Friday Favourites

Happy Friday!  We are soaking up every bit of summer we can, with only two weeks left (eek!) before the kids go back to school, there is still a lot of fun to be had. 

On Monday after work I decided we should bike to High Park for a swim, get some dinner from the concession stand, and watch some of Q's friends play t-ball. It was a beautiful night by the pool.

Waiting for our food.

Q got in a few nights of batting practice in the backyard.  

On Tuesday I took E to the golf course so he could do some practicing.  I set up my laptop on the patio to do some work.  Not a bad office space. 

And then we just had to have some lunch before going home. 

After having lunch at the club, I wanted something lighter for dinner.  I put this together with things I had in the cupboard and fridge - chick peas, lentils, artichokes, cucumber, tomatoes, greens, citrus salad dressing and topped with pita chips.  

The kids made mini-pizzas, along with E's friend. 

Q had some friends come home with him after camp on Wednesday.

I made strawberry shortcake for dessert this week. Tea biscuits made from scratch and fresh Ontario strawberries.  It was delicious.

E golfed in the Scarlett Woods City Championships this week.  He was in a foursome with his buddies and had a nice day out.

I posted on Monday about ways I take a break with naps being at the top of that list.  I didn’t realize this was so novel, as many people commented they can’t have naps, so I feel very fortunate that I have this skill of taking short beneficial naps :)

I golfed last night at the second last Ladies Night of the summer. I even scored some Stableford points for our team and won some golf balls in the raffle! Go me! :)

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Let's Look - Juggling Family Schedules

Linking up with Shay and Erika for Let's Look. I’m a day late still wanted to join in. 

This month we are talking about juggling family schedules.  Now, I only have two kids and they don’t have a ton of things to get to, so unlike some people, like the hosts of this link up, who each have four children, our juggling is a bit more manageable. Things that work for us:

Keeping it simple - As noted above, we don’t have a lot of things that the kids do in any given season. They do one sport per season for the most part.  They have music lessons and swimming during the school year, and have had scheduled tutoring. 

Flexible jobs - This is so key and I don’t always appreciate it.  Both Dave and I have hybrid work situations where we are in the office some days and working from home on some days.  And despite somewhat set hours of work, we can be flexible on our arrival and departure times if necessary.  In other words, we don’t have jobs where we need to clock in at a certain time, or meet people for set appointments at 9:00 am (for example).  To make things even easier for us is that I am working exclusively from home this summer while we are in between offices, and it adds a lot of convenience for camp drop offs and pick ups. 

Kids Getting Themselves to School - The kids have been walking to school together for the past few years, and although Q has been at the after school program at the YMCA, if we needed to change plans, he could just come home with E after school so we didn’t always need to pick him up. Next year they will be in different schools but Q will be old enough to get himself there (and/or meet up with friends along the way), and we are undecided on whether he goes to the Y or not. They have also been able to get themselves to and from music lessons which is very helpful!

Two cars - We have always had two cars and we often debate if we need two or one.  But certainly having two cars makes everything easier as there is less need to sync up schedules. We don’t always have both cars on the road at all times, but it’s good to have that second one when we need it.  

Public Transit - We also have the option for the subway and bus. And as E gets older he will be able to travel on that by himself to get where he needs to be.

Calendar invites - Dave and I have our own work calendars and we will invite each other to things so we have everything synced up.  This is not always a completely foolproof solution but it mostly works.

Written calendar - We also have a written calendar at home that everyone can consult. Again, this is in theory, there are some things that slip through. 

Non-negotiables - There are certain activities that get priority - for Dave that’s golf on Wednesday nights and Saturday morning (and sometimes Sunday), for me it’s choir practice and church during the school year and ladies night golf in the summer.  There is also work travel for both us.  Once those things are in the calendar, the rest of the family adapts. 

 

Weekend Recap

This was the first weekend in a long time when we were not on the road to somewhere.  After I picked up Q from baseball camp, we all went golfing.  A coyote was napping in the bunker on the second hole, completely unbothered by us.

We had a good round, and then ate dinner on the patio.   Q wanted to play 18 holes, he was having a great time.

We were treated to this pretty sky.

On Saturday morning Dave had an early tee time and I got up to go for a run.   It was so humid! 

When I was trying to cool down in the backyard, this little guy ran through.  Do you see it?

This tiny little mouse!! I don't mind chipmunks running through but this mouse freaked me out.  I think it's because his head his half his body.  Weird.

Q and I walked up to the baseball card store. It was so hot we were glad to get home and spend the rest of the morning and early afternoon in the air conditioning.  I read my book and the boys watched TV.  I asked them if they felt they were being neglected since we were just sitting inside doing our own thing and they said "are you crazy? This is the best!"  I did do a quick errand to pick up some steak for dinner and then we all went golfing again!  Another good showing from everyone, but we didn't eat on the patio, we came home instead. 

And then we watched the new Jurassic Park movie. 

Sunday was none stop, but I didn't take any photos!!  Bad blogger! 

