Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays - Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all. This year's Christmas has come and gone again. It always seems to creep up on you and then before you know it is over.
We had a really good Christmas though. The best Christmas gift that I received was that my vomiting has ended. I am off the Zofran pills finally. I still feel nauseated at times but I can handle that. I almost feel like I now have the morning sickness aspect of being pregnant, as I typically feel sick in the morning, then I eat something and feel fine.
The other exciting aspect is that I can definitely feel the baby kicking, poking and moving about inside me. It seems to like to hang out right under my right ribs, as I seem to feel the babe there daily now. It is cool that Ryan is able to feel the baby now, it is a neat thing to share.
We had our "big" ultrasound the on December 21st. This is the scan in which they can tell us the gender of the babe. We had decided to not find out and we kept to our decision. It was awful tempting to know that the ultrasound tech beside me knew exactly what we were having. It will be a good surprise though, and as one lady said it may be inspiration to get the baby out. The scan went well though, everything that they looked for was there. The estimated weight of the babe was 10 ounces. I will post a pic of the ultrasound.
The first of many girlfriends had her baby this week. Aliesha had a baby girl Ava Grace on Thursday. I am so excited for them. Congratulations Aliesha, Steve and little Ava! Next will be either Nat or Leanne, then Heidi and then me!
We traveled to Ontario twice as I had to work on Christmas Eve, so we had to come back for me to work and then left again on Christmas Day. We got to spend time with our families which was great. I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

Marshmallow World

Yes, we are living in a marshmallow world, and I love it! This morning when I was awaken by a loud clang of thunder I wondered what month I had slept until. I looked out the window to the blustery snow and tried to forget that I had to get up soon to drive to work. We had two loud clangs of thunder along with lightning. Pretty strange phenomenon to be having that during a snow storm.

I love the marshmallow world that fresh snow brings. I looked out the window at the trees covered in snow, the snow stacked up on the branches that later that day fluttered to the ground. The cars that were outside where a round mound of snow, actually looking like marshmallows. Oh, how I would have loved to have the day off. Just to sit and watch the snow come down and watch some Christmas movies with Ryan, perhaps by a roaring fire. However, the sick where a' callin, and off went the "sleigh" (as Ryan and I call the Grand Prix in the winter) into the storm. It was a slow go with horrid roads, or rather paths, and poor visibility, but me and the babe made it to work fine.

Work was a rather strange day. It was nice in the fact that many visitors where unable to make it in. I know that sounds horrible to say, but it is nice when there isn't a whole gaggle of people milling around your patients room as you come in and out trying to dance around them to do your job. My day was strange in the way of the people I cared for. Strange stories, strange personalities, strange habits, just plain strange people. My one patient tried to pet my face when I would bend over her, and she called me "her treasure." Now, if this was a cute little 85 year old lady, that would be fine, but rather this was a 43 year old lady, who told me even though she couldn't see with out her contacts in, I was really pretty. So, you can see how my day was just plain strange. Maybe it had to do with the thunder crashes from the morning - just set people off.

Christmas is just around the corner, and we are doing pretty good. Most of the gifts are bought. Ryan started to wrap this weekend, which is a great help. All the cards have been sent out, except for the neighbours. The house isn't decorated with my normal splendor but it is fine for this year, I just didn't feel up to it.

On the pregnancy front, I think I am starting to feel a tiny bit better. I had a couple of days without my Zofran pill. The first day I felt pretty good. I went out shopping, and only had a few incidents in which I thought I may be sick. I didn't feel 100% on the second day, but I got through it. I just wish my appetite would improve. I have started to feel the baby moving about inside me. Which is exciting. Ryan even thought he felt it moving last Sunday night which was cool. I haven't a clue what gender this babe is. I use to think girl, and now I am just clueless. Today, I listened to the heart beat at work, just checking in on it. The baby was moving around quite a bit so I couldn't get a real accurate heart rate. I think it was around 150. We go on Thursday for our anatomical ultrasound. This is the ultrasound where they could tell you what sex the baby is. We have decided we can wait until May. We might as well enjoy the surprise.

