Weekend Recap

Just a few photos from our weekend. It was the end of the first week of school so everyone was happy to see Friday.  Some of Q’s rep teammates were playing in house league playoffs that night so we ordered a pizza and took it to the ballfield to watch their game. There were lots of people there and it was a great night!

Q had a game on Saturday morning, which they won. 

We hung out a bit after his game but then had to get home to go golfing.  Q and I were golfing with his friend and mom at Centennial. Dave and E were golfing together too. Cuties.

Then we took J to the golf club for dinner on the patio.

Dave and E were just finishing up their round so the boys went down to watch them putt on 18.

That night we watched the new Ryan Reynolds movie on Apple TV, Mayday. It was pretty good, I like Kenneth Branagh. I even stayed awake for the whole movie!

On Sunday morning one of our friends asked if we wanted tickets to the Blue Jays game and of course the answer is a YES! 

E didn’t bring a hat so he tried on this one, haha.

Great seats and a beautiful day at the ballpark.

And what made it even better was seeing Vladdy’s first homerun at home! It was the middle in a back to back to back and it was pretty great!! It was almost as good as Barger’s grand slam in Game 1 of last year’s World Series, almost!

We stopped in at the new Hall of Excellence. They have done a great job!

We got home in pretty good time, stopped by the grocery store to get ingredients for smash burgers, and then got ready for the week ahead. 

Friday Favourites

I can't let the day go by without acknowledging 9/11. It's not a day to celebrate, certainly, but a way that we recognize the day is to listen to the Come From Away soundtrack. It's a great reminder of the ways people helped each other out that day and the days that followed. 

These photos are from last Friday. I took the boys out for dinner Queen Margherita Pizza, we walked there, and enjoyed our meal (Dave was golfing).

We took our bikes down to the river on the weekend and the baby turtles were out and being collected and protected. 

The kids went back to school on Tuesday - Grade 5 for Q and Grade 10 for E. Traditional photo shoot on the front porch!

Some ladies were walking by and offered to do a family photo, which turned out well!

The Grade 5 French Immersion boys. 

I ordered some things from The Ordinary last week. I have used a few of these products before but added a toner this time. 

Last night I went to the golf club for the last ladies' night, and although did not play a round, I did participate in the chipping contest. And then we had our first choir practice of the season. It is nice to be back singing with a group, instead of just me in my car.

Linking up with Andrea.

Let's Look

 

Linking up with Let's Look for this month's topic - free things that bring me joy. 

As noted in the meme above, it is hard to do anything for free, and things are getting increasingly expensive. Here are some things I enjoy doing that don't cost money:

Reading books from the library. 

Doing the Globe and Mail crossword puzzle and New York Times Connections. I guess technically I pay for the Globe and Mail subscription, but it's a very low cost and since I do the crossword everyday, the price per use is very low.

Singing in the church choir. 

Watching baseball at High Park. Aside from my own son's games (which again are technically not "free" since we have to pay for the registration fees, equipment, and travel) there are games happening there from May to September, and it is free to watch.  

Using my bike as transportation. Yes, the bike cost money originally, but using it for transportation means I don't need to pay for the subway or parking.

Swimming in city pools. Sure, they aren't fancy, but they are a refreshing place to spend a summer afternoon, or to get some exercise in winter.

Enjoying nature. It is free to appreciate flowers, birdsong, sunsets, views, changing seasons. 

Summer Recap

 Happy Labour Day - the official last day of summer holidays so it's time for a summer recap. 

Q was on the High Park 9s baseball rep team. That meant four out of town tournaments, exhibition games, and practices. This is in addition to his house league team that played and practiced once or twice a week.

Dave's parents joined us at the Brockville tournament for lunch and a couple of games.

The boys spent a week at Muskoka Woods with buddies.

We got lots of golf in.

Q went to the Pine Project day camp for two different weeks. 

My mom visited for a week.

We enjoyed making pizzas in our new pizza oven.

Another ball tournament - brothers are the best fans!

Family golf!

We went to see The Odyssey at IMAX and stopped for dinner on the way home.

One last tournament that we won!

My dad visited and got to golf with E.

We rented a cottage in Muskoka and enjoyed some dock time, fishing, swimming, bonfires, and some dinners out.

We were supposed to do a family vacation up in Northwestern Ontario that didn't work out thanks to Q's baseball schedule, so that was one disappointing part of the summer, maybe next year!

