Summer

We are in a really great place right now.
We have a good system going. We seem to be balancing getting shit done with afternoons at the park and fishing and bbq's. We are staying caught up with everyday things and getting non-everyday things done as well.





The kids are happy. I am rested. Brian is good. We are doing a little less going out and a little more staying home.


Totally epic bubbles. Thanks Trudy!
 


Our garden is growing effortlessly. There are weeds mixed in with delicious beet greens and lettuce heads that are ready to eat. The peas are thisclose to being ready and we are all impatiently waiting for that. Maizey and I quietly work side by side in the garden, me in my place, her in hers. She quietly digs while I quietly tend, only stopping to answer whether she can pull or not. She is getting it and it makes my gardening heart swell. She can play in her 'garden' (the bed that will eventually be home to a beautiful perennial garden but currently sits empty) for, literally, hours.





Brian is working tirelessly on our home. We are both ready to put this project to bed. Soon, we keep saying. Soon it will be done, knowing full well that a home is never really done. I guess soon it won't be all we think about, would be more accurate.





We welcomed the hot sun with open arms. We were ready to say goodbye to the rain and the dismal moods it brought with it. The air conditioner we bought at the end of last summer has proven to be the single most amazing purchase we have ever made.



We play outside all day and come inside to a cool house at the end. Heaven.
Our nap time and meal time fights seem to be persistent and I feel as though they may never end.
Her hilarious antics seem to make us forget the moments that are less than perfect (much much much less than perfect).







We seem to be swimming with this current with ease. Summer time and the livin's easy.

Why I Suck At Being A Hipster

Ever since the movie Wedding Crashers came out I have desperately wanted a vintage bike, because seriously, how cute was it when Rachel McAdams and Owen Wilson were riding along side by side, her in a classic skirt, him in khakis and old man sweater.
 I maybe wanted that to be Brian and Me.
Just a little.
I always said I would look at garage sales for one and I talked about it every year when bike season came along and I still didn't have one. Little did I know that a few years later, vintage bikes would be all the rage and I would be left in the dust.
It is so the hipster thing to do, ride a vintage bike.
Saying you wanted to do it before it became popular is also a hipster thing to do. 
And wearing fake, thick rimmed glasses.
Which I have ALWAYS wanted to do.
I did get my vintage bike this year. My Ang happened to have one in the shed at her cabin. It used to belong to her mom when she was a kid and hadn't been ridden in, I don't know, like, 30 years or something. I paid a guy $100 to make it work again and he did, mostly.


 
The problem is, it needs  a whole new rear hub and due to it's age and obscurity, one has not been found (did you like that, hipsters?). I've ridden it a few times, against the bike shop guys advice and almost died the last time.
That is so NOT a hipster thing to do.
Actually the irony of it just might make it hipster after all.
Last week, we got new phones. Normally I am against all purchases of anything technology related because the advances in technology are so fast that no matter what there is always something better-faster-bigger-smarter so I think we just shouldn't try. Brian doesn't agree, and after a lot of convincing I finally gave in when Instagram came out for Androids.
Screw you Apple.
See? Not hipster enough.
But then I went and tried to be all hipster with my fancy Instagram app on my fancy "smart phone".
I sat down with my almond milk-half caff- double steamed- half sweet- triple shot -dirty chai , tapped gently on the fancy little camera icon and eloquently held my brand spanking new phone over top of my mug. I strained my neck up to get a better look at the screen, because these coffee shots, the placement of the cup in the photo is nothing if not theeee most important part. I adjusted accordingly and being careful not to hit the stupidly placed and incredibly sensitive back button, I inexpertly tried to slide my finger across the screen to hit the capture button, as my much-too-fat-for-a-touch-screen fingers moved, my fragile and thin phone in my unsteady, not used to this piece of technology hands slipped and as if in slow motion, totally fell right into my coffee.
I grabbed it quickly and wiping freshly frothed foam on my pants I jumped, laughing, to quickly grab napkins and start wiping. I cleaned it off and blew some foam out of a hole that I don't even know what it does.
And then I called Brian and told him this is why I can't have nice things.
Also, it was totally a regular latte. I am so not hipster enough to drink that shit.
But for the record, I have pictures of my feet circa 2003. So that means I totally did that before it was popular. 

Canada Day 2012

Much like Canada Day last year, well past 10pm I put my ketchup covered, dirty footed, grass stained, middle of an epic meltdown, exhausted little girl to bed and went to bed loving my family, friends and life.









We celebrated Canada Day with our friends, at the parade, in the park with the rest of the town and in our backyard over beer, burgers and sparklers.



And cupcakes.



And with Chelseas super awesome water slide.





This has become the new normal. We laughed about possibly sneaking into the beer gardens for one quick one, but the need to keep all eyes on kids that blended in with the other million kids in red t-shirts trumped.







We huddled under giant trees to stay dry but stuck it out until the rain stopped and shortly after that Mother Nature got her act together and sent that little lady, the Sun, out to shine down on us for the rest of the day.









The water was still cold and the sun not that warm, but the kids didn't seem to mind, so blue lips and all, they slid and slid and splashed and slid for hours.







While the rest of us ate and drank and made jokes at every song that came on the radio's expense. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun we are. Ha.











And when a night ends with sparklers, you know it's been a good one.



Thanks Friends for celebrating with us, and to our Friends that couldn't - we missed you all!