Anyways, I am exhausted and my back is killing me. Off to bed, night night all.

November Update

Well, I haven't written much this month again. I guess I am still battling with my body's reaction to this little being inside me. The nausea and vomiting has not subsided yet leaving me disappointed. I am now into my 15th week and I was quite hopeful by now I would be feeling more like the "old Kelly" that I have grown to miss. My MD told me at my last visit that it could last until 18 weeks, so I guess there is nothing to do but stick it out. I still haven't gained any weight. Even though I am starting to look rounder, especially in my eyes, the scales are not climbing. I am still down 8 pounds from the beginning of this journey. What is driving me really nuts is the way that people seem to judge me. It is almost like people think I am trying not to gain weight. People will tell me I need to eat more, or my favourite, that I am starving the baby. Do people really think that I am enjoying this feeling of nausea, the gagging feeling whenever I put something into my mouth. Believe me, I would love to be big - have gained a gazillion pounds by now. I expected it to be that way, not this way where I am still depending on pills and ginger ale daily. Anyone that has dealt with nausea, especially this hyperemesis state in which I can get into, understands what I am going through. But the majority of people think that it is just part of being pregnant and that to suck it up. I would love for those people to live a couple of days with my stomach. Then maybe they wouldn't be so judgemental.

Anyways, enough with that rant. November has come and gone quickly. We celebrated Ryan's 28th birthday on November 14th. This is the first time that we have gone out to eat at a restaurant since the day that we found out we were pregnant. We went to "Famous Dave's" and ate some BBQ. It was pretty good. I especially liked the baked beans and the potatoes. All in all, I think Ryan had a good day. His day at work sucked, he didn't even take a lunch break but once he got home he said his birthday was good.

Thanksgiving has come and gone, and in reflection I believe I started this blog about a year ago when I was getting ready for our Thanksgiving party. This year we decided to forgo the festivities as I have been so sick and really didn't feel like putting on a party for 24 people and having 17 sleep over. We did miss our families not being here. This is the first Thanksgiving that we haven't celebrated since we came here four years ago. However, I did work Thanksgiving day, which means more excitedly, I will be off for Christmas Day! I have been scheduled to work every Christmas day since I became a nurse. I am very excited about that.

Drum Roll Please . . . .

Well, today I have quite a large announcement for all you my fellow bloggers. It will explain my absence from the blogging world over the past couple of months. It is not that I have been on a secret mission for the government, or fighting the terrible fires in California.. It is much more exciting. ... Wait for it, hear it comes.... We are PREGNANT!

Yeppers, I thought I needed to join all you others - Aliesha, Leanne, Natalie, Heidi, Megan. So here we are, tomorrow we will be 13 weeks. We are so excited and looking forward to this new journey in our life.

I had been home to my parent's for a weekend to help my friend Patti pick out her wedding dress. At that point I was only a couple of days late on my period. But I felt very tired and I felt just different. Ryan and I were trying to get pregnant so it is always in your mind that maybe you are pregnant. Anyways, on the way home from my parent's I stopped and bought a home pregnancy test. As soon as I got home, I took the test and sure enough it was positive. We read, and reread the instructions. Making sure we were reading it right. We looked at each other in shock/happiness. We couldn't believe it was true. We went out to celebrate at Carraba's as all I wanted to eat was vegetables. I craved vegetables for the first couple of weeks. All I wanted was vegetables, vegetables, vegetables. Little did I know that soon I wouldn't be craving anything. At this point, I was cocky, and thought. I feel great. I am going to be one of the 20 % who doesn't get morning sickness. Boy was I wrong.

