Our Anniversary

Dave and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary today! I know, I couldn't believe it either when I did the math a couple of weeks ago.  

To commemorate the occasion, I'm looking back over the years we have been married using the "traditional" gifts for each anniversary (I realize some of these are a bit of a reach!):

1st (2010) Paper - We each ran two half marathons that year so the paper can count for our race bibs.  These were my last half marathons, Dave has done a few since then and one full marathon.

2nd (2011) Cotton - E was born this year, and we used cloth (cotton) diapers for him during the first few months.  

3rd (2012) Leather - We traveled to Peru and did the hike to Machu Picchu.  Our porters that carried our stuff wore leather sandals as the looked after us. 

4th (2013) Fruit - We went to New York, the Big Apple (fruit!).

5th (2014) Wood - We bought the house we are in now. 

6th (2015) Candy - We visited Barcelona and watched them making this fun candy

7th (2016) Wool - Q was born and we brought him home from the hospital in a knitted wool outfit. 

8th (2017) Bronze - We took a road trip to Nova Scotia and stopped in Quebec City for a couple of days, where there are many historical features cast in bronze.

9th (2018) Willow - We went to Disney World for the first time. I don't know what 'willow' is supposed to be as a gift, but I'm sure there are some willow trees on the Disney property somewhere!

10th (2019) Tin or Aluminum - We celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary at The Drake Devonshire and visited a few breweries with beer in aluminum cans. I should also mention the Raptors Championship, the Larry O.B. trophy being made out of some sort of metal :)

11th (2020) Steel - The start of the pandemic when we "steeled" ourselves to the fate of lockdowns, masks, and waiting for vaccines. 

12th (2021) Silk - As the pandemic continued, we navigated it as "silkily" as we could, hosting people outside, managing online school, and finally getting this vaccines. 

13th (2022) Lace - We emerged from the pandemic and "laced" up our running shoes, golf shoes, ice skates, soccer and baseball cleats, ski boots (?) and participated in all of the activities. 

14th (2023) Gold Jewelry - We did a pretty extensive home renovation and chose some gold finishes for the new bathroom. 

15th (2024) Crystal - We don't have a "crystal" ball to see what the future holds, but we keep trying to stay healthy and happy. 

Celebrating 15 wonderful years with my best friend and partner!! Cheers to many more!!

Media Wednesday

 The media I am currently consuming:

Streaming TV - Hack Your Gut Health, Canada's Ultimate Challenge, Bridgerton (starting this week)

Network TV - The Amazing Race, Blue Jays Baseball, and I guess Oilers Playoff Hockey now!

Library Books - Tom Lake and The Coronation Year

Podcasts - David Beckham on Smartless, Dr. Janice Stein on The Bridge (Tuesday) on even more uncertainty in the Middle East after the death of Iran's president, Jerry Maguire on The Rewatchables

Instagram Algorithm - The Office and Modern Family clips

News Stories Twitter Wormholes - P. Diddy, Where is Kate Middleton? 

(this isn't her)

Music - Lovin' On Me - Jack Harlow, Good Luck, Babe! - Chappell Roan, This One's For The Girls - Martina McBride

Weekend Recap

We love the May long weekend!  It's such a great time of year, especially here in Southern Ontario. Dave was away this weekend in Alabama for a golf trip but the boys and I had lots of fun here. 

The boys have been biking to school and they were off on Friday morning to do the same. 

We had plans to bike from school to High Park for Q's soccer but with rain in the forecast we ended up just driving.

However, there was no rain and I was again reminded never to cancel plans for rain!  We were also going to get French fries at the park but the concession stands were closed, so we ended up just having popcorn and ice cream sandwiches when we got home.

We were out of the house bright and early for Q's ball hockey game.  He was playing against two our neighbours so I got to hang out with their parents.

Ready for nets!

After we got home I quickly walked up the street to get some produce and coffee beans.

Then we hopped on the subway and streetcar to go to the Blue Jays game.

Watching Danny Jansen warm up in the bullpen. 

Another family we know was there so we hung out in this area with them before we all took our seats.

Beautiful day with the roof open.

This sign was on the Jumbotron and then the camera panned over me and our friends saw me :)

Q talked me (or actually E) into buying another stuffy, but he did hand over the cash for it when we got home,

Jays lost in the end.

But it was still fun!!

E and I slept in on Sunday morning but we got up in time to scramble to church.  The afternoon was spent tidying the house and groceries.  

E did get out for 9 holes in the evening and we went to pick them up.

 I had bought this little kit in Lima but I didn't really know what it was.  Turns out it's like a layered cookie and you pour a syrup over top and add the sprinkles. 

It was okay, a little hard to cut, and sweet.  

We woke up to another beautiful day on Monday so we made sure to spend most of it outside. 

First stop was the Powerhouse Balzac's for a coffee and a couple of treats.

Then we went for a walk in Prospect Cemetery.  I think it's a good experience to spend time in the cemetery, which may seem weird, but we saw lots of veteran's graves from World War I and II, some babies' graves, large families, graves from 1890 when the cemetery was established, different languages, some bible verses, and there was a lot for the boys (and me) to see and appreciate. 

We did a couple of grave rubbings, being very careful and respectful of course.

Then E got the idea to look for some geocaches and we found this one outside the cemetery's gates.

It was then time for lunch so we went to Tre Mari, what a gem! I had the veal sandwich, E had a panzerotti, and Q had pizza. 

And gelato for dessert.

There was another geocache nearby so we walked to find it.  I could not resist taking some flower photos on the way.

This was tough, but Q spotted it. 

Then we stopped to find a couple more on our way home.  We tuned into the Jays game and relaxed on the couch.