It has been a long time

It has been a long time since my last post. We had a great summer with lots of visitors. Tony even surprised me with a visit from Adam, Bae-Lee and Christian. Kevin, Karen and Lexie came out too. 

Unfortunately I came home in early September when Adam called to let us know he had a brain tumor. I came home and went with him to numerous appointments followed by a successful surgery. He had surgery October 30th that lasted 8 hours. Tony came home for the surgery. The surgeons removed most of it and there is talk about going on to remove the rest. Dr. Mitha, neurosurgeon, prepared us for the worse case scenario but lucky for Adam he was only in the hospital for 2 weeks. He did lose his ability to swallow and his right vocal chords collapsed. He has been practicing his swallowing exercises and is able to eat a blended diet. He sounds like Christian Bale's Batman but his voice is getting stronger. Adam has a horrible cough and I worry about him aspirating when he eats and drinks. He will have another swallow test to see what is happening, hopefully we will learn more in a week or two.

All of the prayers and well wishes truly helped the surgeons perform a successful surgery and with Adam's recovery. Thank you everyone and please continue to pray for him.

End of the first school year and more

Yes, I totally suck at this blog thing!

Bermuda did get a little cool in February-April, I wore long pants and had to use a space heater.

Our good friends, Wayne and Maureen Wakeford, came for Easter break. It was so much fun having them here. They hit the ground running and I believe they saw everything we had planned to show them. Hopefully they will come again before we move back.

I got my Bermudian drivers license at the end of March - perfect score!! It is still strange driving over here.

Tony spent a week in Edmonton (for work) and I had to stay home :(. The students who went with him experienced some lovely winter weather and saw West Edmonton Mall. Elaine, Al and mum drove up to see Tony. He was happy to visit with them.

I went home in May to surprise my family for Debbie's 50th and Mothers Day. Unfortunately my visit was really short and very busy. Andrea threw a wonderful surprise party for Debbie and I surprised everyone there! Josh hosted Mother's Day brunch in his new house (which he rented out, long story), it was so much fun! I met two beautiful babies and snuggled them for hours. Thanks Cindy, Vanessa and Heather for introducing me to your wonderful additions!

Mum/nana and I returned to Bermuda. We had a great flight and an awesome 10 days and then mum got sick. Poor mum ended up in the hospital and was air lifted back to Calgary. As of this writing she is still in the hospital. She was having loads of fun seeing the island, meeting our friends and shopping. We were so happy that she was able to see our new "home" and I think she was too.

Josh came for his first visit to Bermuda. I think he hit everyone of our favourite beaches, took in Harbour Nights, met our Canadian family in Bermuda at a going away dinner, celebrated Canada Day at Warwick Long Beach put on by the Canadian Association, had a delicious dinner at the McPhail's house and is going home with a "little red colour". He is taking nana's wheelchair back with him. I think he was a little disappointed that he couldn't use it to receive special treatment at the hospital lol - silly boy! I miss him already, love it when my boys come but HATE it when they leave.

The online Braille math course I was helping with ended. It was a fantastic opportunity to refresh my Nemeth skills. I worked with an amazing woman who ended up doing the entire exam section because I was busy with mum. I did help a wee bit but not as much as I had planned. This summer I will change up the section I worked on and send it to her to use next year.

Tony has one more week before he is off for the summer. He seems to have enjoyed his first school year at MSA. The grade 12 students wrote their first diploma exams this year and that was a lot of work for Tony. He is loving island life, he swam in the ocean every month this year and gets in as much suntanning as he can. We are both looking forward to Kevin, Karen and Lexie coming for a visit at the end of the month. 

Love and miss you all!!!!!

 

It Has Been A Long Time

Sorry for the big break between blogs - I have no excuse except we have been busy.

Can you believe I flew home for Christmas by myself without any medication? Those of you who know me well know I HATE to fly!! I flew home December 4 and only a few people knew I was coming home. My niece, Angie picked me up from the airport with my winter coat lol. When I walked in the door my four-legged boys were very happy to see me. Chris and Adam were watching some Victoria Secret program so ... I was met by more of a why the heck are you here? But Chris still gave me a big hug and Adam rushed to clean his bathroom lol. Angie had tried to have Josh and Alycia be at the house when I walked in but they couldn't make it.

The next day's plan was to surprise my mom. Debbie had arranged to borrow mom's van, we picked Debbie up and went to mom's. Debbie went in first and got her camera ready, I went in after 10 seconds and mom was looking out the window talking about something. It felt like she took forever to turn around and once she did her expression was priceless! Her chin dropped to her knees and her smile was enormous! I don't think I ever saw my mom move so fast or felt such a big hug.

Josh still didn't know I was home but he had planned to visit mom after work. Adam had agreed to pick up Lee and bring the brothers to grandma's for dinner. Debbie and I left to pick up dinner so when they arrived I wasn't there. When we returned Debbie walked in first and I followed closely behind - Lee looked the happiest to see me. Josh just looked at me and asked me, What the hell are you doing here? Why are you home so early for Christmas? We just saw you a couple of weeks ago in Orlando." But I got a big hug from him too.

