Monthly Musings: Summer's End/Back To School

Yesterday Holly at Pink Lady and Patty at Good, Better, Best asked us questions about "summer's end/back to school" for their "Monthly Musings" link up. As our kids start back next week (and I've been back at work for two weeks already) this is a very timely link up for us!

1) Do you meal plan? Any family friendly recipes to share?

I do meal plan. I used to meal plan a month at a time but I've fallen out of that habit. We sat down this past weekend and planned for the next two weeks and that felt like an accomplishment. Even if we don't make all the planned meals, at least I know what some possibilities are.

Our favourite family friendly meals include tacos and pasta and BBQs. Honestly, anything quick and easy is on the menu for these next couple of "back to school" weeks.

And I know it's not "meal planning" but we also bake a lot of muffins this time of year. They're an easy thing to grab for lunches, breakfasts, after school snacks, and filling in the holes.

2) What are your back to school traditions?

We bake a lot of muffins (which Rachel has taken over this year -- WHOOOO HOOO!!!) and we do our traditional "first day of school" pictures. I love the fact that this is so important to the kids that they made me take a "first day" picture of my first day of work with the school board!

First days of school last year. It was a big year with Rachel starting middle school and Sam starting high school.

3) Where do you do your best shopping for kids' clothes and supplies?

In our basement in our hand me down boxes! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I don't have a better answer than this. We don't really have to buy school supplies in our area as they are all provided. Rachel picked up a new binder at a garage sale this summer.

Honestly, I am struggling a bit because I need to figure out new places to shop for Sam. Our hand me downs are getting a little low (which makes sense) and he's out of kids' sizes. Where do I shop for young men?!?!? Help!

4) How do you transition your wardrobe for fall?

I tend to wear cardigans to help with the cooler mornings. That way I can take it off when the afternoons get hot. I really dislike these "in between" seasons and I can never figure out how to dress for the weather. Layers are my friend.

5) Any end of summer trips planned?

We're going to Toronto this weekend -- does that count? Other than that, nope, we're planning on staying put for a bit.

6) Do schools in your area start before or after Labour Day?

For the past two years, our school year has started with a PD Day on the day after Labour Day so the first day of school is the Wednesday after Labour Day. That feels really late. I wish they would change the PD Day.

7) What are your Labour Day plans?

I plan to sleep in, get some yard work done (if the weather cooperates), get some housecleaning done (if the rest of my family cooperates), and generally lay low.

8) White after Labour Day? Yes or no?

I will wear my white t-shirt with a skirt after Labour Day if it's really hot out. But generally I don't wear white after Labour Day and I don't really know why.

9) Pumpkin Spice ... as soon as it comes out or wait until real fall?

I hate Pumpkin Spice with a passion so my answer is "NEVER EVER!!!"

10. Best life hacks for back to school.

Have older kids and a spouse who works from home!!! Hahaha! Now that my kids are older, and Dave handles all the at home stuff, I find back to school sooooo much easier. Basically, I just make sure we have good food in the house for lunch packing. It's pretty much the best!

Happy back to school season everyone! I know some of you are undergoing big transitions right now -- sending kids off to university/college or kindergarten or middle school or high school or other big changes. I'm thankful this year is status quo for us and we're hopeful for a great year!

What's Up Wednesday: August 2024

For the first time in years, I didn't post a "What's Up Wednesday" in July because Dave and I were in Scotland and I just didn't have time to write one before we left. So, as summer winds down, I'm happy to be getting back into my regular routines, including writing this post! Here's what's been up with us in August.

I really do love answering the What's Up Wednesday questions every month. I like how they help me reflect on the past month and I love having a monthly record of what we've been up to. I go back and re-read these posts often. The questions come from Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me Too.

image from here

 

What we're eating this week... August brings all the yummy food! Peaches, tomatoes, cucumbers -- oh my! I've been eating lots of all of it! And Rachel is doing a three day cooking camp this week, focusing on baking, so we've been eating that too.

 

Left: peaches with cinnamon; middle: bagel from Rachel's camp; right: tart with cream and fruit and chocolate ganache from Rachel's camp

Left: tomatoes, cucumbers, grilled tofu, and beans; Right: a tomato-cucumber-feta salad

What I'm reminiscing about... You'll see the reason for this below but I've been reminiscing about a weekend we were able to spend at Jan Lake, in northern Saskatchewan, when Sam was six months old. My mom babysat Sam and my dad took Dave and I fishing. It was so much fun!!!

Dave's first time fishing! 

 

Baby Sam, six months old (2009)

Also my blog/Instagram friend, Tamar, got married last week (Mazel Tov Tamar and Judah!!!) and she's been posting photos and videos of their wedding, including the hora. So I'm remembering the hora from my and Dave's wedding in 2008 and how much fun this was!!!

Yeah, I've been reminiscing a lot this month.

 

What I'm loving... As you may, or may not, know, every year I do "back to school muffin baking." We eat the muffins for breakfast and after school snacks and take them in lunches. Muffins are just a handy thing to grab. This year Rachel has taken over the muffin baking. She made chocolate zucchini muffins on Sunday and she made chocolate chip muffins yesterday. I'm so happy to have another baker in the family!!! 

What we've been up to... Well, Dave and I started the month in Scotland on a couple's trip!!! We hiked the West Highland Way (154km/96 miles) from just north of Glasgow up to Fort William. We had so much fun!!! And yes, I will be blogging about this trip, probably starting next week.

Our CSA farmer has been local for years but is moving a few hours away. Thankfully she will still be bringing her veggies to us but earlier this month we attended a "farm farewell" dinner. It was so much fun to eat dinner in the greenhouse and help say goodbye to land on which she has grown delicious veggies for so long.  

