Leaving the nest...

Another milestone.
My daughter's acceptance letter arrived.
I felt so happy for her.
Then, it hit me.
She'll leave.
I felt like crying.

This is all she ever wanted..

Of course, I've always known that one day they'll leave the nest,
but I didn't expect to feel so emotional about it.
She'll pave the road for her siblings and
then we'll be two again.

The Greatest Gift of All.....

Oh, how I love my Christmas Day.

It is not about the gifts.

Lounging in pj's all day; eating, watching movies, eating some more; and perhaps playing a game or two with my "not-so-little-kids" is my kind of day.

This year we brought out some old home movies and reminisced about when they kids were small.  It was such a delight to see our children's  faces when they heard and saw themselves as one, two and three year old's.   What a treat!

A day full of love, togetherness, bonding and creating new memories is the greatest gift of all.

Another world out there!

Took my younger daughter Cora to Trent University today.  Cora wants to attend a smaller University and Trent fits the bill.  The university is situated along Otonabee River so the setting is beautiful.  There is water, greenery and trees surrounding the various  "colleges".

I think Peterborough is a great choice for my daughter as she truly is a "small-town" girl at heart.

The Open House was extremely well organized.  We took a guided tour of all the "colleges" and toured the residences that we were interested in.   Gee, I wish I was young again.  Such camaraderie and so much to do for the students.

I'm so happy that Cora was pleased with the visit.  Her eyes lit up when we spoke to a representatives from the Indigenous Program.  She was thrilled to find out that there are opportunities to perhaps study in Sweden for one year and she found lot's to eat in the cafeteria, which is not always easy as she's a vegetarian.

I can tell that she is excited for this next phase in her life.

It's another world out there.

Jordan Village Niagara

I love discovering new places.

Hubby and myself attended a family wedding in Jordan Village on Sunday.  I was convinced that the wedding celebration was being held at Niagara-on-the-Lake so when our GPS failed to locate the address; I was feeling curious.

I've never heard of Jordan Village and was pleasantly surprised to find a quaint rural village in the midst of Niagara wineries in the heart of the Twenty Valley.  

Several historical 19th-century houses are situated along the Main Street as well as an assortment of restaurants; galleries and boutiques.  What the village is lacking in size it makes up for in its quaintness.

The wedding dinner was held at Inn on The Twenty Restaurant, which according to its webpage is consistently rated as one of the finest winery restaurants in Canada.  

Dinner was fantastic.  For starters we were served individual quiches, followed by handcut papardelle with fresh grape tomatoes.  Lovely indeed!  I had chosen the seared pacific salmon with a truffled potato crust for my main-course and it was divine!  Dessert was a beautifully presented Caramelized Lemon Tart.

The Riesling from local Cave Springs Cellar was a nice compliment to the dinner.   http://www.cavespringcellars.com/visit-us/visiting-the-winery
The winery is adjacent to the restaurant.

It was a beautiful wedding celebration; the bride was glowing and the groom just having arrived from Peru last month was showcasing his Salsa move while he swirled his bride around the dance floor.  It was truly their Moment! 

Perhaps I can convince my girlfriends to do a day-trip  to Jordan Village next spring.

Tranquility

I love the feeling of walking along a path and not knowing what's behind the bend.  

I love standing on the beach, watching and hearing the sound of the waves hitting the shore.

I enjoy the sound of birds chirping nearby and the smell of freshly cut grass.   

The clouds towering over the bay and laughter from the children in the sailboats is a beautiful sight.   

The young families enjoying the park brings back happy memories. 

I smile as I spend an hour exploring Frenchman's Bay area while waiting for my son to finish sailing.  

This is my Tranquility on a Tuesday evening.

Frenchman's Bay

Tranquillity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tranquillity (also spelt tranquility^[1]) is the quality or state of being tranquil; calmness; serenity n. The word tranquillity appears in numerous texts ranging from the religious writings of Buddhism, where the term passaddhi refers to tranquillity of the body, thoughts and consciousness on the path to enlightenment, to an assortment of policy and planning guidance documents, where interpretation of the word is typically linked to engagement with the natural environment.

Florida in July

Florida in July is like sitting in a hot sauna and then going straight for the hot tub to cool off.  This time of year there is absolutely no escaping the sun and heat while outdoors in this Sunshine State.

We spent a week at a gulf beach condo in Indian Rocks (Tampa / St. Petersburg Area) and the only relief from the heat is to befriend the AC..

