The Great Wolf Lodge Vacation ...

Well at last ...our first vacation of 2011 ... we were off Monday February 21 st Family day to Niagara Falls for 4 days of water fun at Great Wolf Lodge. We got the room with the little cabin in the larger room for the kids - comes with bunk beds and their own tv !!! Of course with all that , the adults part of the room looks immensely more interesting at times from the kids perspective, but for the most part it worked out very well.

It did make for less mess in the larger room ...as we were able to keep toys, wet bathing suits and all sorts of other stuff in the 'cabin'.

The girls couldn't decide which was their favourite thing to do..... there were the 'shoots' or slides which I personally hated .. to roller coaster ish for me ... but the girls thought they were terrific... There was the river, which you could swim through or tube through ( Carolina's personal favourite as it turned out ). There was the wave pool which we all thought was awesome and then a smaller pool area with smaller slides for the younger ones which the girls also enjoyed. The whole water park was one big play area , impossible to stay dry in, but fairly warm ( apparently heated to 83 degrees )

The Great Lobby was just that - it was in fact -huge. At 8pm the lobby became a huge mass of jamied kids as they all got together for story time !!! In fact at any time of day or night you would see kids either in their jamies or swimsuits ... At breakfast time Wiley and /or Violet would come by to meet and greet the kids and hi-five the parents.

Roz was especially impressed with the kids sleep quarters, I guess, because she got the top bunk !!!

The waterpark itself was large and rather well organized ... lots to do in a well contained space including 3 hot tubs ( 1 family and 2 adult) !
There were lots of life jackets and towels and a really large number of life guard staff watching and supervising some of the activities. Roz was a 1/2 inch too short for the immense tube rides which I presume are the real roller coaster equivalent at this water park.

They have a kid spa called Scoops where for $75 your child can have a manicure and a pedicure! We resisted this urge.

They also have the Trading Post where you can buy almost anything ... we didn't resist very well and ended up with 2 more stuffies with outfits ( yah well we are a little short of stuffies ...right !!!), T shirts and a wolf mask.

There are numerous eating places at the Lodge ... a pizza place and a sandwich and salad place are both just outside the waterpark proper, Spirits is just inside the waterpark and serves the usual hot dog, fries, hamburger kind of stuff.... its main advantage being that you can eat and not leave the waterpark at all. Then theres the restaurant just off the lobby which offers buffet breakfasts and dinners and a couple of little coffee places just off the main lobby. Other than the main restaurant, seating is at a premium which can be a bit of an issue but they dont seem to care where you take your food and eat and each of the two levels in the hotel has an area where there is a bit of seating with tables....

We tried to maximize water time but broke it up a bit ... and we tried to stay off everyone elses schedule so to not have lineups for either food or water activities - seemed to work !!

A great trip and a relaxed vacation ... drive home was one day before Niagara area got a bit of a dump so weather was co-operative. If/when we go back we would probably do a 1 night as they do let you into waterpark the day you arrive and the day you leave. All in all a fun fun time !!!

February ...soooo soon ???

Our little 'snow dog' - NOT

Last weekend we had crazy crazy amounts of snow fall.... so on Sunday, Rosalind, Lily ( our across- the- street friend ), Carolina, Becky ( small and cute cockapoo acquisition ) and I went to Weber Park sledding... well, Carolina came along as the camera girl and I came along to hold onto Becky's leash. One thing we found out was that Becky is not a snow dog !! She sat rather impatiently clearly waiting for the first sign of our leaving. Carolina had a few runs and then she wanted the cameragirl position which I was only too happy to relinquish. Rosalind and Lily were completely happy making the new run smooth and slick going increasingly faster down the hill.... finally declaring they had had enough ...then we all trudged home ... Becky bouncing in her happiness to be going homeward.

Snow girls - Lily and Rosalind

Mom - the trusty leash holder

Well its now February 12th and hard to believe 1/2 way through FEBRUARY. Yikes ... this year so far seems to be a year of strong events and situations....both positive and not so much.

The plus side of Chris's bladder cancer is that he is quitting smoking and for some reason decided at the same time to quit drinking coke ..... so between caffeine and nicotine withdrawal , he is having his challenges , as are we - with a somewhat grumpy guts. We don't find out any more about the cancer till mid March or a bit later when the lab results become available.

