Our Retirement begins

February 28
Our last day at work! Dave drove his own truck into work instead of taking the company van. He arrived late, breakfast in hand for all his crew. He was thrilled to note that they all dressed in grey sweat pants and shirts in honour of Dave's preferred work attire. They even went so far as to replicate the moustache. Now that's love!

After visiting with them he headed off to some other areas and plants to say good-bye to some of the many people he had worked with over the last 30 years. After many heartfelt congratulations he came home early.

Unfortunately my last day at work was very busy. Working in healthcare does not allow for extra staff to accommodate visit time, even for your last day. I did my best to get in a chat with everyone. My girls ordered in lunch to celebrate and I hung around after my shift to say a few extra good-byes. I am staying on as  casual staff and hope to pick up a few shifts this summer. You can't get rid of me that easy!!

March 1
Our plan is to hit the road with the 5th wheel on March 8th. Unfortunately the weather in northern Alberta at this time of year is full scale winter. We have been waiting for weeks for a "warm day" to start loading up but it hasn't happened yet.

For now we are loading everything in the garage. We also took care of updating our wills with the lawyer.

March 2
Second day of retirement and I am back at work doing an eight hour course called Non-Violent Crisis Intervention. It is a mandatory course for all techs at our site as we often work alone. I can also use the hours for annual education hours required by my licensing college. Win-win!! Dave was home doing more packing, sorting and organizing. He also started some house cleaning as we are planning on putting the house up for sale. The market here is still terrible since oil prices tanked in 2014/15. Way too many homes on the market and very few buyers equals low selling prices. We will have to see what happens.

March 3
Snowed hard all night. Sitting around thinking about going to do some snow removal when "Surprise!!" my kids, Ryan and Sam, Ryan's girlfriend Ashtyn and our nephew Graham from Edmonton all showed up! Along with them was our friends Ron and Shelley and our daughter-in-law Rachelle with grandson Dominic. One of our "adopted" kids, Derek, also came by. 

Graham, Dave, Derek, me, Sam, Ryan and Ashtyn

Rachelle, me, Dominic and Grandpa

The kids brought everything with them to ensure a good time was had by all. Plenty of snacks, food, "beverages" and games. Graham even brought two really nice bottles of Champagne for an official retirement toast. Delicious :)

Graham with the good stuff

We laughed a lot and stayed up way past our bedtimes! We all enjoyed the game What do you Meme? So much fun! Such a wonderful night. What great kids we have. 

March 4
Everyone slept in and woke up a little under the weather...hahaha. After a couple coffees we made up a big pancake breakfast for all and then set about getting some snow taken care of.

The kids got loaded up and on the road by 2pm as the road conditions were not great and Momma bear insisted they be home before dark.