$20 Sock Present

My friends and I did this last year where we filled a pair of socks up with some presents (in total it should all cost about $20) and have a white elephant type gift exchange. This year I thought of this an entire year in advance. I figured if I was left with a couple of extra pairs of Christmas socks they would be easily gifted elsewhere. Because of this I got 2 pairs of Christmas socks for about $3 which left me with about $17 to fill the socks with. I had also purchased nearly a year ago (or maybe it was 6 months ago during the summer) during Bath and Body Works semi annual clearance a bath bomb. I've never actually used one before but I was thinking of a specific friend in this group that would REALLY love it... so I got it on the chance that others would also appreciate it. Anyways, at this point I was at about $12 left to spend. I had something that I had bought that could possibly work with this group a year ago but it was too big to fit in a sock (so I'm using that at another $10 gift exchange instead). Then I remembered that I had seen these cute cactus things at Chapters about half a year ago on clearance. The odds were likely not in my favor that they would have any left in the city but then as it turned out they had a bunch of them at the location closest to me... still for the same clearance price unfortunately (shouldn't it have been even cheaper by this point?) and then for the last piece to finish filling up those socks was to buy an actual real cactus (in case the fake one wasn't up someones alley). John and I had a bunch of leftover plastic pots from our wedding favours so I used one of those to put it in a better looking pot.

It wasn't easy this year considering the restrictions that were placed on what we could put inside of the socks. No chocolates (and I had a BUNCH of Lindt chocolates that could have gone inside from our advent calendar). no chapstick. No tea and no coffee... and those are only the restrictions that I could remember. So, I think I did alright all things considering.

I was pretty close to choosing a yellow topped cactus but then I saw this one lonely red looking one and thought that better matched the season.

Luckily, socks are stretchy and will be able to accommodate the larger items... I'll just need to put a tag with a warning on it to roll the sock down instead of just grabbing things out of it so that the cactus stays intact.

Clear Lake 2017

This almost didn't happen this year!

But we can't mess with tradition and so off we went on our annual excursion to Clear Lake while in the midst of house renovations, condo selling, and packing.

Every September long for who knows how many years (every year since I've been around) we've gone to Clear Lake for a family gathering.

The highlights?

1.  Dinner Boat Cruise

We went on the dinner boat cruise this year!  It was something different and we learned some interesting information about the area while on it (and the weather was perfect to be out on the boat!).  It was however pretty expensive and now that we've done it once I'm not sure we'll need to do it again.

2.  Bald Hill

The top of Bald Hill
Confession: I was almost too scared to hike the fairly short but narrow path to get to this point... I thought the breeze would send me over the edge.

We went on the Bald Hill hike this year.  14km later we got back to the car.  I think someone had figured it out and thought it would be about 10km which seems pretty doable but then we ventured off the main path to get to Bald Hill and didn't park exactly where we maybe should have... by the end I was pretty exhausted and it took me the rest of the weekend for my muscles to re cooperate.

3.  Outdoor Movies

My sister and brother in law borrowed a projector and big screen so that we could watch movies outside after it got dark.  It was the first year we ever did it and I would say it was a big success!  It did get a little chilly though so for the 2nd evening of watching movies outside we built a couple of fires to stay warmer

4.  The Food

The food is always good.  Imagine a couple of picnic tables filled with a variety of foods for dinner.  No one goes hungry at the lake!... in fact it takes a couple of days afterwards for you to actually become hungry again!

The regrets?

Just one...we still haven't gotten our Beavertails!  Come on!

Honeymoon

We got back from our honeymoon over a month ago and I still have yet to post a single picture or say a single thing about it on these interwebs.  Can I use the excuse that when we got back a bunch of stuff happened and I haven't really had a day off from work since (other than weekends of course).  

Luckily, early this week we all had a snow day and so I had the time to do a little writing...

