A Hope-Full Weekend

We made it a four-day weekend and headed up to Hope, BC to visit grandma Linda & grandpa Earl. It was a long drive on Friday, and sort of against doctor's wishes, but we did it anyway. If we waited around for Jordan to be healthy before we did anything we'd never do anything! Then there's always Option B -- Devon & Avery go off for a fun weekend, and Jordan & I stay home. I guess I probably could have done lots of painting, but that's only so much fun.

Avery was a little confused after we crossed the border. When I told her we were in Canada now, she was very adamant that no, we were in the van. When we further explained that the van was in Canada, she looked all around and said "but I don't see any snow." Last time we were there it was Thanksgiving, and it snowed a full blizzard. She got to make a couple of snowmen & snow angels, and was a bit disappointed with the perfectly lovely weather. Soon she was too occupied with grandma, grandpa, new books, movies, toys, a trip to the park, digging for worms & "playing" baseball (she did hit the ball a few times from grandpa's pitches). She even went swimming & jumped so far she splashed water on grandpa's glasses so he couldn't see.

Jordan did fine for the weekend. It was a long drive on Friday, because she needed almost constant suctioning whenever she coughed -- so we didn't end up in the hospital in Canada (an insurance nightmare, that would have cost us 30% of whatever). At her hospital follow-up on Friday morning she had managed to get two infected ears, so we started the Amoxicilan (again, again, again) just before we left (her ears were clear on Tuesday at Emanuel). So, lots of sucking, snuggling, and hanging out with grandma. And some long nights. But she seems to be on the mend, and, knock on wood, she doesn't seem to be as cranky as she has been, despite the continuing increases of Keppra each week.

But it wasn't all naps & snuggles for Jordan. She also went swimming with Avery, grandpa Earl, and Devon -- and loved it. She was the perfect example of complete relaxation & floatation -- it only took a couple of fingers to hold her head above the water. The lifeguard followed her (and grandpa or Devon) around the pool, never taking an eye off her (the tube sticking out from her bikini-clad tummy probably scared the crew there).

Avery-ism of the weekend: When asked if she wanted Rice Krispy Square for dessert, she said, outlining with her hands on the table, "maybe you could go like this so it's a circle." Devon & I knew immediately what she was talking about, but there was a bit of a delay in grandma & grandpa's laughs. Gotta love the 3-year-old thought process.

Side funny of the weekend: Devon asked if he could color in her coloring book with her markers. Avery told him he could, but only if he colored the dragon pink. Trying to get her to join in, he teased that he was going to color it green, or blue, or purple. Instead of supervising him, she just took all the markers away (except pink, of course), and hid them under the bed in the guestroom. Then she went back to whatever she was doing with grandma. Pink dragon, end of discussion!

News from the Hope-front: Tim Horton's is coming to town (finally)!!!!

PICTURES TO FOLLOW (TOMORROW?)