So, let me recap our last 3 months for you. I guess I could have titled this blog "Ode to the toilet" and that would pretty much sum up the first trimester. I am just reading my diary and I see that on week 5 I got my first episode of nausea. Before that point, I was feeling absolutely great. I was eating well, exercising, and feeling generally wonderful. Week 6 hit with a vengeance. I was vomiting non stop. Yeah! I was sick for 36 hours straight. I couldn't keep anything down. Not even a Popsicle, or a sip of ginger ale. So much for the vegetables. We called the Doctor and got into see him. I had lost 4 pounds since my initial visit, 2 weeks before and I couldn't even sit up in the clinic. The doctor looked worried. He was telling me about if he admitted me it would be for 3 days and such. We decided to try some anti emetic medication first and if that didn't work then he would have to admit me. Luckily the pills worked. By that night, I was eating a Popsicle without throwing it up. He did put me off work for about a week and half, and gave me the diagnosis of Hyperemesis gravidarum. Then I had an episode of spotting. Which put me in for an ultrasound at week 8 to "check viability". Talk about nervousness. But when we heard that little heart beat and saw the pack of cells, which would become our baby, Ryan and I were overjoyed.

Canadian Thanksgiving arrived and we decided we were going to tell our family. We wanted everyone to know, and I felt I needed their support through this sickness. Up to that point, only my sister Pam knew. So, I made announcement cards with a copy of the 8 week ultrasound and gave them to our immediate family. Everyone thought they were opening Thanksgiving cards, so they was really surprised. It was great to see their reaction and their excitement.

So, with my anti emetic pills, I have been getting through this pregnancy. I have still been battling periods of vomiting and of course the nausea doesn't really go away. But it is bearable, and definitely worth it in the long run. I am starting to feel more like myself. Not as tired and maybe not as nauseated. I am hoping that soon it will be gone.

Last week, we had our first part of our Sequential screen. This is a test that helps detect neurotube defects, Downs, and Trisomy 18. You get an ultrasound and blood work done sequentially. It was so cool to actually see a baby inside me this time. We could see the face so clearly. The baby was moving around. It looks like the baby is having a great time inside me, stretching and just hanging out. As well, to hear the heart rate is just unbelievable. This is definitely one of the most coolest things we have ever done. At this point, we have decided that we are not going to find out the sex of the baby. Here are the pics of our baby. The baby has its arms above their head, just lounging out inside me... so cute.

Hot Topics

Every day people discuss "hot topics" as the ladies on "The View" would say. These are the topics that make the news and that people talk about. These are the Brittney Spears and Paris Hilton stories that may or may not include their underwear. Our society is seeking these hot topics when we all have our own that could use our own attention.
These are a couple of my thoughts for today that are in my brain... So I guess these are "Kelly's Hot Topics"

1. Teachers
Teachers help to mold our children into educated individuals. Do we hear about the hard work that a teacher puts into their day.... Staying late, going in on weekends to get caught up, planning extra curricular activities, meeting with parents, the list goes on and on. Or do we hear about the teacher's aid who lost it and stapled a note to a child's forehead. (True story in the Detroit area about a couple of weeks ago!) Sadly we hear about the stapled head incident while thousands of teachers are out their putting their effort into your kids. Or we hear about the bad teachers that do unthinkable things to kids. I have family and friends who are teachers and I think that we should applaud their daily efforts. This can't be an easy job in this day and age. Children know that they have been given the power over the classroom as they threaten to tell their parents if the teacher makes them do anything they don't want to do. And you have to wonder, without the teachers where would we all be today?

2. Comfort at the End of Life
Have you ever watched anyone die? I am sure that some of you have with your family members, be it grandparents or parents. This is part of my daily work life. Recently I have been caring for a very sweet man who is probably not going to survive this hospitalization. He is 70 years old and has been fighting cancer for the last year and a half. When I say fighting, I mean it. He walks for 2 hours a day on a tread mill, goes to chemo and radiation and still keeps a positive attitude. Unfortunately, he has a very serious type of pneumonia and he is requiring lots of oxygen via a mechanical ventilator. His vent settings are such that we are at the end of the line as you would say. He lies in his bed, in a sedated coma state. We turn him as often as we can but with movement he decompensates and it takes so long to recover. Sitting beside him, holding his hand is his wife of 52 years. She smiles at me through her misty eyes. She knows it is bad, but she has hope. "He is a fighter." She will reason with me. She tells me it gives her comfort to know that I am caring for him. She says she can stay at home a half hour longer to pay the bills, as she is trying to figure out the bills her husband always paid. She brings us, the nurses, daily nourishment be it cookies or a bag of nuts. She is so thankful for the care her husband is receiving. Every day she walks into the ICU she walks in with her smile. This smile breaks my heart as this smile is constant in her 4 kids. To see them going through this phase of life; watching their dad/husband dying is hard.
She asked me once "How can you be so caring and kind when you see patients not getting better. Isn't it hard for you to be surrounded by this?"
I told her simply "No. I love my job."
She probed a little further "Well, I guess most of your patients get better right?"
I smiled at her, held her hand "When it is some one's time to go, even the miracles of medicine can't stop them."
She smiled at me through her weepy eyes and shook her head. She understands what I am saying.

