The Sunday after I had babysat Gwen with Ben we had to go back to their place because Ben had forgot his school book there. It was ok because it was another chance to see Gwen. Now when I say Gwen I also mean Mary and Adam but its mostly Gwen we want to see. Gwen was very happy to see us and when I say us I mean Patty (Grandma). She loves seeing us but has a special bond with Grandma as they spend 2 whole days together. I love it because she always says Papa when she sees me, she won't come to me right away but she says papa. Actually this time down she was napping and I went upstairs to get her when she woke up. I was sorry I had volunteered because she didn't smell cute and girly baby like when I picked her up and hugged her. She had a full diaper and man did it stink. So I did the papa thing and called grama to change it ... no I didn't I changed it myself! With her wiggling I ended up sticking my finger in it and that was a little gross. But I cleaned her put cream on her and got the diaper on enough it stayed on. Then when I got downstairs she had to go to grandma of course! She ran around between us bringing us books for her to read and playing with Ben. It was a nice visit and Ben remebered his book!











This past Saturday it started out as a lazy day. Patty was still trying to sleep and I was playing with my ipod. I still find it amazing what you can do with it and I have a ton of songs and apps on it now. I can chat on msn and I can twitter on it as well as browse web pages and listen to my music all without getting out of bed. I even bought a charger for the bedroom that I plug into before going to sleep at night.

Patty brought me breakfast in bed and for no reason that I can think of other than she loves me. Poached eggs on toast with milk. We finally got up and made our way downstairs and decided to go to Nanaimo to Jysks. I like doing anything that puts a smile on Patty's face cause it makes me happy seeing her like that. On our way in I stopped at a friends house to drop off a football cd and he had a newspaper that had a photo of mine in it. His wife met me at the door cause he was in the shower and she asked me if I had heard the news about another friend of mine and proceeded to tell me that he had recently passed away. He was a newspaper guy, sports editor who had helped me get my first photo printed in the newspaper. He also got me ring side for the King of the cage fights in Nanaimo. He was the most friendly person you could meet and has 3 young kids and a wife. He was only 43! He had pneumonia since December and had just recently gotten out of the hospital but was on the stretcher being taken inside the hospital when he had a massive heart attack! They say his heart exploded because of a blockage. He was a heavy set man. I had known him since my first day with the Raiders football team. He loved to pick on my Ti Cats and also Id see him in Duncan when the Nanaimo Clippers were in town for hockey and he would tease me about moving here and switching teams. I used to kid back but never told him that I'm not really a fan of any team I just like taking photos at the games and those two teams have a huge rivalry which usually means fights. I gotta say this hit me pretty hard as he is younger than me and I'm not the most healthiest person. I have cut back on Pepsi and Junk since Christmas but I still need to get in shape. I want to be around a long time to take Gwen to football and hockey games! I wished I had found out sooner so I could have gone to his funeral. I'm going to miss him at the football games in Nanaimo! RIP Michael (Rhodsie) Rhode !!

We did end up going to Jysks after this where Patty picked up a few things. Then Patty treated me to lunch at Swiss Chalet! Boy I must have done something right somewhere along the line LOL. Then instead of going to the mall we went to Chapters and I bought the 3rd book in the line of digital photography books by Scott Kelby. Then it was home and to watch my Vancouver Canucks beat up Tylers Pittsburgh Penguins!

The following picture is one that Patty took of one of our cats with the new candles she had bought at Jysks!



Ok now last night we went down to see Gwen (and family) again because Patty won't get to baby sit her this week unless we go to Hawii! That's right they leave for a week in Hawii today (weather permitting!) and are staying with Mary's dad in a condo he's rented for a few months. We had a wind storm last night and the Ferries were canceled this morning but I just received a phone call in the middle of that sentence from Adam saying the Ferries are running and they will be on the 1:00pm one for sure!

Mary ordered pizza in and Grandma got to hold Gwen most of the night when Gwen wasn't running around bouncing of the walls. She was pretty hyped up for someone too little to know where she was going the next day. Gwen is so smart and I know all parents and grand parents think that but hey I'm a papa so I say she is smart! You can ask her to go get the baby book and she knows which one your talking about, or the train book, or the cat book or the dog book or any book that you have sat and read to her. She loves her books. After your done she says away and you say yes Gwen put the book away and she takes back to the bookshelf and puts it back. Patty got a video the other day of her saying Daddy's at work when she asked her where is daddy?





The last picture is from our front window of a Rainbow that Patty spotted after the storm. It dissapeard within 2 minutes after we had first seen it as we watched!