Our Travel Blog

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Driving Miss Donna - what does this mean? Whenever I want to go somewhere, if Don is home he will usually drive. He always says he is driving miss Donna! This blog is for our travels, usually with our truck and fifth wheel trailer, but sometimes in our other wheels. When we are not vacationing check in for updates, although less frequent, about our life at home and our wonderful family:)

Sunday, February 17, 2019

February Part 1

The last week of January we spent an afternoon with Mason, celebrating his soon to be 5th birthday! He had a pretty solid idea of where he wanted to shop, but struggled a bit with what he would get. The chosen place for lunch was McDonalds, and the chosen place for a gift was Mastermind Toys. He did a great job of directing us to the store, and was expedient in selecting the Lego set. It seemed to me he shops by size. LOL  I gave him the money and he hosted the box on the counter, paid the lady, and proved he could carry that giant box to the truck on his own. Mission was accomplished and he declared he was ready to go home and build!
The actual February started at supper with Phil and Amanda at her house. She makes a mean veggie lasagna. Great start to the month.
Saturday was Mason’s birthday party, followed by a family supper. Emerson joined us as the rest of the family was engaged in Ringette and hockey activities. Emerson stayed over at our place and after brunch we took her home to face her weekend activities.
Of course a week can’t go by without medical appointments, and this week was no different, from a bone scan to yet another eye injection.
Next up on the birthday rounds was Emerson! She picked a visit to West Edmonton Mall and shopping for clothes. She is a pretty tactical shopper, and quite the price watcher, knowing that she could get more clothes if she bought less expensive ones. She did a great job and was loaded with bags. Just a couple of hours and she declared it was time to get home.
After we dropped her off we headed to the RV show, but again we found nothing to entice us form our current fifth wheel.
The week ended with Cal’s 40th birthday party at a community hall. It was great seeing him enjoy himself so much and seeing his friends all gather.
Because we are not yet tired enough, in addition to the usual hockey and ringette times, we also attended Emerson's Ukrainian Dance supper and show on Saturday night with Phil and Amanda and Ciara. She was astounding in her steps and performances. They practice for hours a week and it really shows.
The next week Don had a Dr. appointment and I essentially spent the week in Co-op meetings, with any spare time spent finishing any client projects I needed to wrap up.
Thursday was Connor’s long awaited birthday trip with us. He too picked McDonald’s for lunch, but spent a lot more time deciding where to shop for his gift. He had a Playmobile set in mind, and was very careful about his dollar allotment. After two stores he picked what he loved, and again, we headed home so he could begin the build.
On Friday night I attended the Family Dance at Connor’s school. It was so cute to see the kids dancing and playing with friends, and also to see the result of all of the hard work of the Fundraising Committee of which Lindsay plays a big part in.
Of course weekends bring ice times and this one Emerson had a tournament in Spruce Grove. It was also Emerson’s birthday on Saturday so between games they came to our place for a big birthday brunch.
On Saturday night we somehow found time to have a family supper – all of us! We met at Royal Pizza and once again shared birthday wishes with the February people!
I’m sorry we miss in person celebrating Jeremy and Connor, but Connor and I agreed I can Facetime him in the morning and sing Happy Birthday.
Our hope is to leave for the south on Monday, so you will know if we get away as planned soon.










Sunday, February 3, 2019

Farewell January

So that’s over. Not necessarily thankfully because as I’ve said I never want to wish a day away, but it wasn’t the greatest weather, I was faced with my “eye” issue which I touched upon last post, and I was very busy with my Co-op world. None of those are really bad things in the big picture, and give a person something to do constantly, so that is the good side.
Our new year started with a fantastic day at the Stecyk cabin, snowmobiling and sliding. I even put skates on for a short time.
We had to laugh at ourselves a bit because between the 2 of us we sure have had a lot of medical appointments. I had a CT scan and an ultrasound due to my eye, as well as another injection day, and then a Dr. appointment again so she could review everything and be comfortable with things. We have met enough people on our travels through the states to appreciate our amazing health system, and hence I will not complain about having a Dr. that worries about me and sends me to what feels like an overabundance of testing, but…
As for Don he had his annual checkups with the cardiologist and regular Dr., and he passed with flying colors. He takes very good care of his diet and exercise and is a rock star heart attack recovery patient! Sadly though he broke a tooth which led to several dentist appointments, dental surgery, and a crown. Although I offer glowing reports on our medical system, dentistry, in my opinion, is a necessary evil that costs far too much. We opted out of having a dental plan added to our medical, and although at this time it would have covered some costs, the annual premiums still don’t balance out for us. But why can I have my teeth cleaned in Los Algadones for $25 US and in Canada it is $488?? Anyway…
We had a great visit one weekend with our friends Jim and Janice. We see each other very rarely but when we do it’s wonderful and full of laughs and reminiscing. Who knows maybe one day Jim will retire and our meet ups will be in a warmer climate. And one Saturday evening I went to a fundraiser cabaret with my friend Amanda. We had a blast supporting the Children’s Make a Wish Foundation, and of course sharing a beverage or two:)
I spoke of lots of Co-op meetings – nine this month! But the product of those was a successful hiring of a new CEO. This is exciting times for us as a Board, and a monumental move forward, well worth every meeting held. I truly treat my Directorship as a job, and respect it as such.
We made a trip to Saskatchewan to celebrate Don’s mom’s 90th Birthday! As many of the family that could attend did. Several grandchildren and great grandchildren were there as well, and I know mom enjoyed her visits.
January concluded with Don curling in a bonspiel, which he has not done for a few years. They started out losing a couple pf games and ended up wining the C division and playing far more games than expected, They made their entry fee plus back, and a fabulous Sawmill gift certificate.
Of course in between all that we went to several hockey games, ringette games, one swimming day, and a lot of coffees and dinners with friends and family.
Not a lot of pictures worthy of our blog, but here is our beautiful mother!