Monday 31 July 2017

Proud Mom Moment!

From our church bulletin yesterday...


"We bet there’s a lot of behind the scenes stories and fun facts about the picnic you probably don’t know. Periodically, we’ll be sharing these with you to show that the Clarksville Picnic truly is more than a picnic!

We had a lot of repeat customers due to high demand prizes this year. One young girl had been at the stand all afternoon trying to win. We had a young Cub Scout who was just as determined win the prize but then turned to witness the disappointment on the young girl’s face. He immediately took his prize and offered it to the young girl, who was obviously overjoyed! Everyone present witnessed the Cub Scout’s actions/generosity and word even made it back to his Troop Leader."

Friday 28 July 2017

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.


Sorry, another late posting for Thursday.

Right at this moment I don't know if I'm more thankful for my bed ๐Ÿ›Œ that I'm about to fall asleep in, or the coffee ☕️  that I'm looking forward to in the morning ๐ŸŒž to wake me up!
I think bed wins, goodnight...



Friday 21 July 2017

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.


Oops, I know it's Friday, but here goes.

Today I am thankful for memories.
Making them on the family cruise we're on and remembering our prior cruises together.  

Next time, more cruise memories.

What are your favourite memories? 

Thursday 13 July 2017

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.


What thing about your job are you thankful for?
This week my "job" was at VBS (vacation bible school).

I was the leader of eight, four year old children. It was a short week, only three days since we're leaving for vacation today, but they kept me on my toes! Six boys and two girls, all precious. Although we only had seven Tuesday and Thursday, I also had two teenage helpers, big help!
I loved being with these children, watching their faces when they were excited, or even sometimes scared. Looking to me or the girls for comfort, reaching out for our hands to hold, and then giving us a big smile. Hearing their chatter among each other and listening to them talking about something very serious to them. There were a few upsets for them and it's hard to remember how a four year old mind works - their very own way!
So this week my job was awesome, hearing about their God sightings - swimming in my pool, seeing flowers, my family... - putting their little hands together for prayers, holding each others hands so we stayed together, and seeing the smiles and laughter, all priceless.


And I got to dance in the morning and embarrass Nathan, what fun!

What are you thankful for in your job?

Thursday 6 July 2017

TH Thursday

THinking, THinking, THinking...

THinking THoughts, and being THankful on THursdays.


Continued from last week's TH Thursday post...

Den 58's set-up for Bug Camp, complete with spiders, bees, caterpillars, and various other creepy crawlies! This was fun to plan!

I stenciled and painted my shirt and Stephanie's shirt since we were the Den Leaders. I thought we needed a feminine bug!

Then I did the boys shirts, they got to choose how to display their names.
It's so much easier to yell at a kid when you know who it is! ๐Ÿ˜‰


One of the things each den had to do was come up with a den cheer. Our Den Chief, aka Blueberry, helped them come up with this. I love how they all worked together on it.

I asked Nathan his feelings about Scout camp and this was his response - 
To have people that care for me, learning how to respect others, to make new friends, how to do wood burning/archery/bb's, learning cpr, learning how to make a fire, experience other people's disabilities and how it makes them feel, and having a good time!

Here's some of what they did.

One of the most wonderful things they did last week was to send popcorn to the troops in Afghanistan in time for July 4th.
They had all 600 Cub Scouts line up to pass popcorn down to be boxed and sent.

And the best part? Our Blueberry's father is in Afghanistan and he let everyone know they received it on time!
Look what I got delivered out to my camp in Afghanistan this Independence Day morning! Thanks Guys!!!

What an awesome group effort, they even made the news!
Here's my version.

I also witnessed wonderful things happen within our den. I saw them give each other loose change to buy something at the Trading Post, or share what they bought. I saw them helping each other out and encourage one another in events. I saw them work together for the egg drop (even though it didn't survive!) I saw them squabble over things too, but they eventually worked it out. 
If the boys needs to use the restroom or go anywhere in the area, they had to have a buddy with them. Sometimes when they were busy working on something, our Blueberry was always ready to go with them. One of the many reasons he won "Best Den Chief" over all the other Blueberries!

So even though leaving the house at 7am made for a very early morning and being outside in the hot sun and walking everywhere was tiring, it was all worth it. I'm glad it was just a week though!
They learn so much from scouting and for this, I am thankful.

Added - Part of the problem of being the photographer, you don't get any of you!
But Stephanie took this one of Nathan and I.


