Last Wednesday we had quite the adventure! Aunt Patti had the day off and arranged for the boys and I to go to the Aquarium of the Pacific with her. Since Goosey is in town she joined us for a wild wet aquatic day! I missed the first part of the aquarium – for good reason! My brother Neal works downtown Long Beach (how fun!) and we met for a brother/sister lunch date. It was so much fun. That’s another story though.

When I caught up with the crew they were getting ready for lunch. The boys were loving the aquarium. Lunch proved entertaining since Walker’s mood looked like this:

Still, after everyone got a little food in their bellies we wandered back through the aquarium. The boys were anxious to show me all of the things I had missed in my absence.

The fish in the fresh water tank were a hit with Will…especially because every once and
a while a run of fresh water would pour down the canyon (you can see it behind him)
and most of the other aquarium visitors would be surprised!

Both boys, not to mention all three of us ladies, loved the deep sea tank.
Wow. Talk about perspective.

Walker was a HUGE fan of the puffins.
He even had conversations with them through the glass.

Giant crabs. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

Of course Walker was thrilled to spray people!

This is for you Goosey! We miss you – we love you – and we’ll see you soon!

Many of you know that ‘Pa Bob’ (that’s what the boys call him) has struggled with his health over the last two months. I’ve blogged about it a lot on this site. We thought he had reached a major positive turning point when he was able to come home this past Tuesday.

His body just wasn’t ready for the move from the hospital and on Thursday my Grandma called 9-1-1 and he was readmitted to the ICU. My Mom and Aunt Patti flew up on Friday to be with my Grandma. The Doctor was cautiously optimistic that he would, again, turn things around. They even took out the ventilator they had put him on.

This morning my Grandma received a call from the hospital saying that they needed to intubate him again, but that he was refusing. This was his wish and my Grandma relayed that to them. The nurse then suggested that she come down to the hospital. She woke my Mom and Patti up and they joined her at the hospital.

My Grandpa was awake and very coherent. He and my Grandma shared their quiet goodbyes. He said ‘Things are taken care of Joyce”. She said, “Yes they are Bob. You know that. We’ve been through everything.” He nodded. He told Mom and Patti that he loved them and that he loves his family. He asked Patti to say a prayer. After the prayer he slowed his breathing, closed his eyes, shuddered, and was gone.

My Mom said that it was very peaceful and about as good as you could want a passing to be.

I absolutely adore my Grandparents. My Grandpa has been like a 2nd Father to me – coming to events in my life, teaching me lessons about love and spirit, and showing me love at every moment. I cannot even say how much I will miss him or how my heart feels with this loss.

Yet at the same time I am so glad he is done with the fight and done with the pain.

We will be going to Utah sometime this week for the funeral on Saturday – and it will be great to have time with my family to celebrate my Grandpa.

Yesterday I called my Aunt Patti, who was with my Grandma at the hospital waiting to talk to my Grandpa’s doctor. I figured they would need a laugh – so I told them the story I am about to tell you. But first let me back up in time…

On August 18th, 2007 Eric and I paid $190 for a pair of underwear. I know, you are all thinking we were trying something new in our ‘Special Mommy & Daddy time’. Nope. The underwear looked like this:

Yep. Potty pants. My friend and former co-worker Kim had given us some wonderful cotton potty training pants. And they’ve been great. So on August 18th we were right in the midst of potty training – you might remember this entry. Well on that fateful day we ended up having to call the plumber at Rescue Rooter to fish those unders out after Will had flushed them down.

Lesson learned right?

Nope. Not quite.

Now let’s move back in time again…

Yesterday was one of those days as a parent that makes me start searching both Craigslist for anyone interested in buying two kids and Monster for a new job.

The climax of the events was running, in what felt like slow motion, down the hall as I heard the start of the toilet flushing. Walker had an accident so I was hurrying to clean up his room (it was nap time) of the mess – having put him in the bath to rinse off some of the mess (see you are getting the scope of what my day was like aren’t you!!). Well I made the mistake of thinking that with Walker in the tub and Will by my side that the unders would be safe in the toilet until I could rinse them.

Boy was I wrong.

So last night, at 10pm, the friendly plumber arrived again and we purchased our second pair of $190 underwear. By this time I’ve just decided on community college for the kids since I’m slowly emptying their college savings to pay the plumber.

What I wish I would have known was provided by my Grandma, who sweetly mentioned via email that she loved my story, it made her laugh, and (in her words):

I think you should invest in a $14.95 snake at Home Depot to fish those pants out of the toilet. I had one that used to work in most cases. Only a few required major help.

Pssst – No one dare mention that throwing the underwear out would have been a cheaper option too. I, unfortunately, became aware of that as I was typing this post. I am now going to go drown my sorrow in a bowl of sugar free, Weight Watcher approved, ice cream.

Happy Father’s Day to:

Eric – I am so glad that we get to experience this journey of parenthood together. Our boys love you, as do I.

Grandpa Karl, Papa Paul- the two best grandfathers two boys could ever have!

GreatGrandpa Ted ‘Pop’ and Robert ‘Bob’ – who act like the world exists if only for Will and Walker

And all of the wonderful other men who are part of the lives of William and Walker.

With appreciation,
Shelly

Here is a picture from our Father’s Day celebration in So. Cal with the Ekstrand clan.