Here is the only picture that John and I have of the both of us from our honeymoon, taken on one of our excursions to Tulum to see some Mayan ruins

There were a bunch of pools on the resort and all but one were often nearly empty

We stayed at the Grand Palladium in the Mayan Riviera 

We actually had 2 rooms while here.  Our first room had 2 double beds so I put in a request for a king size bedroom and after a couple of nights in our first room we were able to move to this one.  Basically the same room just with only one bed.

Excursions:

We went on 3 

The first one we went to see some cenotes (sinkholes) and swim in them and through caves.  After that we went swimming with some turtles in Akumel which was the highlight of the trip for me and I'm kind of regretting not purchasing the pictures the photographer took of us on this excursion (note to self: when they say the photographs cost $30 this is actually a very good deal!)

The 2nd was to Tulum to see some ruins

The 3rd was to see more cenotes but this time we got to jump into them from really high, repel into them, zip line into them, and kayak through them.  It was pretty fun but the car ride through all the twists and turns was not.  The photos at this one cost $80 so needless to say we did not purchase them!

There were 2 shows every night at our resort which was nice but we were usually pretty tired (especially if we went on an excursion to go to them). We did see all of one and the last bit of another.  

John would say the food was the best part (and it was pretty good).

No limits as to how often you could visit a sit down restaurant and the buffets were pretty well endless.

Local merchants set up booths on the resort in the evening which was nice if you wanted to buy something local without leaving the resort.

All in all a fine time was had by all

Then we came home and by the next evening I had the flu.

BUT, 

I would still go back!

Bachelorette Party

Despite what many people may think about a bachelorette party needing to be wild and crazy mine was not.

(and nor does it have to be)

What did I do?

I found a fantastic person that was willing to come to any location (I chose my sister's house because she had the space) and teach myself and 14 others (yes 14!) how to paint a beautiful painting.

You'll find the artist, Amber, at Painting on the Prairies and I highly recommend that if you are from around these parts and wanting to do some painting you contact her.

Why?  

First off, she told me that since I booked my party far enough in advance she could do a custom painting just for me!  What!?!  I felt so special that if I didn't see anything in her selection that I loved she would do something different for me (I went with the custom painting - which is apparently a huge hit now!)

I may be marrying outside of the Mennonite heritage but you can't take the Mennonite out of me.  I needed the best deal for a private party.  I didn't want my party at a bar of any kind and didn't want to have to find a community center to rent out.  With Painting on the Prairies all you need is 10 people and it costs $350 (of course you can have more... any additional people are $35).  If you have under 10 people the cost is still $350 which makes sense.. you gotta pay the artist for her time!  And she'll gladly attend your party at your house.

Amber was so easy to work with!  The plan was to possibly paint outside (weather permitting) but the weather did not permit for this.  So instead we painted in 3 different rooms.  All the rooms were on the same floor but still separated enough that Amber had to show the same thing 3 times.  And she did a fantastic job working all 3 rooms.

Clean up was also super easy... to be honest I didn't even realize it happened.  

Anywho, I'm beginning to sound like Painting on the Prairies sponsored this post and I'm just not that popular for that to happen... I'm just letting you all know that you should consider it! 

All in all it was a fantastic afternoon and evening and I feel incredibly blessed that so many people wanted to come out and spend time with me and bless me with my upcoming wedding.  

I couldn't have imagined anything better!

Bonsai Beauty

3 MORE DAYS!

Life Lately

I interupt my usual talking about wedding stuff to tell you all about my life lately (because it's more than just cookies and wedding over here!)

School is winding down and my pool has officially opened (it actually opened about a month ago but this weekend was the first time I headed down there).  My friend and John's sister came over for an evening swim because it was just way to hot to do anything else.

Those same 2 girls that came over for a swim also went to a wedding with me (John also came).  It was for a friend from life group (and John's sister knew the bride).

the whole life group!

We (my sisters and I and all our significant others) took our parents ziplining for Mother's and Father's Day (because it was something that my mom actually wanted to try!)

just my sisters and I hanging out with my dad

the guys hung out with my mom

my mom even managed to climb this... and by the time we got to this point it was pretty windy!

