Friday Favourites

 Okay parents, we are almost there, just one more week before school starts.  It's been a long 25(!) weeks at home with the kids. 

A few shots of my new at-home desk (corner office, whoop whoop!) with a bouquet of wild flowers the boys brought home from the park, and some plants I picked up at a plant sale in Sarnia last weekend. 

(That's water! I'm not drinking wine at my desk!)

Q got his soccer jersey this week, he was very proud.  Except for when he literally threw another kid to the ground in a game of shark/pirate, instead of just tagging him, he had a good week and is pretty good at dribbling the ball along. 

E had another art session with my mom via FaceTime this week.  This time E chose the painting and instructed Nana. 

I took Q for a picnic this week, he loves to be outside, and it is so pleasant down by the water.  And Guy came too!

A recap of my posts from this week in case you missed any: 

On Monday I wrote about the Black (and Indigenous) Lives Matter movement and some ways I've challenged my own views.

On Tuesday I wrote about our weekend.

On Wednesday I did recap of our summer - simple, but fun.

And on Thursday I shared about how we're dealing with Covid restrictions.

Happy first Friday of September everyone, thanks for stopping in!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

Covid Update

My last update on what we're doing for Covid related measures was in June and a few things have changed since then.  Toronto entered Phase 3 in early August which meant more activities were available to us, but we really haven't changed much of what we have done since Phase 2.  

- I have gone to get a massage twice, first in July and then again in August.  I thought I should start using some of my health benefits and since you're not face to face with the therapist, and everyone wears a mask, I thought this would be fine.  It is not a relaxing massage as it's not at the spa, but it is nice to have my shoulder and back worked on.  Plus I can walk there from my house so it's very convenient.

- I finally got my hair cut and a pedicure at the end of August. My hair was getting out of control, and my at home pedicures were not the same!

- I bought a few more masks for everyone but will have to buy a few more.  I want to make sure the kids have at least five for the school week.  I will also get a box of paper masks they can have in case their cloth mask needs to be replaced throughout the day.  It's also good to have them in car as Dave forgot his mask once and had to come all the way home from the store to get it. 

- I have not done any indoor fitness classes yet, still staying with the online versions for now.  I'll go back someday soon I'm sure, but for now I can leave the limited spaces for others since I have a good set up at home. 

- We have not dined inside at a restaurant, and have only gone to a patio a handful of times.  

- E attended some day camps with other kids last month and we felt comfortable with that.  Q is going to the YMCA camp next week.  School will be back soon enough so being around different kids is inevitable, and they needed something to keep them occupied.

- We have started taking the kids into stores with us, mostly just to pick up quick things.  There are multiple reminders not to touch everything, but we're getting there.  I will also let them sit outside the store to wait for me if I'm at a small shop in Bloor West Village and will only be a few minutes. 

- We have let some kids into the house to play, and let E go to their house.  And we went to a neighbours' house for dinner and ate inside since it was raining.  These are people we have been hanging out with anyway.

- I got a desk to set up at home since going back to the office full time is still a long way off.  Once the kids are back in school, I do plan to go into the office a few days a week, biking or driving in, but I'll forego the subway for now. 

Summer Recap

Well, I guess this is just about it for summer.  Although school is still awhile away, September has begun.  Here are just a few things we got up to this summer.  I'm counting summer as starting at the end of June even though it was a bit blurred with the kids not really being in school. 

We camped at Sandbanks with family and friends.

And enjoyed our first swim of the season.

We went on some bike rides, including one on Canada Day.

We golfed.

We went to the High Park Zoo.

We visited the splash pad.

We watched this hawk outside of our house.

We went on a road trip to Northwestern Ontario.

Where we caught a few fish.

And enjoyed the views.

We drank some beer.

Q played soccer on Wednesdays starting in August.

E attended two golf camps at Humber Valley.

We visited our family in Shelburne Ontario.

We went on the train at High Park.

We enjoyed some fried chicken at the Stackt Market.

Had some picnic lunches.

Used our new fire pit.

And golfed some more.

We have a couple of more things to fit in before summer is officially over, like the zoo and biking around the Toronto Islands.

Things we missed out on this year were Canada's Wonderland, Blue Jays games, swimming at the public pools, t-ball, taking the kids out to eat, and seeing more family, but we weren't hard done by, we had lots of fun, and enjoyed a slower pace.

Weekend Recap

This weekend starts on Thursday (although we both worked on Friday).  Dave and I picked up some seafood at Mike's Fish Market in Toronto and then we drove to Sarnia to pick up the kids.  They had been at Dave's parents' house for the week.  I have been wanting to get oysters all summer but we never got around to it.  This was better since we got to enjoy them with Dave's parents.  Three kinds from PEI and one from NB.

Doing the shucking ourselves (usually we pick them up already "popped") so safety gear (oven mitt) required. 

E had a few as well.

And we got some crab legs (and Dave got a tuna steak since he can't eat crab).

Q had chicken nuggets and corn.

The next day was Friday and it was a rainy day in Sarnia.  The kids watched some movies in the morning, played video games, got outside for a brief walk, and we made it through the day.  After supper we had a birthday cake for Dave's mom. 

On Saturday we went golfing (while Carol and Q went to the playground).  It was E's first round of 18 holes and he did well to make it through the whole round and his energy never faltered.  It probably helped that he and I drove around in a cart and he got to drive it sometimes too.

We had pancakes on Sunday morning and then we left to drive home. 

We watched the Raptors game, which wasn't great, but glad to see the Jays win.  I had told E to unpack his suitcase and tidy his room and then he could play on the iPad.  I gave him my phone to take a picture of his room to prove he'd done it, and when I got it back there were several selfies.  Here are just a couple (and yes, he had cleaned up his clothes).

Q played with the Switch downstairs and then fell asleep.

We ordered some pizza for an easy supper, I picked up our grocery order, and we had an early night.