I'm not the type of gal to sit inside all day so we faced the heat every single day.   Now, I know the meaning of Feeling Hot Hot Hot!

Living creatures on beach after tide

Beach outside our Condo

The kids love shopping so we did hit the malls a few times to appease them, but we also managed to do a bit of exploring.

Sunken Garden in St. Petersburg

A 100 year old botanical paradise in the midst of the city.  It brought some relief from the intense heat.. Beautiful tropical garden 15 feet below street level.
 

Florida Botanical Garden and Heritage Village

Located in Largo, nearby Clearwater, this is a fabulous park with walking trails, botanical gardens and a Heritage village.  We spent one morning walking through the beautiful gardens and then visiting the village which is a living history museum.   There were volunteers in most buildings that gave us a private "tour and history" of the particular building.  Most people are not really interested in the past, but myself and my daughter finds it interesting and we enjoyed our morning tour of these historical homes.  Both the gardens and Heritage Village is offered free of charge.

Surrounded by Huge Banana Leaves

We tried..but we did not see any gators

Dunedin - Florida

 A quaint little "Scottish" town just north of Clearwater.  This is Toronto Blue Jays' spring training home.  There really is not much happening here in the summer months.  If you're not careful you might drive past the town as it's very small...... With hubby and son planted on the park bench, myself and my daughter quickly visited the few stores as it was stinking hot out, and then we headed down to the pier to "cool off".  We met the most funny Sicilian on the Pier..  He gave us a song and dance about being a professional singer, and then he serenaded my daughter.  It was priceless..

Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary


This is the largest wild-bird hospital in the U.S. , located in Indian Shores, a short distance from our condo.   So many birds in one place and so many dedicated volunteers to help save their lives.  A safe-heaven for birds in the midst of tourism.

A boat-ride on the Intracoastal

We rented a boat for a few hours, and it was a good experience.  We learned that we are not power boaters.

The kids wanted to go as fast as possible, the faster the better.  I much prefer as slower crusing speed where one can take in the scenery along the way and perhaps take a picture or two.

We did cover a long stretch of waterway though, and I know that if we had stuck to 5 knots we would not have gotten very far.  The intracoastal is beautiful with all the extravagant houses along the route such as Lisa Marie Presleys and Hulk Hogans mansions among others.   We did get lucky and caught a glimpse of dolphins swimming by the boat.

St. Petersburg - PIER

A waterfront landmark in downtown St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg Skyline

Railway Children

A big hit in London; perhaps not in Toronto.

When I mentioned to friends that I was going to see Railway Children, the unanimous response was that the reviews have not been that good.   So off I went with NO expectation, which to me.. is not such a bad thing as it can only get better...most of the time.

 A special theater tent was built for this show and it's next door to the Rogers Center and the spectacular CN Tower in Toronto.   Great location for our tourists!

Plan to arrive early so you can take a moment prior to the show to explore the 86-ton vintage steam locomotive that is used in the play, as well as other old trains, that sits at the Toronto Rail Heritage Centre http://www.trha.ca/, just outside the tent..  You don't actually need a show ticket to view the trains!  There's even a miniature railway that operates at certain hours of the day..

The show is about 3 siblings telling the story about their life as railway children.  Their comfortable upper class life in London comes to an abrupt end when father gets sent to jail and the siblings, along with their mother, have to move to a cottage in the country side, beside a railway.

The story is entertaining enough but it didn't blow me away.  There is a fair bit of audience participation but nobody get singled out on their own.  My teenage daughter struggled with the story line for a while, so I would expect the younger audience to find it a bit difficult to follow.   

One major setback of this theater are the seats.  They are not very big and I was seated next to an X-L gentlemen who didn't quite fit in his seat so he was partially in mine.   My legs were glued next to his, and I couldn't get my right shoulder and arm to fit within my space so I ended up sitting all crocked in the chair .  Very uncomfortable!    I kept moving and shifting for the 1st part of the show.  I did change seat after intermission and I enjoyed part 2 way better!

Would I recommend this show?   Sure, if you get tickets like mine.  Two for $40.

