Fun, Food, and Family... Fast

My parents left for home a over a week ago. I was going to write prose about their stay, but given the shortness of time, and the quantity of things to do this week (new windows! clean the house! get ready for Easter!) I shall descend into bullet points.

•  Jon and I got away for a whole 24 hour! We stayed at a hotel! We ate fantastic food (including Rioja)! We visited Denver's Art Museum! I had fun, can you tell?! For 24 hours I felt like my pre-mommy self. It was freeing refreshing, and when we got back I had renewed energy for my kids. Result: Will increase frequency of date nights/ afternoons.
• New favorite cocktail: French 75 
• Caribbean cooking class with my mom and various female in-laws. Result: Shark and Bake (tilapia, mango chutney, pita), chicken skewers, callaloo (greens, squash, coconut milk), mango and jicima salad, coconut rum cake, rum punch.
• Chocolate cheesecake versus caramel cheesecake. Jury is out.
• Total pounds gained: 1.5     Totally worth it.
• After much thought and discussion, Anna and Isaac were baptized. My parents, Jon's mom, and his aunt were able to attend the service, and it was quite lovely. Jon read a lovely passage of scripture, and it was all quite meaningful. Most importantly, no child cried or had a tantrum or swatted the pastor.
• Trip to the aquarium was a bust. Isaac came down with a horrid stomach bug. Instead, Anna went on a special outing with her grandparents to the mall. Result: lunch and Cinderella p.j.s.
• Colored my hair grey & blue. I wanted thick silver stripes, but after talking to the stylist it seemed that a "flash" was the best way to go (i.e., it would be cheaper and faster). The silver turned out light blue, but I think the effect is rather nice. Waiting on dark blue for the fall.
• My teeth are falling out. Well, ten of the bottom ones according to the periodontist whom I finally had time to visit. It will cost many thousands of dollars to fix them, since my dental insurance runs out after the first three. Maybe I can do three teeth a year, but I have to call the insurance company, and the dentist, and blah blah blah. Result: Loss of money, loss of time, and general impression that dentures may be the way to go.
• Getting two new windows. A grown up decision, because what I really want is a gas range. Which I suppose is also grown up kind of desire. This means I am boring.
•  Saying goodbye to grandma and grandpa sucks. Anna cried and Isaac still asks for them. The transition was made harder by Jon's concomitant overnight absence at a church retreat. Everyone was here one minute, and gone the next. And then Jon was gone again this last week, not returning until midnight on Friday. A very last-minute, I-guess-I'm-going-to-D.C.-tomorrow kind of trip.
• Jon has upcoming tripa to San Francisco and Florida on business. I am not sad than I will not be joining him. Not one little bit. *sniff*

To sum up: We love my parents and we love it when they come. We're all excited about visiting them in Calgary this summer. Goodbyes are hard, but the hellos make it worthwhile.

Just in Time

My parents drove down from Calgary, arriving Tuesday afternoon. We all love it when they visit, and the kids have been glued to them since they drove up. Generally, the first moments of Grandma and Grandpa's arrival are akin to Christmas. My Mom loves bringing presents and yummy home-made goodies. Anna squealed with delight over every new find, and Isaac took it upon himself to update Grandpa on his favorite cars. It was a chaotic, fun scene.
For me, a visit from the folks is a chance to Get Things Done. For example, I had the highlights in my hair redone, which always takes longer than I expect (3 1/2 hours - yikes!). I went with silver highlights over gray toner, although it looks more like blue highlights over whitish-blondish toner.  As long as it isn't green I'm happy.
I also managed to bake wolverines. These are a crusty sourdough roll filled with dried fruit and nuts, which are made by The Cheese Board in Berkeley, CA. It takes almost two weeks to make the sourdough starter, and then the rise time for the dough is a combined minimum of 8 hours. The baking of the rolls is also a bit persnickity, what with the need for ice water in the oven and all. But they're super tasty, and just how I remember them. Next time, of course, I shall alter the recipe. More whole wheat flour and a dash of cardamom? Maybe some dried mangoes to add a bit of tropical allure? Mmmm.....

