Monday June 3/13

Monday June 3/13 update  # 472

I knew I should have left at 5am but had decided that rush hour should be over by about 8:45… Wrong!!  The Deerfoot was a parking lot almost immediately so I pulled off for a quick breakfast at the A&W on 130^TH Ave but that didn’t help either.  It was pouring buckets to boot and the traffic had not abated one bit.   I finally asked the Garmin to find me a detour (Thank God I had just updated all the maps) and it brought me nicely over to the newly constructed ring road, Stony Trail to 17 Ave SE.  What a breeze to drive on there!   It must be a well-kept secret because the traffic was negligible.

As a result I was about ¾ hour late getting to my son’s place in Wetaskiwin.   The rain had quit around Red Deer and the weather was positively balmy when I reached Todd’s.

I arrived on the perfect day because not only was it Todd’s day off, but he had been drafted to look after his grand-daughter Sofia.  It was so cute to see him being the doting Grandpa and hovering over the baby with such nervousness.  Todd will turn 45 on the 7^th and calling him a Grandpa sure makes me feel old.

My Great-grand-daughter Sofia is just a sweetheart, not fussy at all and truly a delight.  Todd was certain to follow my sage advice for babies:  Keep one end wet and the other end dry!   It works!!  This little one is pretty windy too, so she must certainly take after our side of the family.   Oh, did I mention she was cute as a button too?   Definitely takes after our side then… lol.

Todd is very involved in gemstones and is a partner in a claim in BC where they have uncovered some amazing rocks, including some that were not expected to be on this continent!  Some day these stones are going to be worth a pretty penny!

Ashley, the pretty partner of our grandson Cody came over to help later in the afternoon too, followed by Janet’s Mom.   His gave Todd a reprieve to be able to go pickup Grandson Tyson, who is now 10 years old, from school.   Last time I was here in Februaury Tyson got engrossed in a video game and hardly spoke 3 words.  This time we had a really long conversation and I gave him some links to some of our family history.  He say he really enjoys school, especially science and social studies.

Before long Janet arrived from work to ply her Grandma charms on Sofia but I guess it is well known that Todd is the one that can generate the smiles from Sofia.

After a lovely supper of burgers I was back on the road to get to Edmonton to tag up with son-in-law Ash and Grandson Dawson at the soccer centre on Victoria Trail.   Dawson was playing goalie in back-to-back inline hockey games.   He is almost 16 and is so darn tall now.  The games were exciting but the aluminum bleachers gave us numb bum.   We had a surprise visit there from our old friend Ken Johnston, then a second surprise when Dawson’s other Grandpa, Gordie, joined us too.   It sure was a pleasant reunion with all those guys.

When we reached north Edmonton my daughter Jill and Grand-daughter Danai were waiting for us.  What a delightful day to be amongst my loving family.  

Thank you to Bella for letting me come north to enjoy Bryna’s wedding, Mom’s 97^th, Todd’s 45^th, and many more events!

That was today’s excitement.  Hugs to all.   

Enjoy the pics at souvenircuenca.blogspot.com