Six Weeks of Summer: Girls Roadtrip

For the first week of my summer holidays, Juliana and I decided to hit the road to spend some time with a couple of our favourite people - Susan and Jillian.

The highlight of our trip was our visit to the indoor trampoline park where we all bounced to our heart's content.

Special trampoline shoes:

Jillian and Juliana hit the sponge pit:

Holy crap - what a workout!

Needless to say, we worked up an appetite:

Later, the girls entertained Chris, Josh and I with a fashion show.

The next day, Juliana and I hung out downtown together.  We started out with lunch, did some shopping, met up with some family (sadly, at a visitation), headed to the Museum of Nature, met Grandma and Grandpa for pizza dinner, and then stopped for gelato on the way home.

After which, I crashed on the couch.

Our last day, while we were on our way home to see Sheldon, Peter was coming to meet his mom and dad for a funeral.  We managed to meet half-way at a rest stop off the highway to share some hugs.

What a great few days with my girl.  As I watch her grow older by the minute, these moments seem more and more precious.....

Six Weeks of Summer: Big Yellow Canoe.

It's been a few years since Peter bought his beloved Big Yellow Canoe.

The past few summers, as the kids go through their 'I hate canoeing' phase, it hasn't seen much use - some battles just aren't worth the effort. The up side is that Peter and I get to go alone and have some quality quiet time together!

This year we declared the first morning of my extended summer holidays as 'Date Morning' and what a beautiful morning it was.

And is there any better way to end off a date than a drippy, gooey butter tart?

The more things change....

.....the more things stay the same.

Like an afternoon with our old friends.

Juliana and Leah spent almost all afternoon in the pool and you would never have guessed that they hadn't seen each other for almost a year.

Luckily for me, the entire time they were in the pool, I got to sit and catch up with Lara.  It was like picking up right where we left off as we shared the trials and the joys of our days.  Oh, how I miss her.

Even though she's growing up, Hannah still had lots of time to spend with me.  We cuddled, told stories, played silly games and she drew pictures for me.  She's like a little ray of sunshine, that one.

Then the lovely Alex arrived home in time to share stories of how she is going to change the world.  Honestly, her creative spirit is inspiring to me and I am now finding ways to stay connected to her through social media.  Oh, how the world keeps changing....

Thanks you guys for such a great visit.  Let's not wait so long to do this again, okay?

They say it's your birthday.

photo credit:  Juliana

Happy birthday to my favourite strummer-drummer.

You keep me entertained.
You keep me on my toes.
You keep me well fed.
You keep me guessing.
You keep me inspired.
You keep me sane.
You keep me healthy.
You keep me talking.
You keep me grounded.
You keep me insane.
You keep me calm.
You keep me listening.
You keep me thinking.
You keep me cleaning.
You keep me singing.

And sometimes you make me mad.

But, mostly, you keep me loving you.

Happy birthday from the gaggle of us at home to you at work in Lake Placid.  We'll celebrate when you get back; but, in the meantime, I hope you at least bought an expensive coffee and a piece of cake :)

xo

Work day / Play day.

Ever since Juliana visited my office in January, she has been asking to go back.  Ever since January, Sheldon and Peter have been talking about doing a tour of record shops in the City.  A Friday, earlier in July, provided an opportunity for both.

It started as a regular old work day for me.  Until mid-afternoon when Juliana joined me - just in time for our office's Friday afternoon ice cream. Except that, because of rainy weather, it had been cancelled.  But not for Juliana!  My manager not only made sure there was ice cream for her visit but she also made sure that she bought Juliana's favourite kind - mint chocolate chip.  Lucky girl!

Meanwhile, across town, Peter and Sheldon were hitting up places like this:

After work, Juliana and I shopped in Chinatown and eventually met up with Peter and Sheldon for the most delicious dinner - pizza, pasta and lasagna.

It was ridiculously humid and we had a little rain but we didn't let that dampen our spirits.  We all had such a great time that even our small town boy was making plans to return - for both the record shopping and the pizza!

Don't spend it all in one place.

Going through my photos reminded me that I needed to share one of my proudest moments.  One that I took almost all the way to the bank.

I've been hoarding our Canadian Tire money for a long time. What better time than Father's Day to count it, bundle it and spend it?

And then we start collecting it all over again....

This happened today.

Full disclosure:  Sheldon put Sidney there.  She was fine with it and Maggie was too freaked out to move.

And that's how THIS happened today:

Our summer started like this.

Last year was a weird summer for us.  It felt over-scheduled with too many camps and time away and not enough time to just stop and relax. This year we resolved to do it differently.  This year we resolved to do more of this:

Sheldon went to see Rancid at his first real concert with friends.  I wasn't allowed to ask to get a photo so this is the best that I could get to document the occasion:

We spent July 1st on art projects and fireworks:

I was proclaimed 'mother of the year' when I got my hands on old Trailer Park Boys movie posters for Sheldon and his friends.  (In case you're wondering, my status was revoked three hours later when I wouldn't let Sheldon on the computer....)

There was gelato:

If you know me, you know that I will do almost anything to avoid having a group sleepover.  She must have caught me at a weak moment because Juliana had a sleepover to celebrate the summer starting. And, to be honest, they were such a great group of girls that they can all come back anytime.  Next time maybe more of a sleepover than a wakeover though?

There was a haircut.  From this:

photo credit:  Amanda 

To this:

Sunday nights at the park have started again.  Whoever is around meets in the park, the kids play in the playground and the adults play music in the grass:

photo credit:  Peter

It was a great start but there is more, much more, to come.....

Smell the flowers.

Without realizing it, I have taken July as my month to stop and smell the flowers.  

It's been a great month full of road trips, family time, and ice cream.  Lots of ice cream.

But I'm ready to get back to it and I will be sharing the stories from the last month or so.  

Starting tomorrow.  :)