Mom's death is a deep sadness for Doug ( my brother ) and I ...even as we know it was a very good thing

Chris's parents continue to provide concern amongst Chris and his siblings over the proper care they require. I hope that will resolve itself before Spring comes and their Dad demands that they return to Maclaren. It is a difficult enough situation dealing with parents with Alzheimers and Dementia. I cannot imagine how that feels when the parents are resistant to having the kids looking after their best interests - the role reversal is hard enough !!

Doug took a week off to relax and go to Cozumel diving and had a serious dive accident. We are hoping that they find he's good ... doing lots of tests now. And he has his move to the new house this month ( once the move is over , this will be a good thing ).

I have recently learned of a colleague I worked with quite a while back who at 50 just died of lung cancer within a month or 2 of being diagnosed. Another colleague and client just lost her Dad. Another friend just returned home after a skiing accident left her in a cast for probably 3 months, and an ex sister in law had an accident and seriously damaged her leg also. Just a funny long and continuous train of bad news ....so weird but it seems as if we all have so much to deal with .

On the plus side we have Chris quitting smoking. HUGE positive

And a most adorable cockapoo who has quickly wormed her way into our hearts and the household and is a real joy ! Even the cats have accepted her.

We have a week to go until we have our mini vacation at the Great Wolf Lodge ( my Christmas present to the family )...which we are all soooo looking forward to and I think need desperately.

I have had an excellent excellent week of challenges ( positive, very positive ) at work topped off by Power Day on Friday ...where there was a draw for all who participated in the day and I WON - How cool is that - a $1,000 getaway to Niagara Falls ... this could be the replacement for the romantic getaway that didn't work out so well last year because I got so sick (It went on record as being the least romantic vacation EVER). Thank you Universe and thank you Keller Williams - it really is a great day at Keller Williams !!!

We have organized food responsibility nights so everyone has 2 nights ( except Chris who gets 1 night) when they get to come up with the menu for dinner and help with preparing and clean up... its working not too badly. Another little stress buster for me.

I am feeling energised and organized at the office and a lot less stressed about being less so at home. Truly despite the rough start, this feels like a kick ass year !!!

Difficult Days

Surgery over , Chris home !! Everything went well according to the surgeon... but we need to wait to see the test results to really know how things are and what if anything needs to be done !! Chris has had his last cigarette and claims he will cut way down on his coke consumption. I think we have cranky days ahead of us if thats the case...but I hope he means it ... we need him to have a healthier life style if he's to be with us in body and not just in spirit !! Surgeons comment was that if he did not quit smoking it would not be 'if' he saw him again , it would be 'when'. Rather sobering thought that.

Home care comes tomorrow to take out his catheter and then he can really think about recovery - which they say takes about 4 weeks ... he can't lift any weight or do anything strenuous.

More Challenges ...... Jan 14th

No pics for this one ... today Chris who had gone in for testing after finding blood in his urine ... met with his urologist on Friday Jan 14th and received a diagnosis of bladder cancer. Chris called me up and asked me out to lunch ...over lunch he let me know he had a cancerous mass on his bladder ....no idea how invasive or aggressive the cancer is but surgery is scheduled for Feb 3 with presurgery meeting the Thursday Jan 27th. That is to say - surgery is this coming Thursday. A huge contributor to this kind of cancer is SMOKING , another heredity. Chris's mom developed bladder cancer several years ago. We won't know too much more until mid March - need to wait for results of lab analysis. Chris has not stopped smoking though he has purchased the smoking cessation product. He says his stop date is Feb 3. Hope thats true..............................................

Sad News But Happy Too ... Kind Of

Rosalind's take on life .......... " Well first you are born and are little and cute, then you get older and get married and have kids, then the kids grow up, and then you shrink and then you die ... its just the circle of life Mom !!"

Well Tuesday December 28th was a surprising and busy day .... Jilly, Lisa and Erik over for dinner, Jilly to be spending the next couple of days with us and a new 10 year old cockapoo named Becky .... Wednesday a.m. mmmmm around 7 we got a call from Doug... he had a call from the nursing home who said that Mom was failing and they expected her not to last the day .. certainly not to last 2 days. So Doug drove to Mississauga from Markham and I went in from Kitchener .

