Vancouver - Day 3

Cruisin' on the Water Taxi in False Creek with Uncle Stefan (aka Uncle Turkey) and Uncle Marc

We actually did more than that on this day, but failed to take any pictures. Oh well...

Me, Uncle Stefan, Elise and Uncle Marc... we're on a boat!

Elise was quite thrilled with the whole experience

Lovely False Creek

More False Creek

Vancouver - Day 2

Granville Island & Lynn Canyon Suspension Brige. Plus the meeting of Uncle Marc

Snack time at Granville Island

Hanging out at Granville Island


Harassing the pigeons

Some of the best entertainment is free

Elise and Poppa at Lynn Canyon

Elise and Momma

Walking through a tree

Playing in the river

Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge

Sigh... how pretty is that?

Elise and Momma on the bridge

Why I miss this city (Kits Beach)

Hanging with Uncle Marc at Kits Beach

Throwing rocks

Elise and Uncle Marc

Elise comtemplating life

I'm guessing she won't like the Sound of Music, either

I'm really trying to post pictures of all the fun things we've been doing, but when you're getting up at about 7:00 am, out by 9:00 and not back until around 10:00 pm; it leaves very little time for blogging of any kind.

Poor Elise has been forced to take all her naps in a car seat.

Today we're going up to Grouse Mountain to take in the spectacular view of the city from up on high. When we informed Elise of what we'd be doing, she replied, "I don't want to go to the mountains. The car will get dirty (?) and they are scary."

Wonderful. My daughter is afraid of mountains. I blame you, Texas.

Vancouver - Day 1

Elise Meets the Beach

After we landed, a quick trip to English Bay was in order. Elise enjoyed herself immensely.

Vancouver!

Ahhhh, it sure feels good to be home again! In my five year absence, I had forgotten just how beautiful Vancouver is. There are also a lot of other things I had forgotten about:

• What clean air smells like and how refreshing it is to breathe it in. My allergies have all disappeared since I landed here a few days ago. It feels good.
  


• How friendly Canadians are, and how willing they are to strike up a conversation with you at anytime, anywhere. When I mentioned it to Fred, he said to me, "you realize you do that ALL THE TIME, right?" Heh... yes I do. Canadian as charged.
  


• All the wonderful restaurants they have here! We were at a stoplight on a street downtown, and I turned to Fred and asked, "what smells so good?" When we looked around, there were about 6 different restaurants that could have been the culprit. All I want to do is eat!
  
  
• How dry my skin is here... I think it misses the humidity of Dallas. I, on the other had, don't!
  
  
• Wow, grocery shopping is pricey here... and they don't use coupons! Some things are priced pretty much the same (and actually work out to be cheaper when you figure in the exchange), but I saw that a carton of OJ was twice what I would pay for it back in Dallas.
  

All in all we are having a GREAT time, and it is going to be so hard to leave next week. I'm hoping to get some of the pictures we've taken up soon.

10 Years... a re-post of sorts

I originally posted this about our 8 year wedding anniversary. As much as I'd like to write a whole new post, I think this one sums it up perfectly. So I've re-posted it with a few minor changes.

It took me about 5 minutes to walk down the aisle at my wedding. No, I didn't panic with a case of cold feet. Nor did I trip and fall flat on my face (the more likely of the two scenarios). Fred and I got married on the beach in Carmel, CA, and the aisle was seriously that long. It was a beautiful, temperate day on the California coast, and I had a lot to contemplate as I tromped towards the beach in my two inch heels. Did I look every bit the part of a blushing bride? Do I have enough SPF's to get me through the ceremony? Can they see my underwear through this dress? Hey, look... bugs having sex!

Sometimes I can be as deep as a puddle.

You'll notice nowhere in there were there thoughts about the huge journey I was about to embark on. I think I was a pretty naive 23 year old who looked at marriage as something you did. Did you love the guy? Sure! So why not get married. There were no thoughts of, "what kind of father will he be? What do I want out of marriage? What is my role as a wife?" Amazingly enough, I gave no thoughts about any expectations I had about married life.

Ten years later, what could have been a disastrous decision, turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done. I believe that there isn't anyone out there better suited for me, and I cannot imagine a better, more fun man to travel life's roads with.

He loves me despite my many quirks. Even better, he embraces them and doesn't try to change me. He is one of the hardest workers I've ever met, and has never complained once over the last 10 years that our family relies on him, and him only as our income source. Although our senses of humour are very different, he still cracks me up on a daily basis.

If you are lucky enough to call him your friend, you know how he goes the extra mile for the people he loves. If you asked for the shirt off of his back, he would give it to you. And his pants. And, if it wasn't so gross, probably his underwear too.