I've got tomatoes, flowers, spinach, and swiss chard growing in my "garden" outside.  The tomatoes are an experiment John is doing because they aren't actually growing in any soil.  So far, lots of flowers on the tomato plants but no tomatoes.

And of course wedding planning, wedding planning, wedding planning.  We have pretty well made our way into the 7 month part of the checklist I found online which is nice... mostly because we have less than 4 months before the wedding!  I'm not too panicked about it though... it'll all get done.

The list for the next couple of weeks includes:

finding shoes (for me)

deciding on suit (for John)

finalizing the guest list

deciding on invites

deciding on a florist (pretty sure we already know who we will go with... we just need to contact her)

figuring out flowers for the centerpieces (ahem florist ahem)

make gift registeries

finalize the cake

The list seems long now that I look at it... but I think it'll be doable... most of the stuff we already know what we want we just need to make sure it's going to happen (or possible for it to happen)

And that folks,

Is my life lately!

Spring Break!

Finally, a post that isn't about cookies!  

The sad news about this post is that I really haven't done a whole lot this spring break.  People were busy with other plans, sick, or took off for other places leaving me to clean, throw a spa night, and go for lots of long walks.

So, what does a girl write about when she didn't do much over the break?  She shares with what few readers she has how to have a pretty decent spa night at home!

You don't really need a reason to have a spa night in my opinion but I hosted mine for a very good reason... one of my good friends was turning 30 and this is what we could convince the most people to attend!

Step 1:

Dinner

Everyone but the birthday girl brought something for us to eat.

I made some sweet and sour chicken and veggies in the slow cooker so that I wouldn't be stressed about hosting and having to make diner right before everyone got here.  I also made some homemade garlic bread (which got rave reviews) and some rice.  Another guest provided us with salad and another with drinks.

I dimmed the lights to make it seem more like a restaurant because that was one of the things the birthday girl wanted to do.  

PS.  Those cups I got at Dollarama and served a few purposes.. for holding beverages (duh..), to be a little more fancy looking than regular cups, AND they were all different colours so if they moved around throughout the night you just had to remember what colour was yours.

A couple of other guests supplied us with some dessert.

Step 2:

Spa Services

One of the things the birthday girl wanted to do was to go to the spa... so I wanted to try to make my place as spa like as possible.  I dragged out my Christmas lights (even though they have the green wires I don't think they looked too bad) and some smaller lamps (the lamp on the shelf I ended up moving to the top so people could actually read the menu and services)

Step 3:

The set up

On that sign on the shelf I put where we would be doing each service.  My original thought was to have us doing something different in the different rooms of my condo but then I thought the point was also for us all to spend time together... so I did my best to keep us all in one room of my condo (the living/dining room).

The coffee table is where we did our nails (a guest also supplied us with probably about 100 nail polish colours to choose from).

Those 2 big bins by my couch were for foot soaks

And in front of the tv I put a long mirror for us to apply face masks

I also tried to think of things that you would eat/drink at a spa and I figured tea was likely something... so I set up a little tea station (I don't believe it got used though)... for someone that doesn't drink tea I think I have a decently large tea collection!

Step 4:

Have fun!

No pictures from the evening because I was too busy having fun.

I guess I can always spend some time with the rest of my spring break putting my place back to the way it usually is.

Hope we all had a great spring break!

Valentine's Day

I'm not one for making a big deal about this day.  Shouldn't we all be showing the person that we love that we love them every day?  BUT... I told John earlier in the week that I had come up with a good idea to do for it so I would take care of planning this Valentine's Day and he could start working ahead to next year (or you know, think of it February 13, 2017... whichever).  

But first...

I've rarely had a date on Valentine's Day so it has been a long tradition that I go out for a girl's night on (or around) Valentine's Day.  Why should all the couples get all the fun?  The girls I hang out with on this date have changed over the years (because people run off and get married) but the good times continue.  So on Friday, myself, and a few friends got together for dinner (and they had dessert - I didn't because I had an obscene amount at the classroom Valentine's Day party I was subbing in) hung out and caught up.  It was fun.

