Wednesday, July 29, 2020

What's Up Wednesday: July 2020

Welcome to What's Up Wednesday for July. I'm linking up with Shay at Mix and Match Mama and Sheaffer at Sheaffer Told Me To.
image from here

What we're eating this week... We're still loving our CSA and all the fresh veggies we've been getting lately. I also love that we get edible flowers and I've been enjoying them in all sorts of salads. Yum!!!
Our raspberry patch was producing for a few weeks and we enjoyed going out and picking them to eat right away. I added some to my ice cream one night. I LOVE yellow raspberries especially :)

What I'm reminiscing about... We went back and forth and round and round and finally decided to go visit my parents in Saskatchewan this summer. Thus, I am totally reminiscing about previous Saskatchewan summer visits. My parents live in the country and we enjoy visiting them so much!
Rachel loves mowing with my dad.

I love reading on the deck
The kids love playing mini golf!
And we love weiner roasts, campfires and sleeping in the tent.
And of course we LOVE seeing Oma and Opa!!!

What I'm loving... Dave's parents have been taking the kids a couple of times a week for Grandma and Grandpa Day Camp! The kids have loved seeing them in person again and I've loved having some time to do some errands, read, or just get other things done.

We've also been able to go to our pool and the kids even took swimming lessons last week. Their swimming has improved so much since last summer and I love how much they love it.


What we've been up to...  Besides swimming, we've also been up to a bunch of relaxing summer things.

We were able to have our first in-person, small group from church gathering. We had it in one family's backyard and they built a climbing wall during quarantine. Rachel was very excited to check it out!

A rundown building in our neighbourhood is finally being dealt with. The construction company put up a really nice fence and community members were invited to create works of art to decorate the fence. We went and checked out the art which had been created thus far. We can't wait to see more!

Rachel and I baked pretzels the other day. They were delicious and we will absolutely be making them again. They require using a lot of dishes but don't take that much time to make.
The kids have been doing all the puzzles lately. We bought some new ones during quarantine and they've also been keeping us entertained on these really hot afternoons.

What I'm dreading... We are flying to Saskatchewan (as opposed to taking three or four days to drive there) and, thanks to Covid, I'm dreading the airport and airplane travel. It is such a privilege to be able to go and see my parents but, ugh, I'm not looking forward to the "getting there and back" portion of the trip.

What I'm working on... I mentioned this in a post last week but I'm currently doing a virtual walk of the Camino de Santiago from France to Spain. I'm trying to be more active overall so I'm only counting intentional walks for this trek. (Another option would be just to count every step I take in a day through my FitBit.) However, I'm pretty far behind on this right now so I'm trying to take lots of walks to make up some distance.

What I'm excited about... BASEBALL IS BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is from the Blue Jays season opener. And I'm currently watching the Jays and Nationals game. Baseball just makes me sooooo happy I don't even care that we won't see a game in person this year.

Also, this message from my beloved Blue Jays just made me cry. I'm such a sap.
Dear Blue Jays Fans, It has been a while since we experienced OUR normal - family, friends, and fans gathering and sharing Blue Jays baseball… together. The world has changed so much since we said, “see you in the spring.” We pressed pause on the game we love. We stopped, listened, and reflected. We came together as a nation to give back to those that needed it most. It is now time to press play on a new Opening Day and on a game that, although looks a little different, is the same one we know and love. What has not changed, however, is the anticipation of Opening Day’s first pitch, first hit, first out, and the story the nine innings will tell. While today we cannot be at Rogers Centre with you, we know you are with us every pitch. Distance makes the heart grow founder. We wish it didn’t has to be this way, but know it will make our return home that much more special, and it makes us appreciate you, our fans, even more. Together. #WeAreBlueJays Enjoy Opening Day! Your Toronto Blue Jays

What I'm watching/reading... For what I'm watching, see above :) As for what I'm reading, I participated in a readathon (sort of) this past weekend. I read for 24 out of 48 hours and below are all the books I read. I wrote a post about my readathon, and the different books I read, yesterday and you can read it here.

