Day 2 - We Made It To Dryden, Ontario

We got up bright and early and decided to catch the first bus out to the airpot at 7:00am.  Lennard went over to Subway to get us some breakfast while I finished getting ready and then we were good to go.  We were some of the first ones at the airport and were excited to get going.  We got everything loaded up, the pre-flight finished and our flight plan called in.  We got seatbelted in, started to do the run-up and quickly discovered that there was something wrong with the plane.  It was shaking badly and Lennard shut it down immediately. 

Thankfully, there was someone right there that knew there was a mechanic right at the field.  We pushed the plane over to his hangar and within a half hour we were all ready to go again!  Thank goodness it ended up just being a fouled plug.  A huge thank you to Dillon at Swift Current who got everything fixed and didn't even charge us anything.  Made our day!

We were a little worried about going through all the control zones today, but we were very happy to discover that it wasn't bad at all.  They were all very pleasant to deal with and had absolutely no problems transitioning their zones.  This is a picture of the Moose Jaw airport that we flew over.

We landed in Brandon, Manitoba for a break and fueled up while we were there.  A lot of piolts decided to make Brandon their stop for the day, so we had lots of company!

I had fun taking pictures, although it was quite hazy most of the time.  Here's my handsome pilot!  What a guy.  He did such an amazing job today!

We had quite the change of scenery going from Saskatchewan, through Manitoba and into Ontario.  It's amazing how many lakes there are everywhere... and just a few more trees!  These pretty little clouds made it a little bumpy!

Here's the Dryden airport on our approach to land.  I was very happy to land and get on solid ground... the last 15 minutes of the flight got a little too bumpy for me and the lower we went the hotter it got in the cockpit.  Thankfully I was able to hold it together!

We got the airplane tied down after a bit of effort... where they had us parked was pretty hard packed, so we moved the plane to where we could get the anchors in.

There are quite a few more planes here now.  This is just a few of them.  We were very happy to catch the shuttle to our hotel and have a bit of a break.

We will be going to a BBQ tonight put on by the Dryden Flying Club.  Sounds like it will be a fun night.

Day #2 Stats - close to 4 1/2 hours of flying time.  578 nautical miles.  2 more cities!

Our Cross Canada Adventure Has Begun!

It's hard to believe that we're actually on our way!  The morning couldn't have been more perfect.  We got everything loaded up and were at the airport by 7:15.  The kids were excited to help load the plane and push it out onto the tarmac.  Ben got a little clingy and was crying and I was getting really worried about actually leaving, but as soon as Grandma said he could have a quad ride... we couldn't leave soon enough!  (Thanks, Mom!)  

  

Gotta love seeing the windsock hanging straight down!!!

                 Everyone helped push the airplane out!

Dad, giving his plane a hug before we take off!  Love you, Dad!  Thanks for letting us take the plane!

Family picture before we leave.

On our way!

In the air, good-bye Cardston!  See you in two weeks!

We took off and headed to Medicine Hat where we met up with 4 other RV pilots and their crews for breakfast at the airport cafe.  It was a nice way to start the trip getting to know some of the other pilots.  The food was great and huge portions.  

Coming in to Medicine Hat, Alberta

The breakfast 'gang'.

Some of the planes that met up in Medicine Hat.  There were two more in hangars there.

In to Saskatchewan... looking down on the clouds!

Swift Current airport.

We visited for about an hour and then were on our way again to Swift Current.  It was fun hearing all the chatter from pilots all heading in to Swift Current.  We made good time, landed and got fueled up before we got the plane all tied down.  They had bison burgers cooking, but I was so full from breakfast that there was no way I could even think about eating one!  We sat around and visited for a few hours, got registered and then headed to the hotel to have a bit of a break.  I've already managed to get a bit rosy from the sun shining into the cockpit, so I'll have to make sure I get some sunscreen on tomorrow!

There is a steak dinner and entertainment tonight at one of the hangars, so we will be heading back to the airport for that.  We are hoping to get a really good sleep tonight as tomorrow's flight to Dryden, Ontario will make for a long day.