Rachel, Dave, and I attended the Water Lantern Festival and, while I don't think we'll go again, it was really beautiful to see all the lanterns floating on the water. 

Dave and I have been working on cleaning out random areas in our house. This past weekend we worked on our closet. Dave had a lot of clothes to go through and I had a lot of shoes to sort! 

 

Our favourite local ice cream shop opened up a new location so we had to go check it out. 

And Sam flew to Saskatchewan on his own to go see Oma & Opa. He navigated the biggest airport in Canada without a cell phone (because he lost it in Vermont on our summer trip) and arrived safely! And then, my parents took him fishing up at Jan Lake and Sam caught his first fish!

 

Left: Sam made it safely to Saskatchewan; Right: Sam and his fish at Jan Lake

The rest of us are very envious of Sam's amazing adventures and wish we could be fishing too. Instead, we're at work or baking things at camp!

What I'm dreading... The first week of school is always a bit insane, both as a parent and as a secretary, so I'm dreading that a bit. Other than that, I'm not dreading anything.

What I'm working on... We have a few more areas to organize/clean in our house and I'm also working on weeding our flowers beds. I'm about half done the daylily bed and then I need to unearth the flowers in the garage bed.

What I'm excited about... Sam is coming home soon!!! I can't wait to hug him and hear all about his adventures!!!

I'm also excited every time I walk into our closet because it's so clean and organized!!! Hahaha!!!

 

What I'm watching/reading... 2024 will not be the year of stellar reading for me. You can tell because I've stopped updating my Goodreads account and I've stopped doing book recaps on the blog.

However, the week before I went back to work, Sam and I watched all three seasons of Ted Lasso in six days. Yeah, that was a productive week! Hahaha!!! It was so good and we were absolutely hooked. Plus, it was a really fun way to spend time with Sam.

He also got his braces off that week so we ate a lot of popcorn while watching Ted.

 

What I'm listening to...  Did you know Spotify has a Ted Lasso playlist? Yep, I've been listening to that :)

What I'm wearing... Rachel and I got light up flower crowns at the Water Lantern Festival. We'll be wearing them for Lumen next month too! And if you know of anywhere else I can wear a light up flower crown, let me know and I'll be there!!!

 

 

What I'm doing this weekend... Well, I have a knack of finding random things online that seem like they might be fun family activities so we're trying a couple of those out this weekend. And then we'll be preparing for the first week of school. Since it's a long weekend, I'm also hoping to sleep in a little.

What I'm looking forward to next month... One of our favourite evenings of the year happens in September -- the Lumen Festival in our uptown. Rachel and I are already excited about it and not just because of our flower crowns! Hahahaha!!!

So that's what's been up with us in August. It's been a month of new adventures and ending summer off with a bang! Happy Wednesday everyone!

The "Maine" Event

Our road trip was a little random and mostly designed around the fact that we wanted to see some baseball games at new to us stadiums and, for some reason, I really wanted to eat lobsters in Maine! And that, my friends, was the impetus for this whole trip! Hahaha!!! So we drove from New Hampshire to Maine and hit another beach! I think I've mentioned that we picked one of the hottest weeks of the summer to travel.

 

We really enjoyed the Maine ocean too!

 

The next day we had planned to explore downtown Portland but it was too hot so we headed north to Freeport, and the home of LL Bean. We had so much fun exploring the flagship store and Dave and I bought backpacks for our next trip :) I also ended up with three new "boat and tote" bags. I LOVE those things and carry my lunch to work in one every day. I also got one to be a carry on for when we fly and a smaller one to be a purse.

Dave was excited to find backpacks for our trip. Sam was not thrilled that I forced him to take a picture with me! Hahaha!!!

There are many, many options for taking a tour on the water around Portland, but after going back and forth on a few options, I was thrilled to find a tour on a working lobster boat.

We got a tour, we got to learn about lobster fishing, and we got to participate!!! Above are Rachel and Dave filling the bait bags. Each trap gets a bait bag with four fish.

For this round, I had the job of tying the bait bag into the trap.

Rachel and I showing off our "working attire" and Rachel banding a lobster which was was in one of the traps.

Sam tying the bait bag into the trap. Not pictured: Dave picking crabs out of the trap and tossing them back into the ocean. His comment: "They are surprisingly grippy on the trap. It's difficult to loosen them and not get pinched."

Pushing the traps overboard.

A break to watch seals (left) and a seagull eat a crab (which Dave had removed from a trap and tossed into the ocean). Some seals were swimming near us and one of the regular crew commented that they had never seen a seal get so close to the boat.

A family of happy (temporary) lobster fishers!!!

Dave picking lobster for our dinner.

Portland, Maine from the water.

After we picked our lobster from the boat, we took it to a restaurant on the riverfront and they boiled it up for us. It was sooooo fun to "catch" our lobster and then eat it.

I don't have a lot of experience eating lobster so I was having a lot of fun trying to get all the meat. This was such a fun experience and absolutely exceeded my expectations for "eat lobster in Maine"!!! If you are ever in the Portland area, we highly recommend Lucky Catch for the full lobster experience. (This is not sponsored -- we just had the BEST time!!!)

And then we finished the evening off with some local ice cream. Yum yum!!!

When I think of our summer travels, this day stands out as an absolute highlight of our summer and I'm so thankful we were able to have this experience!

Linking up with Joanne for "Talking About It Tuesdays." Click on her name to visit her blog. If you're stopping by from there, thank you and welcome.