Last week was brought to you by Celcius Energy drinks.

Shortly before Grandma passed, I had a few tasks on my list of things Mom had said, “Next time you’re home….” so I decided I would tack a week on to my next trip to her part of the continent and tackle that list.

That chance came when a work meetup was planned for Asheville, North Carolina. I booked my travel to include a week stop in Toronto, and I just paid the difference in cost.

That difference came because I selected a premium/first class flight overnight from Vancouver to Toronto to avoid having to pay for a hotel layover in Vancouver.

I haven’t flown WestJet in years, but the cost to fly from Vancouver to Asheville was *half* the cost with WestJet compared to Air Canada. Easy decision! I had two options that evening to fly to Toronto, and if I waited for the later option, it would arrive at a better time for my Dad to pick me up from the airport the next morning, and the premium seating was less than the economy rate on the first flight. Another easy choice! Surely the premium seat would be more comfortable to sleep in?

Turns out that is a solid maybe? The level of service was exceptional, but it all came at the cost of sleep. I had expected a thin little blanket and pillow but there was neither. But there were warm nuts, free snacks, drinks, a breakfast menu, a breakfast service, and a hot wash cloth. I finally managed to fall asleep as Kitchener/Waterloo came into view, so I got a solid 5 minutes or so of sleep.

I managed to stay awake all the next day! Dad and I went out for breakfast, and visited Julie and her kids, and then met Mom so she could take me to her house. That night, though, I slept a solid 11.5 hours! Here I was giving Selinah and Jordan some shells we collected in Florida on Sanibel Island:

Mom and I tackled a bunch of jobs and tasks, including helping her downsize a bit, clean and reorganize. Thanks to a Celcius drink every morning, I shifted into overdrive and Mom matched the pace! We shopped, cleaned, sorted, and made big piles of things to donate and dispose of.

Including my trusty old suitcase, now resting in peace in the Atwood landfill:

I had planned to see no other family on this trip. I just wanted to help my Mom. I am coming back in May for Grandma’s services, and plan to see everyone then. Yet somehow, I saw more family than I had anticipated!

We ran into Uncle Paul the first morning at Walmart, and he helped me with a task I had put on my list – replace my Mom’s loosely carpeted garage steps with something far more secure! Those loose mats were so slippery and dangerous. Not anymore! I even managed a ride in his new Cadillac (he decided he didn’t want his first ride in a Cadillac to be on the way to his funeral some day! Funny guy!)

Mom and I also picked out the flowers for Grandma’s funeral and celebration of life coming up in May. We went to Stratford that day too, to the Samsonite outlet store. That trusty old blue Samsonite travel companion of mine had cracked so much over its 5 years, from being thrown around by airline baggage handlers, that it was at a significantly increased risk for exposing my unmentionables on an airport luggage carousel one of these days. We replaced it with a bigger suitcase. Jeff is surely going to roll his eyes, but I’m going to stop pretending I can pack light and just pack what I want.

One day, Dad said he was available for an adventure, and I was keen! He picked me up bright and early the next day and we started with another breakfast together – this time at the new Stacked restaurant in Listowel.

Look at my waffle!

Dad found the Hullett Provincial Wildlife Area near Clinton. What a treasure! It was a full country block full of ponds, marshes, and forest, managed with the help of Ducks Unlimited and various governments and organizations, overseen by a volunteer board.

It was super windy and chilly. I went back to Dad’s van for a fourth layer early on! We saw lots of birds and wildlife, including Sandhill cranes, Tundra swans, a million Canada Geese (who annoyingly were always on guard and encouraged the water fowl to fly away when we were not even close yet!), so many ducks, and beavers, a muskrat, and a racoon up in a tree!

It was a great day outside! Here are some pics my Dad took:

My brother and sister and their families came for the Easter long weekend. My two nieces and two nephews all in the same house! <3

I even convinced some of them to do a Pokemon Raid in the rain with me!

Look at this cuteness. Mom has a way of snuggling her youngest grandbabies to sleep!

For Easter, my Dad and my Aunt Cecilia joined us for a big Easter feast!!

Aunt Cecilia took me back to her place near the Toronto airport. First we found a Value Village to make a few last minute donations:

Cecilia and I went birdwatching a couple times too and I saw a long eared owl for the first time! In the city!

On that last night in Ontario, my cousin Wes and his husband invited us over for supper and my Uncle Dave was there too! So I had planned to see no one and I kept seeing more and more family! To all of the rest of you, you’ll have to wait until May!

After that I was off to Asheville, North Carolina, via Atlanta, Georgia to spend a week with my work team. More on that in my next post!