I'm happy to hear that things are going better for your mom and grandpa. I'll definitely keep them in my thoughts and prayers. How are you holding up?
Jasmine wants me to send you another
Glad to hear things are looking a bit better.
Glad things are getting better
Oh, Lisa!
I'm holding up OK, thanks. I felt somewhat better after speaking with my mom last night and this morning - oh, and I gave her heck for scaring me and my stepdad half to death! 
She's not feeling much better yet, but I'm hoping the antibiotics that she started yesterday will kick in soon so that she can feel more like her regular self 
I haven't gotten an update on my grandpa yet, my dad doesn't call until the afternoon when those visiting Grandpa in the morning check in with him.
to Minnie!).
Too much "surprise" probably wouldn't go over all that well with Tigger, so I'm hoping the low-key approach might work better. What do you all think?
Sunday, we are driving to Seattle for a Mariners game. We'll stop on the way for breakfast and eat lunch at the game. The boys cannot wait for three reasons: (1) they get to see their first MLB game (we don't have a major league team here 
); (2) they get to go across the border (they love this, don't ask me why, no clue LOL); and (3) the extra stuff for this particular baseball game (they each get an Ichiro jersey and they each get to run the bases on the field after the game). Gonna be fun! 
Does that mean he has to do it again? I'd be mighty ticked myself.
I'm glad you at least have an idea about what's going on with your mom. Not knowing is always harder.
So, your Grandpa got all "cleaned out" for his colonoscopy a day early?
I've spoken to her multiple times every day and, unfortunately, she doesn't yet feel any better. Her doctor has confirmed that it is lower lobe pneumonia and told her that she should expect it to take at least a month for her to feel "normal" again! 
She's not impressed He did have the procedure yesterday and the results were normal, so that's good! On the other hand, they've discovered that the two sides of his heart beat at different rates, so they're trying to find a blood thinner that will fix that 
DD is taking French in school and whenever we watch the film in France-even though it is a little old and corny we get a little weepy... I'd love to be able to go to Provence and the Cote d'Azur someday-I''ll bet Nice was wonderful...
Hey Lisa,
I just read the first half of your thread and wanted to say hello...
Hi Patricia! 
to my little PTR!I'm really enjoying it-your boys are really cute...and I think the way DH let you know about the money for the trip was just lovely...
From what I've seen of your plans so far they look great...we're going to be eating at Chefs-and I'm looking forward to it...I love French food-We've been to Paris several times and are hoping to be able to go as a family in the Spring...(with a day trip to Disneyland Paris of course...
We'll be doing Rosetta Stone French for Homeschool Level 1 this year - hopefully, we'll all be fluent quickly! You definitely should go to Nice - it's a gorgeous city! Full of history, fabulous food, friendly people, gorgeous scenery, etc. Monaco was a blast too - my boys and Grumpy got the biggest kick out of driving the race route for the Monaco Grand Prix (so much so that they drove it multiple times during the five times we went to Monte Carlo ). We miss the region and hope to be able to go back soon. Honestly, we'd love to LIVE there (it's very difficult to move there permanently, unfortunately - we've looked into it).Ok I think i"m all caught up. I hope your mom starts to feel better really soon.
Hopefully your grandpa will be up and about soon also.
I'm happy to say that my grandpa was allowed to go home yesterday afternoon and is feeling a lot better 
hug: again, Minnie!). They're neat looking - two large pages with one park on each side, a welcome letter with "tips" and a little sheet of circles to mark the maps.
Great Saturday
We had a great day yesterday - went to Steveston (a little area in Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver). It's sort of a fishing tourist area - quaint shops, nice boardwalk, etc. We enjoyed our special treat of lunch at PaJo's - IMO, the best fish & chips in Canada - and ate our lunch sitting in adironack chairs looking at the ocean
...
...On a sad note
I've just been told that Tigger's goldfish (King Arthur) has gone to goldfish heaven (aka where goldfish go when they're flushed down the toilet) - Tigger's OK with it, but Mickey needed lots of information and understanding to cope with it. He's OK now, but is watching his fish (Nemo) much more often than before.
To be fair, those goldfish didn't really have a fighting chance. The boys "won" them at a local Canada Day festival (they had a bunch of childrens' games). Those fish spent the day like this - getting dumped into a childrens' swimming pool with hundreds of other goldfish, being chased around said pool by countless children taking turns catching the fish with nets on long poles, being put into a ziploc bag with some pool water after being "won" by each child, being carried around the festival for an hour on a hot day in full sunshine, having a ride home in our truck and then being put into the fish tank. Not a good start, I'm afraid. I told the boys on the way home from the festival that these were "training" fish and that these fish would teach them how to take care of fish, in order for the boys to be able to take care of "real" fish. I was trying to cushion the blow kwim?
