Early 2016

In early 2016, Polina’s parents flew to Florida and we met them there! We stayed in Key Largo in a VRBO rental. This first pic is Alexander, Polina’s dad. Don’t have any pictures of Kevin and myself or of Elena, Polina’s mom.

We all stayed in the same house and it was plenty roomy enough. It was right on the water. At one point, Kevin rented a boat that the rental agency delivered right to the dock where we were staying. We all went out for the day and explored the small islands and waters around the area. We saw wild flamingos, iguanas, and even an alligator! The flat islands are all covered with mangrove trees and are very dense. Then Kevin and Jasper went fishing the next day and Jasper ended up hooking into a shark. He let it go but it was pretty exciting.

 At one point Jasper, Polina, and Polinka went to a water park and swam with dolphins...this is them before the dolphin experience, all smiles. Not so smily afterwards though...one of the dolphins decided to bump Polina and Polinka quite forcefully twice! Polinka ended up with a big red spot on her face. It was very scary and Polinka was traumatized! Poor little thing. The trainers don’t know why that happened. Needless to say Polinka got out of the water and was very disappointed. We were too! It was supposed to be the highlight of the trip.

But we did a lot of really cool things. We went to Key West and visited a butterfly exhibit while Kevin and Elena went to see the Hemingway House. We had lunch at a great beachside restaurant and watched the sunset from there.

Everyone we met were friendly and the scenes from the house were breathtaking. The neighborhood was great for walking. Every house had a dock out back. The wild iguanas were everywhere. Just a really cool environment.

Over all we would like to go back. Getting there is the hard part. You have to fly in and out of Miami and it takes all day to get there from Boise because there aren’t any direct flights. Once there, you rent a car and fight with traffic and toll roads until you hit the keys. Once you are in the keys, the pace slows down and it’s all lovely.

Just remembered that I took painting supplies and painted some small canvases. I also taught Polinka to paint a little. I wish I knew then what I know now about painting, I might have liked my work a little better. But still, it was a fun time with Polinka.

Addendum to 2014

I painted a picture for mom’s group home as a thank you after she passed away. They still have it hanging in the home as you enter the house. If you will notice, there are fairies flying out of the woods and going for a dip in the pond. Mom loved fairies and willow trees. She loved nature and sunsets.

Another 2015 post

This summer there were quite a few changes to the cabin. We had a porch added (by Richard Bishop) which is so nice! Now we can walk right out from the front door and not have to descend a rickety set of construction steps. We then purchased some wood benches (not shown) for the porch. So it looks really nice when the benches aren’t full of construction project stuff.

Another project was finishing the new garage floor. Kevin painted it with a concrete sealer so it will repel dirt and oil. He dressed up like Walter White (Breaking Bad character) to get it done.

We took some time off of projects to spend time with family. Jasper is showing grandma how Bentley “plays dead” This photo was taken at Mesa Falls on the walking path.

One new acquisition is Kevin’s tractor.
He moves dirt around and makes driveways and other useful things. Our garage is filling up fast!

2015 again

 In June, Jeri brought her grandson Mitchell (16) up from Arizona to spend time with Mom. In our time away from Mom’s, we took a walk in the foothills near Boise. We had never been there before but in searching for things to do, this trail came up so we checked it out. It turned out to be a fantastic walk with views overlooking the valley.

It’s up past Bogus Basin and it’s a well developed trail. We had a great time with Michell and I’m so glad he came with Jeri. It was his idea to come visit his great grandmother.




Jeri and I had a great visit. It’s always so nice to spend time with her! We have never lived in the same city since we were young so each time we visit each other, it’s precious.

We always tease that we will be roommates in our old age, rocking on the porch and making apple pies (Jeri’s specialty). I will make the tea;)

2015 continued

 This is Kevin and Mafia sharing quality time. That cat will do anything for Kevin including laying on his back and not moving a muscle. With me, he struggles to right himself.
He is a very adorable cat and we get endless pleasure from just having him around. He is a bit needy at times but I’d rather have that than aloofness.

His favorite thing to do is wait for you to sit down in one of the brown chairs, then within 30 seconds, he’s up in your lap and settling in. Kevin tries to get work done on the computer and Mafia is all over him trying to get in the middle of the action.

April time frame Chelsie and Polina came over to pick flowers in our new yard. The previous owners were horticultural specialists and had planted many beautiful bulbs and flowering shrubs. The ladies had a blast cutting flowers to take back to their homes!

