Live it!

Thanksgiving Part I

We had a busy thanksgiving 2011!

Part I started on Saturday when I picked up my brother Cory and drove back to Boulter for a gorgeous (and unusually hot) Autumn day. Keaton's hockey team was in a tournament up in Gananoque so he and Shaune missed our annual celebration back north... which sucked!

We enjoyed the unseasonably warm temps and didn't even have to wear rain coats, parkas, winter boots or mittens... some of us (not me) even wore tank tops all day. The haywagons were full (2 again this year) and we set off for our yearly trek around the lake. The scenery was beautiful and the company was grand!  I'll let the photos speak for themselves. I was sandwiched between Uncle Murray and Cory the entire ride so I only took photos of what I could see on the wagon without moving and possibly losing my seat! lol!

The turkey dinner that followed was amazing. So good and then it was late so I packed up the kids and we were homeward bound so that we could get up and head to the hockey tournament the next morning.

 

Hockeyville

Our little hometown is making a bid to win "Kraft Hockeyville" this year. There are lots of fun events planned to encourage town spirit and bring the community together. Keaton and Chloe recently participated in the kids triathalon. They did 3 different activities: skating laps in the arena, running the soccer fields outside and then doing laps around the racetrack on their bikes. Chloe thought it was a lot of work! She was huffing and puffing by the end of the race and ended up crashing her bike at the finish line - poor kid. Still she said it was 'sorta fun'. Maybe athletics just isn't her thing.  The arena is like Keaton's second home so he had a blast.

 

 

Dear Tooth Fairy

Chloe lost a tooth. Chloe wrote a note. Mommy and Daddy were chuckling when they found the secret note and hidden tooth before bed that night. Chloe, you do entertain!

 

Here is the note and the $10 she got for her creative writing skills. "Lalaloopsey's" are crazy looking button-eyed dolls - Chloe's latest expensive obsession. She went and bought one the next day.

Happy Anniversary to us

We celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary on September 12th. Guess how it was spent (again this year?!)... the hockey arena. It is a running joke that every anniversary we are at the arena for hockey try outs, a game or a practice. It is just the way it is for now.

Thankfully, I married a wonderful man. We have been together 18 years and it is crazy to think it has already been 13 years since our wedding day. How time does fly!

Chloe surprised us with a beautiful (and funny) letter and drawing as her gift to us. She is such a wonderful little girl and the gift went beautifully with my fresh flowers from her amazing dad.

 
 

I'm lucky!

 

Back to school again

Well, the summer flew by. It happened especially quickly this year and I must admit I wasn't quite ready for it to be over.

Keaton, going into Grade 6 agreed with me... he wanted another month of lounging around the house and swimming in the pool, etc. He likes his time with mom, he admits it.

Chloe on the other hand was ready to be back to the social time that school brings for her. She also was excited to have a new teacher for Grade 3 that everyone promised her is 'fabulous'. She drew pictures for her in anticipation of the first day... already trying to become the teachers pet.

As we whisked around getting them ready for the first day, Meg slept through it all. I finally went up and woke her up at 930am.... long after the school bus had already taken the kids off. She was surprised to wake up to peace, quiet and no Keaton or "Coco".  By the end of the day we were both missing them and glad to hear all about their exciting first day back.

 

 

Summer Holidays - Muskoka Style

Warning: a lot of photos coming your way!

We had a terrific holiday in the Muskoka's this summer. We rented a cottage on Mirror Lake in Port Carling and invited Uncle Cory along for the week. Our good friends (The Antonides, who you may recognize as one of the 3 families that travelled with us in Vietnam in 2009) live across the road from where we were staying and it worked out wonderfully. They have 5 children and three of them we got to see a lot of - Joel is Keaton's age, Eve is Chloe's age and Quinn (although a few years older than Meg) was wonderful to play with Meg and love every minute of it.  We had a relaxing time and enjoyed lots of sunshine and some rain too. I read. The boys fished. Chloe loved her social time with Eve. Meg enjoyed having us all together and all the beach time she got. It was a fabulous week away.

Here are some of the photos of our little vacation.

We spent most of our vacation enjoying the cottage and the lakefront property it was on...

 

There was a lot of fishing (both from the dock and from the fishing boat). We fed the ducks often and they loved coming by for visits. Keaton and Chloe loved jumping off the dock for old golf balls that someone had thrown into the water... Meg always watched with much interest.

 

Cory (being the wonderful uncle that he is) spent hours in the water with Keaton and Chloe. Their favourite thing to do was take the board out in the water and see how long it would take Uncle Cory to knock them off it and into the water. You could hear their laughter all the way up the hill - in the kitchen of the cottage.

 
 

We visited a fun little park a few times, it was down at the water where we launched the boat in Port Carling. 