Day #1's route.  Two hours of flying time.  229 nautical miles.  Two cities.  = Lots of fun!!!

Scary Experience

Yesterday evening we decided to go see my newest nephew, Jeffrey, in Lethbridge.  I was so excited to see him and get some snuggles in before we leave on our trip.  We had a nice time visiting with Roger & Trisha.  Emma was completely intrigued with Jeffrey and held him a couple of times.  Ben didn’t want to hold him, but he thought his little toes were pretty cute. 

About half way through the visit, Ben started getting a bit warm to the touch, so we decided to head home and get some Tylenol into him.  We were heading home and about 5 minutes out of town when I heard a funny noise, turned around and discovered Ben in a full blown seizure.  My heart stopped.  There is nothing worse than watching your child suffer and not being able to do anything about it.  I encouraged Lennard to drive a little faster and get us to the hospital.  We made it in record time.  By then he had started to slowly come around and was crying when I got him out of his car chair.  I ran into the hospital and just as I reached the doors, he started vomiting everywhere.  Thankfully, the admissions clerk saw us coming and  just opened the ER doors for me and we got immediate attention.  It took a while for Ben to settle down, he was very disoriented, but slowly we were able to get Tylenol into him to get the fever down and then the doctor was able to determine that he probably has a mild case of Strep throat that caused the fever, bringing on the seizure.   It ripped my heart out to see how upset Emma was for her little brother.  She sat in the chair and just cried, “I want to play with my brother!”  We have explained to her what happened and she knows that Ben will be okay.  Thankfully, he has not had any more seizures and we have him on antibiotics now. 

   

We finally got home from the hospital at about 11:00pm and he went straight to sleep.  Lennard slept by his side to make sure he would be okay and then at about 3:30am we just brought him in to bed with us.  He wouldn’t settle down at all, so I finally gave up and took him downstairs at 4:30am.  I am exhausted, Ben is exhausted, Lennard is exhausted and Emma is wondering why we’re not playing with her and getting a bit frustrated at the amount of attention that Ben is getting. 

I spent the entire morning holding Ben and watching him catch up on his lost sleep.  When he woke up, I ended up having Emma climb up on my lap too to have some snuggles.  I love my babies.

It’s definitely not been what I had planned for today.  A lot of the excitement for our trip has disappeared, in fact we seriously considered not going at all, but after seeing the improvement in Ben today, we decided that we will go as far as Swift Current tomorrow, check in and see how Ben is doing and then decide whether we continue on or return home. 

We spent the evening at the airport loading our bags, washing the plane, and just going over last minute details.  Some of the excitement/nervousness has now returned and we are hoping that everything will work out.  Time will tell!  Stay tuned for the latest Nichols’ Nuthouse adventures… it’s definitely never dull!

It’s Getting Close!

It’s hard to believe that in 3 days we will be taking off into the wild blue yonder for our cross Canada adventure!  Yikes!  We spent the morning out at the airport tweaking things on the airplane, fueling up, gathering tools, etc.  Then I’ve spent the afternoon doing laundry and getting the packing started.  We are both excited/nervous to head out.  We’re definitely going to miss the kids… we’ve never been away from them for that long!  I’ve got lists made, just-in-case scenarios gone over… yup… I’m going to be a basket case come Tuesday morning!!

Here’s a little preview of where we’re going to be going:

If you want to follow our adventures, you can see our location that is updated every 10 minutes while we are flying by going to Find Me – Spot.  Otherwise, I will be trying to update the blog each night!  Wish us luck… and pray for good weather!!!

Farmer Croc

A month or so ago I found out that one of my former mission companions (Soeur Hofmann) was heading to Europe.  I quickly put in my request for some Farmer Croc and then got busy and didn’t get money sent to her to pay for it.  When I clued in that she was pretty much on the plane leaving, I told her not to worry about it…  Then I got a message from her saying that she’d sent me a care package from Switzerland!  She and I were both shocked at how expensive the shipping was to send the package (yikes!).  Every bite will be cherished!  I couldn’t ask for better friends!  I definitely owe her big time!!!

