Not a lot has been happening since my last post until this past week. But I decided to write it two parts. A life part and then a health update.

When we got back from the Okanagan, my friend Jason was in town for a couple of weeks. It was great having him around and was a nice distraction after coming home from holidays. He left July 28th and since then it has been fairly routine for us. Chemo week on, chemo week off, and repeat.

We stuck around home during the month of August. Renee had lots of weddings and work to do. I have also been enjoying getting into work when I could. Audrey was in a couple of camps – Peddalheads and Southland Leisure Centre. Her Peddalheads bike camp was good and she did it last year too. However, she refuses to ride and practice at home. She tells us she will just learn at camp every year. So it may take five years before she learns how to ride a bike! I should also mention Audrey is also 5 going on 13. It seems like since she turned 5, she has gotten that much more mature. Not only has she grown a ton and is the tallest kid in every thing she does, she also has the mouth to go with it. She is awesomly stubborn, quick with the whip and a “lovely challenge” sometimes. 🙂
A few weeks ago Renee asked her to do something (a few times) and finally, under her breath, says “fine” in a snotty way. Of course Renee hears it and questions her. Audrey’s response was “How did you hear that?” in a teenager sort of way. It is crazy how and where they learn behaviour.
I was also in stitches not long ago as well. My mom was coming to pick Audrey up as Renee had left for work and I was heading to an appointment. I am trying to get Audrey ready (a challenge inherited from her dad) and I made her some toast. I kept telling her it was ready and then after a couple of times added that it was getting cold. Her response from her bedroom…”Well, put a lid on it!” The tone and the dual meaning of literally putting a lid on it to keep it warm, combined with telling her dad to shut the %$^& up couldn’t have been better. I was in the kitchen in tears with “quiet” laughter. Couldn’t believe this came out of my five year old. Scary and awesome at the same time.

Being at home for a stretch also allowed us to spend more time with family and friends. It was still a seemingly busy month and went by quickly. Mind you with each two week cycle I only have five productive days to “do things”. And even those days have been a challenge lately, but I will add to that in the next post.

Audrey did start kindergarten last week. Sniff, sniff. And she also takes the bus which picks her up right down our street. She was super excited, but did tell Renee she was nervous. She was upset on her first day because we drove her and she didn’t get to take the bus. But now that she takes the bus, she refused to take it on Thursday morning. Renee had to drive her. This is the five year old that seems more her age…! But she loves it and loves being around other kids.

I also booked a trip with my brother in law to go to Detroit in September which we actually just got home from. It was great to have something on the horizon again and of course the trip was awesome. People looked at us funny and would ask “Why Detroit?”. Well, quite simply it was to go see the Detroit Lions play Monday night football. I have never see a Lions’ game and I have been cheering for them since I started watching the NFL 20 years ago. Why did I chose this team? 2 Reasons: Barry Sanders (elite running in the 90’s) and the movie Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy played a cop from Detroit and wore a Lions’ jacket in the movie). The past 20 years have been tough as a fan as they have been one of the worst teams during this 20 year span. I am hoping the next coming years prove to be different as there are a lot of good things happening with the team.
But I digress, this Monday night game was amazing for me. Not only was it my first time seeing them play, they won and it was pretty cool to be around the same fans. There aren’t too many Detroit Lions fans in Calgary!

We also added two Detroit Tigers’ games as well. I love going to baseball games. I have always cheered for the Tigers because of the Lions but I have cheered for other teams too. But on this trip I declared my allegiance to the Tigers. Officially they are my ball team now. Love the history and loved the experience. It also didn’t hurt that five of the most notable Detroit Lions sat right in front of us on Tuesday night game. Chatted with a couple of them and got my picture with Reggie Bush. Even though the Monday night football game was pretty special the whole day on Tuesday was epic. Tuesday started with a Ford Field (Lions) tour at 11. They took us everywhere and we got to see everything. We actually got to hang out on the field, the locker rooms and press area. I have been on a couple of baseball tours but they always have “no go” areas, but this tour was different. I kept asking our tour guide to just round us up when she needed to move on, but she kept saying this was for us. “Take as much time as you want. The fans make this all happen.” Pretty cool response and hanging out on the turf for a half hour was awesome. The turf is fake and it is covered in rubber sand. When you push your fingers into it, it leaves a mark like memory foam.
Then right after this tour, we rushed across the street to start the Comerica Park tour (Tigers). This tour was great but nothing near the Lions’ tour. They talked history and we got to go into the home team dugout. But no locker rooms or other team areas. It was kind of a ticket sales pitch tour.
After the tours we had a quick change back at the hotel. We stayed at the Marriott in the Renaissance Center. Then headed to the restaurant “Roast”. It is a Michael Symon (Iron Chef) restaurant. It was in the Westin and I acutally found the decorating a little pretentious. That was quickly brushed aside once we got our food. It was amazing. Decided to try Wagu beef for the first time. It is crazy expensive but I wanted to know what all the hype was about. This steak was nothing like I have had before. It had a smooth dense texture. Almost like Ahi Tuna but more firm. It was impressive and glad I tried it – even at the $70 price tag. (I was on holidays!!)
After dinner, we headed to the baseball game. The weather was beautiful and this was a divisional game against the KC Royals. These teams are basically back and forth right now for the division lead for the AL Central pennant.
We had good seats to the game (Row 4 behind Tigers’ dugout). But we noticed that it was strange no one was sitting in front of us. Then, as I mentioned, after the first inning those seats were occupied by 5 of the most notable members of the Detroit Lions and their wives. Needless to say I was a bit starstruck. Got some photos taken and high fived with them on the Tigers’ two home runs. All in all, it was an amazing moment and day.

Now we are back to a fall routine. With Audrey being in full time school, Renee is working a little bit more. When she is not looking after me of course…
Not sure what we will do over the next few months. I hope to get into work as much as possible as I do enjoy it. We have a renovation planned for our West Springs location in November. Pretty excited to see how everything goes with that.
Renee has a girls trip booked to Mexico for 5 days in October. A little bit short but much needed for my overworked wife. She is the household and our glue.

Also a big congratulations to our friends Dan and Nadia. They got married last weeked at the Banff Springs Hotel. Wonderful wedding, great setting and happy to be a part of their day!

Hope the summer treated everyone well, and as I said, my Health update will follow shortly.
Dan