We got our Aunt Carol ( Mom's younger sister ) over to the nursing home and spent the last hours with Mom. She finally left us. She died 4:30 Wednesday afternoon calmly and quietly. We had spent so much time with various medical crisis over the past year that Doug and I had pretty much discussed final arrangements already but it felt so strange to be discussing them with Turner and Porter Funeral home ..... for real !! The funeral service was Sunday Jan 1 2011 and though it sounds really odd to say, it was a good way to start the new year. Moms last year had no quality of life and I find it hard to believe that she would have wanted this to go on.

I think the universe finally stepped in and kindly took her home. So many memories, she was the kindest, gentlest, most gracious person I've ever met and she was my Mom.

Time to catch up on a few things .....

I just cannot believe I've not posted in almost 2 months ... and over Christmas and New Years too GOOD GRIEF !!!!!! Now to try to catch up .....

Well there was the school concert back mid December, very fun and the kids all so cute, not to mention some major budding talents...and a week before that we had headed off to Ottawa for the annual McGrath Christmas breakfast hosted wonderfully as always by Judy, Terry and Angela .... with major bacon cooking and scrambled eggs magnificantly done by Mike and the most amazing fruit salad created by Anita !!

The cousins all got the cutests hats from Maureen ..... extremely adorable !!!!! They had a fun time playing together with the older cousins being the 'superstars' so totally looked up to and admired by the younger ones.....

We stayed at a hotel this time when in Ottawa and had such a wonderful time ...they had a swimming pool so guess where we spent a fair bit of time....it was great and the kids were right into doing lengths and just fooling around. Think this will be how we do Ottawa in future ...

Christmas .... was terrific !!! We all had our lists of 'Please Santa' requests and we knew we'd all been pretty good ... well mostly good ... well ... nuff said on that minor detail

Top of my list was a friends 10 year old cockapoo that she couldn't keep...a little black cutie named Becky. Well Christmas came and went and no Becky but this year was the year of socks , mittens , scarves and slippers ....were we all well decked out , ready for cold winter weather !!!

Later Christmas day we headed out to Aunt Frances and Uncle Mikes for Christmas dinner. We all had a great time with terrific company and awesome food.

We didn't catch up with Erik , Lisa and Jilly until the following Tuesday when they came over for dinner and to have a belated Christmas time together. The best part of this plann was that we got to keep Jilly for the next couple of days !!!! Early in the evenin g Chris said that he and the girls had to go 'out' for a bit..... they were gone for an hour and when they got back , Erik was looking out the window ...."Mom they are back .....................and you'd better come here, they've got a friend !!!" GUESS who the friend was ...yup Becky ... probably the sweetest, cutest most darling little black cockapoo on the planet. Timing is everything is it not and this was shaping up to be a titch busier than hoped for ... but thats life.

The cats were interested ( Maggie), spooked completely (Ashes), wary ( Frankie ) and annoyed ( Mika ). Becky very fortunately loves cats so was very calm about the cats and everyone soon settled down. Becky also came with her own stuff including a cage that she was ( and still is ) very happy to go into while we were out of the house and overnight. She is a first class snuggler and we love love love her - especially Rosalind who is totally over the moon about her !!!

"Song for a Winter's Night" - Waiting for Rosalind

Thank you Lianne for introducing me to this song in 2002 and reminding me of it again in 2010 .... it was my waiting for Rosalind song that winter while we all waited for our referrals to come and our journey to our baby girls and to becoming Forever Families to begin. For some reason this week I've been thinking a lot about that fall and winter ... I must have played this song a thousand times back then.

And then on a bright sunny winters day in mid December , what we had so anxiously been waiting for arrived .... a package with pictures and a phone call from Childrens Bridge.... our darling girl was in Anhui province and we were going to China in March 2003 to bring her home . I drove up to St Jacobs where Chris was working that Saturday so we could open it together .... there was no way that envelope could sit there unopened till he came home that night !!!! I don't remember ever crying so much ....such happy tears, until that moment when we met her for the first time !!