The Tri-Cities Stretch

After Paul flew home, the boys and I had planned to spend quite a lot of time hanging out with my mom and dad. But with my mom in and out of hospital, beginning her first round of chemo, and feeling altogether miserable, things ended up being quite a bit different than what we had planned. She certainly wasn't up to doing anything, and just being around the boys seemed to wear her out (I know that they were certainly wearing me out!). And my dad obviously had lots on his plate and his mind so didn't get to hang out with us as much as I know he would have wanted to.

Instead the boys and I spent quite a bit of time playing at the local playgrounds and splash parks and the kiddie area in the mall and splashing in the little swimming pool in my parent's front yard. Having Holly and Finn and Katie around sure was a lifesaver. We met them at the awesome boat playground at Howard Amon several times, and they babysat the boys for me a couple of times so that I could spend some time with my mom in hospital. And Melissa was terrific too, coming with us to the park so that she could help me with the boys and I could have a little bit of a break from being a single parent.

And speaking of being a single mom, holy cow, I don't know how people do it. I found that I was getting five to six hours of sleep a night by the time I finally got the boys to sleep and then did the dishes and the laundry and made a run to the grocery store. And I was so stressed out, that any little shred of patience that I might possess was stretched to breaking point so often. I don't know how many times I shouted at the boys and lost my temper during those couple of weeks when we were without Paul. Definitely not my finest moments of motherhood.

Thankfully the violent angry tantrums (and the stutter!!) that Elliot started during this period have finally started to abate. And aside from these behaviours and a few moments that we really wouldn't mind forgetting all about (like trying to have a nice dinner at the Greek restaurant with my dad! Oi vay!), we managed to make quite a few happy memories too. Have a look:


The boys loved Howard Amon Park just about as much as I did as a kid.



The splash park at the Playground of Dreams

How cute are my water babies?

Ollie as hydroplane driver

Elliot as crane operator

The boys loved the shopping carts in the States

Melissa sharing the boys' very first snow cones