Forever Young

Nanny passed away on October 23 two weeks short of the 95th Birthday party we had planned.  She would have been 95 on November 10th.  I can only imagine the changes she would have seen over that time. 

I always had a special bond being the oldest grandchild.  She babysat me when I was young and mom and Dad went bowling on Tuesday nights.  We would watch the price is right and Laverne and Shirley.  She was always sharp right up until the end.  She was a voracious reader, and I loved how every time I called her I would say "Hi Nanny, it's Tim" in case she didn't recognize my voice and she would always say "I know who you are Tim, you don't need to remind me!" 

We were fortunate enough to spend a full day with nanny a few years ago where we toured her across PEI.  I think that memory is the one that will define Nanny for us.  We toured Cavendish, had lunch at Island Preserve Company, gave the introduction to CBC news compass, visited Cheryl's parents where Nanny raved about Vernon's biscuits, went for ice cream, supper at Gillis' Drive in and Nanny had a little nap as we made our way back to Summerside.  Cheryl put together a photo album that we gave to Nanny that documented the entire day.  I am hopeful that we will get that book back as a memory now that she has passed.

Vicki and I got to see Nanny less than 12 hours before she passed.  She was frail looking and very weak, but I am glad we got to see her.  She lived a good long life, and she was ready to go. 

We are heading over to Moncton on Saturday for a graveside ceremony on the same day that we were planning her 95th party.  It will be nice to see everyone.

My other favourite memory is playing guitar and singing forever young to Nanny on her 90th birthday.  This song has so much meaning to me and will always remind me of Nanny.

Rest in Peace, Nanny.  May you stay forever young!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUr5v2aWijw

And then there was one.....

Well, it has been a long time coming but we are down to our last child in high school.  I remember when we had Dan & Vicki in daycare and struggling to pay daycare fees and thinking, just get through this year and next year will be a bit cheaper once Dan is in half day kindergarten.  I remember going from 2 kids in daycare, to 1.5 kids, to 1 kid, to 0.5 kids, to that great moment when all 3 kids were in school and we had no daycare costs.  That's when school lunch costs for 3 kids kicked in. 

Now we are at the opposite end of the spectrum.  Andrew has started his second and final year of Computer Networking at Holland College and should graduate without debt.  Daniel has started his first year of UPEI and with a bit of help from us, should be able to get through the first year without debt.   And Vicki starts grade 11 and starts her bluephins swimming program again along with re-entering piano lessons.  Should be a busy year for everyone.  Vicki is also taking a swimming instructor course this weekend which will allow her to teach swimming lessons. 

I think this was my favourite summer so far as everyone was employed and everyone was so busy with their own lives, that there were very few squabbles between kids.  Vicki got her first job at Shining Waters as a waterslide guard.  She worked lots of hours and bought her own school clothes, an ipad air and got her first taste of budgeting.  Daniel continued working at Royal Garden Chinese Restaurant, and supplemented this with work at Sizzler BBQ and working at the Reebok Clearance Tent Sale.  Andrew finished his position at Atelka and is now back at Residence at Holland College. 

With everyone working varied schedules, this left lots of time for Cheryl and I to spend together.  We toured much of the province and sampled a variety of restaurants including: The Blue Mussel Café, The Hunter River Bakery across from Sandspit, Lost Anchor pub, Glasgow Glen, Bored Wok Chinese in Cavendish, Point Prim Chowder House (AMAZING!), Mavors, Fishbones Rooftop Patio. It was a great summer for us to re-connect as the kids are now very much independent.

Summer Highlights include:

• Canada Day Party was great other than losing the green jacket to Bobby for the second year in a row.
• Seeing Weird Al in Halifax with Cheryl and Shane Fisher.  He still looks and sounds the same.  The inner geek in me was ecstatic. 
• Seeing Sexy Laundry in Victoria, Putnam County Spelling Bee in Georgetown, Alice through the looking glass at Confed Centre, and Hamlet at Cotton Park.
• Having Greg & Karen Pineo over for a couple of days as they celebrated their anniversary.
• Camping with Jason at Pictou Provincial Park.
• Pub Crawl with Cheryl, Mark & Cathy and others on rooftop patio at fishbones.
• Brudenell Aerospace Conference where Cheryl joined me for a couple of days.
• Taking a week off by myself and finishing up yardwork and sitting on the beach reading
• Picking up Cheryl at work, stopping at Glasgow Glen for pizza and sitting on the beach with pizza and drinks while waiting for Vicki at work.
• Grenwich beach trip with Cheryl
• Renting a mustang for Cheryl's birthday and travelling all across Western PEI.
• Panmure Beach with Chris & Family.

So now summer has ended and we are back to routine.  Andrew is on his own at Residence, Daniel is excited to start his UPEI Routine and Vicki starts grade 11 and bluephins swimming. 

Looking forward to the fall and planning a trip to Jamaica for February!

