Hey Everyone, will try to catch up the last three weeks events. Our daughter, Jenn Viksne, arrived during my infusion appt on Aug. 4th. John picked her up after getting me settled. It was so fun to see her and we enjoyed catching up on all the wedding plans. Jenn and Chelsea had a ball together, as they get older, the five year age difference disappears! We had dinner at our favorite Celia's.
Sat. I attended a Memorial for a high school friend, Johnny Schmidt. It was like a high school reunion and we enjoyed sharing stories of Johnny and catching up. My friend Karen Horn Cooper drove me and we ended the evening with dinner at Vivace with our friend Joyce Rolletto Faulknor. It was so fun!
Sunday we had a small wedding shower for Jenn at Lisa's Tea Adventures in Menlo Park. It was so fun to play dress up and enjoy the dainty sandwiches and different teas, not to mention the desserts! Might be what's attributed to my healthy weight gain! Afterwards, Chelsea, Jenn and I went to Stanford Mall and found her blue shoes and make up for the wedding. Love my daughters being here together!
We enjoyed giving Jenn a keepsake necklace from us before the wedding and were thrilled that she liked it.
Jenn and John enjoyed a bike ride, and a couple good hikes at WaterDog Lake and Old La Honda.
I laid low a couple days due to fatigue. Amazing how it catches up with you, but also in talking to my chemo nurse, she assured me it's a normal reaction at this point of my treatment. I just slept a lot and rested and Tues. we were out to IHOP and Wed. we had a nice lunch together before Jenn flew to Oregon to meet her fiance Kyle.
Sunday John and I began our road trip to Oregon. The ride through the Presidio SF was so beautiful with the fog layering the spans of the GG Bridge. We stopped for breakfast in Novato, where else, IHOP!! We had promised my nurse we would stop every two hours for me to stretch my legs.
We had a picnic lunch along the river in a campground. The sun was shining and it smelled so fresh out. I believe my senses for nature are so keen now--I appreciate the flowers and trees so much more. We took the 32 mile drive through the Avenue of the Giants and loved the big redwoods.
We spent the night in Fortuna, Ca. because the hotels were booked in Ferndale, but we drove there and walked around town looking at the Victorians and enjoyed yogurt at a local shop. We met two gals working at a boutique and they gave us a name of a great local Mexican restaurant in Fortuna. We did go there for dinner and it was awesome.
After breakfast we were on the road again, now speeding along the coastal route-it was gorgeous! We picked up wraps at a market and had a picnic lunch along a beach.
Priceless views! The climb through the mountains to Oregon was breathtaking. It's such a beautiful drive up Highway 101, you must do it!!
Following Jenn's directions, we took the 7 Devils Highway to Charleston, but were amazed at how rural it was, unpaved, gravel and steep grades. We found out later we took the OLD 7 Devils, and that ran into the NEW 7 Devils!!! We arrived in Coos Bay and after passing it twice, we found our beach house in Charleston. We were really pleased with our choice and the view from the entire back of the house, including our master suite, was breathtaking of the ocean! We saw a whale the first day!!!
After unpacking, we drove to the Casino and picked up our son Jonathan. He spent the afternoon with us hiking around and we had a nice dinner together. He checked out of his hotel the next day and spent the remainder of his time with us.
Jenn and Kyle's beach house was just across the street, so we were able to work on wedding things easily.
Wed. night was the Meet and Greet the Parents dinner at the Tide Waves restaurant. It was fun to meet Kyle's family and see Jenn's mom Janet and meet her husband Ed.
Thursday morning we shopped for groceries for the Viksne Family dinner that night. In the early afternoon Jenn, her college roommate Danni, Jonathan, John and I went for a tour of the Coquille Tribe Plank House and grounds. Kyle is a member of the tribe, so Jenn will be a spouse of the tribe. She worked for the Tribe four years ago as an Archeologist. We visited the Bastendorff Beach where the Rehearsal Bonfire would be held Friday night.
