Author: Heather

First Swimming Badge & a Seminar

I recently took advantage of the sunny weather to introduce our youngest to the joys of washing a car.  Once that car was cleanish (I am too short to wash the roof), she insisted on washing the bikes and scooters.  What a girl!

Tonight she got her first swimming badge!! She was beyond excited.  “I listened and tried hard.  I got my badge.”  A great way to end her summer on a high note.

This past weekend Katrine was lucky to have the opportunity to attend a seminar put on by Skate Ontario.  She learned alot and had a great time doing so.  The seminar was ended with a dinner for the skaters, coaches and parents.  As you can see, she had a wonderful time at the dinner inspite of being quite tired from 8 hours of working out.  What a girl.

 

Cottage Time – a photo essay

Ahh.  Candy bags and the lake…okay, we relaxed after the car ride so now let’s swim!

Mmm, free range and organic blueberries.  The perfect snack to balance out all of that sugar.

Fishing!  Elspeth did much better this year because she was rushing to reel it back in.  Katrine still didn’t touch the worms but she was very encouraging to the fish she caught that help was on its way.

Sparklers while waiting for the fire.

Look at the giant marshmallows.

Aftermath of toasting giant marshmallows.

This year we did not really go searching for mushrooms.  Instead it was frogs and acorns.


A stop in Haliburton

While up at the cottage we went for a visit to Haliburton and while there spotted this sign infront of a restaurant:

Both from scratch AND gluten free….hmmm, girls I think I know where we will be eating lunch.

They had a nice children’s menu and both girls enjoyed their mac and cheese (plus, our server even asked if either wanted gluten free!).  There were quite a few gluten free options available.  I could have had pizza, pasta or most of their burgers and sandwiches on gluten free buns.  What made it even better was how knowledgable our server was.  They had this delicious sounding bacon and leek macarooni and cheese listed on the menu.  Right away she knew that they could not make that exact pasta gluten free as it was done with a roux.  As yummy as that sounded it was really easy to settle on my second choice – a thick cut peameal bacon sandwich with hand cut french fries.  Heavenly.

Our two girls

Katrine had a visit with the eye doctor earlier this week and much to her disappointment she was told that she would benefit from glasses.   We agreed that she should have them for school and that we would take the rest as we go.  Thank you to everyone who was able to help me find skaters, musicians and actors who wear glasses.  I can’t say that she is excited but perhaps a little less scared.  All of that aside, I think that she looks right cute in her glasses.

Elspeth has been taking swimming lessons twice a week for the past month and tonight was photo night.  She is having a blast and doing ever so much better than we had expected. :-D   Here is just some cuteness from tonight’s lesson.

Too much excitement for a competition

The best part of the weekend was watching Katrine skate at Summer sizzle.  She landed her axels, met her goal of finishing ontime and walked off the ice with a smile on her face.  To make that better, my parents and brother and his family were there to watch her.  I must say that the dress also looked okay.  To top it off she placed 6th (had a slip up in the final seconds of her performance on the loop jump).  Not bad considering the morning we had had before making it to the arena.

Glenn and I decided that we should stay over night at a hotel to avoid leaving home early.  That way Katrine could have maximum sleep as well as time for a hot breakfast.  Help her to be at her best.  Sounds like a great plan.  Unfortunately it didn’t work that way.

At 5 am we were awoken to a ponding on the door…well it was actually the door of the hotel room that ajoined out room.  “Police, open the door.”  In my groggy state I am like what the hell.  So I go to open the door where I saw a police officer standing shaking her head at me like “Nope lady, wrong door.”  Pounding continues as I close the door.  “Come out now with your hands up.” (The actual dialogue might be off due to tiredness)  I am walking back to the bed when it dawns on me that there are cops outside our room with guns and a guy refusing to open a door next to us as well as a set of doors between our two rooms.  Elspeth is scooped up from her sleeping bag at the foot of our bed near said door and into bed with Glenn she goes while I head to Katrine.

By this point the canine unit is joining in.  Now that was cool to hear.  I mean, the dog was sooo well trained.  He barked on a simple command and it had Katrine shaking in her bed.  Anyways, more yelling, call for back up, some guys voice next door.  Aparrently, he had to put his pants on before he could open the door.  Door opening.  More calls for lady to exit room.  Yelling between lady and guy in hall over who had called the cops.  We hear robbery, drugs, adbudtion and are left wondering who the hell we had been sleeping beside all night.

