Friday Favourite Moments 2025 #26 On A Monday

Last week was probably the second most stressful week I've ever had at work, compounded by the heat wave our area was experiencing. In addition to all that, I was so stressed that I woke up around 3am a couple of nights in a row and absolutely could not fall back asleep, which didn't help matters any. All that is to say, by Thursday night I had no energy to eat, let alone write a blog post. Thankfully, I finished all my work for the school year (!!!) by Friday at 4:30 so, except for keeping an eye on email today, I'm officially done for the summer! Whoooo hoooooo!!! I'm currently blogging from the back yard, with a cup of coffee-hot chocolate and life is seeming pretty sweet right now :)

However, even in the midst of one of the most stressful weeks, I still kept my awareness out for "favourite moments" and I have a few to share. Looking for these moments definitely helped switch my perspective on some of the hardest days.

1) Biking to supper with Sam and Dave

A couple of weekends ago, I did a tour of the "Art on the Edge" displayed on patios in our downtown. Thanks to that tour, I learned about a few new restaurants and decided we should try and visit them. While Rachel was at a sleepover, Sam, Dave, and I biked downtown to try a ramen place. It was so good!!! And the biking was really fun :)  

 

2) First CSA meal

 Our CSA has started for the year (whoooo hooo!!!) and I got to enjoy my favourite kale salad, some steamed bok choy, and a veggie burger. This meal will be on repeat all summer long and I LOVE it!

 

3) Workout with Rachel

 

I've been trying to keep up with "30 in 30" for June and I've been pretty successful most days. On Sunday, Rachel and I did a walking video in the basement as it was too hot to do anything outside. It was fun to do with her! I did a lot of these videos during Covid.

 

4) Ice Cold Water!!!

 

On Tuesday, when we were under a heat warning and the heat was blowing all day in our office, my co-worker had to run home at break. She asked if I needed anything, and refilled both my water bottles with ice and cold water from her house. I was so thankful for some really cold water to help combat all the extra heat. (See, even on the hardest days, there are not-so-small moments to be thankful for.)  

 

5) Last Days of School

 

Sam had a few extra days of schoolwork to do after the last day of classes but he finally finished everything! Whooo hoo! Peace out Grade 10!

 

Rachel graciously allowed her "last day of school" picture to be taken a few days late so I could get in to work early (and stay late) on the last day with students. There are many benefits to working in schools but not being there for your kids' first and last day moments is a downside :( 

 

6) Lilies blooming

 

After keeping a watchful eye out for the past few weeks, one of the lilies from my parents finally bloomed! I was so excited to see it and sent a joyful text to Mom and Dad! And the first of the day lilies also bloomed. I think our colder than usual spring delayed it all a bit.

7) Flower share

I'm doing a flower share again this year and the first bouquet went to Rachel for her birthday so I've been enjoying this week's bouquet on our dining room table, a little extra, this week!

 

So those were my favourite moments in a stressful work week. I'm extra thankful for them given how the rest of the week went. I already have a feeling that my current moment will be making it onto this week's round up. I hope you're also finding some favourite moments, whatever your week holds.

Monthly Musings: Summer Vacation Guide

Today I'm off to my last day of work (with students) for the year! Whoo hoooo!!! It will be a crazy day with lots of karaoke, a school wide BBQ, an assembly, and ending with our staff social. I *think* I'm ready for it! (And for those of you who read about the heat fiasco in our office in yesterday's post (see it here), my principal sent some angry texts on Tuesday night and it was fixed by the time I got in yesterday morning. HALLELUJAH!!! The contractor said he couldn't believe how hot the office was when he opened the door to fix it so we felt very justified in being frustrated.)

In blog world, it's time for Monthly Musings with Holly who blogs at Pink Lady and Patty who blogs at Good, Better, Best. This month we're talking about one of my favourite subjects -- vacations -- so let's dive in!

1) Share your summer trips for 2025.

As I've shared before, our family is hitting Europe with some other travel companions this summer!!! We're soooooo excited and I check my countdown every day! It's been a whirlwind of planning and booking activities but I think we're almost all done with that so now it's just time to focus on the excitement of the trip!!! I will be documenting on Instagram when we finally leave so you can find me there if you're curious.