He doesn't get my love for Lost, but will watch it with me... mainly because it's in HD. He will sometimes show up at lunchtime during a weekday and bring me Chick-fil-a. On Sunday, he mopped the floors for me. I know he loves me and will do almost anything to make me happy. We're talking about a guy who has flown to 5 different states to see my favourite band 8 different times. Love? I think so!

Above all else, he is a wonderful, Godly man. He knows he isn't perfect, but tries his best to live his life according to God's word. He is an amazing example to our little girl of what a husband should be.

After Elise was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, Fred stepped up to the plate in a way that not every husband does. Is most cases, 100% of the care falls to the wife, and a lot of husbands don't even try to get involved. Call it laziness, call it denial. Whatever it is, Fred does not suffer from it. He is totally involved in Elise's care, and has taken on doing the twice-nightly blood sugar checks (we have to check Elise during the night to catch dangerous, life-threatening low blood sugars). Our daughter would not be doing as well as she is, if it wasn't for her Poppa and his diligence to her care.

Over the past 14 years (4 years dating, 10 married), we have gone hot air ballooning, driven through Europe, rafted 10 rivers, bought a house, hiked in Hawaii, been extras on an X-Files episode, racked up over $75,000 worth of debt, paid off over $75,000 worth of debt, skied Jackson Hole, jumped off a 30 foot cliff, made a beautiful daughter together, been to hell and back, and now are about to expand our family by one more.

I am so thankful for our marriage. I feel blessed beyond all measure to call Fred my best friend, father of our daughter and soon-to-be-born son, and best of all... my husband.

An open letter to my bladder

Dear Bruce,

We need to talk. These four-times-a-night visits to the bathroom have to stop. You understand that I don't get enough sleep as it is, right? Well, having to roll my ever-expanding body out of bed, and practically killing myself as I trip over every obstacle between the bed and the bathroom is not helping. Especially when I sit down and all you manage to squeeze out is a teaspoon of liquid.

Seriously? You woke me up for THAT?

Look, I understand the baby is using you as a punching bag, but you really need to toughen up.

Sincerely,
Joanne

P.S. I would also appreciate it if you could do a little better job of holding it together when I sneeze... a girl only has so many pairs of underwear, if you know what I mean.

Still alive and kicking!

Okay, I have totally been ignoring this blog... not without good reason, though. Life has just been crazy lately, and I thought I'd just do a rundown of what's been going on lately:

• Elise had strep for the second time in about a month. Who knew that you should throw away your toothbrush and flosser when you've been sick with strep? Apparently I do. Now. I'd also like to give a shout out for sugar-free antibiotics... holla! Antibiotics are horrible about raising the blood sugar of a diabetic (not to mention the have a high BG just from being sick). Add flavouring to the mix and it's a recipe for disaster. After her first round of strep, we learned the hard way to ALWAYS ask for sugar-free.
  
  
• I am now 23 weeks along on this joyride called pregnancy. Thank you God for second trimesters! Things have been relatively good, aside from some contractions I was getting a few weeks ago. Thankfully they have stopped. I am still waiting to make the jump from regular clothes to maternity clothes. As one friend put it, "you just look like you ate a really big sandwich." Ha.
  
  
• I am somewhat freaking out about how this pregnancy has zoomed by. I mean, I am over halfway there and haven't even thought about the things that we need to get (that include, but are not limited to); a crib, a stroller car seat combo, boy clothes, a room for the baby to sleep in after he gets too big for the bassinet... I hope that by not thinking about it, somehow it will all figure itself out.
  
  
• Along with over 100 other blogs, I took part in Diabetes Week on my other blog, Death of a Pancreas. It most likely doesn't hold any interest to you if you are not affected somehow by diabetes, but it was very cathartic for me to write a post a day on things like "A Day in the Life", or "Dreaming of a Cure". It was also fun to "meet" new bloggers and read what they had to say on the same topics.
  
  
• Fred and I are celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary on May 20th. Are we really that old?
  
  
• We are leaving for our trip to Vancouver next week! I cannot even tell you how EXCITED I am to go home and show my hometown off to my daughter. Not to mention see the ocean, hug a tree, take a hike, stare at some waterfalls, walk barefoot in the sand, revel in nature, climb a mountain; just generally be outside and loving it again. Also, there will be much eating of some AMAZING food.
  
  

Sooooo, that's about it. Hopefully I will be able to find more time for posting on this blog. I have a bunch of half-written posts, and posts that are completely written, but still reside in my head... does that count?

Stay tuned for updates from Vancouver!

She can read!

Okay, not really... it's just that she's heard this story so many times that she has it memorized. It's still pretty cute.

For the record, I think those "Your Baby Can Read" things are crap.

Enjoy!

They say it's his birthday

While I would love to write a post waxing poetic about my love for Fred, I have in-laws landing at the airport in less than 2 hours and my house looks like a landfill threw up. Sooooo, let me just say Happy Birthday to THE best husband and father in the world. Elise and I are blessed.

Love you Freddie!