Dave left for a work trip early in the morning.  I took Q to t-ball practice.  E went golfing with his friends for 18 holes, and I helped coach Q's t-ball game.  We had a quick break at home and then we went to a neighbour's house for a delicious dinner.  After we got home, we had a few minutes of down time and then an early bedtime.  Those hot and humid days can be tiring. 

Sharing Our Lives - How I take a break

 

Happy Monday! Thank you for joining us today where we Share our Lives with you.  My co-hosts are: Adrienne, Dara, Jen, and Joanne.  We are here on the second Monday of each month.  If you have a blog and posted on this topic, please link up with us below.

Today we are sharing how we take a break:

Nap - I love to take a nap. It can be from 10 minutes to 30 minutes depending on the time I have. I will set an alarm and can drift off pretty quickly.  

Globe and Mail Crossword Puzzle - I can usually complete this in about 15 minutes so it's a nice little mental break.

Going for a walk - When I am working from home, I will take a walk up the street to do some errands.  When I'm working from the office, I will just go downstairs and walk inside or outside for a few minutes to stretch my legs before getting back to work.

"Personal time" - When we have all been together as a family doing an activity or all getting home from somewhere, we will often declare it is "personal time".  I usually take the time to nap, see above, or scroll through instagram without guilt.  The term is from the movie The Lorax when the characters are playing a board game because it is "family time" and then when the mom gets annoyed and says "it is now personal time", and she says it with a New York type accent, so that's how we say it too. 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

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Friday Favourites

Happy to welcome the weekend!  We have been recovering from the t-ball tournament weekend !

Q had a baseball camp this week.  He was dressed for it on Tuesday morning :)

E and I got out for 18 holes this week, a bit warmer than when we golfed 18 back in May.  We decided to take a cart and it made the round a bit more enjoyable. 

We finished our evening on the patio, perfect!

This is the best time of year for Ontario produce.  We stocked up on a few things yesterday but I do need to go back for yellow beans!

Another favourite was watching our Canadian tennis player Vicky Mboko.  We were so excited to see her win here at home and will be looking forward to seeing her play at the US Open.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Tournament Weekend

When you hear “t-ball tournament” many would probably think “oh how cute” and it is cute, but it is no joke!!! We are still recovering from our long weekend away.  Our team of 8 year old boys played seven games over four days. It came down to the last inning of the championship game, and we lost to our rivals, Ancaster, the hosts of the tournament.  

We drove out to Ancaster on Friday after work for our 8:00 game.  The boys were excited to play under the lights at a big field.  They ended up losing this game on the very last play, it was super exciting and it would have been great to get that win, but it was a round robin, so really it didn’t matter too much. 

Number 5 in your program number 1 in our hearts!

Saturday morning started with free hotel breakfast, and the first game at 10:00.  All of the water jugs lined up in a rainbow of colours.

The boys won their first game and then we moved over to a different field for a skills competition and our second game at 2:00.  Q and his friends cheering on their teammate in the home run derby.  Which for t-ball is when the tee is set up at second base and the kids get 8 balls each to hit over the fence. 

A hot day calls for an ice cream in between games.  

The Ancaster Ice Cream Parlour is located right at the ball field.  It has so many flavours!! I had cappuccino crunch one day, lemon lime sorbet another day, and mint chip finally on the last day.

Watching the team warm up from the hill.  I would have stayed up there for the whole game but I needed to do the scoring.  Each team keeps their own score and to make sure it is tracked properly. 

The team won this game pretty easily as it was a 7 year old team. 

After this game we went over to the local Boston Pizza for a team dinner, and then went back to the hotel.  Swimming and video games for the boys, and some patio drinks for the parents.  Most of the teams stays at the hotel which is so fun for everyone. 

The tournament was double elimination so we had a few games to win on Sunday.  They won their first game at 11:00 and then again at 2:00.  That meant we had to play at 8:00 that night too.  It was against Ancaster, and our team finally beat them!! The kids were so excited.  But as noted above, this was just plays offs so there was still work to do.  Because we won this game, we got a bye right to the championship game the next day.

With a full day out in front of us on the Monday and our game not until 7:30 pm, we needed to figure out what to do.  We slept in for a little bit and ate breakfast.  Then we found a go-kart and mini-golf place nearby and went to do that. 

Q overtaking Dave on the last lap

Our High Park 7s team was also at this tournament so we went over to the field to watch their game and get some lunch at the concession stands (and more ice cream of course!).  We still had some time to kill so a few of the families went to the movies to see Bad Guys 2.  It was a good way to get out of the sun and force the kids to relax and rest.

And then it was time for the championship game! The starting line ups were introduced and we sang O Canada. 

Coaches meeting at home plate.

The kids played so well and a win was within reach! But the last inning got away from them and Ancaster scored too many runs for our team to come back from. They lined up, with a few tears from some players, and got their medal.  Ultimately what a great group of kids and we are so proud of their efforts. We have one more tournament and one more opportunity to get the win, after coming in second all summer. 

We were excited to get home that night to shower, soak those white pants, and get to bed. These are the days!!