 

Me and the kids in Paris and London, Summer 2022 

2) How do you manage the post-vacation laundry?

This all depends on what kind of trip we've taken. When we've taken summer vacations to Saskatchewan, my mom is great at letting us hog the laundry room on our last day so we come home with it all washed already! Otherwise, we pack all the dirty clothes into the same suitcases at the end of the trip. When we get home, those suitcases go straight down to the laundry room and I start washing clothes. One of my favourite moments of coming home after a summer vacation is sitting outside the first morning back, drinking coffee-hot chocolate with Dave in the back yard, and seeing the first load of laundry hanging on the line. (I may have more than one Instagram post dedicated to that *exact* moment!)

3) Most memorable summer vacation?

We've had a lot of great ones so I decided to poll my family on this question:

Dave: Hiking in Scotland with you last summer because it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity with amazing scenery and it all went really well.

 

Sam: When you and I went to Missouri and watched baseball games.

 

Rachel: When you took me to New York City and we went up the Empire State Building and shopped a lot.

I laughed so hard at their answers because clearly to have a memorable summer vacation you need to travel with just me!!! Hahahaha!!!

My answer would be either our Kenya trip in 2017, our road trip to the Yukon in 2019, or our first family trip to Europe in 2022.

 

The Yukon, 2019

4) Do you cook or eat out on vacation?

We tend to eat out on vacation. I cook enough at home that cooking on vacation just isn't fun for me. 

5) Are you an overpacker, an underpacker, or a just right packer?

I like to think I'm an underpacker or a just right packer. For our trip this summer, we're all packing carry on only because we bought cheap plane tickets and don't want to pay for checked luggage.

6) Beach, lake, or mountains?

I'm really happy with any of these three. They all have their own appeal to me and I really can't choose my favourite! We're hitting some beaches and lakes this year but, I don't think we'll experience mountains.

7) Road trip or fly?

We've done both of these kinds of trips and they each have their own appeal. One thing I will say is that I cannot do two road trips in a row. Since we did a big road trip last summer, I didn't want to do another one over March Break or this summer. Maybe by next March Break, or by next summer, I'll be up for another road trip!

8) Favourite vacation activities?

I like to experience anything unique -- our lobster fishing tour last summer is a great example of that. I also love to explore a city so our tour of Brugges in Belgium on our last European trip was really fun. I just really love wondering around and exploring new places and thankfully the rest of my family is on board with that. Let's just say, a couple of "Hop on, Hop off" city tours are in our plans this summer.

 

Lobster fishing, Maine, July 2024 

9) Best packing tips?

I really don't have great packing tips except you never need as much as you think you do. We discovered that last summer when we found out that the checked luggage for our flight was full the night before we left, and we had to pivot to carry on only for an 8 day hiking trip. We culled our stuff and, as it turned out, we didn't miss anything we left behind.

 

Everything I packed for our ten days in Scotland, which included eight days of hiking. 

10) Favourite road trip songs?

 For our road trip to Alberta and Saskatchewan in 2016, we made a random stop in Darwin, MN to see The Biggest Ball of Twine. Thus, the song by Weird Al Yankovic became our road trip song. We all had it memorized by the end of our trip and even performed it at our church's coffeehouse! (You can find the song here and it's really worth listening to once (or fifty times, which is probably how many times we heard it on our 72 hours of driving that year! And yes, it's almost seven minutes long.)).

 Rachel and I at The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota, July 2016

For our road trip to Florida in 2023, I almost ran out of gas. Thus, our road trip song became "Take It To The Limit" by The Eagles.

I always love "Life is a Highway" by Tom Cochrane, but really, to me, a good road trip song is one which becomes the theme of the trip! For ever after, hearing that song will bring back those memories.

This was such a fun post to write. I always love talking about vacations. Don't forget, if you want a really memorable summer vacation, you need to plan a trip with just me! Hahahahaha!!! I'm really looking forward to reading all the other posts in the link up this weekend. Thank you Holly and Patty for always hosting such a fun link up! 