Anyways, it was all over between 5:30 and 6:00.  The yelling stopped.  Barking stopped.  Then we had one girl confused as to where the dog had gone and why she had to go back to sleep when the sun was coming up to play while the other one was working on stopping crying in the other bed.  Glenn was trying to convince Elspeth that it was most certainly not time to sleep while I was trying to neither cry nor laugh.  No one was truly rested when we headed down for breakfast at 7:00 am.  On our way back from breakfast the cops were still there carrying bags from the room.

We were suppose to spend the day with the family but not one of us has the energy.  So, we packed up the car after lunch and headed home.  And that was the excitement of Katrine’s first competition of the season.

A Gotchaversary and Summer Fun

Two years ago today our little sweetie met us in the lobby of a hotel and began to cry.  Those cries were a wonderful sound to us.  Two years later here is how she has spent the last three days.

Today:

Cuddling

Painting

Tuesday:

Science experiment with slime.

Monday

Science experiment with water.  “Hey mom, it makes ice!”  Yes Elspeth it certainly does.

My favourite – homemade waterslide!!!  Girls thought this one up themselves.

The Next Skating Dress

It is done.  My back is aching.  Neck sore.  Almost cried a few times but eventually got the hang of it…more or less.  But before I show you the dress, let me tantilize you with photos of the blinged up jean jackets I also did for the girls with the extra crystals which came in the muli colour packets.

Elspeth’s.  I wonder if I should add more?  But my back is really sore from bending over.

Katrine’s is sufficiently sparkly I think.

 

Okay, do you recall what Katrine’s dress looked like before?  No?  Here is a reminder.

 

Here is the process.  Plan out design.  Buy crystals.  Curse self for not buying enough.  Buy more (as well as dinosaur feet for Elspeth which are like buckets you walk on).  Set up workspace.  Cut out design to ensure accuracy for gluing.  Throw out design once it begins to fall apart and recreate design.  Sigh, why did we opt for me to do this?  Oh ya, a cross between saving money and making a contribution to Katrine’s skating.

What is was suppose to look like.

Now for the After.  After two nights of work, countless crystals going flinging across the floor in various stages of gluiness, multiple swear words and a great big headache. Voila!

 

And let me finish with some random skating cuteness.

Gluten Free Jordan, Niagara and Buffalo

Where to start because posts about our trip would not be complete without news of the food and WHAT food!

Jordan:

1. On the Twenty (located right across the road from the inn)

Everymorning I was able to enjoy gluten free bread and jam as well as fresh fruit, bacon and eggs.  Now I don’t eat eggs (allergy) but they did offer to make them up for me.  They actually had two types of bread a gluten free multi grain and a delicious sesame seed bread.  A great start to each day.

We had our actual anniversary dinner here too and I basically had my pick of the menu.  Our waitress informed me that they could make a gluten free version of most anything on the menu.  My mouth was instantly watering and I was not disappointed.

Warm gluten free bread served at the same time as Glenn’s plate of sour dough.

The “Amuse-Bouche”.  Cheese, wine jelly, apple slices with balsamic vinegar. 

I chose the boneless Prime Rib.  It was HUGE and juicy and tender.  The potatoes were done to perfection.

There were multiple options for my dessert but I settled on the blueberry coconut cheesecake.  I have never had a cheesecake made with a toasted coconut base before.  I didn’t miss the cookies at all.

2. For lunch on our anniversary we decided to try the little cafe beside the hotel. The Zooma Zooma resto and wine bar. It was hopping but we were able to get a table tucked in a nice cozy corner.  There was a smaller selection, but then it is a smaller place.  I settled on a salad and their fresh fries with sea salt, curry mayo and smoked ketchup.  I was a bit worried at the size of the serving when it arrived but there were none left by the end.  They were delightfully salty.

Niagara on the Lake:

1. We stopped in at the Irish Tea Room and picked up some desserts to enjoy in our little courtyard.  Unfortunately we ate them before I thought to take any pictures.  :(  Ooops.