Ottawa - Winterlude 2011

Spent the family day long weekend in Canada's Capital.  After a 4 hour car drive we arrived to extreme cold temperatures -19 with a windshield of -28, and to our disappointment all Winterlude festivities, except Chrystal Garden were closed.  We took a quick tour of the city, first by car; then on foot, which lasted no more than 30 minutes due to the gripping cold.  Back at the hotel, we contemplated dinner and decided on Chinese Buffet as it was within walking distance from our hotel.   I felt courageous and sampled deep fried frog legs for the first time.  It tasted like chicken, but as soon as I had gobbled down a couple of legs, I had the image of a hoppin' frog on my mind, so I did not go for seconds.

We woke up on Sunday morning to slightly warmer temperature and were excited to find out that all festivities were opened.  Our fist destination was Snowflake Kingdom at Jacques-Cartier Park, which claims to have the biggest snow playground on the continent.   Our teenagers took a couple of runs down the ice slides and tubing.  Then we were off to the Rideau, the world’s largest skating rink.

When looking for my skates the night before leaving for Ottawa, they were nowhere to be found.  I seem to recall lending them out...but I can't remember to whom.  I arrived in Ottawa with no skates, and I had no luck in purchasing any either.  So, I had resorted to walking the canal instead.  Well, low and behold, as our friends and all the children were lacing up their skates, a man drops a pair of skates in the garbage bin next to me.  I picked them up, tried them on and they fit.... Just like out of a movie.  They weren't the best of skates but they lasted long enough for me to claim to have skated on the Rideau canal.

What a wonderful highway of skaters... It was jam-packed with people.  The kids had a blast, enjoying all the freebies and entertainment along the way.  We ended our Winterlude visit by checking out all the ice sculptures at the Crystal Garden at Confederation Park.  What marvelous works of art.  I wish we could have seen it at night. I accomplished a few new experiences this weekend; skating on the Rideau, eating frog legs and enjoying the ever-so-famous beaver tail. 

Happy 20th Birthday!

Today is the 20th anniversary since we met our our tiny "baby girl" weighing in at 1lb 14 oz., no heavier than two packages of butter.

3 Months Old

If you saw her today, you would never guess that she had a "rocky" start in life.  Reflecting back, I can only say that we are so fortunate to live in Canada and to have had access to the best of physicians and specialist.

We celebrated this milestone by going out for Sushi at Makimono Japanese Restaurant in Ajax. 

When I was 20, the most popular cuisine used to be Greek or Italian.  Today's youth seem to have a love affair with Asian cuisine.  My children were much more familiar with the various choices on the menu than I and knew exactly what they wanted to order.

 The food was very good and we left feeling quite full, but that didn't stop us from having a huge piece of Princess cake each when we got home.

Swedish Princess Cake

Princess Cake http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prinsesst%C3%A5rta  is a very traditional Swedish cake consisting of delicate sponge cake layered with raspberry jam, custard and whipped cream which is all topped with a layer of marzipan.  The trickiest part is to get the marzipan right, but practice makes better.. 
 

"Best years of my life"

I'm sure I was warned that once my kids became teenagers, life would not be as blissful.  Well, I think I ignored those warnings.  Who can imagine that your adorable sweet babies will be anything other than just THAT, cute and lovable. I absolutely loved being a hands-on stay-at-home parent.  I ran a home-day care for years in order to contribute to the household, and I loved my life. I'd bake cookies daily; go to the local library; zoo trips; playgroups, have tea parties, put on shows etc.  I truly had the time of my life.  My family was my life.  The kids liked helping out; there was always a pair of helping hands when gardening, setting the table, grocery shopping, or folding the laundry. Those were the years when they wanted to please and were content to be rewarded with a hug or perhaps a treat.   Well, those "not-so-blissful" years have arrived and I now have two teenagers and one in training.. To say the least, it's not easy raising and living with teens.  I'm not the center of their universe anymore, and they seem to get a kick out of disagreeing at all times.  The house is always, always messy.  Their idea of tidy does not earn them an A.. There seems to be a constant turmoil of battle.


I'm starting to believe that "nature" is preparing me for the inevitable.  A few years ago, I would have been devastated at the thought of the children ever leaving the nest but not anymore.   I'm looking forward to ME time, a tidy house, things to be found where I left them, and less laundry. 


Well, as I ignored those warnings years ago, I shall try not to ignore the advice I received today.   Life after children can get lonely; a quite house can be depressing; dinner alone can be boring; and a perfect, tidy house might no longer feel like home.   As much as these ARE tough years, I'm sure to look back and say, "these were the best years of my life"...