Sunday, March 21, 2010

March Break review

I have to admit that blogging during March Break really got away from me. I had plans to blog while we were at John's mom's but by evening, and with a real t.v. with real satellite in the vicinity, I got sucked back into my favourite daily show, Coronation Street. Blogging was pushed off the agenda.

However, I made sure my camera was fairly busy every day so that when we did get back home I could give you a review of our week.

I loved our March Break again this year! On Monday, we went to St. Catharines and dropped John off at his mom's; the girls and I headed to Ridgeville to spend the night at my Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dave's house. We had a nice supper together, the girls explored their house and then I watched t.v. and chatted all evening.

On Tuesday, the girls and I eased into the day by running around a bit on my Aunt's property and the girls sat on the tractors in the barn and we marvelled at the size of Uncle Dave's sunflowers from last year.

From there we headed to my Aunt's hair salon for some much-needed haircuts for the girls. After the haircuts, I took the girls up to the Lazy Loon for lunch; it's the restaurant inside a big store called The Log Cabin where my mum used to have a store called Classic Collections. Hers was a ladies' clothing store that sold only Canadian-made clothing. After lunch we toured around inside The Log Cabin which is so different from when my mum had her store in there.

From there we headed to the house I grew up in on Haist Rd in Fonthill. We sat outside the house and I pointed out my old bedroom windows and noticed that the blinds my mum put up years ago are still hanging in the living room windows. A reason to buy quality window coverings, right there! After that, we went to my old public school just up the street, A.K. Wigg, and the girls played in the playground.

They were pretty worn out after that so we went back to Aunt Sharon and Uncle Dave's, packed up our things and then went to St. Catharines that was our homebase for the rest of the week.

On Wednesday we went back to Ridgeville to spend the day with my high school best friend, Julie and her family: Mathieu, Olivia and Felix. We all had an amazing time. Mathieu, chef-extraordinaire, made an amazing lunch of Tunisian soup and bread. The rest of the day we were outside on the farm talking, still eating and drinking, and the kids jumped on the trampoline until about 5:00. Emily also had the thrill of riding in the back of a pick-up to check on the tapped trees. There were also new-born puppies, rabbits and of course cats. The weather was amazing and some of the kids ended up in t-shirts and shorts.


On Thursday morning we had another playdate. We went to Niagara-on-the-Lake to spend lunch and the afternoon at my friend Marnie's parents-in-law's house. We roasted hot dogs at the fire pit and then the kids played, played, played - mostly on another trampoline. It seems it was the week of trampolines.

On Friday, John joined us for an afternoon in Niagara Falls being tourists in our own backyard. We walked and sat and took photos and actually paid to do the Journey Under the Falls which I remember as a kid as being way more thrilling that it was this time.


Finally, on Saturday morning, the kids played with Omi who returned from her visit to Ottawa on Friday night while John and I packed up to head back to Waterloo that afternoon.

Needless to say, I spent most of yesterday afternoon chilling out from our sort-of-staycation. It was a great week though and I'm so happy that I took the time to show the kids all the places I spent time when I was a kid/teenager. I hope the memories stay with them for a while.

5 comments:

Shan said...

Great pictures. I'm glad you had such a great week. And the log cabin... I've stopped there many times over the years.

Julie said...

sounds like an awesome week. i didn't know your mom had her own store. glad you were able to share the memories with the girls.

Unknown said...

Holy awesome hair, Karen! It looks great on you! I love the pic of Hope on the tractor. She doesn't seem convinced... but what is with the paint/blood spatter on it? Creepy.

When are you back in these parts?

Jen

Karen said...

Hey Jen.... thanks for the compliment. I don't know if I'll be able to stand it through the heat of summer but we'll see.

It was indeed paint on the tractor.

We're not back until August 31 because Josh et al want our house until then. It will be a very busy week - getting unpacked and the kids in school. Ugh.

Karen said...

Hey Jen.... thanks for the compliment. I don't know if I'll be able to stand it through the heat of summer but we'll see.

It was indeed paint on the tractor.

We're not back until August 31 because Josh et al want our house until then. It will be a very busy week - getting unpacked and the kids in school. Ugh.