Quick, it's almost over!

Looks like summer is coming to an end...the weather has been wonderful & hot, but the summer activities are ending and the first day of school is at last in sight! Henry had his last soccer game Thursday and everyone got a trophy!

So long to the Red Rockets!
We also had a visit from my friend Karen and her girls Thursday and the kids had a great time swimming and making up very strange plays with elaborate costumes. Unfortunately I didn't take photos but video of this and I don't know how to upload video! So you'll have to take my word for it, it was cute and weird...one story involved a two headed girl who befriended a man who lived in a dumpster! Points for originality I guess!
Then Friday night was the pub crawl! I'm getting old! It took me all of yesterday AND part of today to recover!
Here we are about to leave...the cab driver took our picture.

This was at pub number 2 where it started to pour rain while we had drinks on the patio...we were almost beyond caring but moved inside for a putting game.
Now we're at the 3rd of 3 pubs and frankly the pictures go downhill from here so I'll only add these last 2.
We ran into my "cousin" Jenn who was in Markham visiting from Nova Scotia. She was out with Ron who I hadn't seen since high school! We were there until the lights came on and then had a very interesting walk home! Lots of fun, lots of beer, lots of singing on the walk home!
Today we had Ryan & Tammy & Jenn and their kids here for pizza and a swim. Ethan had his first swim in the pool which he seemed to really enjoy and Ryan did some upgrading on our computer...thanks, Ryan!

We ended the day with a barbeque at Jill's visiting with friends we've been meaning to see all summer, old and new! It's amazing when it comes down to the last weekend before school starts how much you can pack in! We still have another whole day tomorrow!

Papa

He was the most considerate, loyal man I ever met. He was intelligent, well-read and always searching to learn more about anything that interested him. He was eloquent and thoughtful. He loved children, birds, music, words and I loved him dearly. He wouldn't sit for dinner until Mamie was seated. He cut pizza with a silver pie server. He put so much thought into speeches given just to his family. He had jewelry made for his beloved wife. As children he seized every opportunity to watch us play and reward us for even the most mundane things we did. He laughed with our friends. He made it a point to know our friends' names. He told us all about the birds in our neighbourhood. He had a wonderful laugh with beautiful crinkles around his eyes and I loved him dearly. He swam in the ocean and skated on the lake with us. He grew tomatoes and made an amazing potato salad. He washed dishes by hand every day wearing rubber gloves. He loved to hold little babies. And I love him dearly.

Summer Fun

I think it was a while ago now that I promised photos of Hannah's fashion camp. This was the last day when we were to arrive early for a "fashion show". Since then, Henry has had a week of "Museum Munchkins" camp which went really well. He is so ready for kindergarten!! It's me who will have a hard time I think - I was almost teary just dropping him off at camp asking for "one more hug". He was excited to go and is really looking forward to school starting. Hannah is too. If I could only get Jack to stop telling him he's going to hate it!
The week of Henry's camp, we had our nephew Michael here for a couple of days. This is a picture of all of us on the zoomobile (although you can't tell that from the photo). We also went mini golfing and to the batting cages and had a really nice visit with Michael. This week it's Jack's turn for camp and he's at hockey camp. He's pretty exhausted from 3 hours on the ice each morning! Since t-ball isn't over yet, he's also juggling playoffs which made for a really large melt-down this evening! He fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow. Hannah on the other hand has a friend over tonight so we'll see how much sleep she gets!
Sunday was Charlotte's first birthday...already! It's amazing how much quicker other people's kids turn one! When they're your own, I found the first year seemed really long! We all had a really good time and Charlotte looked beautiful!
That's about it for now...we've got a street-friends pub crawl coming up so that should make for some interesting photos!

Nice job Tooth Fairy...

Jack lost one of his front teeth yesterday, I'll have to post a pic soon, but Dana's at a wedding, therefore I have no camera... So yesterday Jack wrote a letter to the tooth fairy asking where she lives, what does she look like and put his tooth in a container that Hannah received from Dana's aunt when Hannah was first born. All of this went under his pillow earlier in the evening. Well last night we were out at a neighbour's until midnight, having a few drinks - my neighbour has a keg, so, well - we completely forgot that the tooth fairy was supposed to arrive in the night.

Poor Jack, he came into our room in the morning in tears, "she never came, she never came"... We explained, well...made up...that because it was after midnight when he went to bed that technically he had to wait until Sunday morning for whatever the tooth fairy might leave. That made sense to a 7 year old. Whew...

That tooth fairy better leave big bucks tonight I'll tell you!