It was a little more difficult to surprise my mother-in-law. The first time I went over Alyssa was the only one home and she had the same look on her face as my mom when she answered the door. She gave me a big hug but when I asked about nana and her parents of course they were out for the day. After a few hours I went back and surprised mum, she was very happy to see me too. Jordan and his girlfriend came home, his was equally surprised to see me. Elaine and Al still weren't home and I had to leave. Luckily as I was leaving they drove up, they both had huge smiles on their faces and I was the lucky receiver of more wonderful hugs. I think Elaine was most surprised that I flew home by myself.

I loved surprising everyone, it was worth the little white lies we told everyone. They thought Tony and I would be home Dec. 22-Jan. 3. I came home Dec. 4- Jan. 15 but stayed until the 22.

During the days before Christmas I went to Christmas parties, met with friends, went for drinks, went to my old school, fought with Sun Life, met up with a couple of "old friends" from elementary and junior high (loved catching up), went into the VRC, lots of visiting, went to a funeral, and of course went shopping. I loved going to Timmies and shopping with Tamra, I miss our visits! When I met up with Darren and Lauren I felt frozen in time. They looked exactly like high school, of course I was extremely jealous because I do not. We had an incredible visit talking about school plays, old school chums, our lives now and everything in between. We had planned to get a group together for another visit but having the flu put a stop to that - next visit. Zoria and I went to our favourite curry place. I ate and drank so much this visit, actually gained weight during this trip.

Christmas was awesome! Joyce, Andrea, Jonathan, Evan, Carter, Alexis, Quentin, Tessa, Danica, mom, Debbie, Lee, Dan and Aden came over Christmas Eve day. We had a great meal, wonderful visit and of course we had our "gift exchange". Tony and Quentin loved the bracelets Debbie made. Everyone loves the home made gifts and gift cards - lots of smiles and laughter. Except poor Evan was hurt from Shaq.

Christmas Eve was spent at the MacDonald's home. We have had this tradition forever and it is always a night of great food and tons of fun. OMG I still hurt from laughing! We took a new game over and Matthew was the highlight of the night? Did you know Madison Square Gardens was in Los Vegas? It was awesome having everyone together.

Christmas morning was spent at Dan and Aden's. We had the best breakfast! It was great to see Carlene, I love when family gets together! We did our usual funny gift exchange. I think everyone wants to see what Adam will produce. He has done a calendar with the same picture of himself on each month but in a different colour, chapter one of a book he is writing, chapter two and a screen play co-written by Christian - didn't know how funny my boys are! Josh and Alycia create beautiful paintings (we brought one to Bermuda) and the list goes on and on. There are just too many things to list.

Christmas evening was spent at Al, Elaine and mum's. Mike, Steph and Katie were home, it was so great to see them! Of course the best present we all received was Bob was officially in remission - best Christmas! We played the same game after dinner OMG - Steph and Lexi were both laughing so hard they were crying. Of course it was all Christian's fault, I don't remember what he said but it was totally all him! Man we laughed so much this Christmas! It was awesome to visit with everyone!

Boxing Day the eating and visiting continued at Bob and Teresa's. The only part that was missing were Bryan and Paulette's kids and grandsons. We never did get a chance to see them during our visit. Tash owes me her salmon ring - next visit. I really missed not seeing Theron and Luca, they are so much fun!

Tony and I spent the rest of our trip visiting our friends from Calgary and Vancouver, we went to another funeral. Two of our very good friends lost a parent in December.

We welcomed 2013 with a few family members and really enjoyed the evening. We had a special birthday dinner for Tony and he had to leave the next day. I caught the flu and had to stay an extra week. I now have an inhaler because they suspect I have asthma - yeah NOT!

I arrived home after a long delay in Toronto!! We were on a plane, off a plane and back on the plane but after a 3 hour delay I made it home safe and sound. And I still didn't take any medication, like Teresa said I must be growing up lol.

Since I have been home I have visited my Bermudian family and friends. Tony bought me a gym membership for Christmas oh yes, he also bought a car (picture to follow). Anyway, I have been trying to workout 4-5 times a week and absolutely love it! I hope to be in my bathing suit by June.

I surprised Tony by getting my learner's permit yesterday. I will need a few lessons before I go for my licence. It is very different driving over here and I want to be able to get my licence on one try. I have a goal in mind but only Louisa knows the date but ultimately it is up to Cal, my driving instructor, to book my test. Send me lots of positive energy and prayers - you all know how I get anxious/stressed basically make myself physically ill worrying about these things lol. You should have seen me before I wrote my learner's - use your imagination lol.

Tonight is date night, our first movie in Bermuda. Take care everyone, miss and love you all! Until next time stay safe and happy!

P.S. I'm too lazy to proof this so it is as is which is the way life is in Bermuda.