What's Up Wednesday: June 2025

I'm writing this as we're on the second day of a "heat warning." With the humidex, we've been reaching temperatures of 44C (111F). To add to the fun, today (Tuesday evening when I'm writing this) the system in the school office got confused between January and June and was pumping out heat. Yes, you read that correctly. Whenever staff came in, I greeted them with, "Welcome to hell!" because our office is technically in the basement and it was so brutally hot. Anyways, we have two days left of school with students (including today) and I may not survive :) Okay, with that out the way, on with this post...

Answering these questions monthly helps me reflect on the past month and I really appreciate having a record of what we've been up to. 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... Our CSA has started so we're eating all the veggies!!! And since it's a heat wave, we're also eating all the cold food -- popsicles, lemonade, and cold pasta salad. We're not cooking in this weather.

I'm so excited because my favourite kale salad is back in season! Whooo hooo!!!

What I'm reminiscing about... Well, as I mentioned on the blog in an earlier post, our family is hitting Europe again this summer. So I've been reminiscing about our first family trip there in 2022. I'm sooooo excited to make some new memories together!

Left: Our family at Notre Dame (Paris, France); Right: having tea on the Kensington Palace grounds (London, England)

What I'm loving... My parents have been travelling with their best friends and they've been sending us daily photos. I'm absolutely loving these glimpses into their trip, especially when it includes fields of lupines!!!

 

What we've been up to... June was a very full month, with a lot of it focused on Rachel! We started off with a 50th Anniversary Gala for Rachel's dance studio.

The next weekend, it was time to start preparing for Rachel's Grade 8 grad and her birthday. She got her nails done and was thrilled with the outcome.

Her free Starbucks drink on her birthday got upgraded to a "trenta" and was as big as her head! 

And Grade 8 grad happened, followed by a birthday sleepover.

 

As for Sam, he has been plugging away at finishing all of his Grade 10 work. We thought he had finished this past Sunday but it turned out he had a few assignments left so he's either finished as I write this post, or will finish later this morning (Wednesday). Grade 10 has not been the best year for Sam so we're excited to leave it behind and look ahead to a fresh start for Grade 11.

 

What I'm dreading... Honestly, I'm dreading if the temperature in my office isn't fixed for today. I'm at the point where I don't need air conditioning, but I do need the heat to stop pumping out. Also, I'm kind of dreading these next few days of work -- I have so much work to do and everyone else is having fun doing karaoke, going to the park, and generally hitting summer mode. This is always one of my least favourite weeks of the school year.

What I'm working on... I've been working on getting my annuals planted. I still have a few left to go but it's just been too hot to be outside these past few days.

I've also been working on the "30 for 30" challenge with Mix and Match Mama. She challenged her readers to join her in 30 minutes of activity for each of the 30 days in June, I've been doing fairly well except for a few days where it was too hot or I was too busy with Rachel's birthday/grad. I've been really happy with the variety of activity I've gotten from walking with Janice to playing disc golf with Dave to playing soccer with Sam to biking with Sam and Dave to doing an indoor walking video with Rachel. It's been such a fun challenge!

  

What I'm excited about... I went on a walking tour in our downtown and it featured the artists from the new "Art on the Edge" installation. Artists were commissioned to paint murals for patios in our downtown. The walking tour I did introduced us to the artists and to the restaurants. Sam, Dave, and I checked one out for supper last week and Dave and I are going to another one this weekend. I'm excited to check out more art and more local restaurants.

What I'm watching/reading... A few weeks ago, there was a pair of geese and their three goslings hanging out on my favourite path so I was watching them for a few days. Lately we've had some huge frogs in our backyard (one of them really likes one of my planters). And a couple of weeks ago, Rachel and I saw a deer on one of our walks at the soccer field. So I guess I've been watching wildlife! Hahaha!

I was also watching a few games of the Stanley Cup Final but I don't want to think about that since a Canadian team didn't bring home the cup. Blah.

 

As for reading, I can't even think about what I've been reading. It's been too hot to read and I'm too busy this week to read. Next week at this time, I will be on summer break so I will get a ton of reading done then. 