 

 

We couldn't be that close to Killbear Provincial Park and not make a day trip over to do our cliff jumping. We took Eve and Joel with us for company and the kids took turns jumping off the lower cliffs into Georgian Bay's chilly waters. We all took a try, myself included and Uncle Cory had his first jump ever. The water was rough and cold so the kids wore life jackets. The boys (Cory included) spent a long time hunting and finding crayfish by the rocky shoreline area. They also found a snake nearby and the kids wanted me to take a photo to remember him by.

 

Thanks to the Antonide crew for a fun week. I managed one photo of all 8 kids!

 
 

We spent our final night at the house around the bon fire. It was a beautiful full moon kind of night and I could of stayed there another week (at least). We got lots of family down-time and it was exactly what we all needed. Thank you MUSKOKA'S!

 

 

Bean Bake 2011

Another year, another great Bean Bake. I'm sure I've told the story before about why the Bean Bake is called the "Bean Bake". But, for those that may wonder why we have such a unique name for our annual family get-together I'll share again. My Grandpa Whyte baked beans by putting them in cast-iron pots and placing them in the ground amongst hot sand and coals (covered of course to keep the dirt out). He did this for his birthday one August and it became a yearly thing where all of the family would get together to enjoy the beans, along with other staple items like stewed beef over the fire, corn on the cob, boiled potatoes and lots of tasty homemade pies and desserts. The tradition started a long time ago and this year we celebrated the 34th annual bean bake. Saturday is the feast and Sunday is the horseshoe tournament at Foster Lake.

I have been going to this fun weekend celebration since I was a very little girl. I have so many great memories of summers in Boulter at our cottage and going to the Bean Bake. Someday I'll have to pull all my old photos together and do a seperate blog post about it.

My kids and my husband love the Bean Bake every bit as much as me. They look forward to it all summer and count down the days til' they can go back camping, fishing and playing with cousins, friends and aunts and uncles. We headed back Thursday morning and enjoyed 4 solid days of fun. I didn't take my camera this year but my cousin Dennis lent me his. Chloe took her little point and shoot too - so we managed some photos anyhow.

Thanks Grandpa Whyte for starting this tradition. I know you are looking down on your family and are so proud that it continues - year after year after year.

 
 
 
 

...and a few from the "Chloe cam"

 

Just the Boys

Shaune treated Keaton to a father/son weekend away back in mid July. It was a fishing trip that Keaton so looked forward to. They met up with my cousin Bruce and his sons: Joel and Brenden. Uncle Murray put them up for the weekend back in Boulter and they caught lots of fish at Mocassin Lake. They came home with a huge amount of bass fillets for me to cook up. Keaton had a blast with his cousin Joel and I know he'll never forget that weekend away with his dad. He's hoping it will become a yearly tradition.

I convinced them to let me snap 2 photos of them on Chloe's little camera as they packed up the car to head out.

 

Shaune surprised me and snapped a few (with his blackberry) of them out fishing.

 

Constant Motion

Meg is 2  1/2 yrs old now. She is quite the girl and she is enjoying life - every minute of it. She is full of personality - her shyness around others has all but disappeared and she has emerged as a confident little toddler that is full of sass and spunk.

Trying to capture a photo of her lately is near impossible and she has caught on to the fact that I'm trying... so it becomes a game that I always lose at. I got these snaps of her while she was playing out by the pool - one of her favourite spots to be. She dances around and when I pull my camera out she laughs and says "you can't catch me!"...

 

School is OUT

...and just like that summer is upon us and school is out for another year. Both the kids had great years at school and brought home wonderful report cards for all their hard work. Next year they move on to Grade 3 and Grade 6 which seems crazy to me.

Keaton was excited for the last day to get here because he is looking forward to sleeping in, days around the pool, our trip to the Muskoka's and lots of golfing.

Chloe was excited for another reason: the 'talent show' that her class would be participating in. She came home from school the day before in a frenzy... looking for just the right outfit to wear for her dance. She decided to do an unrehearsed ballet solo and found just the right clothes in her dress up trunk to play the part. She insisted on wearing the outfit to school and caught the bus dressed like a royal Diva. She makes me chuckle... all confident and carefree and doing whatever her heart tells her to do. I made it to her dance and she got a bit shy once she had to get up and dance ... I videotaped it and I'm sure she'll look back on it and have a good laugh some day. My girl has gusto!

 

 

Meg woke up... saw Chloe getting dressed up and found what she felt was an appropriate matching costume to see them off to school in. She waved goodbye as they got on the bus and I promised her that come the next day, our house would be a lot funner, louder and crazier.

It is now 930am on the first full day of summer vacation and my promise is proving true already - at least the louder part.