What I'm listening to... Baseball!!!

What I'm wearing... We've been wearing masks over here. We got some really cool ones from my friend. And then I ordered a couple of special ones for the kids from some young adults from our church. Since I have no sewing skills, I'm so thankful that many people are making masks for us.
Masks we got from a good friend of ours. I LOVE all her great fabrics.

Sam got Darth Vader and Rachel got both a unicorn and a bunny.
The embroidery on these is amazing!

What I'm doing this weekend... Hugging my parents!!! Whoooo hooooo!!!

What I'm looking forward to next month... We'll be in Saskatchewan for two weeks. I'm looking forward to sleeping in the tent in Mom and Dad's backyard, having wiener roasts, eating the fresh veggies from Mom and Dad's garden, and happy hour on the deck! Whoooo hooooo!!!

What else is new... We've never owned a TV in our entire relationship. In fact, I think it's been twenty years since I've lived in a house with a TV. We stream baseball games or Disney+ on our computers. However, our best friends had an extra TV which they were looking to get rid of. So now we have a TV -- which is basically just a bigger monitor (with better sound) for our computers. Ha!

15 comments:

  1. We are so annoyed that we can't access Royals games without paying! Since we don't have cable and for some reason we can't stream the channel they play on. Ugh. Love the masks. Hope your trip goes great!

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  2. I bet you will have a wonderful time on your trip. I know I have heard that airports and airline travel are actually made easier with the pandemic as hardly anyone is flying so I hope even that portion goes well for you.

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    1. I have also heard that airports (and airplanes) are emptier so I'm hoping that's the case.

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  3. I need to know more about those pretzels. That sound delicious!!!
    Reading on a porch with a floppy hat - perfection
    I think its just every grandparents job to do a ride around on the lawn mower :)

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  4. Have so much fun in SK!! It will be nice to have a change of scenery and I'm sure you will be fine on the plane, but I know how you feel (hence our road trip instead of flying). I hear you on the Blue Jays statement, it's nice to see some sports on TV again.

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    1. We are really looking forward to the change of scenery! And yes, the amount of sports on right now is overwhelming -- baseball AND Stanley Cup playoffs AND NBA starting soon. Yikes! And also YAY!!!

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  5. Congrats to you on a successful Readathon- so inpsiring! I love that baseball is back too- it means it is truly summer :)

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  6. I am so happy baseball is back! I'm sad that we can't go to in person games, but next year. :)
    I haven't had edible flowers forever. I think the last time I had them I was visiting family in the Seattle area.
    That climbing wall looks like so much fun! I bet the family will get lots of use out of it!
    Have a fun getaway!!

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    1. Watching baseball this past week has taken up more time than I anticipated. I just don't want to miss anything!!!

      We get the edible flowers from our CSA and I am really enjoying them.

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  7. I am so intrigued with your virtual walk. We've been looking into doing a virtual 5K as a fundraiser at work. I had no idea these types of things were a thing! I'm clearly behind the times.

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    1. I didn't know these existed either until my best friend asked if I wanted to do it with her. It's been a fun way to get motivated to exercise a little more.

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  8. I know my guys are super happy to have baseball back. Yay, for a bigger 'TV.'

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  9. We are loving baseball, too, but not the rain delays and postponements.
    Would love to try a climbing wall someday. Looks like such a fun challenge.
    We need a post with the recipe for those pretzels, please. Salivating over here.
    Be safe on your travels.

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    1. My husband and I went climbing for one of our anniversaries and I discovered that I didn't love it.

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  10. That climbing wall is insane, those pretzels look delicious, I can't wait to hear about your trip, about to go read about your books...great post friend! :)

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Thank you for being interested in my life as I blog it and for leaving a comment. Comments make me happier than reading a good book and drinking a cold Coke. Almost :)