I went to Spokane later in April to visit my friend Kathy (from Anesthesia school). We went to afternoon tea at the Fairmont Inn. It reminded me a lot of the Empress in Victoria! It was so wonderful to spend time with her. 

2015 recap (well the first one anyway)

 In February Kevin and I, Teresa and Mom Gibbons, and Jasper and Polina all took a trip to Oahu. We stayed in Kaneohe this time, in a house overlooking the Kaneohe Bay. It was so beautiful! We would walk down to the water in the mornings and drink our coffee and just watch the water. Kevin was watching for Bonefish and I was looking at the clouds.

As you can see, Jasper and Polina took the opportunity to enjoy themselves to the fullest. This shot was taken near the
Turtle Bay resort on a nearly deserted beach. The water was perfect! They rented bikes and rode to this beach a couple of times. I went with them once just to hang out on the beach. They saw a sea turtle on the sand on one of their trips.

Kevin pictured here with the coffee... Typical sunrise over Kaneohe Bay.

Mom loved just being in Hawaii again. She saw an old friend while she was there on this trip. Bishop Rose and his wife came and brought her a pie. They sat and talked over their memories of 40 years before. It was really special for her.

Teresa saw her friend Christine from high school. They took a “Lost” tour and went all over to the filming sites.

We had several family dinners and excursions. We even took everyone back to Ko Olina and went to one of the lagoons. Jasper got a stand up paddle board and put mom on it! (Just sitting of course)
She loved it.

 I’m not a huge fan of posing for pictures but the day was so perfect. ..plus I had a good hair day (very unusual in Hawaii). It turned out good!

Jasper, Polina and I went horseback riding at Kualoa Ranch. It was fantastic. We basically got a private ride because we signed up for the two hour ride. We got to canter the horses and everything! Well, I cantered my horse anyway.

This is a painting I did in acrylics while I was there. I left it at the house because it was too big to take home. It’s of the Kualoa mountains as seen from the house we were staying in. I found an old canvas in the basement bedroom of the house and asked permission to use it. it was fun to have something to do indoors besides watching tv. But it turned into a  bit of a project. I was lucky to get it done.

We were there for 10 days and had a great time.

Victoria! June 2014

In June, 2014, the girls and I took a trip to Victoria, British Columbia and met up with Kristin and Alexis for a weekend. We saw Victoria’s china town, Butchart Gardens (a highlight) and had High Tea at the Empress Hotel (another highlight!)           

Polina brought her camera and went wild taking pictures in the Gardens, it was so beautiful. Chelsie had a great time too, catching up with Kristin and Alexis. I enjoyed the whole experience and it turns out that we really haven’t been able to repeat it since. So I’m glad we took the time to do it.

 

 We found this cool wig shop while we were shopping and the girls both tried on wigs...even though there was a sign that said not to! I was all nervous. They just laughed at me.

 All in all a great trip.

2014 continued

New house! After all the work we did trying to make the Galactic Ct house as comfortable as possible, we decided to move. Jasper and Polina found us this house and the timing was just right for us to jump ship. We had always intended to move one day to a house with a view and a little larger yard. We loved the house setting, the neighborhood, the view of a creek out our back windows... but we didn’t love this wall separating the dining room and the kitchen area. So Kevin being Kevin, he learned how to take down a load bearing wall and put up a beam! With some help from Jasper and Michael the wall came down, and a beam was put up (they didn’t know each other would be wearing red shirts...so funny). The effect of the open space is amazing!
We had the floor patched in and now you can’t tell there was ever a wall there.

We didn’t move in until about a year after we bought the house because we had other projects to do (the kitchen, painting, etc.) but it was worth the wait!

Still 2014

More information than I originally thought I had so I will continue with 2014.

We went to Oahu as a family in January to celebrate Polina and Michael’s upcoming graduations. It was amazing! We stayed in a condo in a resort called Ko Olina. Our family had never stayed there and they were all thrilled. The condo was very nice, everyone had a bedroom and bathroom to themselves. The kitchen was amazing...kind of spoiled me for future trips.We had a week with them and then they left but Kevin and I went to Molokai for the first time ever.

 Here’s a view from the North shore

 Ko Olina lagoon in front of our condo. Jasper and Polina got up early every morning and either ran or swam in the lagoon. Then they walked over to another hotel to get a Starbucks :)

Another North Shore pic.