What I'm listening to... Right now I'm listening to our air conditioner running at home and appreciating it a little extra :)

What I'm wearing... It's been a month of dressing up. From my dress for the 50th Anniversary Gala to matching Converse with Rachel for her grad, I've worn a few more interesting things this month. When I'm not dressing up, I'm wearing t-shirts and skirts and flipflops to work in an attempt to stay as cool as possible. Dave has been driving me to work and back since it's been too hot to walk, so flipflops are helping me stay cool.

 

What I'm doing this weekend... Dave and I are celebrating 17 years of marriage on Sunday so we have a couple of special evenings planned. I'm excited about our anniversary celebrations this year :) We're also having our annual "strawberries and ice cream for breakfast brunch" to kick off summer this weekend and I can't wait!!! This is seriously one of my favourite summer traditions.

What I'm looking forward to next month... Summer break! Summer vacation! Summer!!!

 

So that's what's up with us this Wednesday -- it's hot, hot, hot, and we're just holding on until summer break. We're nearly there... 

Coles Come To Canada!!!

This is a very belated post but I wanted to document a very special visit which happened over Easter weekend. While we have been to visit many blog friends, and enjoyed being hosted by them, we've never had blog friends come to visit us -- until now. (To be fair, Dara from Not In Jersey did come to Toronto a couple of years ago and a few of us met up for supper (see that in this post here) but this was the first friend to come stay with us.) Emily doesn't actually blog anymore but we met through our blogs and we've been in a monthly book club with some other blog friends since 2020. We've also been to visit Emily and her family twice so were super excited to host them at our house!

Emil, Adam, and their three boys arrived on Thursday afternoon. We walked to a grocery store near us to buy some milk (in bags!) and to meet Sam on his way home from high school. Then we headed off to play at Activate Games. It was Oliver's birthday so we wanted to do something special to celebrate. Then we went out for supper and had poutine, among other things.

As soon as we'd played at Activate over March Break, our kids were looking forward to playing there with the Coles. We all had a lot of fun!

Emily and me hanging out in our kitchen!!!

 

Friday morning we had a slow morning at home. The kids played Switch, the grownups visited, we dyed some Easter eggs, I baked some bread, and Dave made pancakes.

That afternoon we walked through the cemetery and took the LRT to the end of the line to see a bit more of our city. Then we got off at our town square, went to Starbucks, and walked home. We stopped at our local park, and then ended up at the kids' elementary school. The kids found a ball and played some soccer while the grown ups talked. It was the first beautiful day of the spring so it was so nice to be outside.  

We enjoyed drinks in the back yard, made salads and BBQd sausage for supper, and then made the kids do dishes!

Saturday morning we were up and out early as we had big plans for the day!!! First up, Emily's family and Rachel and I went up the CN Tower. Sam isn't thrilled with heights so he and Dave stayed on the ground. 

This was a dream come true for Rachel as she's always wanted to visit the top but we haven't done it before.

Me and Emily at the top and looking out over Toronto.

Rachel and Aaron are two peas in a pod and were super excited to check out the glass floor and go to the highest part of the tower.

 

Adam and I took Rachel and Aaron to the highest part and FaceTimed with Dave and Sam who were on the ground. In the bottom left photo you can see the lower observation deck of the CN Tower, and then part of the top of Ripley's Aquarium. Dave and Sam were standing outside the aquarium when we FaceTimed them.

Then it was time for a Blue Jays game!!!

We stopped for drinks and I got my favourite "Touch 'Em All, Joe!" which is named after when Joe Carter hit the home run that won the World Series for the Blue Jays over the Phillies in 1993. So I had to get a picture holding my drink with Adam (a lifelong Phillies' fan) looking sad.

All of us at the game! We ate so much food including two servings of poutine! To see the last time we attended a game with Emily's family, see here.

The next day was Easter so Carson helped me spread chocolate eggs all over the table for the kids to collect. The Coles left for home after breakfast.

 

We had so much fun hosting Emily, Adam, Aaron, Oliver, and Carson and cannot wait for our next visit with them!!! And if any of you want to come visit us, we'll do our best to show you a good time too :)