may 2012

may 17

whoops - life got away from me a little bit there. barely time to breathe, let alone blog! so much has happened.

a couple of weeks ago, i decided that being a temporary single-parent to 3 kids, moving twice, finding new schools and working was all a little much, so after a chat with the best-boss-in-the-world we agreed that i wouldn't work up until the day we moved [as i had planned in cuckoo-land] but that i would finish work on june 8. since then, i've been a lot less panicky that i was!

we officially sold the house at the end of april so we are now renters in our own home. i thought it would feel very strange, but since we haven't seen or spoken to our landlord, the whole thing feels surprisingly normal!

kellie and mike came for a visit on april 26th. we took them with us to victoria to nikki's surprise 50th birthday. nikki was VERY surprised at her party. we had a bonfire, ate s'mores, met the new turkeys and chickens and then leapt on another ferry the next day to head for san juan island [a wonderful christmas gift from dani and toryn who recently got engaged - congratulations guys!].

mike throwing a giant fork into the ocean

kellie trying to persuade zoe NOT to throw herself into the ocean

san juan island was as wonderful as i remembered. we spent a great deal of time in the enormous sculpture park [toby got stuck climbing one of the sculptures i could have sworn i remember asking him not to climb!], had picnics, went to a whale museum, a beach or 2 and to english camp [there was a war on the island between the US and england which was started by a pig!].

toby stuck up a sculpture

toby stuck up a sculpture

the following weekend, sascha bought a prius c to replace the mazda RX8 which got written off a couple of months ago. for someone who doesn't like small cars i don't think i've ever had so much fun driving a car. it's more like a video game; you get scored on your stopping, starting, cruising and overall fuel efficient behaviour on the road. there's also a comparison screen which tells me how much i've saved by driving the prius rather than my humongous van [i try to avoid that screen at all costs!]. guilt-free driving is so liberating.

in the midst of all this, aly turned 12. she had a great beach birthday party - her last sleepover with all her best friends.

no sooner had aly's friends gone home, and kellie and mike flown back to the uk, sascha was in hospital for his LONG awaited hernia operation. the operation went well but recovery has been difficult. he had trouble getting out of bed for most of the week [but still insisted on working as soon as the anaesthetic had worn off!]. unfortunately he's now not allowed to lift anything for 8 weeks so it is very fortunate that we have a disney relocation package, otherwise it would be a lot of heavy lifting for a very small peta when we moved!

we had to drive sascha back to kelowna for his work week this week, but fortunately that gave us the opportunity to finally see kelowna before we move there. it's one of the most majestic drives on the planet. i love driving through snow when it's not on the road! we got to see our new rental home which is a beautiful house in a wonderful location and on monday i managed to get aly registered at her middle school and toby registered with the school district for distance education.

feeding birds on the coquihalla

aly in her shorts and t-shirt in the snow. it was HOT up there on the mountain!

new house

a lovely afternoon on the beach for mother's day

downtown in kelowna

being without sascha weekdays for almost 6 months has been exhausting - emotionally and practically, but i think i'm finally beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. my mom arrives on saturday and that i know she will help a huge amount.

bring on our last 6 weeks in richmond!...

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