...Disneyland and a Teenager in the House!!!

Hello Friends and Family,

Whew, its been a very hectic few months. Here's an update...

We sold our house. Yah!!! I seriously hated that house. We have moved into a very spacious townhouse, quite close to our old house in fact, and we are very happy.

It was tough finding a place. There wasn't a lot out there. And especially not much that accepted dogs. In fact, we had to give Tuck away to Frank's brother in Victoria for awhile. Our new place doesn't accept dogs. However, we didn't know that when we agreed to take the place. We were taking over a lease from a couple, and they had 2 dogs. They told us that everyone in the townhouse complex had dogs. So, we took the place, but when we went to go sign the papers with the landlords, they told us that they didn't accept dogs. We didn't say anything, because we really wanted the place, it was getting late in the month, and we figured we could sneak Tuck in later on. So, Walter and his family eagerly agreed to take Tuck for the Summer (or longer if needed). He's doing great. In fact, I don't think he will want to come back. He has kids around all day long, he has a big backyard and a lake just down the road, another dog for company, and he gets real meat everyday for dinner. It is actually great because we are planning on travelling a lot this Summer. Aislinn and Mac will be at camps all summer long. We miss him, but we don't miss the fights with Aislinn to take him out everyday, or the hair EVERYWHERE!!!! We'll see what happens in September. We'll see if there is some way to talk our landlords into accepting him. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

We are still working on finding places for all our stuff. You know how it goes: you have boxes full of crap that you don't want or really need but are too afraid to throw out. And you have furniture that doesn't quite work in the new place and spaces for new furniture that you don't have. It will take awhile to get things squared away and for our new place to feel "finished".

I do like having more than one floor. It means we can get away from each other once in awhile. The kids really like it. There are a lot of kids in the complex, so Mackendra has been busy making friends.

We also just got back from Disneyland yesterday. We decided to take a week off of basketball and take a few days just for us. We hit Universal Studio (a first for us...and we loved the Simpson ride!) and then did a day on Santa Monica Pier and then 3 days in Disneyland. It was great. Because we have done Disneyland twice before, it was way more relaxed this time. There was no pressure to see and do everything. The only downside was that it was a little cool.

Actually, the build up to the trip was kinda funny. We were trying to find a quick trip and we debating between Mexico and California. Finally we told the kids that we were going to drive down to San Francisco and visit my Auntie Ceci and Uncle Alex. We told them, that to save money we were going to take our small orange car. The kids whined and complained about how uncomfortable it was going to be. So we relented and said that we would rent a van from SeaTac airport. Not too bad... But, when we got to SeaTac, Frank got all agitated and then sadly came back and told the kids that they had lost our van rental and there was no van available. They were all sad again. Then Frank said, "oh well...I guess we are just going to have to fly to Disneyland." It took Aislinn about 5 seconds to get it. She was all confused then she squealed and punched Frank. Mackendra took a bit longer, she was kinda mad that we weren't getting a van with movie players in the back of the seats. But by the time we boarded the plane, she was getting excited. We got them good. The one thing good about our little trick was that Aislinn was the only one who had packed pants and sweaters. She was prepared for San Francisco. We had packed for LA. and as a consequence, we were a little cold.

Here are a few pics of our California adventures.

According to Dracula...British Columbians are "delicious" and he was looking forward to visiting Aislinn that night...Waa haa haa!!!

The final bit of news I have is that we now have a TEENAGER living within our midst. Somehow we were infiltrated and without our knowledge it invaded our ranks and taken up residence right under our noses. Today, she revealed herself.

Happy Birthday, Aislinn. 13 years ago, we met as mother and baby. Today we meet again as mother and young woman. I love you.

Oh...I almost forgot... I made it into the Medical Radiography program at BCIT. Finally!!! So, it will be 2 years of studying for me. 2 years!!!

That's it for now.

Love Tanya