Category: Heather

Glencoe Fair

I just realized that I am behind in my posts so it is time to catch up. (I was sick this past week and acutally had to take a day off of work!  Guess that I no longer have a school grade immune system.)

Last weekend was the family’s weekend to celebrate Charles’ birthday.  That meant that Saturday monring saw us climbing into the car and off to Glencoe.  One big difference this year was that I was able to join the family in getting Tims as they now carry a gluten free option (Yippee!!!).

We arrived just in time for the parade.  Both kids were thrilled.  Elspeth was once again blown away by the size of some of the tractors.

After lunch we went to visit an egg farm much to the girl’s delight.  We are big egg eaters.  Well, all except for me that is.  Elspeth learned  the word silo and “big machine” while Katrine got a chance to ask every possible question about the machinery carrying the eggs along.  There were fresh eggs to top it off too.

Then it was off to the fair itself.  Sarah’s pies looked as tasty as usual and she did pretty darn well.  This year’s theme was the Fifties.  One category was a decorated pumpkin.  My particular favourite was the Elvis pumpkin.  I thought it was smashing.  We decided to save the rides until Sunday as it had poured and the following day was suppose to have nice weather.  Well the forecast was wrong.  It rained Sunday so we missed the demolition derby and the rides.  Instead we spent a little while longer with the family.

Overall a great outing.

 

Happy Moon Festival!

No good photos of food this year.  After two years off it is just rough getting through the week at times so this year’s dinner was more simple than other years.  We did (one of the few times I say yippee to being gluten free) have moon cakes for dessert and the girls gobbled those down.  After dinner we had our annual lantern parade outside.  Katrine is an awesome big sister and took her job of showing Elspeth how to holding her lantern, turn it on and joining in on Elspeth’s “parades”; all with a huge smile on her face.  To top it off the moon was beautiful.  A happy Chinese thanksgiving to all of you.

Apple Picking and Kitchen Fun

The fall always brings with it a trip to the apple orchard.  We decided not to make our big batches of apple sauce, crumbles and pies this year.  With me back at work in a new school and job that was simply too much.  Instead we picked small apples perfect for the girls’ lunches and enjoyed the sunshine but cooler temperatures.  We also went to pick fall raspberries.  However, we went in the afternoon (because I slept in; thank you Glenn).  As a result, the berries had been picked over and there were not many left.  Oh well, Elspeth got to see where raspberries come from and the few that we did find were sweet and delicious.

Of course, we had to take the occasional taste test to ensure quality.  This involves the old “wipe it on your shirt” trick.

“Mom look! Just enough for our lunch!”

The orchard was also selling pie pumpkins.  Now a few years back, Katrine and Glenn made pumpkin pies and ice cream from scratch.  I think it was a year where both Katrine and I took trips to the pumpkin patch and we ended up with a half dozen pie pumpkins.  Well, didn’t she remember and beg him to do with her and her sister once again.  He, being a great dad did just that.

Then I put the girls to work today making their own lunch. (which doubles as school lunch tomorrow too)

Plus, the helped to fold dumplings for Thrusday’s moon festival dinner. Gluten free dumplings!! (If I could eat gluten, I would just be buying the things and steaming them.)

 

 

 

First Day of School

Katrine started Grade 4 on Tuesday

Elspeth JK yesterday

Both girls are loving it.  I am back at work and am enjoying it.  It is different than anything I have done before in many ways but very similar in others.  I am just hoping that by the end of the year I can look back and say not only did I try my best but that I also did a good job.

Happy September everyone!

 

C.N.E.

This year we introduced Elspeth to another family tradition – the C.N.E.  We have been taking Katrine since she was little and she loves going.  2011 Elspeth had been home for a little over two weeks so a visit was definetely out and last year she still wasn’t quite ready as she would have been too overwhelmed by the crowds to enjoy any of it.  This year was a different story.  She did so well on our trip and at Santa’s Village that we decided to give it a go.  Fun was had by all and to top it off, I even got to eat!

Let me begin with this cuteness.  “I wear my hat like Baba at the CNE”

Elspeth was a half an inch too short to go on most of the rides by herself.  It breaks my heart that kids a year or more younger are able to go on these rides by themselves and here she is almost four and she has to ride with one of us.  Her favourite rides were the merry go round and the motorcycles.  Katrine was able to do rides in both the kiddie zone and the midway.  Boy did she have some fun.

She rode well into the night with her Baba.  This was her last ride of the day.  If you look carefully you can see the larger figure with a green shirt.  That is Glenn.  He hates spinning rides yet here he is being a trooper for his daughter.  What a dad.

The girls both loved the farm building.  They did all of the kid’s activities with the fishing zone being a particular highlight.  After our late dinner, Glenn and Katrine went to enjoy the midway while Elspeth and I cycled back to the farm building where she redid everything.

Her Aleigh had to come with us, of course.  Apparently Aleigh quite enjoyed seeing extended family from the farm.

Looks like Elspeth raced her pony to a ribbon!

Elspeth practiced casting for these plastic fish.

Katrine tried to catch the real thing but settled for a softer fish.

There were also the necessary fair games where the girls selected twin frogs as prizes.  I tried to convince them that different was better but as you can see I failed.

Here is one of my favourite displays, the sand sculptures.  I also enjoyed the butter sculptures but the photos didn’t work because of the flash and glass.

Some shows, a parade, dinner and then it was time to break into two groups.  Once we finished at the farm building it was off to the Arts & Crafts building for some more crafts.  I think that this was one of our most crafty CNE visits.  We created with playdough, coloured, made masks and finally, art trading cards.  I think that Elspeth did a great job for 9:30 at night.

Promptly there after she fell asleep as we were going to meet the other pair for the final CNE tradition – mini donuts.

Okay, now for the gluten free food!  Lunch was nachos.  I only got meat and cheese as I was sharing with Elspeth but I could have had beans, lettuce, salsa.  They were yummy despite their simplicity.  Dinner was fries from Chicago Fries stall.  It was too bad that I didn’t pay closer attention or I could have opted for the sweet potatoe fries.

 

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.


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.

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.