E volunteered at the golf club junior camp for a couple of weeks and took advantage of Good Life’s free gym membership for teens. Q went to day camps for a few of the summer weeks and hung out with friends on the non-camp days. Dave got lots of golf in, scheduling around his duties as baseball coach for both of Q’s teams. I worked from home, got out to golf myself, and enjoyed our nice weather.

Using my metrics for a good summer - swimming, biking, and ice cream cones - I think we did pretty well!

Cottage Recap

I thought about splitting this into two posts, but instead have crammed it into one, so bear with me. 

Going to "the cottage" is common when you're from Toronto, but the problem is, we don't have a cottage! Since our summer holiday plans were usurped by baseball, we decided to rent a cottage for a few days at the end of August to experience cottage life for ourselves. We have often thought about buying our own place, and maybe we will someday. 

We found this place on Airbnb, located on Moon River in Bala. I love Bala, we always stop here on our way home from picking up the kids from summer camp and it's a charming little town in Muskoka. We were even more charmed by it after spending a few days here.

We left after work last Thursday and took the Hwy 11 way so we could stop at Webers. We missed going to Webers last year so we were happy to be back, it was just as delicious as we remembered. 

We drove to the cottage. Here was our view for the week.  There was a fire pit and a climbing obstacle course, with the dock down by the water.

Lovely place to spend some time. It had three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Yay, we are here!

And a little family of ducks came to see us right away, but I guess since we didn’t feed them they never came back again. 

We got ready for a fire. 

Q and I went down to the water the next morning. It was so pretty.

We got started on a puzzle.

Then we headed into town. I had forgotten my bathing suit but fortunately a lovely shop, Overboard, had some bathing suits for sale and I got a nice one (and I got it on sale since it was end of season!). 

We got some brisket from The Smokin’ Birds to take home for lunch. 

It was not super warm unless the sun was out, but we still got in for a swim. The cottage also had a sauna so we went back and forth to that a few times. 

There was a dart board as well and that provided lots of entertainment. 

It was a beautiful morning on Sunday. 

It was calm so we took the kayaks and paddleboards out. 

After lunch we went over to Splash Island and the What Wake Park. 

The kids tried out the Wakeboarding. E had done this at camp so he got to right away. Q worked hard and eventually got up for a few minutes. 

We stopped in for an ice cream cone at Jack & Stella on our way home. 

After that full day, Q was ready for a nap.

We had reservations at Turtle Jacks that night in Port Carling. We were there a little early so we walked around town for a few minutes. 

Lovely night on the patio.

Evening light.

Fire building.

Sunday morning was a little gloomy. Q and I went for a little paddle. He and Dave went to practice baseball at the Torrance ball field.

We had a quick swim and sauna and then went inside to watch the Blue Jays game. E and I picked up some dinner in town and we had another fire that evening. 

Monday was calling for rain but it held off until mid-afternoon.  We headed over to Hardy Lake Provincial Park for a hike and to try fishing in a new body of water (since we had been unsuccessful fishing off our own dock).

I saw a snake in the water but didn’t run away screaming, progress! But I was definitely on alert for any more snakes that might cross our path.  (And for bears, but we didn’t see anything else besides squirrels and chipmunks.)

Finally they caught a couple of fish, if you can call them that! Haha, but they were pleased. 

Requisite trail head photo, although it was at the end of our hike. 

Then we stopped in at Clear Lake Brewery for some nachos.

This is really what kept me going during our hike!

We got home around 3:00 so we watched our respective shows (Breaking Bad for Dave and E, Junior Bake Off for me and Q). It was definitely raining by that time of day, so we did not do a fire, and played games inside instead.

This loon was down by the water the next morning. 

I went for a kayak. We managed to get in swimming, and sauna, and started tidying up to prepare to leave the next day.

The piece de la resistance was our dinner at Jack & Stella on the dock. It was such a lovely night out there, watching the boats come and go.

Then we walked over to Windsor Park to catch the Bala water ski show. We didn’t know what to expect, but were thoroughly entertained. this show has been happening every Tuesday night in the summer for 54 years. It showcases competitive water skiers and some local daredevils!  This was the last show of the season so we were very happy we got to see it.

We got home and made the last fire of the trip. E and I were the last to head in, I didn’t want to let go of summer.

The next morning we packed up and hit the road. 

What I really liked about this cottage holiday is that we spent time on “restorative” activities. I read somewhere recently that watching a fire is good for the brain, the “campfire effect”, look it up, and it occurred to me that watching and listening to the water, working on a puzzle, paddling, fishing, those are all meditative activities that we don’t spend time doing during the rest of the year. Maybe that is enough reason on its own to buy a cottage… ;)