Crossfit is over

4 weeks done. I have to say it was pretty difficult, it surprised me how out of shape I actually am, I knew it but it didn't have to slap me in the face like that.

Would I do it again? If you asked me an hour after I finished every single morning, I would have said "No Way" - but by 10 or 11 am each day I want to go do it again.

Not sure what I'll do now - looking at somewhere closer to home, but still using the Crossfit routines on a regular basis - what can I say I think I may be hooked. This morning we did the same crazy burpee routine - 75 of them to time - and my time today was almost 4 minutes faster than the first week. I think I'll stick to the morning routine, I don't mind getting up at 5 - especially because it energizes me for the rest of the day. I do miss my chips though and I'm sure they are missing me.

So Eri & I went for a walk in the woods the other day. Poor Hannah keeps missing visiting her cousins because she's in Jr Fashion Designer camp, but tomorrow is her last day and the parents get to show up early to watch a teddy bear fashion show! I'll make sure I get photos! Anyway, the walk was wonderfully relaxing and it was really nice seeing Eri & her kiddies! We stopped for cookies by the river while the boys threw sticks in! Charlotte got pretty tired out from all that walking!

Then tonight was Henry's soccer. I've had to miss quite a few games lately since Jason's the soccer coach and Jack sometimes has t-ball games on the same night. Jason coached all 3 kids their first year of soccer but I think it took the other 2 the whole season to score a goal. Henry's a different kid. I promise you Jason didn't teach a group of 4 year olds this trick! I really don't know where he comes up with this stuff! It was a great game to watch and remarkable to see the improvement in the "Red Rockets" from the beginning of the summer. I'm really impressed with Jason's patience with these 6 kids! This was Henry's victory dance after scoring a goal tonight.

Personal Bests? Whatever...I want to win.

Yes I may be complaining - but where are the Canadian medals? Day 6 and zero medals? Yeah yeah, personal bests in the pools, "I did my best" "i gave it my all" blah blah - don't go to the Olympics to do your personal best - go because you want to win. As for the government funding...either put money into the programs or don't do it at all - to me the benefit to providing funding isn't just pride in your country - I think the true benefit is for the kids watching the Olympics - being inspired to try.

Feels like summer?

Well, we're back from a GREAT time camping and with a few weeks to spare before school starts. We had an amazing time with my friend Jill and her daughter (Hannah's friend) Caroline. Thanks for inviting us, Jill and a big thanks to Steve (her husband) for setting up the trailer, hanging out to make sure we were ok, heading back to work for a few days and arriving back to pack everything up! We sure were spoiled. I could get pretty used to 5 star camping...I even brought my duvet! We got to see my dear old friend Nicola while we were there. She & Peter are expecting their first baby & only live about 20 minutes away from me, but it took a trip to Presqu'ile Provincial Park to get together with them. Peter's family's cottage is near where we were camping and they kindly offered to have us for lunch and a sail...hope we weren't too stinky! Turns out Hannah loves sailing almost as much as Jill and if you look closely you can see her doing some sort of stunt hanging out the side of the boat...I'm glad I wasn't out on that trip!

Other than that I've been shooting lots, my website has been attracting a fair bit of business plus the regular business from Reportage. Jack will be finishing up t-ball soon and Henry finishing up soccer. Hannah's in a half day camp this week - Junior Fashion Designer - which she's really looking forward to!

I've planned and packed in so much this summer that I'm really looking forward to spending the next few weeks getting bored...isn't that what usually happens in the summer?! Maybe a trip to the library or a walk to the park, some swimming in the pool. Now if only the weather would cooperate...it's been raining for 2 days now and the evening temperatures dip to 11! Feels like fall already!

I have Olympic Fever!

I'm Bored

Dana left on Monday and took the kids camping - I had to go back to work. After 3 weeks of sitting around, letting my brain rest - it was difficult to go back to work. I thought with the house to myself I would enjoy it - but frankly it's kind of creepy - it's too quiet. I enjoyed it for the first couple of hours, but after that I can't stand it, there's no one to talk to. I used to enjoy time by myself, but not anymore - it's just not natural. I find myself talking to the cats again which is pretty sad, and they never have anything interesting to add to the conversation.

Dana and the kids are home this evening sometime. I'm still in my bootcamp - it was tough getting up this morning and today's workout was really tough - I think I may have swore really loudly a few times during the workout, but about 1/2 hour after I was done I felt really great.

Did I say I have given up my big bag of chips a day habit? I still eat chips - don't get crazy - but just not the ridiculous amount of chips I have been eating for years... I'll have to get a Salt lick or something to fullfill my cravings.