Ode to September

Bright sunny days. Clear blue skies. This last week has been heavenly and deserves to be appreciated in an "Ode". However, I am not an "Ode" writer. Rather just a blogger, but here is a go at an "Ode to September" Kelly style.....

I love September. It is one of the best months of the year.

The sun shines. The temperature does not soar to unbearable highs but relaxing temperatures where sitting in the sun is enjoyable.

Trees starting to turn, ever so slightly. Giving us a hint of what might be hiding under their greenery.

I hear kids walking to school as I laze in my bed early in the morning. Bikes pedalling, scooters zooming, and sneakers sneaking by.

People whistle as they walk. Breathing in the lovely air. Forgetting about what is to come. The cold and snow.

Drums pounding, clarinets tooting, and saxophones squawking as the marching band practices for the big game on Friday. These sounds travel into our outside dining room as we enjoy our nightly dinners.

Friday night games at the high school are tradition in the US. Saturday football is tradition in my living room. All signs of September.

Oversized sweaters and sweater socks. Blankets and lazing - a lovely thought.

September is a time to sit back and relax. How you relax is up to you, but that is some of what September means to me. Slow October's arrival, because with October comes the rake for the all the leaves . . .

The Big Outing

As an ICU nurse, I often do not see patients for a long period of time. I see them in their weakest state and try to nurture them back to a state of mending. Often I will tend to patients that can't make their needs known because they are on a mechanical ventilator. I love caring for the sick, and I enjoy the challenge of making them better. The other side of the coin is that I see patients deteriorating and often I find myself reassuring and comforting families that we are caring for their loved ones and assist them onto their final phase of life. The thing I miss most in working in the ICU is seeing people go home. Hardly ever do I discharge a patient back to their homes. I use to enjoy wheeling a patient down to their cars and seeing them drive away happy to be released from the hospital.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. One of those perfect days that you don't want to end. In the summer time I always try to eat my lunch outside on the patio off our cafeteria. Yesterday was one of those days when I was sitting out by myself, reading my novel and trying to forget that I had to go back upstairs to work in a half an hour. The sky was a perfect blue with not a cloud in the sky, and there was a nice breeze that would come by and make the temperature perfect.

Upon returning to the unit and to my two patients I found myself with an idea. I was going to take my patient outside today.

My patient has been in our unit since March. He has had many complications and is now ventilator dependent. He has been outside one other time since March. One time. One time in almost six months. Not to mention that he was in our unit starting in January, and was transferred out to another sub-acute facility. So really, counting his two ambulance rides, he has been outside 3 times since January. I called the doctor and got the approval to "Go outside, let him enjoy it".