Re-connecting

As always, the PEI Summer slips quickly past me.  So far, the summer has been good with all of the kids busy working.  Andrew is on track to get his 630 hours needed to ensure he qualifies for skills development so he can move back into residence in the fall.  Daniel is still working at Royal Garden and taking a summer course, although he is looking for additional work to earn some extra money.  Vicki is working as a waterslide attendant at Shining Waters which has been great both for her self-confidence, and having her own spending money.  It also gets her out of the house so she is not watching tv all day.  All this has lead Cheryl and I to have a lot of time together which has been nice.  We have been trying out various restaurants and cafes as we spend a lot of time driving back and forth to Cavendish.  It is so nice to have this time to re-connect.

Really looking forward to this weekend.  We are heading over to Halifax to see Weird Al on Friday night and making a weekend of it, just the 2 of us.  We are stopping in to see Nanny on our way as she is now in a nursing home which I think will be great for her. 

Looking forward to relaxing and enjoying the rest of the summer....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsW8rXPcnM0

But time makes bolder, children get older...

I am feeling nostalgic today as the lyrics from  the Fleetwood Mac song Landslide are running through my head.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xW2taEoH6s

Specifically the lines "But time makes bolder, children get older".  It's hard to believe how fast the time flies.  In 11 days Daniel graduates from high school.  What a quick trippy ride it has been to get to this point.  It seems like just yesterday we had 3 young kids in the school system, and now 2 of them are finished.  

Dan never ceases to amaze me with his fearlessness and his talents.  Last week we attended his Project Based Learning drama presentation where he was MC for the evening and did a great job.  Here is his final project called "Not Much Burgerlove".  Not sure if this facebook link will work or not.  https://www.facebook.com/BruthaDan/videos/vb.649786479/10153255419701480/?type=2&theater

The last 3 months have been a blur as the kids finished up the school year, and Andrew moved back home for the summer to save money so that he can go back to residence again in the fall.  I can't stress enough how good it has been having Andrew living on his own for a bit.  He has moved back with a maturity and a respect for us that was lacking before he moved out.  It is great to be able to sit and talk to him without arguing and fighting. 

Victoria has also come a long way this year.  With personal bests in her swimming and qualifying for the NB provincial meet, she is on track to look at Canada Games in 2018 if she can stay focused.  Her school Marks have also improved significantly so that she is on track to make the honour roll. 

Looking forward to a relaxing summer!

Quick update....

Wow... it has been almost 3 months since I posted here.  Crazy.

Well, to catch up from my last post, We put on Arcadia in Early February and it went over well.  It was my biggest role so far and I think I did well, however, the direction of the play left much to be desires.  I won't dwell on it here, but there were several incidents which made me question whether I wanted to be part of the production.  In the end, it went ok. 

The last couple of months have been a blur with PEI receiving more snow than ever before.  Somewhere in the vicinity of 560 cm over the course of 2 months.  we took a trip to Halifax with Vicki to stay at Willy & Kelly's place and ended up getting storm-stayed off PEI for an additional 2 days in Oxford & Amherst.  Cheryl also got storm-stayed a second time in St. Andrew's, NB at a knitting weekend.  Overall, it was a crazy winter here. 

The snow is finally starting to melt and it looks like spring is starting to arrive.  Andrew is still doing well in Residence.  I think it was a great move for him to live on his own for a bit.  Dan graduates in June and will be starting Engineering at UPEI in the fall.  Vicki is doing so much better in school now and JA and swimming have done wonders for her self-confidence. 

Back to reality....

Well, it has been an eventful month.  It is hard to believe that it has been a month since we were in Florida.  Just to complete the Florida summary, our last couple of days were great.  We spent the 26th buying a few last minute souvenirs and hanging out at the pool/waterslide.  We got up early on the 27th and caught our flight to Boston.  We couldn't have asked for better weather.  It was 20 degrees when we left Orlando, 13 degrees when we hit Boston and 6 degrees by the time we made it home that night.  The next day there was slush and freezing rain, so we made it home just under the wire.  We left Orlando at 8:00 in the morning.... were in Boston by 11:00am and home by 11:00 PM.  We drove straight through with a couple of stops for food.

It was great to get home and Molly was pretty excited to see us.  We took it easy for a few days and then hosted our New Year's party which was a great success as always.

Andrew moved into residence at Holland College and seems to be doing well there.  He did have one setback.  He drove his car to NS with a friend and ended up in the ditch and wrote off his car.  He was very lucky as the ditch on the other side of the road was 20 feet deep.  The main thing is that he is safe and ok.  It is great for Andrew to be on his own for a bit and I am hoping that it gives him a better sense of independence.  It is also allowing Dan &  Vicki to connect better. 

I have a main role in the play Arcadia, by Tom Stoppard which will take place Feb 5-8.  It has been a roller coaster ride with a blind director, several people leaving the show including the lead actress, but overall it seems to be coming together. 

I stopped drinking booze for the month of January and it feels great.  I have been watching what I am eating and going to the gym and I have dropped 7 pounds so far. 

January 31 will mark 1 year since Mom died.  Time flies... and life is short.