Last Day with the Twins

Friday; 7 th Oct. This is the last day for the Twins to get the Royal treatment from G/ma and G/Pa because Mom and Dad return home later this evening and it will be back to normal. So, what will we do today... Of course we will take the Twins swimming to the Wave Pool in Calgary because they love the pool and especially the slides. So off we go for the 1 hour ride to the Pool( Todd live on an arcerage 1/2 hour outside of Calgary ) and before we are 1 km down the the Twins are sound asleep but we have seen this " Movie " before and once they hit the pool they will be raring to go.
The pool prices are very reasonable ; 2.50 for kids under 5 yrs and 5.00 for us old folks. Once we hit the pool the Twins want to go directly to the slides. We started on a little slide with one 90 degree curve but that wasn't challenging enough , especially for Megan the Daredevil. She spotted the higher slide with a 380 degree corkscrew turn . While I started to read the Rules " which said you must be 42 inches tall to ride alone " she was gone. I kind of panic and holler down to Carroll to catch her assuming she would take on some water when she hit the bottom. While Carroll and I were holler back and forth, Megan comes shooting out the bottom, laughing all the way saying " That was Fun" . Quinn was not so sure about going alone, at least for the first time so I went with him as did most parent with there young kids. But after that , both Kids had to go it alone so I stood at the top to make sure the "Big " kids did not jump the cue and Carroll stayed at the bottom to retrieve them as the exited the slide as the big kids came out quite fast.
After 20 or so Runs the Twins now wanted a bigger challenge but this slide require G/Pa ( definitely not G/Ma ) to go with them as there was a 4 ft pool at the landing. Since we had to climb about 50 steps I limit this excises to 3 times each. I did mention that i was 70 yrs old but I'm sure that fell on deaf ears or maybe they just did care. Anyway I was too tired to climb anymore stairs to the slides so we convinced the Twins that "they" wanted to play in the Kiddie pool so we could rest.
After 1 1/2 hours or so in the pool we decided to go....but convincing the Twins was another matter. So we use another , well used "Ploy" called MacDonald's . They could play and we could have a coffee and get so rest. As soon as we mentioned MacDonald's they start to holler , Donalds, Donalds, we want Donalds. Apparently they are now using this familar phase with Mom and Dad and of course it is Grandma and Grandpa fault. ha ha. So off to the "Golden Arches " we go and we let them play for about hour with a few minutes of rest to eat some chicken McNuggets and Fries. Apparently that is the main food Group at Macdonald's.

Now, the day is done and we head home for supper and hopefully, early to bed for the tired Twins . After Grandma read a few books, they laid down to sleep, but we could hear them talking for about 15 minutes, then all was quiet. About an hour latter I decide to check in on the Twins and there was Quinn sound asleep in bed with Megan and she was hugging a big doll. Quinn was actually only half in the bed so I move him into his own bed but he was too tired to even move.
Now, we would sit and wait for Mom, Dad, Emily and Rhett to return home from their trip to Disney World.
Carroll and I left at 6:20 Sat morning for St. Geo , UT to the Huntsman World Senior games where the weather was gorgerous. We sure did enjoy the Twins even if the did tire us out.

Last two Days with the Twins

Thursday was a terrible day weather wise as it had been raining steady for over 24 hours so the Twins and the "sitters " where restricted to the house. That meant Grandma and Marjore would be inandated with continuois request to watch TV or read a book or can I have a popsicle. I, on the other hand found some patch and painting that needed to be done so, out to garage I go to find the tools and the paint and Patch material. Grandma decided that the Twins would enjoy riding their Quads around the garage since it was raining outside. Now, Todd does have a 3 car garage but anyone knows a 3 car will hold 2 car at best but mostly there is only space one car. In Todd's garage that is even questionable at times.

In order to make a path for the Quads to circumvent the garage I had to clear a path by moving all sorts of bikes, carts, boxes, ladders and even the work bench. I then ask Quinn to do a "dry run" so could make sure they would not hit anything. I might as well talked to the wall because Quinn only knows one speed which is to put the accelerator to the floor. Althought his Quad has a speed limit of 5 KMH, that may look slow when he is driving around the 1 acre yard, but it is "Indy " speed when he is navigating around the obstacles in a 3 car garage.
Shorty thereafter, Grandma decided Quinn was hungry so she bought him a sandwich right out to the "Track" . Quinn would take a bite out of the sandwich , then do one lap, then take another bite and do another lap until the sandwich was gone.

