We’re finally at 5 days from the trip!! I have been waiting for this for more than a year, and now it’s almost here. I can’t wait!!!

He said

So as I sit down to type this, it is knowing that by this time next week, we will be on a cruise ship headed out through the Gulf of Mexico riding the high seas with Mickey & Company. And while it will be bittersweet missing the two people responsible for this trip, I am so ready for this vacation and so ready to come back with a lifetime of memories to share with Mom and Dad through photos, videos and most of all the smiles.

But first things first: Dad met with the cardiologist this week to go over the upcoming surgery. There indeed will be a bypass… if not two. And the good news is that the surgery won’t happen any time sooner than before we return from the trip. And the better news is that the cardiologist is quite confident with the success rate of the procedure and has assessed the risk as being no different that any other surgery.

We’ll be relieved when the surgery is a success and behind us, and all that is left is the recovery. But it was a relief to hear that things should be much better for Dad – aside from recovery – in three to six weeks.

One of the nice things that has been keeping Dad preoccupied in these last few weeks is a project that Emelia and he have started. About a month and a half ago, I asked if Dad and Mom minded if we used some space in their backyard to plant some vegetables with Emelia so that she could learn about farming, and eating more local. Well Dad and Mom it turned out, were more than enthusiastic about this project – so much so – that Danielle and I have been removed from the farm team so-to-speak.

Poppa and Emelia have been planning, planting and transplanting this project in the ensuing weeks from when we first asked. This weekend, with Emelia over at Poppa and Grandma’s for a visit, she and Dad managed to transplant the starter garden from the basement out to the proper plot in the backyard off Mom and Dad’s bedroom deck. Dad told me that Emelia was a workhorse helping measure the boards for the raised planter, and even lugging the bags of topsoil. By all accounts, they had a great day.

This week, heading in to my last three days of work, before we head out Friday is going to be a mad dash of getting things ready and any last minute errands that have to happen. My last day of work is Wednesday, and luckily I have Thursday off to prep before out Friday, Robert Q departure.

All I really need to do is to find a blazer for the more formal dining night and then sort out the rest of my wardrobe, what I will pack. It seems Emelia and Danielle are far ahead of me in terms of practice packing. But, I am a guy… that’s sort of how we operate — by the seat of our pants.

So, I probably should get back to figuring our what I need to pack, because as we’ll mention all through the post, we are at only 5 more days till Disney!

She said

This week has been a busy one to say the least. The prep for the trip is in full swing. I spent a fair bit of this week assuring I had a detailed list of everything we needed. I gathered not only what we knew we needed to pack but also assuring we had all the information transformed from Helen to me. With Helen and Doug not able to come with us on the trip I have taken the role as family trip organizer. With the work that Helen and I finished today I think I have copies of everything I need for not only our family of three but the entire Teeter tribe.

It is still so heartbreaking to all of us that the two heads of our family are not coming. We are determined to spend as much time as a family of 15, take as many photos as we can possibly take (and thanks to Helen and Doug we have a Photopass for the cruise and Disney World) so we can assure we have the entire trip captured. We want the entire vacation well documented so Mom and Dad are part as much as possible with every single moment.

Much of this weekend for me was Disney prep, I had a detailed list of what we needed to bring with us to make life easier there, to have every little detail taken care of before we depart. I have 95% of my check-list purchased and I think we are in great shape. I only have a few things to pick up, John and I both need to get our hair cuts and I am getting a pedicure later this week.

We spent Saturday after bringing John to work picking up a special little headband I ordered for Emelia for our formal night, we did some grocery shopping, and took care of getting a pair of shoes mended. This all before we were off to Emelia’s first level 3 swim class.

Our natural fish who appears to be the youngest in the class had no problem keeping up with the bigger kids. She is taking to the new strokes quickly and is swimming farther and farther distances. I know we have a natural strong swimmer in our family for sure.

After swim we made our way home and packed up Charlie and Lola (our daycare pet – a pair of African water frogs) to bring them to their temporary home of Kelli’s place. With our neighbour watching the house and the other pets Kelli offered to watch our frogs. With the tank cleaned and prepped we made our way over to Kelli’s. The adults visited and the kids played. Before we knew it over an hour had passed and Emelia and I had to be on our way. After dinner was cooked Emelia and I were off to pick up John and we had the rest of the night together as a family.

Off to this morning. I had asked Helen and Doug if they were up to a visit with Emelia so I could get some errands done less a child. I was concerned that it might be too much for Doug, but Helen insisted that he was pacing himself and that Emelia’s company was something they really look forward to so they were looking forward to the day with her.

I dropped her off this morning and I finally decided that after a week of pain from the broken toe that I really needed to get it checked. It had been 9 days and I still could not get a proper shoe on without a lot of pain. I could not put full pressure on the toe and side of my foot. Basically it was becoming concerning especially with the trip only 5 days away.

After dropping Emelia off, I went to the hospital to get it checked. I had been told from friends of ours that St. Thomas had a great hospital with very fast service. And it was true, the drive only 15 minutes from Helen and Doug’s place and within an hour I had been checked by the nurse, x-rayed, had the films back for the doctor and seen the doctor. It was worth the drive out there.

So the diagnosis. Basically what I already knew, I broke my toe. The doctor said it was a pretty bad break for a toe but it seemed to be healing well and that it would take time. Something I don’t really have. All I can do at this point is to tape the toe and possibly use a walking cast. But even the doctor admitted the walking casts are not the easiest to manoeuvre with, especially considering the daycare and the upcoming trip. So essentially if possible to take it easy, I am not allowed to the gym for the week (I can do home adjusted workouts) and let the foot heal. Bad timing on my part. Hopefully by Friday I can get something other than a flip flop on without pain.

But in spite of this joyous fun, I got a ton done this weekend. I am sure this week will fly by in a blink. This time next week we will be posting from Florida!