Saturday, June 14, 2008

Been gone gone gone so long.

I left Calgary after work on April 20th, and didn't really get back home until June 4th. I spent a week in Lethbridge, 36 hours at home, flew to Fort Mac for 3 weeks, came home for 4 days (worked 2 of them) and then went back to Grande Prairie for a couple of weeks. It's nice to be back.


As for my adventures while away, some are so long ago that they're getting a bit blurry. I'll have to go through my photos to jog my memory. Apparently the evil forces of Voldemort are getting a little out of control near the Starbucks in Lethbridge.



Up in Fort Mac I stayed with my friend Alison & her husband, along with their daughters Mary & Anna. Aren't they cute?

As usual, Fort McMurray was full of Newfies and their fun phrases and habits. And apparently their strange foods too. I didn't feel the need to buy any.

I worked at 2 clinics while I was up there. The clinic I had never worked at before was really fun, and they gave me this SWEET RIDE to drive around in while I was working for them. There's a cartoon turtle hanging on for dear life on the other side, and a bunch of animal backsides on the tailgate where it says "happy tails to you".

I kept my eyes on the road, but Alison assures me that we got a lot of strange looks while going out for coffee in it. I think I can safely say that I was driving the most noticeable pickup truck in Fort McMurray. That's saying a lot.

After a few days at home where I enjoyed the relative quiet of living with Mike and the cat, I went home to Grande Prairie. I spent a couple of nights at my grandparents' new place (quite the palace) and the rest of the time at my brother's. Where they also have two small children.


Rebekah is difficult to photograph because if the red-eye on my camera goes off, she stops smiling, but if I don't use the flash, she's just a happy pink blur.

She has also developed the adorable habit of sucking her thumb. That's her mom, my wonderful sister in law Sarah holding her there.





My nephew James and I also had some pretty good times together this visit. He really enjoys roaring at me like a lion. He REALLY thinks it's great if I shriek and run away when he roars. He was jumping and roaring when I took this picture, so I couldn't get him centered in the shot.


After peeking inside James' Backyardigans lunchbox, I have decided that I will never ask a toddler to pack my lunch. What you see there is 3 Thomas the Train toys, an old muffin, a really old timbit type dessert, and an unopened jar of babyfood. Meat babyfood. Pretty grim if you ask me.





James and I had a lot of fun at the park, where he was kind enough to bury my feet in the sand. I also introduced him to the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie, which is by far one of the best movies to watch with a 2 year old. During the really fun bit where the chipmunks are singing the Witch Doctor song, he grabbed my brother's guitar hero guitar and started rockin' out with them. I think that he's proably rockin' out at a third grade level these days. Very advanced, that boy.



Whenever I felt the need to flee the toddler/infant lifestyle, I went over to my friend Marti's house and hung out with her and the animals. This is Crispy the italian greyhound on my lap. Poor unsuspecting guy was under my knife for a little lumpectomy just a few days later. He is resilient and quickly regained his prancy walk after surgery. That reminds me that I have to call her and see what the histopathology results were.



Just a few days before I left Grande Prairie my poor little sister Kristed cut of the end of her finger while chopping kindling. None of the bone is missing, so it should be alright. I brought her bandaids and a sympathy card to make her feel better.





Maybe I should have bought her and Opi matching tea sets instead.

Even without the gift of fine china, she recovered quickly, and was able to hold her own in a Magnadoodle race with James before taking me to the airport. Note that she was only using 4 fingers to draw as fast as she could, and James was using all 10 of his to erase her drawings.

That's all I have to report for today. I'll post an update on my knitting projects tomorrow.

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