Yesterday was a good day for my patient. He had his speaking valve in his trach and was eating ice cream. Chocolate ice cream is his favourite. His doting wife was at his bedside, just happy to hear his voice again. He hadn't had his talking valve on in about a week. He ate 2 cups of Chocolate Ice Cream. He was happy. I walked into the room as he was watching TV. He loves all the old shows, like "Leave it to Beaver", "I love Lucy", all that stuff. It is always on in a loud volume because his hearing isn't that good.
He smiles at me as I stand beside. It is nice to see him smile, his chocolate coated lips. I take a wash cloth and wipe off his lips and say to him.
"Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure, darling" He says as he looks at me with anticipation.
I ask him to keep his pulse ox monitor on for the next 30 minutes because I want to watch his oxygen level. He has a habit of taking his finger probe off. I would too if I had been wearing it for 6 months.
He shakes his head and says okay. Then I drop the bomb shell on him.
I tell him "If your oxygen level remains stable, I was wondering if you would like to go outside for a bit today. It is a perfect day, not too humid..."
"OH yes!" He grabs his finger probe and puts it on his finger. His wife squeals with joy at the bedside saying "Really Kelly?"
I shake my head, saying I have gotten the "OK". I tell him it will be about 30 minutes. He looks at the clock and calculates how many minutes it will be until 30 minutes are here. His wife grabs her cell phone and races out to call their 6 kids. The definition of happiness is radiating from both of them.
As I am in the room, getting prepared to go outside. Getting the cardiac chair. Unhooking his j-tube, unhooking his Picc, getting the right oxygen hook up and oxygen tank and unhooking him from the monitor, my patient turns to me and says
"Where are we going to go?"
I say back to him "Where do you want to go?"
He looks at me straight in the eyes and says simply "Home."

Three of us pull him over to the chair. We sit him up he says he his uncomfortable. We lay him back and put more pillows under his sore bottom. 3 pillows in total. We sit him up again and he says it is "okay" and he wants to go.

His wife and I head outside me pushing a chair that really did have a mind of its own, and is pretty tall and hard for me to see over. We head down the hallway to the doorway and it is tiled flooring. Thunk, thunk, thunk. We get to the outside door and we are outside. The air hits him in the face and he smiles. Then he grimaces. He is in pain. So much pain that he wants to go back upstairs. The tiled floor had shifted his position in the chair and he was no longer comfortable. His bottom is again sore.

The great outing only lasted 5 minutes but it was worth it when he grabbed my hand as I was busy hooking him back up and he said to me "Thank you."

Visit from the in-laws

This weekend we had a last minute visit from Ryan's parents. I really enjoy when they come to visit, and I am not just saying that because I know they read the blog :)

We enjoyed our time together just eating good food and catching up. Yesterday was such a gorgeous day that we enjoyed it by working outside. Lorraine and I went to the garden center and bought some mums and planted them where some of my tired pansies where. We also bought a rose bush to replace the one that died this year. I love working outside and that we what we did yesterday..and I still worked some more today on it. Here is my new rose bush. I hope this one lives through the winter.

The highlight of the trip was probably the massage that Lorraine and I went to on Saturday when she got here. Heavenly.... is all I need to say.

Thanks for the great visit.. see you in a couple of weeks.

Cottage retreat

Ryan and I went away last week over the weekend to my family cottage. We enjoyed a sense of stopped time at the cottage. This gives you time to reflect upon the fast pace of the life we all live. The song by Bucky Covington "A different world" had become one of my favourite songs before we had gone to the cottage but some of that song rings true for the cottage way of life.

We were born to mothers who smoked and drank
Our cribs were covered in lead-based paint
No childproof lids
No seat belts in cars
Rode bikes with no helmets
and still here we are
Still here we are
We got daddy's belt when we misbehaved
Had three TV channels you got up to change
No video games and no satellite
All we had were friends and they were outside
Playing outside
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world
School always started the same everyday
the pledge of allegiance, then someone would pray
not every kid made the team when they tried
We got disappointed but that was alright
We turned out alright
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world
No bottled water
We'd drink from a garden hose
And every Sunday,
All the stores were closed.
It was a different life
When we were boys and girls
Not just a different time
It was a different world

The things that rang out to me is the 3 TV channels that you have to get up and change, and if you want clearer reception you have to go outside and manually redirect the Aeriel as one person stands inside and communicates if you are getting clearer or not.
You don't see people on cell phones at the cottage. You don't see kids with ipods running around. You see kids playing in sand and looking for crayfish. Simple life...
We enjoyed that simple cottage life for about 5 days. I forgot the camera so no photos to share. We are already looking ahead to our next trip to the cottage to get back to nature and recharge our batteries.

Name this paw print..