By this time I had found all the tools and material I needed so I proceded to the house to do all the nec repairs. By this time the Twins were tired of the Quads so the decided to help me. That's were Grandma came to my rescue and took the Twins away so I could paint without their help.

After I finished the repairs we decide to take the Twins for a ride to Calgary and we also took the recycle material to the Bins which i might add where filled to the brim. Then we took the Twins to Boston Pizza for supper. After supper we were driving by MacDonald's and the Twins started to holler Donald's; Donald's so we knew that wanted to hit the playhouse in MacDonald's so we turn in so they could play for a 1/2 hour or so. Besides , this is a good way to tire them out so the would be ready bed when we got the home. Now the day is done and the twins when quietly to bed

Taming the Twins/ Household chores

All is going well with the Twins and our abilty ( mostly Carroll's ) to look after them. I had heard that 2 yr olds are called the Terrible Twos' but Megan and Quinn do not fit that Mold at all. However, I will concede they are active and mobile.
When ask to pick up there toys or finish eating they have a hearing problem but mention DQ or Mac D's slightly above a wispher and the hearing returns immediately.
I'm surprised, althought I probably should not be, at how easily they can handle the Battery powered Quads. Quinn like to ride on Rhett's quad as it has a "Turbo Boast " control when you need extra power. I had to smile the other day when Quinn had rode the quad around the lawn until it was losing power and when he got to a small hill he go off and pushed it to the paved driveway because he knew it would have enough power to get him back to the garage. My daily chore is to make sure the batteries are charged every evening.
We did stop at Mac D's twice so they could play in the " Playland " while Carroll and I sipped on a cool, Seniors coffee. I think they have a separate pot of coffee for us Seniors that is stale just to pay us back for asking for the Seniors price.
About a month ago I stopped at a Mac D's to pick up 2 " Senior's "coffees to go and the older, probably even a senior cashier said I should have brought my wife into the the store so she could be sure that the coffee was actually for a senior. I reply that i didn't realize we had to prove our age for .79 cent coffee. If there had been a Tim's near by, I would have walked out.
Whenever Carroll thinks I bored (at todd's place ) or thinks I'm watching too much BNN business news she tries to find a job for me, which is not hard to find here. Well, yesterday she ask me to check out the reason the kitchen fawcet had very little pressure as it was driving her crazy. Actually the problem has been around for quite a while but like me, Todd has been avoiding it since it has not reached the top of the priority list yet. I did see a new Kitchen Fawcet in the garage so I decide to see if i could install then in my spare time, as if I did not have any spare time. Actually, installing the Fawcets is not big problem... it is cleaning out and all the " crap " under the sink, like several empty jars, cultery that has been lost for years, empty containers that have no business being there and disassembling a self opening gabage can that opens when you open the cupboard door. Finally, I disconnect the old fawcets, and thankfully , when they built the house a few years ago , the plumber installed shutoff valves on each water. line . Then I got the new fawcet which was a perfect match; like when does thsat every happen. First I hid the direction so Carroll couldn't read them to me as usually happens. How hard can it be to disconnect 2 water lines and a large retaining nut the holds the fawcet to the counter top. The fawcet was installed quickly and both Carroll and Marjore ( the Nanny ) are very please to have adquate water pressure again. Half of the stuff that was under the sink is now garbage and there is now room for more stuff that doesn't need to be there.

Just when I was ready to watch a few ball games, actually there is 4 on this day, Carroll informs me that the dish washer has a "fault" light flashing it won't work. Luckly for me I don't know much about dishwashers, especially those that have 27 buttons and flashing lights so I delay that jof until tomorrow.

First Blog of the Season

I'm starting this blog from Todd's place outside of Okotoks,AB as Carroll and I ( mostly Carroll) are babysitting the 2 1/2 yr old twins, Quinn and Megan, while the rest of the clan, Todd,Yvonne, Emily and Rhett are at Disney World and other areas of Florida for a week. Luckily for us the Nanny will ride "shotgun" on the Twins from Mon to Thurs during the day.
We have several errors to run this week , like buying some Christmas gifts , as we leave for South Africa on the 25 th Oct. and surely will not send anything from there. We also have to visit the GPS store to get a chip for our GPS for South Africa. Getting lost in a strange country just happens to be my "strong suite "so the chip could bale us out if need be.
We actually left home on Thursday complete with our RV as we are leaving directly from Todd's place, for St. Geo , UT as I will be playing ball in there on the 10 th Oct. St. Geo is a good two days drive from here.
Our House Sitter moved in on Friday. Someone's bad luck is sometimes someone's good Luck. Our House sitter is our neighbour who lost her house in a fire about 1 1/2 months ago and she needed a place to stay and we needed a house sitter. We know our house will be well looked after, while we are away.









