Then we saw Dr. Sami who also had a Neurology resident with him to discuss the neuropathy in my hands and feet. They were both a little shocked at how bad it has gotten and offered me some medication to battle it. Problem is that these meds come with their own side effects (specifically fatigue), so I decided to hold off and hope it gets a bit better on it's own. The good news is I have finally found some flip flops that (for the most part), stay on my feet. Chantelle turned me onto them because I was walking out of my flip flops, completely unaware, and it was getting really hard on my toes to grip them and keep them on. They are called "Hot Yoga" shoes, and instead of a piece of material just between your big toes, they have it between all the toes and they are super comfortable. 

We also had a really nice lunch with Mar, then Chantelle took me home and I slept for three and a half hours. Wow. 

Chant and Mar and I had lunch on the Hudson's patio - and we loved that this pretty little dragonfly was hanging around - until he POOPED in my glass...seriously????

My Dad-dio and Dorothy came in Monday night, took me out for supper and to pick up a few groceries. I was glad to see that they are both looking so good, and it was Dorothy's first time coming to Chemo with me on Tuesday. #17 already, yikers. The good news is that my blood-work came back better than it has since I began chemo almost 8 months a go.  It made me feel good that FINALLY my hemoglobin, platelets and WBC are all withing normal ranges. YAY me! We had a nice time (as nice as one can expect while getting nuked) and Parch showed up for a surprise visit, so that made it all the better.  He and Dad exchanged fishing stories and we chatted about his kitchen renovations - so good to see him. 

Dad-dio

My Step-mom - Dorothy

Chi-Chi

The Girls

Speaking of fishing - here's a picture of Dad's new-to-him boat - he's proud as punch...and check out the name!

Today was a very full day as well. I had breakfast with Kristie and Sophie, then Shawna was in from Winnipeg for work so she picked me up for lunch. It was amazing to catch up with her, she is so sweet.  Then Mike (whom I haven't seen since JUNE) joined us for awhile and gave us some GREAT parenting advice - "When all else fails, pull out the Baileys!":

My little giggle-pin Sophie -Girl...

Shauna and Mike

Shauna and Me

Me and Mike

Tonight I walked over and visited Roli and the boys - and Lance and Mar and the kids showed up so I got to see everyone.  We got a bit of a thunder-boomer while there, so there was a rainbow on my walk home, so I decided to take a quick picture...

And now I am just waiting for Chantelle, she is popping in for a quick good-bye visit before I fly back to Cambridge and Tim tomorrow! Take care all! Hugs...