While gardening yesterday I spied this track in my side garden. Any guesses as to what animal this belongs to. Another key to this equation is that all my sweet corn was gone by some sort of critters. I think I see the connection. So what do you all think, give me a guess...

Garden Treasures

Yesterday we feasted on our garden delights. We also enjoyed some of our fresh basil, and oregano with our meal. This most interesting thing in this pic is the apple. I thought we had a flowering pear tree. But my mother in law found this apple on it. We all enjoyed a piece and we are all still here today. So anyone ever heard of a flower pear-apple tree??

Eat your heart out Martha Stewart

Mmmm... nothing is more symbolic of a late summer eve but a warm peach pie, Ryan's favourite.

Can't wait to dig into this tasty treat.

Up, Up, and Away with Hot Air and Wine

On the next day, which was Saturday, we pulled our luggage a couple of blocks to the Hertz rental center. I won't even get started on the Hertz rental car center other than to say it was a horrible long hour and a half waiting outside while all these people moved cars around in a chaotic fashion and no one seemed to be leaving with a rental car.

Anyways, we got into our little red car and headed north out of the city of San Francisco. We were on our way to the wine country - Sonoma. Historically, Sonoma is the original place where wine making started. The town of Sonoma began in 1823 when missionary Jose Altimira declared Sonoma Valley as the best site he had seen for a new mission. We really loved the city of Sonoma, it has the Sonoma plaza which is a town square and is the largest of its kind in California. It was built in 1836, turning Sonoma from a mission town to a Mexican style pueblo. It also has the original city hall which is in the center of the Plaza and was originally designed with four identical facades so that merchants from any side of the square could say the City Hall faced their businesses. All around the Sonoma plaza where unique shops. Our favourite was the cheese shop. We stopped there as soon as we got into town and bought some cheese for our picnic at one of the wineries for that afternoon.

The first winery that I wanted to go to was called Benzinger's Family Winery. This winery interested me because they had a tram tour which consisted of you riding along in a wagon through their vineyard and the "farmer" explaining how they produce their wine. On this 85 acres of vineyard the Benzinger family uses organic and Biodynamic wine growing practices.

The Massey 375 tractor pulls a tram of visitors through the Sonoma estate vineyards, gardens and wildlife sanctuaries for a 45-minute adventure in winegrowing. Along the way, we stopped to take a closer look at the vines, taste the grapes.We also got to learn more about the site-specific farming practices and enjoy the breathtaking scenery. We also got to visit the underground estate caves and our tour ended with the wine tasting in Glen Ellen tasting room.

We really liked this winery as it was all organic and I enjoyed the tour, as I didn't know much about wine making, and now I know a little bit more. We then headed off to another winery called "Imagery". This winery is owned and operated by the Benzinger Family, so we got a free wine tasting at this location from the Benzinger farm. Eager to make the wines at Imagery more distinctive, the Benzinger Family established this new and remarkable wine facility. The focus at this winery is small case production of several varieties including some unusual types. The Imagery Artist collection of wines features beautiful labels created by various artists. The tasting room features a gallery of wine label art as well as other works of art. You won’t find any of these wines for sale in stores or restaurants. The wines are sold only through the winery. We really enjoyed Imagery's wines and here we decided to join the wine club. This means that 6 times a year we will receive 2 bottles of wine from them. The wines where very tasty here, and the different labels all with the Benzinger Parthenon on it made it so unique. Each artist is given the creative freedom to make the label as he or she wishes, however it must contain the Benzinger Parthenon, which is located on the Benzinger farm.

It was here, after our many wine tastings, that we had our picnic. We sat under a tree and had fresh sour dough bread, cheese, fresh strawberries, and danishes. It was really lovely.

We then headed back to the town of Sonoma to check into our Inn. We stayed at the MacArthur Place which was located just blocks from the Sonoma Plaza. It was a 64 room Inn which was originally a prestigious 300 hundred-acre vineyard and working ranch with prized horses. We stayed in the original manor house, which has 10 rooms and was built in 1850. This place had a spa, which I didn't have time to utilize, it had a heavenly outdoor pool, and lovely gardens. This was a great day. The only downfall was that I had one heck of a cold at this time. Good thing there was no close ups of me because me nose was pretty raw!

