My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.

Good bye Jack Layton.

Too long...here's our summer...

So it's been a while since we blogged anything so I figure I'll catch up on the whole summer. I haven't taken photos of all the visitors we've had, but we've been getting a lot of use out of the pool and visiting with friends old and new. Jason's 3 aunts came to visit for an afternoon back in June shortly after we got back from Jamaica - yup, we're going all the way back to June! My dear old friend from grade 3, Sharon came to visit with her husband and 4 girls. They were in Ontario for a wedding and to visit family but were on their way home to Scotland after their stay with us.

Her girls were so well behaved and so cute...Hannah was a big hit piggy-backing them around the zoo.

Sharon's second oldest daughter is the spitting image of Sharon when I first met her!

Sharon celebrated her birthday while visiting us on the same day I had my graduation from York.

Then for my 40th birthday, Jason surprised me with an amazing party - I had no idea as I walked into a room of friends, co-workers, neighbours, co-students, family, people from all areas of my life...it was AMAZING!

Next, at the beginning of July, we visited friends at their family cottage in Manitoulin. We took an extra day driving up and spent the night in Tobermory.

We had great weather and Tobermory and Manitoulin were beautiful with crystal clear water.

We took the ferry from Tobermory to Manitoulin and drove the car right inside the ferry. Pretty neat. On the way home we drove the longer way around and came home all in one day.

Hannah was invited to bring a friend along as there would be 6 boys and no other girls there. She and Megan stuck together like glue and had a blast!

Jason had the following week off as well so we fit in some day trips...an old favourite was Lionel's Pony Farm. We hadn't been there in a while.

The dog there is getting pretty old...this isn't Murphy!

The kids were each allowed to choose one thing they really wanted to do this summer and we would try to fit in each of their requests. Jack's was go-karting. He LOVED it. Unfortunately, Henry felt brave and thought he would ride alone but when he got into his own kart, he got scared and all the double-ride karts were already taken so he missed out this time.

Jason & I chose the ROM. It was pretty amazing. Last time we were there was a few years ago and the whole dinosaur exhibit was not on display so it was great to get to see it this time!

We rode the subway while we were downtown and hit some of my favourite old haunts including World's Biggest Bookstore.

I think it would have been easier to blog one week at a time, but I'm almost done here! Hannah's been doing a lot of babysitting and the boys have been playing baseball and soccer (have I really not taken any photos of these activities?!) but for a week Jack and Henry were both in a hockey camp run by an ex-Maple Leaf Dan Daoust. Pretty exciting and lots of ice time. At the end of the week, Jack was given an award for sportmanship chosen by all the coaches through the week. Boy was I proud!We've fit in quite a few standard summer picnics and visits with cousins.

Hannah was particulary disappointed to miss this one since a picnic with Eri & her kids was Hannah's choice for something to do this summer.

But we made up for it the very next week with a picnic and bike ride through the park with Eri & her kids!!

And that's really all for now. That was what we did just yesterday and I didn't take photos of my University buddies here for lunch today so I'm all caught up!

I'll try to stay more on top of this so that I don't have to spend and hour posting 3 months worth of stuff.