Throughout the afternoon, everyone arrived. Chelsea, Janis and Tom Henderson drove down from Portland Airport. Anita Viksne Davis and our nephew Joe Byrne arrived from Eugene Airport.
Along with Jenn and her two bridemaids Danni & Monica, we had a beautiful dinner of BBQ pork tenderloin and London Broil, baked potatoes with all the fixings, salad, bread, spinach dip, hummus, sauteed mushrooms and onions and ice cream for dessert. It was fun to catch up with everyone!! My sister Debbie and David arrived about 10:30 that night and enjoyed leftovers!!
My son, Ryan, wasn't able to attend as he had booked and filmed a commercial for Verizon all that day and Friday. While disappointed, we were thrilled he got an acting job.
The Bonfire Party was a hit!! Although the weather had been foggy and windy, it was really nice at the beach that night and the huge bonfire kept us warm. We had sausages on a stick, the best fried chicken and potato and macaroni salad, pesto salad and watermelon. Dessert was S'mores!!! And so fun making them yourself! A Viksne tradition was performed that night. John's sister Liga writes a song about the Bride and Groom and we sing it! It was a lot fun and Jenn and Kyle were definitely thrilled.
I was especially happy to be able to stay at the beach the entire evening!
Saturday everyone helped set up for the reception. Jenn and Kyle had changed the location from our beach house yard to theirs as it was more protected from the wind and better access from the kitchen to the yard. I laid low that morning, but everyone else enjoyed helping with the flowers, tables and linens. As my daughter Chelsea said, you really felt like part of their wedding by participating! The ceremony was magical! Jenn and Kyle had so many little personal touches throughout the day. The fog seemed to lift during the ceremony and recede back so the photos were perfect lighting~after the ceremony, we were served champagne, sparkling cider and three wheels of different cheeses that the kids love. It
was a chance to visit with people while the wedding party took photos. When they wanted different families for photos, we just walked across the street. The reception began at 3:00pm and was perfect! We danced, the food was prepared by their friend Chris, who teaches at the Culinary Institute! He even made an ice carving of an octopus at Jenn's request!!
The cake was spice, yellow and chocolate cherry!! I ate a piece of each!!! That probably again has attributed to my weight gain!!! At dark, Jonathan lit 108 luminary bags along the yard--it was magical!
We later changed into warmer clothes and continued dancing until about 9:00. We left the kids still partying at that time and called it a night! They had a ball!!
Sunday was a lay low day, just relaxing. We combined both houses food and Tom Henderson managed to make an excellent meal along with clam chowder from the Tide Waves restaurant. It was fun to have all the kids for dinner and all that leftover cake!
Monday we said our goodbyes after a hike down to the beach below our house. We drove back Highway 5 marveling at the view of Mt Shasta as we entered Calif. We drove to my brother Bill's house in Anderson, Ca and spent the night. We enjoyed catching up, seeing my nephew Michael, Angela and their five kids! After they left, we went out for burgers. In the morning, we had coffee in their gorgeous garden while Kathy made us blueberry pancakes with homemade blueberry syrup. It was a nice ending of our trip. We made it back to San Mateo by 2:30.
My doctor appt. yesterday was great, just a little infection in an old laparoscopy incision, so they have removed the scab and filled it with incision glue and I'll take another ten days of antibiotics.
Yesterday was my last "big chemo" of taxol, carboplatin & Avastin. I had to laugh, they had to increase the Avastin due to my weight gain!! Ok, I started tracking my food again! It seems my taste buds are affected now and the only thing I taste well is sweets!!! Chemo went well though and I now have the date for my CT Scan~Sept. 12th. and I continue with just Avastin on Sept. 15th and continue every three weeks! That will be a new life for us. We enjoyed the road trip to Oregon so much we are talking about where else we want to travel to!!
Today, we do the walk through on our condo, it's been cleaned and carpets are done, so we will receive the remaining keys to the pools and John plans to start working on some projects this afternoon. I will start lining the shelves and we hope to be sleeping there by the end of next week.
This blog was a bit long, but so many fun things to share, thanks for checking in!!
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