sitter

Finally in English

Hello to all: My good friend Keith, who help me to set up this Blog has now walked me thru the Blog to get all the info in English vice Spanish. I'm not sure if anyone can "comment " yet but I think it too has been implement so give it a try. cheers. tom

Packing Up to Leave

30 Mar: This is the worst job and the downside of leaving to head home. I don't know why but it seems that the things that fit in at home, no longer fit in the same spot. And of course we gained more Stuff. Also, some things can not be packed until the morning that we leave so we have to make room for them; as an example, the Satellite does not come down until the last min and since I always carry the 3 foot dish and the tripod I need quite abit of space. Well, we packed and repacked and repacked until we managed to find a home for everything. Since we where not going straight home we needed to keep enough clothes available to last us for the 10 days trip home. The trip from TX to Yuma would take 3 days and then we would stay in Yuma for 3 days so it became obvious that we would have to "re-jig " the Van once we were ready to leave Yuma. We always get ready for the " Border Crossing" ahead of time because we have stuff that Carroll bought for the Kids and of course we do have a few litres of Booze over the limit. By earlier afternoon we were all packed so we relaxed for an hour because we were invited out for supper by the Nahachewshys from Brandon. As usually Holly made another excellent meal and we were thankful that we did not have to eat out. 31 Mar; We were up at 6 AM as we needed to pack the rest of our belongings, which included the Satellite and then we had to leave the Park Model clean and tidy. The landlord was not available as he had left for a Cruise about a week earlier so he ask us to turn of the Water and Power Off and to leave the keys on the storage shed. He is very trusting but then so are we. By 8 AM we were finally on our way but we had to head for " The Golden Arches " for our fix of coffee and an Egg McMuffin before starting this journey. I must admit ;it is kind of a relief to head down the road. Since we have traveled this route several time we decided to get off the Freeway and to go across country. It is somewhat slower but you get to see the countryside and to go thru several small farming town, which are always interesting. Most Winter Texans never " stop to smell the roses" . They drive like Hell to get to Texas and drive like Hell to get home. What a boring life for those folks. We got to Ft. Stockton, TX around 5:30 so we called it a day, found a nice hotel for 70.00 and then went for a Chinese supper. Ft. Stockton about 35,000 and is an Oil Town, much like Medicine Hat so there is lots of Oil Service vehicles and of course many 3/4 Ton trucks.

Getting Ready to Leave

Starting around mid March RVers and Renters are slowly starting to pack up or for the Home owners , they are preparing to close-up. Closing a home in TX does take some preperation such as getting the Pest Control company to spray inside your home, along the baseboards and under the cupboards to make sure those little bugs don't use your home as a residence while you are away. The outside perperation is slightly more enduring. The Pest company has to remove several pieces of skirting so they can crawl under the house and spray for those bugs that like to live under that area home. The main culprits are Ants and Termites. However, I must admit I have never seen a Termite nor has anyone I have spoken too. But as long as the Pest company convince you that it is there " Spraying " that keeps them at bay , people will continue to pay the 65.00 to ease there mind. I can just imagine how much Chemical must be soaked into the ground under these homes after 10 or 20 years of spraying. 25 Mar; All this to say that we had the Pest Control company spray Doreen Ludwar's home as she did not come this year due to the passing of her husband in Dec. 26 Mar; OH NO; another Happy Hour to say so long to some more friends that we met while " serving time" as a winter Texan. Mel and Ron are from Ottawa ( Ron was a Mountie ) and where leaving on Tues so they invited several friends to "clean up " the residule snack food and refreshments than might not last until next Dec. I realize the Rye, Rum etc will not spoil but beer must be consumed as it would get Skunky. 27 Mar; We decided this would be Pool day as we have not taken advantage of the pool as we should have. They Pool is always a great place to Swap storys with peole you never met before and , amazingly enough, it is were you find all the necessary info about where to go and what to see and ,more important where the bargains are. You must remember, Seniors like to hear the words ; Cheap, Discount, Coupons and Free. Anyhow, we had our last " Happy Hour " with our neighbours ( Roy and Bya Jewsbury ) and from Dauphin, MB as they were leaving for home on Monday. We became good friends our the past 3 months and I'm sure we will keep in touch and hopefully meet again on our travels.