Friday morning I drove up there with my parents, and my brothers came up later that night and met us at Uncle Mike & Aunty Yvonne's. Opa, Oma, Uncle Ed, Aunty Michelle and my cousin Amanda were also up for the weekend.
We checked into our rooms at the Best Western. The boys and I shared a suite with a king bed (for Jeff and Adam) in its own room and two queens in the main room which Scott and I slept in.
The first night at Mike & Yvonne's was good. It was a very emotionally confusing weekend. We were there to support their family because the memorial for Jeff, their friend and captain of the fishing boat they were on who drowned, was that weekend. We laughed and had familiar visits, but they also reminisced about their experience and trauma, and everyone was in tears at some point. All the feelings.
We went back to the hotel and I was exhausted and had a headache. I just wanted to go to sleep, but the boys wanted to hang out and drink beer and watch TV. I tried for a while, but finally asked them to go to the other room at midnight. I slept from midnight until 2am. At that point I woke up with a POUNDING headache. I was close to calling my mom to see if she had meds, because I forgot mine. I didn't fall back asleep. At around 5am I had to throw up. I continued to throw up until 830, and then was finally able to go back to bed and sleep for a couple hours. I have never felt so sick in my life. I didn't drink much the night before, but I wonder if the combination of the couple of beers, pizza, and lack of water I drank that day added up to one major dehydration event. What a terrible way to spend my first night away from my family!
Despite this, I was able to catch a couple hours of sleep and keep some pills down eventually, and then I took a shower, got dressed and made it to the memorial service.
The service was so well done. It was super emotional, but also very honoring and beautiful. I think everyone who didn't know Jeff left feeling like they knew him, or like they wish they knew him. He was the ultimate extrovert and a man always looking for adventure. During the slide show nearly every single photo of him he had a super goofy look on his face. The speeches given by the family and friends were perfect.
After the service we walked back to Mike & Yvonne's and prepped dinner. A huge rib-eye roast, homemade double-deep-fried french fries and cesar salad. I opted not to drink that evening because I still wasn't feeling 100%.
Everyone was pretty tired so we left around 8. Back at the hotel the 6 of us hung out in Mom & Dad's room for a couple hours. It has been 8 years since we were away with just the 6 of us. It was really nice to kick back, chat about our lives, share stories and laugh. We had a little cheers and then it was off to sleep. I slept like a champ! I guess the 2 hours the night before allowed me to sleep 8.5 hours straight. I slept in until 815! That hasn't happened in years. Sad, but true.
We were all back on the road around 930am and made the trek back to Surrey. I drove with the three boys for the first stretch, and then we stopped at Spences Bridge and went to "The Log Cabin" restaurant for lunch. Funky place in "town" (if you can call it a town). The food was decent and the decor was really cool!
We were back home around 430pm and I was ready to debrief about the weekend. I missed the kids and was ready to see them, but I did not miss the responsibility and wasn't quite ready for that yet! Haha.
After we got the kids to bed and I had a shower, Dave and I sat down with some nachos and a glass of wine and I told him all about the weekend. I know he wished he could have been there too, so I tried to share as much as possible. We definitely shed a few tears again as I re-called the stories and memorial service.
I took almost no pictures the whole time. That wasn't why I went, and I was sick half the time so nobody wanted to see a picture of the bathroom floor I'm pretty sure!
I love our family and am continually reminded at how blessed we are to have everyone be so close.
Side note. David was a champ and he and the kids had a great weekend. Ashleigh helped out Sunday morning because Dave was on media at church. I hardly talked to them all weekend though and it was nice not to have to worry! :)
"GUUUSSSS CHIGGINS!" (From a Will Ferrell SNL skit)
Jeff and Adam's romantic room
I had a brief 10 minute window where I was alone in the hotel room between arriving and heading to dinner. I put on some music, got changed, put on some makeup and had myself a sip of wine all by myself. Most relaxed I was all weekend haha!
Red Tomato Pizza (or something). It's been voted the best pizza in Canada and I do not disagree! It was amazing.
This is Amora, Carmen's 6 month old poodle puppy. She is actually a teddy bear I'm pretty sure. Quiet little fluff ball of love. Gina's dog Zoe (not pictured) is also an amazing dog. She's gorgeous and snuggly and soft; reminds me a lot of Shadow.
Meaaaat! So glad I got my appetite back for this!
Haha maybe this is why I have no pictures. It was just chaotic and loud most of the time. It was fun, but hard for an introvert like me to focus!
Inside the bathroom at the pub. Everything was covered in Sharpie! Interesting!!
Anyway. Off to do some work now. No breaks for this woman! :)
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