Wednesday 5 July 2017

A 50th Birthday Celebration, Canadian Style!

Having a 6am flight out of BWI made for a very early wake up call - but well worth it.
I thought it would be fun to go back to Ontario since the last time I had been there was when I was 19 years old, forever ago. DH and the boys had never been, so that made it even better.

Hey now, I have a bus!

 As soon as we landed, we rented a minivan and headed to Niagara Falls. This was definitely the touristy area!
Except for the grapes fields, those came later.

From where we started, we were over a mile away from the actual Falls and DH and boys said it was smaller than they thought... until we actually got there!





So close, so loud!

From there, we took a beautiful drive to the Whirlpool Jet Boat Tours for a jet boat ride.
Here we are nice and dry, but guaranteed to get soaking wet!

I bought a waterproof pouch for my mobile for this trip and this is one of the water dumps we experienced! We had to have both hands on the bars, otherwise I would have held it up.

So the story about this adventure? Let me set the scene...
We arrived at the boat tour just as they were getting ready to board the boats. We got the shortened version of instructions, no problem. There was a large group of German men, probably about 40+ men of all ages, mostly older. These guys didn't like listening to the rules, they were standing up with hands in the air while they were supposed to be sitting and holding on so they wouldn't fall out!
We get off the boat and everyone is soaking wet. Our suitcases were in the car and as we were walking over to get dry clothes to change into, all we could see were suitcases and naked German men changing outside their tour bus! Whoa, way more butts than I needed to see and they certainly didn't look like this little guy!
They were all laughing and having a good time, Nathan tried not to stare.
Those Germans! (I should know, I'm half German!) 

After that eye burning experience, we headed to our air bnb in downtown Toronto and then started walking the city.

Loving the workers planting the lips!

Flip side - did you notice the bee?

One of the first things the Gman2 checked? They are legal in Canada!!! ๐Ÿป
We even tried beer flavoured ice cream, yum!

Even Nathan got to belly up to the bar with root beer.

 The following day we took a tour of the CN Tower, I even stepped on the glass floor, barely! They showed a live video of these crazy people hanging from the edge of tower, not for me.

And look what I found in the shop, mermaids!
The boys liked the Lego tower and it might just fit in our great room. ๐Ÿ˜‰

I had this feeling I was being watched...

That evening we walked all the way back to a Blue Jays baseball game. Great seats and only $5 each.
We cheered for them and yeah, they won!
It was a beautiful evening so the dome was open, so cool.
Right behind us was the CN Tower and more crazy people hanging off the edge!

The next day we ventured out and the hit The Distillery District. We were feeling the love!

We walked through this area and I was wondering why nothing was open yet.

Come to find out they were filming, bummer!

On the way back, DH found this place to eat and it received good reviews. Since none of us had ever had chicken and waffles before, we stopped in. It looked like a dive, but it was wonderful!

On my birthday eve, we did a little pre-celebrating.
DH, Gman1 and I went out while Gman2 and Nathan stayed in. Just after midnight they sang Happy Birthday to me, along with everyone around us! And we all had a shot of something good, bartender included - she worked her butt off that night.

She was so sweet, she brought me a brownie to celebrate! Great way to start a birthday.

The next morning, we walked just down the street to the Senator Restaurant for my birthday breakfast. I loved it! It was old fashioned and very busy, always a good sign. Plenty of food and we all enjoyed what we ordered.

Since it was my birthday, I was "allowed" to shop at Gitta's, a cross stitch shop in Mississauga.
It was a sweet shop, with very friendly staff.
I found so many things I liked, but I restrained myself and just bought this sampler and needle nanny (as they call it).

They had this on display, but not in the store until the next day, the day we were leaving. ๐Ÿ˜ž
So I ordered it and received it last week.
And the best part? She's a local designer there!

While I was drooling shopping, DH took Nathan by the water while they waited. Gotta keep that boy busy!

Our next birthday stop was Legoland Discovery Centre, mainly for Nathan, but I was happy to go.
And look, I found some friends there!

Toronto in Legos...

Legos everywhere!

These were on the stall doors in the restroom, too cute!

That evening, I met my girlfriend and her family for dinner, that post is here - THankful Thursday

She surprised me with this cake that was absolutely delicious! Too bad we couldn't take the rest of it home.

After dinner, we walked around the town and got these free tshirts, fun!

So this concludes my 50th birthday adventure.
We are already thinking of visiting Montreal or Quebec next year, we love Canada!

We miss Tim Hortons!