...Before we had a cat and dog-we had goldfish for my dd (ds wasn't born just yet...) we had Harry, Ron, Hermione, Fred, George and Hagrid and they all died within a week of each other-I think Hagrid was the last to go...it would have been comical if it hadn't been sad...We've been having a busy summer so far. Grumpy and I have planned for one fun activity per weekend this summer, which is going well! Last weekend, we went to the Space Centre and Planetarium.
Pacific Space Centre
The Space Centre was great - it has lots of interactive exhibits and games relating to space travel, lots of astronaut memorabilia (the best of which was a big display of some stuff that Dr. Robert Thirsk had with him last time he was in space; he's currently at the International Space Station on an extended mission. The boys thought it was awesome that not only is he Canadian, he's also from BC!) and even a simulator ride through space to shoot down an asteriod from Mars (I think that's what it was about; Grumpy and the boys went on that, no simulator rides for me lol). We also went to a show/lecture from one of the scientists on figuring out where you are on earth, using a GPS using a satellite, and lots of info on satellites. Great show, lots of audience participation and interaction.
Planetarium
The Planetarium was wonderful as well - we saw a show about Galileo and his telescope, his discoveries and his struggle to convince his contemporaries that his theories were correct. This was Tigger's favourite part of the day because the actor playing Galileo chose him to answer some questions about gravity (which he answered correctly) and join in the show a bit! The planetarium is cool - it's a dome theatre with chairs in a round formation around a central operations area. They project 360 degree pictures, lasers, etc. on the inside of the dome and you just recline back and enjoy the show.
After the Galileo show, we went for dinner in the area, then went for a long walk on the Seawall. I used to live in the West End of Vancouver when I was in my late teens/early 20s and walking along the Seawall was such a big part of living there! After our dinner and walk, we went back to the Planetarium for a show called "Laser Coldplay". It was an incredible laser show set to the music of Coldplay (Tigger's favourite group) - amazing!
Observatory
One of my favourite parts of the day was after the Laser Coldplay show. We went to the Planetarium's Observatory, which houses a massive telescope. The astronomer had set the telescope to view Saturn and it's rings - so amazing! Then, my favourite part happened. The astronomer told everyone to go outside the observatory and look where he was pointing. We all looked and voila, the International Space Centre flew overhead in their regular orbit (did you know the ISS orbits the earth 17 times every day? I didn't!). Magical
Unsurprisingly, this long day renewed our interest in space travel! We were just glued to NASA TV listening to Mission Control and watching the major preparations for the Space Shuttle Endeavour to launch. It was disappointing the two times the launch was cancelled, but it was pure magic yesterday to listen to the launch NASA TV and watch it at the same time on CNN. Awesome
Another really amazing thing we're looking forward to is being able to Twitter with the Space Shuttle Commander while he's in space! I signed up on Twitter specifically because I read on the NASA site that the Commander was going to Twitter from the shuttle. Tigger, Mickey and I cannot WAIT until he does! We've been watching and waiting, but he hasn't yet...
I can't believe it! Tigger can now say that he's communicated with an astronaut IN SPACE!! The Endeavour Commander Twittered a bit ago and Tigger Twittered back - he's just on cloud nine now! Me too! Too amazing!
I've spoken to her multiple times every day and, unfortunately, she doesn't yet feel any better. Her doctor has confirmed that it is lower lobe pneumonia and told her that she should expect it to take at least a month for her to feel "normal" again!
I hope she starts to feel a bit better-it will perk up her spirits...
you and your family are still in my thoughts and prayers!!
Those maps are beautiful, I ordered some a few years back and was so surprised they were so good and free?!
We're planning to go to Mount Seymour or Grouse Mountain this weekend for our family outing - I love the fact that we can go to the ocean (beach is 5 minutes away) and go to the mountains (about 45 minutes away) on the same day; same morning even 2. Speaking of fish-poor little goldfish-I agree that those "carnival" goldfish don't stand much of a chance...I'm not sure that goldfish are all that hardy to begin with though...
My DS has just started reading about space and we were talking about Apollo 11-how cool to be twittering with a real astronaut...
It's really hard to be patient but her doctor is spot on...I only had walking pneumonia last year and it took me at least 4-6 weeks...to feel truly better-what do they say-time is the best healer in this it is true.
Yes, she is starting to feel better now, thankfully! Now she's just annoyed that she can't physically do all the stuff she's used to doing I hope that your Mom and Grandpa are getting better and better!!
My mom is starting to feel better, but my grandpa has been readmitted to the hospital, unfortunately. I'm getting regular updates from my dad though, so that helps me cope.I've heard only great things about the "Guide to Magic" book...tempted myself, but my DS is still a bit young, although, I'd love it, I'm sure!
I think leaving the maps for the boys to find is a great way to surprise them!
I do think I'm going to do it that way - low-key is the best approach to use with Tigger if you want a good outcome, so that seems like it would work (I hope!).
and 
for your Mom and Grandpa and I hope they will both be on the mend soon! but read mine, both ordered books from them I assume on their website. I'd say if you have proper and updated security on your computer and it's a locked page when you enter your info you should be OK. I want to read it!