Then on Sunday, February 14th I of course woke up not feeling so great.  Why oh why am I always getting sick when there is a holiday (Monday was a holiday)!?!  You know how when you get sick there is usually one day that is worse than the others?  Well I wasn't willing to risk Monday being the more sick of the two days and postponing.... so the show went on.

When thinking about what we should do I thought about what John would want to do.... or what he likes to do.  

"Well... he likes camping" I thought to myself and so the plan began.

It was a pretty simple set up.  Hotdogs, chips, s'mores, carrots, and pickles (or you know... what I'm assuming is typical camping food) and of course... my fireplace.  I was a little nervous about someones marshmallow going up in flames (and they did... multiple times... those things are highly flammable!) and burning something important (such as my condo) so I put a pitcher of water by the fireplace (which we didn't end up needing... we just blew out the marshmallow fires).  I also took a couple of cushions off the couch and put them on the floor in front of the fireplace to make it more comfortable (then I covered it with another blanket so that we wouldn't get any ash or anything on the cushions.

I didn't get him much... 

While picking up the groceries for the indoor camping experience I took a wander down the candy aisle at Walmart thinking that they usually have some of their Lindtt chocolate on sale.. the only ones that were on sale were the dark chocolate varieties which just so happen to be his favourite.  So I bought him one and told him to open it before we made s'mores because he might want to include it with his (and he did).

I'm pretty sure he had a good time (and I enjoyed how incredibly simple it all was)...we called it a night early on because I wasn't feeling the greatest but at least the day wasn't completely ruined (by my illness... or you know an out of control fire or anything).

Hope all my readers, whether single or happily taken had a great Valentine's Day!

Life Lately

I've been doing more than just making cookies... 

Just over a week ago one of the local centers was having a family day with free admission!  The temperatures were somewhere between -30 - -40 which kept most families away... but John and I and my sister and brother in law ignored all weather warnings and took to the great outdoors for some snow shoeing, cross country skiing, and sledding.

first time on snow shoes!

Don't we look thrilled to be outside!!?

On Saturday the weather warmed up to a balmy 3 degrees (yes, just 7 days after our minus 30 degree weather we moved into the pluses).  So my friend and I went for a skate at one of the local parks.  The river trail also finally opened up (for a very short skate) but we decided everyone and their mom would be there... and we may have been right because there were very few people at the park we choose to go to.

I finally was able to wear my new blanket scarf that I got for Christmas!

This was the non skating rink side of the building... it was a perfect winter day (with some snow gently falling too!)

On top of all the outdoorsy stuff I've been busy reading the book I got for Christmas (Krista, I'm nearly finished it), taking down Christmas, and working every single day for the last 2 weeks.

This coming Sunday I'm making some Mennonite comfort food for a friend... meat buns, soup, and jam jam cookies... is there anything else I need to include?

How I Spent Christmas

Day 28

How I Spent Christmas

This year for Christmas I spent it with John's family (because my family was getting together on Boxing Day).  We spent it opening presents, eating, celebrating, and remembering why we celebrate Christmas

I hope that however you spent Christmas this year that it was festive and great and perfect for you!

What Christmas Means to Me

Day 24

What Christmas Means to Me

Christmas to me means a bunch of things... but when I first started thinking about this post I thought of this quote from our good friend... The Grinch

I like it, because for myself, it's true

A few days ago John called me requesting a Christmas Wishlist for his mom and I really struggled thinking of what I needed.  I knew I didn't really NEED anything so obviously I eventually put together a list of things I wanted.... 

For me, Christmas isn't about getting presents

I mean, it's lovely to get presents and I appreciate them all... I might even be a little disappointed if one year I didn't get any.  But presents are definitely not the most important part of Christmas and I don't want to ever think that I have to get presents because it's Christmas.

So the question remains, what does Christmas mean to me?

It means spending time with family and friends

It means giving to others before yourself

It means going to at least one Christmas themed church service

It means having a bunch of fun with a bunch of different people

It means good food and great company

It means seeing people you haven't seen in a while

But most importantly it means remembering why we celebrate this day and remembering Jesus' birth and all that he did for us.

