Summer Holidays - Part 1

A couple of weeks ago we set off on a Friday afternoon to drive to Collingwood for a cottage weekend with friends. These are the families of two of E's best friends, and conveniently have younger brothers for Q to hang out with too.  

E and P started with a boardgame.

Q and L played catch. 

And it was Aperol and Burrata for the adults :)

So nice to be out by Georgian Bay.

The kids played lots of badminton. 

(Little sister was there for the night but they went to stay with her grandmother)

The next morning we went for a hike at the Singhampton Caves Trail.

So may cool rocks to climb over and around.

Then it was time to find an ice cream cone so we went into town.  We found some public pianos that the boys played.

Took some photos.

And then landed at the Black Bellows Brewery.

The kids took the kayaks and paddleboards out, the water is quite shallow a ways out.

And hot tub time!

We had a fire that night.

Lots of Olympics watching on the weekend. 

Beautiful breakfast spread.

We spent the morning by the lake. I went out on the paddleboard but never got to stand up since it was quite wavy.

Q was a good little paddler.

After more Olympics, we all piled in our cars and drove to the go-kart track in Wasaga.

And some mini-putt.

And batting cage.

We packed up early on Monday morning and hit the road for the rest of our summer holidays.

Grey morning on Georgian Bay.

Friday Favourites

When we were in Halifax last weekend we stopped in at Cows and E picked up this Deadpool shirt or rather Deadmool and Moolverine.  He wore it to go to the movie this week. 

We had a little neighbourhood get together this week down at the park.  It was a bit of a celebration after we made it through the construction on our street over the past few years.  Ironically part of the street is closed this week because of some defect work that needs to be done.  

Our friends are visiting from the US this weekend and last night we enjoyed some wine and puzzling. 

Only a couple of weeks left of summer before school starts so we need to fit in a few more things before then. We'll see what we get up to this weekend.

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.

 

Let's Look - Pantry

Happy Wednesday! I am linking up with Shay and Erika for Let's Look. 

I love seeing what people have in their grocery carts so this is a logical extension of that.  I'm always amazed by what people spend their money on, and how much people buy.  Those reels of people restocking their fridge and cupboards are so fascinating, but it is not something I aspire to.  

We have Dave has been saying that we need to figure out our food storage.  For all of the space in our kitchen there are really only spots for food, and everything gets crammed in. I think we could rearrange some drawers so non-food items are consolidated, freeing up more space for food.   That being said, I much prefer to have less food in the cupboards and just buy what we need, there is always that rogue can of baked beans or package of rice noodles that get shifted around and eventually go out of date.  This could be a good fall project :)

So that little preamble is to say that these cupboards are not as organized as we would like, but it is what we have for now.

We have food in these cupboards in our kitchen.  There are also a couple of things in the basement (school snacks and chips).

Top cupboard to the left of the fridge

Top Shelf - crackers, trail mix, more crackers

Middle Shelf - rice, pasta, canned good (peanut butter, tuna, pasta sauce, lentils, chick peas, tomatoes, stir fry sauce, baked beans, cranberry sauce)

Bottom Shelf - more crackers and cereal (granola, Mini Wheats, Rice Krispies, Oat Squares, Chex)

Over to the right of the fridge:

Baking Items - flours, sugars, oatmeal

More Baking - Sprinkles, vanilla/extracts, lard/shortening, salt, food colouring, chocolate chips, brownie mix, muffin cups

Things from Bulk Barn mostly (oat bran cereal, flax, seeds, nuts, coconut), along with baking powder, baking soda, and marshmallows

Spices

Drawers below counter

Bread products

Oils, vinegars, salt and pepper, and other sauces

Teas, hot chocolate, BioSteel

Sharing Our Lives - Least Favourite Activities

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's topic is our least favourite activities, so here are five of mine:

Folding laundry.  It feels way more exhausting than it should, even though I can do it while watching TV. 

Talking on the phone.  I hate having to call someone to arrange something, like a dentist appointment or change a flight. I hate when people call me out of the blue at work, I want to be prepared.  

Drying my hair.  My hair doesn't even take that long to dry but I don't like standing there.  I have a Dyson Air Straight now which means I can dry it and straighten it and the same time, but more often than not I will let it air dry. 

Paying my visa bill.  The balance is always a surprise to me and then when I pay it, Dave will say "You had a big visa bill!!", and although he doesn't care what I buy he just doesn't like not knowing what I need to pay.  

 

Putting all those little things away.  You know the things that gather around the house, at the bottom of the stairs, on the counter, at the backdoor.  It just feels like I'm always moving things around the house.

What do you hate doing?

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Friday Favourites

Happy Friday! 

We had a fun and busy week, really enjoying the hot weather.

Q is at sailing camp this week and is really enjoying it.  It was steamy when I dropped him off on Tuesday, but they had a great day. 

Dave was invited to golf in Port Carling this week, and visited someone's cottage summer home. (This is just the boathouse)

Meanwhile E did a bit of golfing too.  Although the day was threatening thunder showers all day, the horn didn't actually sound until they putting out on 18.

It did end up raining so t-ball practice was cancelled and we decided to get dinner at Queen Margherita Pizza. 

On Thursday Dave and E went to see the Deadpool movie so I needed to get Q on my way home.  Dave had taken Q's bike to camp so we could bike home together (as I had biked to work).  It was a bit longer ride than he is used to but he did a great job and even made it up the hill at the bottom of High Park without any problems.  We did take a quick break at the splash pad to enjoy some pop and chips I had swiped from my office. 

Refreshing to run through the water.

We have been loving the Olympics, our girl Summer in the pool, our synchro divers, the women's soccer team! And of course Simone Biles, love to see her be amazing. 

We are packing up to head out of town today.  Long weekend at a cottage and then we fly to Nova Scotia on Monday afternoon.  I will be taking the week off from blogging.  I'll be back on the 12th with our link up.  Join us then!

Linking up with Andrea and Erika.