Friday Favourites

 

Happy Friday! Dave was away this week so it was just me and the boys so this picture sort of summed up our week.  It was also the only photo I took. Some highlights:

- First of all we had two smoky days in Toronto which meant a cancelled baseball game, and a day of cancelled summer camp, but my thoughts were really with the people in Northwestern Ontario that were directly impacted by the forest fires, and lost their homes and businesses and needed to evacuate. Every year we see part of our country burn and it has been NWO before and it is them again. Devastating! 

- Q attended one of his favourite summer camps - Pine Project. They do a lot of exploring in the woods and by the river, they learn a lot of nature, make crafts, and carve sticks. 

- E helped with the morning camp at the golf club this week. It meant early mornings but he was done by noon so on a couple of days he did some golf practice and then went to the gym. 

- I golfed on Monday and Thursday, and I hit some good shots, and not so good shots, but my favourite part is really the glass of wine and meal afterwards :)

- We enjoyed the Home Run Derby and All-Star Game. We liked seeing our Blue Jays represent. 

- We did not enjoy seeing both France and England lose their soccer matches. 

- After Q’s baseball practice on Tuesday, which was kept short due to the high temperatures, the team all went for a swim at the pool right next to the field. I couldn’t resist so I also dipped in. I love that our pools are free and accessible to all. 

Linking up with Andrea and Erika

Let's Look - Summer Selves

 I am a week late on this link up, but liked the topic so here we are. This month we are talking about our “summer selves”, how we are different during this season. 

I run. I love going down by the river in the summer, particularly before it gets too hot, so a morning run is the perfect way to do that. I only run once a week but it’s a great way to get my activity in. 

We bike everywhere. It’s so convenient to bike to baseball, work, to do errands, or just for something to do in the afternoon. I love not having to drive and find a place to park.

I work outside. I usually take my laptop outside first thing in the morning to start my work day. It’s so pleasant in our backyard and I’ll stay here until I get annoyed with only having one screen and then I’ll head inside. 

I eat ice cream. We don’t eat a lot of dessert in the other seasons, but I very much enjoy getting a cone or popsicle in the summer. I also like buying ice cream treats for us to enjoy at home. 

We see more people - at the golf course, ball field, in the neighbourhood. It’s easy to stay tucked away at home when the weather is colder, but I feel like I’m always running into people in summer. I should note that I see lots of people at the ski hill in winter, so we aren’t complete hermits year round, it’s just more locations in summer. 

Our meals are less structured. It feels like someone is always out for golf or baseball and those things happen around dinner time so I am less inclined to put together a complicated meal. Salad with chicken nuggets is common, so are quesadillas, burgers, and sausages.

We eat more fresh produce. I know that you can get fresh produce of any sort year round, but there are some things I just won’t buy if they aren’t in season - berries, melon, corn on the cob, asparagus, stone fruit, etc. They do not have any flavour in the winter so I stick with more root vegetables, frozen fruit/veg, or apples/pears then. We are spoiled in Ontario with amazing summer flavours so we get our fill now. 

I shower a lot. I remember hearing the phrase “earning your shower”, meaning have you gotten dirty/sweaty enough for when it’s time to take a shower, and I can definitely say I earn my shower in the summer, sometimes two showers a day. 

Weekend Recap

Hi, thanks for dropping in today to see what we did on the weekend. 

On Friday I picked up a few treats at my favourite little market - Freebird. We had a simple dinner of a salad from there and some BBQ’d hot dogs. We also tried to figure out the rotisserie feature of our new barbecue. We could find all of the parts except the spit, we wondered if we had thrown it away because it was in the all of the cardboard, and then if we could just order the spit instead of the entire rotisserie kit. Fortunately, when Dave went to the store where we bought it, they told him that the spit is stored in the grease tray, and yes, there it was! 

I left home bright and early on Saturday to go and pick up the boys from camp (and E’s fried too).  I drove the electric car up and left myself with enough time to charge it for 45 minutes before the camp gates opened. It worked out well.

Requisite photo by the camp sign.

Then we drove into Bala and stopped for something to eat at Jack and Stella.  It is so lovely there on the water. 

We got home around 3:30, I had a nap, then we got the rotisserie chickens ready (although I neglected to take a photo), and we watched the England v. Norway game. Meanwhile Q was out a birthday party, a swimming one no less, so he was very tired when he got home and was asleep quickly.

He requested pancakes the next morning for breakfast so I obliged and we ate them outside.

We also walked up the street to get a few groceries and then we rested until it was time to go to High Park. 

Q had a baseball game and since we need to be there at least an hour before the game, I took the opportunity to take a swim. I cooled off, read my book, and then dipped in one more time before the game was getting started. 

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Number 5 at bat.

It was just an exhibition game for the rep team, but it was fun, they won, and they had some learnings.

We biked home, had some leftovers for dinner, watched Amazing Race Canada and got to bed!

Sharing Our Lives - Favourite Room

Happy Monday.  I’m linking up with the Share Our Lives crew for this month’s topic - favourite room in the house. 

I like most parts of our house, fortunately, but I’ll choose the living room to tell you about today. 

When we did our renovations a couple of years ago, I posted about the living room transformation Here. A few changes since then, so here are a few updated photos. 

We still haven’t purchased any artwork for above the chairs. I have decision paralysis when it comes to that sort of thing, I just need to pick out something.  There are many inexpensive art places online. Dave and I don’t always agree on what would look good. I think the stuff he chooses is weird and he thinks mine are too simple (or boring may be a better term). I also love a landscape but I want it be meaningful. Like a beach scene from Australia or mountain in Utah mean nothing to me, even if they look nice. At this point I should just go to Home Sense and pick out something.