God sent his son to Earth to save us all from our sins.  God sent Jesus to Earth so that one day he would die... for all of us!  Which really, is the best present of all... because think about it.... if someone stepped in front of a bullet that was heading straight for you wouldn't you be forever grateful for that person?

This video is a few years old but is still very much applicable.  It tells the story of Christmas through social media

This past Sunday my church did their children's Christmas concert and play... they played this song during it which I feel like tells a good part of the Christmas story and a bunch of things that Jesus would do in his life time.

Hope you have a very blessed Christmas this year!

Christmas Gatherings

Day 18

SO MANY HOLIDAY PARTIES!

John and I just counted all the Christmas gatherings that we have and get this... we have 9.  Some are a lot smaller than others but still... 9.  I also had 1 other Christmas party without him.  It's a lot... especially considering there are 5 days straight and a total of 9 between the 16-28 (never more than one on any date though).

BUT, here are a few of my Christmas Gatherings (and some of the traditions we have)

1)  I always get together with these girls

just a bunch of sisters and cousins

We usually do a scarf exchange but this year we just did a $5 gift exchange.

2) Both sides of my parents family

We used to do one gathering on Christmas and the other on boxing day (and then alternating which family we'd see on which day every year).  For the record, my parents are still very much together... it's just getting together with some extended family.

Now that we've grown up and become a little more busy (with many of us getting married) it doesn't work out to organize it for Christmas Day and Boxing Day.  So we just find a day that most of us are free and choose it!

On my dad's side we do a $10 gift exchange.  The rule used to be that the present had to be purchased from Canadian Tire and the goal was to save the most money (receipts had to be included) but this year it has morphed into any $10 present.

On my mom's side we don't do presents.

But we will: listen (and possibly have a role in) the Christmas story, sing Christmas carols, eat, play games, visit... or well I'm assuming we will do all of this based on how it is from other years.

3)  Both sides of John's parents family.

I don't know what his traditions are or what it will be like... maybe I'll have it figured out in a few years.

4) Life group Christmas party

Last year we went to one member's place in the country but alas, he is in Germany this year.... 

So this year... I'm hosting it!  Well... technically I already hosted it (it was on the 16th).

We are putting together a Christmas hamper for a family in need and delivering it this day as well.

5)  My immediate family

this would be my parents and sisters and all our significant others.

When we were kids we always had our Christmas on Christmas eve (because we were always busy on Christmas and boxing day) and would go out to eat and to look at Christmas lights.

6)  John's immediate family

We are with them on Christmas day this year (and Christmas eve... because they want to see a lot of me... yes, I'm assuming it is me they want to see).

7) Work parties

This year, I didn't have one and usually bigger corporations get theirs out of the way earlier on but because of Grey Cup festivities everything got bumped back a little later so this year we are attending John's on the 19th.  It's a fancier event.  Dresses will be worn and corsages will be offered (by his work... not by him).

And I think this pretty much covers it!

If I were teaching this year... I think I might feel that a 2 week break was not nearly long enough!

Here's to still being able to fit into all my clothes in the New Year!

How many Christmas gatherings and parties do you have this year?

Happy Halloween

and only a couple days late!

I ended up working on the 30th so I went as the same thing as last year... Minnie Mouse.  Even though I was subbing at the same school as last year I think many of the students (and staff) had forgotten that it was what I had worn the previous year so all was well.

On Friday John and I went out in search of the perfect pumpkins to carve.  After hitting up not one, not 2, not even 3 stores... we finally found the "perfect" ones at store number 5 (the first 4 places were all sold out).  The ones we found were likely not perfect at all... one had a rotting hole, another was green and rotten on one side (and on the inside), and the third was well.. I guess it was the least rotten out of the bunch.  But they were perfect for us!  And they were staying at John's place so I didn't worry about having to deal with a bunch of rotting pumpkins and the smell they would bring with them.

John, his sister, and myself each carved a pumpkin... can you guess which one is mine?

And no we did not use any tracers (or fancy pumpkin carving tools).  Yes, we did look up ideas online first.

