Photo of the Day August 4th

Day three in Beaverton, and a tradition continues...

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Whenever my family gets together our shared love of card and board games often appears - it's long been a tradition that "the girls" spend at least a couple of hours playing games one evening while the boys head to Unca Wayne's basement bar for a beer (or two), some interesting conversation, and whatever game happens to be on television. While we're well-versed in several games (and willing to try pretty much anything that comes our way) one of our group favourites is Scattergories... this evening we spent a while at the table trying to outdo each other with our crazy alphabet inspired answers (I came in second behind my cousin Sandy, as usual). After Scattergories part of our group had to leave, but Sandy and I stuck around to beat our moms in Euchre... which meant that this evening was my version of a pretty-much perfect games night. Go girls!

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Photo of the Day August 3rd

What a great day... we spent the whole day with my mom enjoying some of the special sights and sounds of Orillia, a town just a bit north of where my family lives. We started our outing shortly after lunch with a trip to Gambridge, which gave Sophie the opportunity to see the locks in action as boats travelled down the Trent-Severn waterway. We were lucky enough to be watching from right where one of the boats was tethered in the lock, and in true "Sophie fashion" my little red-head started engaging the boaters in conversation from the minute she could see them. After a great conversation about life aboard a cabin cruiser, we were off for our own boat ride with a 2 1/2 hour cruise of Lake Couchiching aboard the Island Princess. Beautiful scenery, lots of interesting stories from the captain, and great company. After disembarking we enjoyed a lovely dinner aboard the Ossawippi Express (a restaurant housed aboard a now-retired train) then finished the day with ice cream and a walking tour of the marina. A true "vacation day"... lots of sightseeing, relaxing and special events - what a treat!

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Photo of the Day August 2nd

We took off to Beaverton today for a long-overdue visit with my mom, grandpa, aunt, uncle and cousins. I swear, my family is like medicine to me: whatever ails me always feels better after a dose of them! Since August has only just begun it seemed like the perfect time for a family birthday celebration - many of us share that month for our birthdays, and my cousin Sandy and I even share the same date. The "girls" (our next-to-youngest generation, seeing as how the youngest generation are still too little to be allowed free rein in the kitchen) decided to put on a pot-luck dinner complete with a special dessert created by my cousin Sandy. As you can see by her super-cute calendar cake, July is a busy month for us!

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Photo of the Day August 1st

Oh, I can't believe it's August already. When we were at Tecumseh yesterday playing with the kids I had the sudden realization that in less than five weeks Sophie will start JK there... it's shocking how quickly the summer has gone! Most of today was taken up with preparations for our upcoming (and long overdue) trip to Beaverton... we went to the market for the supplies needed to make pulled pork on a bun for a family dinner on Sunday night and then hit the drug store, grocery store, and pet store before running two final (fun) errands. The first was to Max and Oskars, the place where Sophie gets her hair cut, where she enjoyed a Dora the Explorer DVD as she got her bangs trimmed. We topped the visit off by getting some colour streaks in her hair (one orange, one pink) as a special treat - she's very excited to show them to Grandma. Then just before heading home we stopped at the London Ice Cream Company for a 2L tub of one of their home-made ice creams, which will be making the long trek to Beaverton as well. We've become the first "ice cream couriers" that I've heard of - this is the second time we've hand-delivered London Ice Cream Company tubs out of town (last time to satisfy the craving of a very pregnant friend in Bowmanville Ontario). Well travelled ice cream is our specialty it seems!

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Photo of the Day July 31st

Happy Birthday Aunt Kathy!

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With the yard still dug up, the sun shining and energy to burn we decided to take Sophie and our friend Rowan down to Tecumseh to play this morning. I think it's so much more fun for Sophie to go to the Tecumseh playground now that she knows she'll be attending school there in the fall... she has a real sense of "ownership" about the whole thing. After a good round of monkey-bar climbing and sliding we decided to check out the hopscotch area beside the school for the first time... after a few "lessons" on how to jump hopscotch I had two very willing participants leaping around the tarmac.

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One last update for the day... Union Gas filled in the hole (yay!) but is apparently not going to be putting sod down to cover the damage (boo!). They did at least put down nutrient-rich soil in the yard and mixed in what looked like five pounds of grass seed... so now we're back to turning on the sprinkler and hoping for the best with that darned lawn. Sigh!

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Photo of the Day July 30th

Another sunny day - two in a row, is that some sort of record? Unfortunately playing out in the yard is off the agenda for today, as the folks from Union Gas are here and digging up about half of our front yard. I know that summer time and construction go hand in hand, but it has been truly mind-boggling this year. Not only has our street been ripped up for sewer and water pipe replacement (for the third summer running, might I add) but most of our neighbours have embarked on some major home renovation or another this year. A new front porch being built next door, trees being cut down, a driveway ripped up and replaced two doors down, and a home across the street getting a complete backyard makeover complete with gazebo and some amazing landscaping. I'm all for improving the neighbourhood... but good gracious it's loud. The giant hole in the yard is especially ironic to me because just before the snow flew last fall the water pipes leading to our home were replaced - a project that involved tearing up the front and side yards almost to the foundation. This spring/early summer new sod was put down to cover the turned-up soil and after a few weeks of careful watering and overseeding the bald patches we finally had a lawn that was a pleasure to both look at and (for the kids) roll around on. And it's all gone... back to mountains of dirt and a hole with a man in a hard hat inside. I can't wait for autumn...

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Photo of the Day July 29th

Another busy day, especially for Sophie. In between a play date with her friend Maya and our evening "Messy Madness" class we spent time out in the yard enjoying the return of the summer sun. Bring on the Vitamin D (after a liberal dose of sunscreen, of course)! We've been told that Union Gas will be coming to dig a trench in our yard some time tomorrow, so we wanted to take advantage of enjoying the grass before it's over-run with guys in orange vests with loud machinery again...

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