Dylan and Sean, bless their hearts, set their alarms for 5:30 a.m. so they were sure to be up when Nick woke up. They wanted to intercept him and let me sleep in! Unfortunately, or fortunately, Nick decided that he'd sleep in that day and didn't wake up until after 7:00! So by the time he woke up, the boys were already pretty tired : )
Dylan made breakfast: pancakes and bacon, while Sean took care of the Littles. Then the 6 of us headed off to church and listened to an excellent Mother's Day service. From church, we drove south and went to Val and Dave's to spend some time with the Richeys and my parents. We had a delicious lunch and we presented mom with her Mother's Day/birthday gift: a gift certificate to her favorite nursery. Mom and Lee really don't need much of anything, but nursery gift certficates are always useful.
While we were there my niece Hailey gave Jordyn one of her American Girl dolls, which really helped Jordyn get over the sting of seeing Patience receive Kit the day of her birthday party. Thanks, Hailey! Jordyn really likes that doll and is taking good care of her.
On Sunday Nathan and Don made their way to San Jose and were able to take in game 5 of the Detroit/San Jose series. Unfortunately, San Jose lost that game but at least now Nathan can say that he's been in the Shark Tank for a playoff game...he can check that off his bucket list.
On Monday Nathan and Don completed their drive and arrived at the Pacific Inn at Seal Beach. Our lives got completely back to normal. Dylan and Sean were thankful that Mother's Day was over : )
On Tuesday Nathan reported for duty at his new station! This took a few hours of paperwork and such so while he was gone Don took advantage of the nice weather and beach location and wondered around Seal Beach. That evening my parents arrived from Bellingham into Long Beach. They decided to head down there and help Nathan get settled. Which is really great, since it has been a HUGE undertaking!
On Wednesday Don flew back to Canada and Nathan and my parents were able to see his prospective new condo which we found on Craigslist. It looked amazing online and the owner was more than helpful in letting Nathan get a feel for the layout and location. It proved to be just as good as we thought! Doug, the owner, wanted to give it a fresh coat of paint but told Nathan he could move in on Sunday. So Nathan and my parents have been at the hotel in Seal Beach all week while they waited for the keys.
In the meantime, Nathan's car has been in the shop getting a transmission problem fixed (under warranty, YAY!) so they've been driving a brand new Armada. They've shopped at IKEA for beds, couches, dining sets, desks, etc. and Target for everything else Nathan will need for his household. It's a
Today Nathan's IKEA order is being delivered, so there will be lots of assembly going on! And then tomorrow Nathan's household goods will be delivered from the Coast Guard. I imagine Nathan will be very busy unpacking and then will reward himself with a bike ride along the beach path that runs right outside his condo : ).
My parents are hoping to leave either Wednesday or Thursday, by which time Nathan should be fully settled. He starts work Friday for his first 3-day shift. For Nathan, weekends alternate between being a three-day (Friday-Sunday) work weekend or a three day weekend off. The other four days are work two, off two.
So Don got home Wednesday evening and got back into the swing of reality. He had a great trip with Nathan, though.
Sometime during the week, Dylan got a job offer! He's now working at Freybe Gourmet Meats right here in Aldergrove. It's a full-time job during the summer and then it goes down to part-time during the school year (perfect). The pay is very competitive and they have no problem with Dylan taking a week off for the cruise. Today is his first day (orientation). They have 2 shifts: day shifts from 6-2:30 or evening shifts from 2:30-11:00. This summer he's on days, unless they need him to cover an occasional evening shift. But during the school year he'll only be available to work 1 or 2 evening shifts each week. They're not open on weekends at all. He is very fortunate to have this job! I think I might try to get in here myself when all the Littles are in school full-time.
On Saturday Don and I took the Littles to a local mall for an outing. The idea was that the Littles could play on the play place and it would be a cheap date/outing. Except for that the Children's Place was having a sale and I spent a lot of money on a summer wardrobe for Nick. On our way to the mall, I looked in the back seat where all the Littles were (we were in the Matrix) and this is what I saw:
Yesterday all 7 of us went to church. I can't remember the last time that has happened, but it's been a long while. After church we had some friends over for lunch. The mom offered to bring dessert. Imagine our delight when they showed up with this Dairy Queen ice cream cake!
It was a great day, topping off a great week.
And now, my blogging is all caught up! You don't know what a relief that is! I will try to be better about blogging more frequently. I know a lot of people appreciate seeing current pictures and hearing about current anecdotes. And no one appreciate them more than ME when I got back to read them a few years after the fact when I've long forgotten they ever happened.
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