I didn't buy any candy to pass out because I had heard that trick or treaters don't come to the condos.  Which was nice because I was off the hook from having to buy treats for children then!  And... I didn't run the risk of having to get tricked instead because of my lack of treats (no one came to my door)

And where I'm from we take part in this lovely thing (that apparently isn't so lovely if you have children) called day light savings time.  It happened to fall on the same weekend as Halloween this year.  What did I do with my extra hour?  I went to bed early and got up an hour earlier than usual.  Exciting stuff!

Life Lately

So I'm a little (a lot) behind... what else is new?

I'm sure I'm forgiven though?

I've been busy subbing lately.  Today I got home by 4pm... it's kind of nice.

Subbing has FINALLY picked up 

Last weekend we had Thanksgiving and as it is with most big family events... I managed to get a cold just for the weekend.

it was a lot of lying in bed and Watching Modern Family.  

Can you spot the super moon?  John and I watched it!

Super moon

I had one day off last week, luckily it was a lovely day!

More walks in the park

I made John and I breakfast for dinner one day (don't worry, we also had some slightly over cooked bacon and fruit salad)

Pumpkin Pancakes

But the highlight of the last couple of weeks was that last week John and I went to see Odysseo!

I thought it was great!

After the show we went to the stables to see the horses (we weren't allowed to touch them though)

This just seems like a slightly better than ordinary breakfast but in reality it was dinner.  John was away and normally he has to make the omelettes because, well... I can never seem to get it right.  But on Saturday that all changed.. it was delicious!

Probably about 6 months ago my friends and I made some bowls with what was pretty well paper mache and balloons. But there was never a time when we could all get together to paint them... until Saturday evening.  

Mine is the purple one in the front.  It now holds my keys by the door.

paper mache balloon bowls!

All summer John and I have been reading The Scorch Trials and we finally finished it!  Then yesterday John and I spent a couple hours at the mall waiting for Scorch Trials to start at the theater... and about an hour  before the movie was set to start alarms started going off at the mall.  Shops started closing and firemen were walking around with a hose and an axe... but no one seemed to be in any kind of panic so we kept wandering.  Then we got trapped inside Chapters which was when they said we had to leave the mall.  

But don't worry!  We just took a drive to the next theater and caught it somewhere else.

And that's been my last couple of weeks!  

Looking forward to more Thanksgiving festivities (this time with John's family) this weekend.

Last Weekend at the Lake

Still haven't been up to much lately... it's been a slow start to the school year but I really, really, REALLY hope things start picking up soon.

What have I been up to?

John and I made these delightfully colourful popsicles.  We added a simple syrup to the pureed fruit... but I don't think it is necessary.  We used kiwi, a mango/peach combination, and strawberry.

pureed fruit popsicle

We got back to John's place after life group last Wednesday and his sister had a collection of dress up hats and glasses for a photo booth... naturally we spent some time playing dress up.

playing dress up

With nothing much to do during the day I've taken to going for afternoon walks.  Luckily, there is a lovely park not far from my place that I can walk to and enjoy!

I spent one last weekend at the lake.  It was such a beautiful weekend consider we are over halfway through September already (where was this gorgeous weather on the long weekend!?!).

fishing

We did some fishing before dinner on Saturday (much like all the other times I went fishing on this lake... no one caught anything).

Then something happened to the motor so we started paddling back (thankfully we were nearly back by this point... but not so close that we would get back in under an hour).  My attempts at getting the other people fishing to tow us back to the docks by blowing a whistle to get their attention was useless... but my prayers were answered when another boat came to our rescue!

getting towed

And, I played some telephone pictionary with my students on Friday.  To see the full round to go with this picture click here

telephone pictionary

Labour Day Long Weekend at the Lake

Most people that know me know that I am NEVER EVER available to hang out September Long weekend... why?  Because I am always at the lake for a family gathering.  This year marked 30 years that I've gone (at least I can't remember a time that I haven't gone).

