01-13-24 A Night at the Stanford
I was awake at 9 and when I heard the temperature, I did not want to get out of bed. My home is wonderfully cozy though and the pipes didn’t freeze so it was up into a hot shower before my ABC zoom.
Had a good visit with the Hearndens, Woodmans, Madisons, and Keyes for an hour and a half or so. Funny that three trips to Ecuador and Galapagos are planned. Madisons soon, Woodmans in March and me in September. There was much discussion about the potential danger. They all wowed over the deal I got for my trip. It was nice to catch up and I look forward to seeing Craig and Lorraine when they meet me in Disneyland for a couple days. They look forward to meeting my family as well. I truly have been blessed by the friendships retained from that trip to Peru in 2013. There had been unrest before that trip too, but look at all the joy that has come from it. I am so glad I went. It is a shame that we are all taking separate trips as that would have been the perfect one for us to all go on together.
When I got ready and was leaving, I saw that there was a circle of footprints in my yard. I am going to hope it was the neighbour a couple of doors down coming to capture their Tom cat and take it back home. Easy to see its tracks coming from their house and trying to get into mine. I have actually blocked the cat door completely now though and Missy doesn’t want to go out in this cold anyway.
It was very cold to stop and fill up the tank, but the sky is so gorgeous, and except for a few Kilometer stretch, the highway was clear getting me safely to my clients in Fernie. And what a gorgeous store it is! The new manager Amber is lovely as well. I picked up a bunch of beverages while I was there for when I get home.
I met Malcolm and Emmy at Canadian Tire and after a short time there we went to the grocery store for snacks and switched Emmy and her gear into my car. We checked into the Stanford Resort at 2:30, unpacked and explored the resort. We did have a good laugh when we found the star from her nose on the bottom of my boot. She had lost it when we left the grocery store. We spent some loonies and twoonies in the game room, and enjoyed appetizers in the Tandoor Grill. Emmy is quite the little observational kid. She is so much beyond her 6 years and we had some great conversations. She was entranced by the restaurant, choosing our table based on the flowers. When it wobbled, we were pleased that the server offered us a private table and even swapped the flowers just for Emmy. She had her first Shirley Temple drink and loved it.
Back to the room we went to get into our bathing suits. Emmy had the idea that because we both had new ones I should change in the bathroom while she changed near her bed and then we would have the big reveal. She was so sweet and complimentary about mine and she was cute as a button in hers. We went and spent an hour and half in the pool and for all but 15 minutes of it we had the entire place to ourselves. We went on the water slide, had swimming games and challenges, and even went out for a hot tub in the cold. We both made the mistake of touching the metal railing and our fingers stung for a bit. I showed her how to make crazy hairdos by messing it up as it froze. She told me it was a little bit hard to tell if mine was frosty as it was already a lot white. We then rushed back in to get in the pool for a bit longer before hitting the Sauna. It wasn’t warm enough so it was back to the room for hot showers. Ms E went first and left the shower on for me to get in. She had put the plug in and turned it to full hot, the little monkey. After the showers she did say that my hair is mostly white only on top and mostly dark everywhere else. She must have decided that needed clarifying.
We got ourselves down to the restaurant just as all the hockey players and families were arriving back. That was fortunate as we got our food fairly quickly. Unfortunately mine was terrible and the server was too busy to get back to us. I just enjoyed my Amrut Fusion single malt and the good conversations with Emmy as she ate. They did not charge me and I wonder if they knew something was up as she immediately said it was a new box of Shrimp when I said they were rubbery and fishy tasting. I tried two to be sure but that was it. Fortunately we had lots of snacks back at the room.
As we were leaving the room earlier I saw Kendra, who I used to work with at the firm, coming out of the room across the hall. After swimming, as we were heading back to our room, there a Dad and two young boys walking ahead of us. The older of the two kept turning to look at us so I said Hi. He stopped and said “Emmy?”. It was their downstairs neighbour’s from before they moved to Elkford. It seems that the place is teaming with very young hockey players from Kimberley and Cranbrook. They have mostly behaved well and I can buffer the sound in the halls with the TV while Emmy sleeps but at 9:15 there was a terrible loud ruckus right outside the door. I opened it and quietly asked that they just not yell outside our door please as my 6 year old granddaughter was sleeping. The older of the bunch, maybe 10, immediately apologized and it has been reasonable since. I must remember to ask if there are teams staying in hotels when I book them.
She took her very last ADHD med today having been weaned off them. She told me that makes her happy. She fully explained to me the two different melatonin she has, one melts in her mouth to help her get to sleep and the other she swallows to help her stay asleep. She easily went to bed on time and has been asleep for nearly 3 hours now. I’d best get some sleep. We are both really looking forward to travelling now.
triumphgal 