Here are a few shots of Molokai...a weird but cool island. Not much going on there. We golfed on this crap golf course and had fun...did some eerie hikes in some forests higher up. Drove this VERY narrow road around the North side of the island. It was more fun than I thought. Kevin fished and loved it! He’s been back almost every year since then. I went back once...

A big thing happened in March that we were all so excited about...Polina became a US citizen! After many years of jumping through all the right hoops, she took the citizenship oath and it became official. So proud of her!!

Keeping these posts a little shorter so they are more manageable on the iPad

Method for catching up...2014

I decided I can’t really recap the last 6 years very well. So I’m going to go year by year and add some photos to try to just get the highlights. Each post will be a year in my life so to speak starting with 2014. There is a lot I won’t get to because I wont have pictures or notes to draw from but I will do the best I can and that’s better than not doing it at all!

2014 started off with a bang. My mom broke her hip Christmas Eve (2013) at Jeri’s house. She was in her room at the time and turned around to get something, fell and couldn’t get up. Jeff called an ambulance. Mom was in surgery that same night. Unfortunately, she woke up confused and never really was the same mentally. But we didn’t know that was going to happen.
She had been declining for years but had always been able to feed herself, walk, get dressed, etc. I flew down to help Jeri with the aftermath and to find her a rehab facility where she would get the help she needed to start walking as soon as possible. She grew stronger in body but not in mind. She couldn’t learn to use the walker. This was a huge shock! I just thought it would take a little time but it never got better. Soon we came to the realization that we would need to find a care center for her.
Jeri and I looked for several days and finally found a place we both felt comfortable with. I went back to Boise and Jeri moved her into the group home. She soon realized that mom wouldn’t stay in her   wheelchair and was falling, It was awful. The care facility very quickly became short with us and was not very kind to mom.
Besides that, mom wasn’t being looked after closely enough. Jeri was looking for a new place for her but got really sick herself and trying to work full time besides. It was a very stressful situation. Jeri would have done anything for mom but couldn’t have her at home.
I decided to try to take care of mom myself  and if I couldn’t end up doing it, I would find a place for her near me. It was a horrible flight and I still can’t really believe I did it. When I got her off the plane, she was limp as a noodle and practically falling out of her wheelchair. The looks I got as I took her through the lobby were the least of my worries.
My intention was to try to straighten out her meds and get her as optimized as I could. I kept her at home and hired home aid to come help me. Mom had periods of cooperation, humor, and even was able to communicate and feed herself at times but I had to return to work (took a month off to do this) and was relying on home helpers to pick up the slack. Eventually I realized I couldn’t do it even with help. Mom wasn’t really improving and I knew it was beyond me. I began the arduous process of trying to find a place that would take a memory care Medicaid patient in a wheelchair...very difficult! Eventually I found a group home that would allow a seat belt on the wheelchair (against the rules). They worked with me on many things that others turned me down on. I will always be grateful to them! They were so accommodating and I never had a concern that they weren’t treating Mom well.

This is mom in her wheelchair in her new room.

She was very upset at first but I went there everyday for a little while gradually decreasing that to once a week. I couldn’t handle anymore than that which I carry a lot of guilt over.
There was a park near the house that I would take her to. Jeri and Annette came to visit often and that helped a lot!
Bob  also drove over from Malad to see Mom and Richard called sometimes to talk to her. Mike called her as well.

 Mom had some good days and some bad. Eventually she was bed bound and really couldn’t move around much. She declined rapidly after that.
 So this whole situation took much of my time in 2014. I basically worked, went to see mom, and fit the other parts of my life around that. We did get to the cabin of course and did some trips. More on 2014 in another post. I never really put all this down before because I thought it was remembering mom in the worst way but it was part of my life and hers. I have been trying to remember her the way she was as a whole person so I didn’t want to dwell on this but everyone will face something similar if they live long enough I guess.

 Mom passed away in September of 2015 and would have lived much longer without the Parkinson’s and Lewy body dementia that robbed her of her twilight  years. We had some good moments though while she was declining and even some good laughs while she was in the group home. I don’t have a picture but I remember Annette, Natalie, Britney, and Heather came on her birthday. We all sat around the group home table  and sang to mom. She loved it.

Life is fleeting and one never knows what they will face later on. So I try to remember to cherish my family and friends, be glad for my time and my health. Be glad for the health of my loved ones. Mom would have wanted it that way.