Now, the next day I had a surprise for Ryan. I had told him as soon as I saw him when I got to San Francisco, I guess I am not very good at keeping surprises. I had booked a hot air balloon ride for the next morning with a company called Balloons over the Valley. With the help of the concierge at the MacArthur Place, we were booked on a 5:30 am excursion to balloon over the Napa Valley. Now, like I had said earlier there was a lot of fog in the San Francisco area, well it followed us to Napa. So when we got picked up at 5:30, Amy, our driver, said that we would be flying over an area called Winter's because the Napa valley was too foggy and we wouldn't see anything. This turned out to be to our benefit as we learned later. The balloons can not go as high in the valley as they can in the area that we we went. And it was very clear that day, we could see upwards to 70 miles, all the way to Sacramento. We went up with 14 other people and we went to a height of 3800 feet!

Here is a couple of ballons getting inflated. A fan is used to blow cool air into the balloon. Later the burners are used to heat the air as the balloon lies on the ground. Gradually the balloon will rise to an upright position.This is our balloon getting inflated. It was called Journey.

This is looking up into the balloon from where we were standing.

Here we are getting ready for take off. We had great location for good views during our flight.
Here is our shadow as we started to drift away. They fly in the early morning because it is the time when the earth is at its calmest. Just before sunrise is when the weather is the coolest and the winds are the calmest which is ideal for ballooning. We were in air for probably about 1 hour and 1/2. We went up to a height of 3800 feet. It was very quite up there, no one really spoke. It was very peaceful.
Here are some pics from our flight...

\

This was our landing spot. We were in constant communication with our "chase crew" on the ground. One of the guys had to run up that long lane way and ask for permission to see is we could land in their field. We received permission and landed on the far side of this picture.This is a picture of our "chase crew" turning around as we had originally planned to land near that cemetery, all those white specks are crosses, but we had to fly on as the air currents were not going to let us land.Here I am back on land as they roll up the balloon and push out the hot air and put it away until the next flight.

We then headed back to Napa for a Champagne brunch celebration. We received a pin saying that we had flown in a hot air balloon, and we bought a couple of photos from the ride.

Sonoma was definitely the highlight of our trip. We loved the Sonoma valley's beauty and bounty of the wine country. We enjoyed the winery tastings and the tour. The hot air balloon ride was a superb way to end our stay in Sonoma. As I said before, it was just so peaceful and surreal just floating on air - all your worries seemed miles away. I would highly recommend both Sonoma and Balloons over the Valley for a great vacation.

Memories from San Francisco

Ryan had to go to San Francisco for about 10 days a couple of weeks ago. So I went to "pick him up" at the end of his business trip and bring him home.

San Francisco is a pretty unique place. I would have to venture to say that it is one of the only places that I found myself buying a winter coat and scarf on a July evening in California.

We had a whirl wind trip and here are some photos from our time in the "San Francisco treat".

When I arrived on Thursday, Ryan had to work the day so I got into our hotel room and did what any women would do - Go shopping. I had strategically booked a hotel room in the shopping district.

The first night we jumped on the cable car and headed down to "Fisherman's Wharf" and walked around the pier area. Here we could see Alcatraz, as you can see below, we also so the sea lions playing at the pier, and we had the great sour dough bread with some fresh soup. It was a very cold night, and here is where I bought my coat.

The next day we walked, and walked and walked some more. I think we walked for like 10 hours. This is a typical trip for the Hewletts. So we started off the day by going and seeing Grace Cathedral. Which of course is on the top of a hill. San Francisco is up and down all the time, thus causing one to be hot on one street and then cool on the next street.

We then headed off to "Alamo Square". For any of you children of the 80's, you may recall at the beginning of "Full House" when they taped them in the park with the nice houses behind them, this is that spot. We went to see the "Painted ladies", which are the row of houses that have become many post cards from San Francisco.