Jon is taking a day off of work to get Even More Things Done, both inside and outside the house. But it isn't all drudgery. There shall be a visit to the aquarium, as well as a Caribbean cooking class for Mom and I. Jon and I also get to spend a night in the city, complete with dinner and a jaunt to the art museum (the DAM, as Jon takes pleasure in saying). While we're doing that, the kids will enjoy the fine dining experience at MacDonald's, which is considered a huge treat over here. That's what grandparents are for: spoiling the grandkids!

It's so fun to see everyone play together, and a much needed break for me. I'm ashamed to admit that I haven't been handling my kiddos very well of late. Their combined pokiness, defiance, violence, and sensitivity had become almost more than I could bear. Since these things seem to come to a head whenever we need to leave the house, I've decided to take a break from almost everything this summer. That is, no classes, minimal child-sitting at the gym (i.e., getting up early to run/bike. Ugh.), and minimal outings.
That's the plan, and I wonder if I can follow through. We all like outings (once we're there), and I really look forward to the various activities we do during the week. Sometimes, these outings are all that gets me through. I wish I could say I was one of those moms that just enjoyed staying at home and playing with her kids, but it is very hard for me. I love to read books to them, play board games, do puzzles, play catch.... and they would rather play made-up games and pretend stories and play chase, and do other exciting things that I just can't seem to enjoy. They are doing exactly what they were meant to do at this age, and I can't handle joining them as much as they deserve. Some days I think I should leave child rearing to the professionals. Other days I think a mildly disengaged mom is better than no mom at all. Most days, I just have this vague sense that I'm blowing it. I suppose that means the grandparents arrived just in time.

Double Ugh

One of the things we look forward to the most are visits from my parents. My parents look forward to their visits with equal (if not greater) enthusiasm. This time they were able to come down together which, because of work schedules and cost of flights, is generally not the case. They drove down over a couple of days and arrived on Tuesday. We had various plans, such as the zoo, visits with friends and family, and I was going to get a refresher course on canning peaches from my mom. Mostly we were just going to hang out and enjoy each others' company.
'Twas not to be.

Within a day of arriving, my mom came down with some horrible sickness (likely dehydration due to our higher temperatures and altitudes). She was bed-bound for a day, but began recovering once we realized what was wrong and she started drinking Gatorade. By Saturday things began looking up, and we spent the late afternoon at Jon's parents house.
Then, disaster. Dad mistakenly stepped through a space on the side of the trampoline and fell through. It would have been fine, except that his foot or leg hit a cement block on the way down (the trampoline is dug into the ground, with a retaining wall around the hole). Long story short, an ambulance was called and he ended up in the ER with a dislocated knee, the tendons completely detached from the... quadricep, I think. The silver lining is that there's no pain in the knee. (Dad had me straighten his leg after the incident. I did so with great reservation, which is what detached the tendons. However, I'm told it also restored circulation, prevented nerve damage, and got rid of the pain. Or maybe they just said that to make me feel better.)
Unable to do surgery for at least a week on account of swelling, the ER sent my dad home. So, after determining that he could get in and out of the car fairly well, my folks headed back home this morning. Hopefully it won't take too long before Dad gets surgery up there, but with the Canadian health system, one never knows. He'll be put on a waiting list, and it remains to be seen if it will be days before he gets surgery, or months. He's quite incapacitated - unable to move his leg, with the only comfortable positions being flat on his back or standing with crutches. It's just not a tenable situation.

As an aside, it had been months since Grandma & Grandpa last saw the kids, and everyone was so looking forward to this trip. Now, we won't see them until Christmas (assuming Dad can travel by then). I just can't believe how one misstep can have such tragic consequences. It seems all out of proportion.