OLA: Eating, Playing, and Leaving!

Mother and Child, Claudine and Kai

After two weeks of Kai's eventful arrival and the exciting Calgary Stampede, this week was supposed to be normal, settling down to a routine of breastfeeding and sleeping for mom and baby. For the rest of us it was eternal eating and playing while Arnold worked. But it did not end that way. Some unexpected events capped the week and left me with some sad stories to tell y'all.

Sushi Platters

Eating In and Out

Chinese Lauriat at Ti Pot

Eating in is the responsibility of three ladies of the house. Jamie, Enzo’s former and now Kai’s nanny, is also a pretty good cook and made for us sushi, shrimp and scallops bacon carbonara, bacon, spinach and egg quiche, fried oreos, and many other good-eats. I got to contribute cinnamon rolls and champorado for Enzo, shepherd’s pie and beef with broccoli for everyone, and Bill grilled steaks for us all. On not so sleep-deprived days, Claudine made sinigang, chicken asado, kare-kare, white chicken adobo, and other Filipino meals.

Mick and Ligaya with us at Joey's Barlow

Pizza and Pasta at East Side 

Eating out is the responsibility of the gentlemen. One time Arnold treated the whole family to a great Chinese restaurant with a mini lauriat of nameless wonderful eats.Bill also treated everyone to a pizza and pasta dinner one night. Arnold also had the habit of bringing home fave-eats from Tim Horton’s, Canada’s equivalent of Starbucks and Denny’s combined.  Another time Bill and I met another traveling couple at Joey’s Barlow. Ligaya (Happy) friended me on FB and our travel schedules finally coincided in Calgary. Our Caucasian spouses treated each of us to pub food and drinks. 

setting up the trampoline, Enzo hiding under!

Arnold teaches the kids how to use the new popsicle maker!

Playing In and Out

Arnold, Jamie, and Bill managed to assemble the new trampoline that the kids had been asking for. Enzo, 7, and Ashton and Andre, 10, then spent many days, and nights, in the new gathering place, with the two girls from next door.  One lazy hot afternoon, Arnold taught the kids how to make healthy popsicles from the mini blast freezing gadget he bought from the Stampede Market. Another afternoon, Bill and I got to take the boys to their taekwondo class. One night Bill even got to watch Arnold play hockey. And I found a lot of great use for their treadmill!

Enzo and cousin Jaden glued to the iPad!

Claudine and Arnold watched Pacific Rim night while I baby-sat little Kai. Amid raving reviews, Bill and I followed their example the following night and enjoyed the newest resurrection of the Godzillas from the movies of our youth. Not content, Arnold and Bill followed that with a boys’ night out seeing The Lone Ranger. Both men are avid fans of Johnny Depp. I am not. And every night before going to bed, Bill and I thumbed through each episode of the House of Cards, the BBC mini-series, and now we are midway into Sherlock, another BBC series.

taekwondo class for Enzo, Ashton, and Andre

2 Cases of Leaving

our new car!!!

Case Number 1. Our dear dear old (literally) red Saturn that we bought when we purchased our Newmar Mountain Aire Class A motorhome in February of 2010 sputtered and finally conked out. We thought about just flying back to Seattle to buy a new dinghy there but we had packed for a road trip and thus will not be able to fit everything in two suitcases. So we thought, searched, and researched the market for used cars in Calgary. After deliberating on options for a dolly-towed car, we went back to our original flat-tow Saturn. This time, however, it is gold, a 2002 SL2 with just 100,000 miles for $3,000. The old red one was a 1999 SL1 with 150,000 miles when we bought it for $2,000. The new one appears to be in much better shape than the old one when we first purchased it!  I most definitely welcome the upgrade!

seeing Bill off at the airport

Case Number 2. After making all the arrangements and completing the paper work for the new car, Bill took the opportunity to leave for Alaska to visit his youngest child and daughter Cristine. The last time we were there was in September of 2010 for her wedding to Mytch Byrd. He will be gone for 10 days, the fourth and second longest separation (3, 5, 30, 10 days) we have had since we got married five years ago. I will be a very busy grandma and he, a very busy Dad…all over again!

And so it is that another not so normal week passed by in my five-week stay in Calgary, Alberta! I wonder what is in store for me next week while Bill is away. Will the cat play?