Vacation, Have to Get Away

... with apologies to the Go-Go's for changing the verb tense!

We are very much looking forward to escaping winter temps that have seen our city colder than The North Pole for many days in the last month. Brrr. Yes, we hit the -40C mark (which is also -40F by the way for my American readers) on a number of occasions. And yes, that's damn cold. Enough. We had more than half of the snow that we usually get in the season before Winter officially started! Good God! Nuts or what?!

So it is with great happiness we are eyeing Saturday with glee and delight. We are leaving for two weeks on holidays to the sunny south. The first week we are hooking up with my mom and dad, my sis, BIL and nephew, and my aunt. I cannot wait to see the kids playing together. I can't wait to see Mom and Dad and my aunt. I'm looking forward to seeing my sis and BIL; Hubby hasn't seen my BIL in YEARS and the boys like to get together now and then.

The second week, we drive to Orlando and hook up with friends of ours from California whom we haven't seen since I was pregnant with Petite! That will be so much fun. We are hitting Disney's Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, and Medieval Times. With some time in there for swimming, carousing and general fun of course.

My stepson has moved in; this became official at the end of December. I think he's doing pretty well here. I hope so anyway. And Petite is soooo happy to have her big brother in the house! They get along really well and he's fantastic with her. Bless his heart. He's a good kid.

My surgery is quickly approaching. The date has been set for VSG on February 3. I'll be off for the entire month of February to recover. Mom and Dad will fly in on February 1 (my stepson's birthday as it so happens) and they will stay with us for two weeks to help out. I'll be pretty weak for a bit. To be expected. My goal is to lose about 140-160 pounds. I am going to do my best to use the chance and the tool that I will be given to the absolute fullest. Keep your fingers crossed! This will get fun!

I start the pre-op liquid diet (Optifast) while we are in Florida. Ugh. That's a bit of a downer, but you know something? I'm not stressing over it one little bit. It will all be well worth it. And I look forward to what that means for me in the long run. It doesn't matter, not one little bit. I think I'm going to miss having a glass of wine by the pool or something, but other than that, I'll do just fine. Definitely.

The Opti lasts for three weeks; upon our return from FLA, I have one week at work before surgery. And I have to do my pre-admission appointment as well. That will take a few hours but I'm sure it's nothing I haven't experienced before. I just dread the possibility that they will do bloodwork! *shudder* Oh you know how much I hate THAT crap!!

Petite has just started her second level of swimming classes (Salamander) and the instructor was surprised; he truly thought she had done the class before! He says she is really very good. I'm glad to hear that. I will work with her while in Florida in the pool to practise her various floats, kicks and push-offs. Never know... she may end up in competitive swimming like me and my sister were!

Gotta run; I've spent the evening taking over 1300 photos off my iPhone so I can finally install the latest IOS and do over 60 updates to the apps. I really need to clear a few gigs of space on that thing! Sheesh!

Love and hugs to all in blogland! I hope to post before surgery and let you know how things are going!