Honourable mention to the backyard for the summer. I love sitting out there to work, read, and eat (until the wasps come around). We don’t often get to invite people over, but when we do it works perfectly for hosting.

Linking up with  Adrienne, Dara, Jen, and Joanne.  

Friday Favourites

 

Happy Friday!  

We had a lovely week of weather here, hot and sunny, but not unbearably humid. I took advantage and worked outside every morning (until I’d get fed up with only one screen and needed to go to work at my desk inside). I am pleased that we have this nice backyard, where even though I do hear traffic, construction, airplanes, and other people at times, it is still very peaceful back here. 

Our children have been at camp this week so it means we got in some extra golf knowing we didn’t have to be home to pick anyone up, go to baseball, or make a meal. I golfed on Monday with friends, and Dave and I golfed on Wednesday.  Monday was an extra special treat because we go to go swimming afterwards at one of the ladies’ pool.

Dave and I also took the opportunity to go out for dinner on Tuesday downtown.  We chose The Frederick, and of course I had to order the Harbord Room Burger (iykyk).

Tomorrow I am excited to pick up the boys from camp and hear all about it. And then I get to cosplay as a cottager and have lunch in Bala on the way home. I’m also looking forward to the England vs. Norway game on Saturday evening. I will be cheering for England.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

School Days - Grade 4 and Grade 9

I always like to do a bit of a look back over the school year. 

Q completed Grade 4 this year.  He is in French Immersion where they have had mostly French instruction since Junior Kindergarten with Grade 4 transitioning to more half and half with English. Because of this, his English reading has required some work. He has extra help at school and although he doesn’t love it, he has worked hard to make improvements. He does really well at math and science and enjoys doing projects, especially if they are with a partner. Schools are so adverse to giving homework, but I think it would benefit him to have some set goals to work on each day at home, and it would help Dave and I with some structure so we could help him out. We will work with his teacher next year to see how we can better support him at home, and I think he’ll continue to make strides with his reading and writing.  

He participated in cross country in the fall, learned violin in music class, performing in two concerts, and played in the kickball (soccer base) “league” at lunch. It seems there will be more opportunity to join school team sports next year in Grade 5 and I know he will want to try out for some of those. 

He started the year going to the YMCA after school, but after Christmas we decided he could just come home and it made things a lot easier since Dave and I didn’t need to make sure we were home at a certain time to pick him up. And as the weather started to warm up, Q was able to hang around with friends after school, riding bikes, going to someone’s house, or just playing in the schoolyard. As long as he knew when he needed to be home, for practice or dinner, he was good to do whatever he wanted. It’s great to create some independence. Q does not lack for friends and he loves going to school, even if his report card noted he should work on staying focused and not getting distracted by his classmates :)

Onward to Grade 5!

Ski trip day, his favourite day of the year!

E had his first year of high school, Grade 9, and he did great! A few of his public school friends went to the same high school and he has stayed close with a couple of them, along with making new friends in his class. It’s a big school and I’d think it could be overwhelming but he did well. He got into the routine of walking or biking to school, usually meeting up with his friends along the way, eating lunch either at the cafeteria or walking up the street to buy something (and usually making it back in time for 3rd period!), and then going to Snack and Study in the library after school. He would usually work on whatever homework he had there, and then would play games on his phone with his friends. (And get the all important snack!) 

He took four classes in each of the two semesters.  Besides the basics like Math, English, Gym, etc, he also took Skilled Trades and Design Studio.  He really enjoyed those and will take sometime similar next year. His marks were pretty good but we are always encouraging improvement.  His scholastic habits have not changed - he gets his work done but does not go above and beyond to get extra marks. Sigh. 

He tried getting involved with the Robotics team but felt they had too many people and he wasn’t sure how he could fit in. He will try again next year and also consider the music club and a few others (ones that I learned about after seeing his yearbook). Basically if you have an interest, there is a club for it! 

Take your kid to work day!

Getting volunteer hours at the food bank.

Gratitude Journal Prompts

 19. Write about an unexpected opportunity that benefited you for which you are grateful.

My new job! I had been at my previous company for 7 years and although I was thinking about making a change and moving on, I hadn’t actually done much to look for a new position. Then a former colleague of mine contacted me about a new opportunity, kind of out of the blue, and it actually seemed pretty perfect for me. I had a couple of interviews and they offered me the position. It was a fairly seamless transition and I am grateful for the logical next step in my career but also for the referral that made it happen! A lesson to keep in touch with people and you never know what it might lead to.

20. Write about a movie and a song that inspires and makes you happy.

It’s really hard to pick one movie and one song that make me happy but one movie that really is just lovely is Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. It has Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor, it’s a very simple plot where a sheikh wants to bring salmon to the Yemen and Emily and Ewan need to figure out how to make it happen. There are a lot of movies I love that usually have some sort of melancholy to them, but this one is just nice. 

I love to sing and one song that I love, and that I know all of the words, is “If I Had a Million Dollars” by The Barenaked Ladies. A song that mentions Kraft Dinner, how could it not make you happy!

21. How can you express your thanks to others.

This is pretty basic but literally saying “thank you” does wonders. I will admit that sometimes it feels awkward to say thank you, but it really is that simple. When someone does something nice for you, say thank you, in person or send a quick text or email afterwards (or if you’re feeling really inspired, a handwritten note!). I don’t think anyone has ever said “what a terrible person, I can’t believe they said thank you!”.