We then headed off to the "Hippie" center of San Francisco in the 70's, where Janis Joplin lived and the Grateful dead. This is known as Haight/ Asbury area. This place is still pretty "out there" with the smell of incense on the streets, retro clothing stores with what I am sure I witnessed some people still enjoying the recreational drugs that have made this district famous. I was pretty tired by this time so we found a park that I am sure housed some suspect individuals, but at that point I didn't care and I found a place to lay back and relax.

We then carried on our journey to the Golden Gate Park, which is like the Stanley park of San Francisco. Really, really huge and lots to see and do. We went to the Shakespeare gardens which was pretty neat. We went into their massive arboretum and we walked and walked some more. We found a grassy area to have yet another rest. Inside the Golden Gate Park there is a Japanese Tea house, so we went over to see that.

We finally decided to catch a bus to make it to our dinner reservations. I had booked a dinner at a restaurant called the "Cliff House". It is directly on the Pacific ocean and it is supposed to have awesome sunsets. However, when I called they did not tell me that it is their foggy season and that we would probably not see the sun at all, let alone setting. It was a pretty nice spot though, and we did see a guy propose to his girlfriend.

All in all, we had a great day. After dinner we hopped back on the bus which took us right to our hotel where we were glad to kick off the sneakers and soak our feet in a hot bath.

A long awaited update

The sun has been shining and calling me to the great outdoors, so I have not been very punctual at keeping up with my blogging. So here is an update on what is shakin in my neck of the woods.

We had a father's day brunch on Father's day for Ryan's dad. His family had been visiting for the weekend and I took the opportunity to host my first ever brunch. I quite enjoyed the brunch. It was great weather so we were able to sit outside on our back porch. I made 3 different kinds of quiches, salad, fresh cinnamon buns, fruits and veggies and fresh strawberry pies for dessert. It was a really nice day.

In late June, we helped Tyler and Claire move into their new home. This is their first home that they have purchased. It is a new construction and is located in Ajax, not far from Ryan's parents. It is a very nice home and we enjoyed helping them move in, and can't wait to come again to see how they have started to make it a home. It was nice while we were in town we got to see some friends from university.

We celebrated the 4th with our niece Emily's arrival for a week. Emily visits us each summer for about a week. This year I got tickets to the Broadway show "High School Musical" and we went and saw that together on Thursday afternoon. We then went to Ryan's work and visited Ryan in his office building. We came home that night and ordered take out pizza to celebrate Emily's report card of all A's and B's.

The next day Emily and I went off to the vegetable farm where we picked some more strawberries, raspberries, and sweet peas. We then headed off to the beach for some swimming in the afternoon. Emily had requested that while she was here she wanted to visit the museum of "Natural History". So, that night we went to Cranbrook's Science museum where we got to see some planets through the observatory. We saw Saturn and its rings, and the planet Jupiter with its 4 moons. As well as some spear heads, fossils, and dinosaur stuff. Emily really enjoyed this.

The next day was little J.J.'s 5th birthday party. Emily got the chance to go "tube riding". She loved it, she went 7 times. She had no fear. J.J.'s party was really great. It was on the beach and Heidi did a great job organizing the games and the kids had a great time. We came home that night and had a camp fire and tired to find some constellations that we had learned about the previous night at the museum.

On Sunday, my sister Pam, Matthew and Jillian arrived for the rest of Emily's stay. It was great to spend some time with all of them. So much so that they are coming back tomorrow for a couple of more days. We spent our days enjoying the hot summer weather. Pam bought a pool for the kids and they enjoyed playing in it. We went shopping. They enjoyed the mailman. We had a good time together. Matthew enjoyed his time with "The boss", as he affectionately calls Ryan. This name is because Ryan is the boss of his house and Matthew has to do what he says when he visits. Here are some pics from their visit.

Yesterday I had a gastroscopy and a colonoscopy done for this nausea and vomiting history that I have had and I had good reports - everything looked fine. Phew! Now, that was not much fun preparing for the tests but it was worth the report in the end.

That is about all I have been up to - oh yeh, I have been working as well. I hope everyone else is enjoying their summer weather. Talk to you soon, Kelly