John and I had every intention of leaving the city around noon on Friday (I convinced him to take the day off just for this) but there was a lot of running around that he had to do that morning (plus washing his boat for any invasive species that the boat might have picked up in the Winnipeg River system).  I think we ended up leaving around 1:30.... getting there around 5 which is slightly later than what it normally would have taken us because we had to drive the first hour or so on the highway at about 70km/hour because of a massive downpour (I'm talking everyone pulling over to the side of the road kind of downpour).

But we got there and checked into our cabin that we were sharing with my cousin, sister, and brother in law (and 2 dogs).  

When we got there it wasn't raining so I showed him the sights and we sat down to a delicious dinner of soup and pizza buns.

The weekend didn't have great weather but our cabin managed to squeeze in as many activities as possible!

Saturday afternoon we decided to attempt a 13km hike.  We starting at the top and were working our way down... we thought the fog was lifting as we continued on the hike but on our way back we realized that wasn't the case... because we were right back in the thick of the fog.  Our faithful leader to keep the bears way was one dog and the other one was somewhere near the back.

Still all smiles because at this point we likely aren't even halfway through

It's hard to tell in the pictures but there was often a pretty steep drop off to one side of the path

(don't worry.. we all made it out of the hiking trail relatively unscathed).

Lots of going down and some going up.  I am likely the shortest one in this hiking group and here I appear to be some kind of giant.

We walked along the road back in hopes that it wouldn't take so long and we would make it back in time to get things ready for dinner (because we eat it all together... about 30 or so of us this year).  On the way back it was about 95% uphill and I was feeling it in my back for a couple of days!

But here we are (well I'm behind the camera) exhausted from our long walk!

"Look exhausted everyone"

"So we'll just look like ourselves?"

Saturday evening after we were all showered we all decided that we definitely deserved an evening in with some movies... so we set up a laptop and watched a movie and ate snacks.  

I fell asleep.

Sunday morning we went with my parents to the bison enclosure and we just so happened to go at the exact right time to see a bunch of bison!

(there were a lot more than I managed to capture with my camera)

My mom says that we had been here before... I just don't have much memory of it.

(as in I have no memory at all of it)

When we turned around to head back the same way we went in (maybe about 20 minutes later) there were no bison to be seen at all!... which is why I say that we went at the right time.

Later Sunday afternoon we were debating on going to watch the Bomber game at a local restaurant or taking the boat out.  

We decided on the boat option because John had pulled it all the way from the city!

(this ended up being the better option because the Bombers ended up losing anyways)

So we all changed into our Bomber gear (well everyone but John who apparently doesn't have any!) and headed for the public boat launch.

We had been pre warned that they were doing inspections for invasive species (like zebra mussels) but because John had already washed his boat we thought we would be free and clear to head out.

Unfortunately, because his boat had been in the Winnipeg River system we weren't so free and clear as we had thought we would be.

Here his boat and trailer are being steamed cleaned just in case (about a 30 minute job).

Luckily, they do this for free so that people don't lie about having used their boats in different waters

It looks like a beautiful day but the waves were a little large and we all got pretty wet on the boat ride back to the docks.

Luckily, I had decided to bring a bunch of extra towels from the cabin and a blanket of mine 

(I hid under the blanket for the majority of the bumpy ride back)

My job before a boat ride is to be in the boat and drive it towards the dock and then hold on until John comes back... I'm still working on doing a decent job of all of this.

My job for after the boat ride is to pull the boat our of the water which is what I am about to do here...

I was a little nervous because you launch and pull the boat out of the water on sand here and I didn't know how that would work for traction... after a few attempts I managed to get it out.

Monday morning John went out and bought cinnamon buns for our cabin at the local bakery (because what's a trip to the lake without some delicious cinnamon buns?) and then after breakfast people started to pack up and leave.

John and I took one last stroll around the place and left around noon.

People would ask me what the highlight of my summer was and I always told them that I didn't think it had happened yet... because I knew September Long would be great.  

And it was!

It doesn't matter what the weather is like when you are surrounded by great people (and great food).

Hope everyone's long weekend was as fantastic as mine!