2. We walked about 15 minutes off of the main street to a small restaurant called Stone Road Grille (yes, on Stone Road).  It didn’t look like much on the outside and I must admit that I was a bit worried.  My worries fled once we walked inside and smellt the air.  Mmmm.  You just knew that the food was going to be good.  Multiple choices and a well versed staff were the icing on the cake.  They even had desserts but we had passed an ice cream parlour en route that we wanted to try.  I don’t think that I would take the girls here but if we ever go back on a couple’s outing I will be keeping them in mind.

Roasted sweet corn soup served chilled.  Very refereshing.

This is pork tenderloin cooked in a sous-vide.  Man was it tender; melt in your mouth tender.  The beans were super fresh as well and the sauce, well it was like eating essence of porky goodness.

3.Il Gelato Di Carlota – Latteria is the ice cream parlour that we passed while walking to the restaurant.  Now we were stuffed from dinner but I can’t pass up a chance to try a gluten free waffle cone imported from Italy.  Neither the gelato or cone disappointed.  I must point out how awesome my hubby is.  He got his gelato in a GF cone as well so that I could sample his too.

The sign in the bottom left corner was advertising the gluten free cones.

They had a really nice selection of flavours. The flavour board clearly showed which flavours were not gluten free so it was easy to order.

Strawberry (it tasted like fresh picked berries) and Dark Chocolate.


Niagara Falls:

There are a surprising number of options available for celiac dinners along Clifton Hill – Boston Pizza, Outback are two.  We spotted a restaurant at the bottom of the hill with a sign out front advertising that they had gluten free options.  How could we pass up the chance to try a new restaurant?  So in we went to Ruby Tuesdays for lunch.  They had a reasonable menu and I settled on the children’s burger.  I think that if I had gone with the adult burger it would have been a bit juicier ( in all fairness the waiter did mention that but I wasn’t super hungry) but the burger bun was almost normal so I enjoyed it.

Buffalo:

We went to PF Changs (which I have been wanting to try for ages) while at the Walden Galleria Mall.  Looking at their GF options on the menu brought a huge smile to my face.  Great selection.  They brought me gluten free sauces and made sure that I was aware not to use the ones in the middle of the table.  Once again Glenn showed just how super he is.  He chose to get his dish done with the gluten free soy sauce so that we could sample each others meals.  Authentic chinese it is not but it is a really nice North American version of Chinese food.  I could easily see myself taking the girls here.

An Anniversary Trip for Two

After 15 years married and 21 together, Glenn still knows how to make me feel special.  One way is to plan a trip for two without the girls.  He put a lot of thought into it and it turned out to be a wonderful grown-up version of our honeymoon (aka nice jacuzzi tub as opposed to heart shaped jacuzzi tub).  We spent three nights at the Inn on the Twenty in peaceful Jordan, Ontario where we got to sleep in EVERy morning (no 5:30 bathroom wake up calls!).  We also drank copious amounts of locally produced Cave Springs wine…mmmm.  Most importantly we smiled, relaxed in the little courtyard garden and talked.

On our actual anniversary we went for a small hike, as I had broken my toe the previous week, at the Balls Falls Conservation Area.  It was beautiful.  I only wish that my toe had been healed so that we could have gone on a longer hike.  We did manage to fill the extra time with a tour of the Cave Springs winery and a wine tasting.  Did I mention…mmmm.  It was wonderful.

They had a really nice display of needlework.

We met this little guy along the way.  Thought he was a rabbit at first.

The day before Glenn took me gluten free shopping in the States which might not sound that romantic but really it is.  Over the course of our marriage he has seen me grown into my food issues and knows first hand how much food means to me.  So, he took me to buy GF Bisquick, cereal and cake mix.  While there I discovered that Pillsbury is now making tubs of GF pizza dough, pastry and cookie dough but I couldn’t buy those as we were not heading directly home.  We did stop in Niagara on the Lake for dinner and I got a really pretty new hat.

The hatty couple (but only mine is new)

We did the Falls themselves on our last day as that is when we actually arrived 15 years ago.  It was kinda neat to be there stolling around as we had done years before.  That said, by the end of the day we were really missing our girls (who had spent the time with my parents – thank you mom and dad) so off we headed up north to have a family dinner and pick them up.

Believe it or not this little oasis is at the foot of Clifton Hill.