Opening the package!

My first bowl of deliciousness at about 11:00pm… it tasted just as good as I remembered it!  Thanks, Trisha!

Candy Parade

We went to the Coaldale Candy Parade again this year.  We didn’t tell the kids we were going to another parade until we got to Mindy’s house.  She was busy re-doing her bedroom as a surprise to her husband, so we took three of her boys with us to the parade.  Melissa and Shauna and their families met us at Mindy’s and we all headed out to Coaldale.  Nysha ended up being just down the street from us too, so we had quite the gathering!  The kids all played fairly well together while we were waiting for the parade and there was so much candy being thrown during the parade that they were kept busy gathering it all up!  It was a fun way to spend the morning.

 

Ben hung out with Lennard while we were waiting for the parade to start, but as soon as the pipers started coming down the street he was up and clapping for them.  It was fun to see how excited the kids got.

I didn’t take very many pictures, but this was just as the parade was starting.  Emma was pretty excited for the candy to start coming!

Here’s all the cousins after the parade (minus Levi – he didn’t want anything to do with this crazy group!).  They definitely have enough candy to drive their mothers crazy for the next little while!!!

Back:  Bryan, Ammon, Anna, Grace, Becky, David, Makenna, Makenna’s friend

Front:  Ben, Emma, Sarah, Gideon, Mason

Happy Canada Day!

I had big plans for today.  I was excited to cross off some more of our bucket list items, namely going to the parade in Raymond and watching fireworks with the kids.  Well… unfortunately, things didn’t go as nicely as I had planned. 

Yesterday evening I started feeling achy and wondered if I was getting another kidney stone.  I had hoped that I would be able to pass it quickly and feel well enough to do everything I wanted to do today, but that wasn’t the case.  This morning I was still feeling ‘off’, but thought that I might be able to still do the parade.  I got the kids clothes ready, got a shower, got dressed and then it hit me.  The pain started by then and I knew that there was no way I was going to be able to go to the parade.  I was not happy!  I managed to snap a few squinty pictures of the kids and Lennard before they headed out and then I went into the house, took some good meds and headed to bed. 

I managed to sleep for a bit and thought I would be able to manage the pain at home, but by noon it was getting pretty unbearable.  I called Lennard and told him that I was going to head down to the ER and managed to drive myself to the hospital.  I could hardly sign the paper at admitting and was doubled over talking to the nurse in the ER.  She was more concerned about when the last time was that I had kidney stones was… and at that point I couldn’t really think too clearly!  Apparently they were busy, so I was instructed to take a seat in the waiting room.  I was really trying to breath through the pain, but it was getting bad enough that I was almost to the point of passing out!  Thankfully, my dad came and stayed with me while Lennard took the kids home and got them something to eat.  After an hour of the most excruciating pain, I was finally taken to a bed.  It then took another half hour before they got an IV in!  To say that I was thankful for the morphine would be an understatement!  Once the pain was under control, my body wouldn’t stop shaking and it took a while to get comfortable.  Finally, I was able to doze off and start to recover.  They loaded me up with two bags of saline, a couple doses of morphine and some gravol.  I was feeling pretty good by then! 

At about 4:30 I was allowed to head home.  I was still very woozy and nauseated, so I didn’t have anything to eat and just went straight to bed.  Thankfully, I was able to pass the stones this evening and I’m starting to feel much better.  Definitely not what I had planned for the 1st of July… but definitely memorable!

Lennard did take the kids down to the Party in the Park while I was sleeping and then woke us all up at 11:00 to go down and watch the fireworks… so at least I got to watch the fireworks with the kids!  It was their first time seeing them and Ben sat in my lap and shook the entire time.  He didn’t like the noise at all!  Emma had her hands over her ears most of the time, but I think she liked them for the most part.