When you only have two drinks…

#empties #weekend

The final count…

When you rehydrate with G&T!

#invinsible

Gin’o’clock!

My Pro-D day childcare payment!

Blowing a hoolie!

I think this might be a phrase from the north of England but you have to admit it is very descriptive – especially when I’m referring to the weather. There are trees down & total wipeouts everywhere. I even got an email from school this afternoon asking to pick up asap because the power had gone out.

What a mess!!!

So, one G&T down, hot bath & pj’s on, wine breathing, roaring fire & Netflix at the ready…

Welcome to Fall!

TGI Friday!

Yes I know I missed yesterday, but it was curriculum night at school, soccer, homework & somewhere in all of that we all had to eat dinner. How did my life suddenly get so crazy? Oh yes, back to school doesn’t mean chill out at the spa or have coffee with a friend. No, it means the kids have a better social life than you & you are just a glorified taxi service. And make sure you have your shit together at home because the laundry is about to double & the food consumption is about to triple!

I’ve got 2 words to say… Gin & Tonic.

Happy weekend – we have 2hours of drum lessons starting at 9am tomorrow morning!

Proud Fondo widows…

A busy day yesterday, but fun. I picked up one of my closest friends, & her family, from the airport & surprised her by arranging for are other partner in crime (my BFF) to meet us too. It’s Grand Fondo weekend here, when thousands of crazy cyclists ride from Vancouver to Whistler. This year we are a group of Fondo widows & kids so are riders had quite the welcome when they crossed the finish line. They all did amazing but I have to say I am extremely proud of my hubby. He had the ride of his life. Over a hundred kilometres of rolling hills, in just over four & a half hours – without stopping once!!

While our tired hubbies soaked in the hot tub, & supposedly supervising all our children, us wives poured large G&T’s before treating ourselves to some well earned retail therapy as a reward for supporting our mad spouses. Then, this evening, we are abandoning all 8 kids with 2 nannies so we can enjoy drinks & a celebratory dinner.

 

That’s it!

The last BBQ/Gin-Margarita get together of the season. Although all our kids have been back a week Labour Day marks the end of school holidays. Fall is definitely creeping up on us, but we still managed drinks on the patio. All the kids played outside (even though it was spitting at one point). Good company, good conversation, & sadly goodbye to another summer. I can’t believe we were all making plans for our skiing trip at Spring Break! Where does the time go? I’m still hemming pants, hopefully they will all be done before they break up in May!

Kayaking with Cedric Diggory & A grizzly bear

We are all home safely after a great week of family time & believe it or not, relaxation. Although the mountain weather was fairly typical we still managed to…

• Kayak, both boys going solo for the first time & doing amazingly well.
• The boys swam in the lake.
• The dog was in heaven at all the new aroma’s that the forest had to offer, we walked her in there most days.
• I was really good about stretching most days, even took my yoga mat down to the dock & did pilates in the sunshine.
• Played ‘Whiffle ball’, a crazy golf kind of set up that one of the locals has made in the forest. 19 holes of fun that anyone can have a go at, there were golf clubs of all sizes with whiffle balls, & gnomes watching over you as you lose your balls. A neighbor in a cabin 2 doors down told us about it last September just as we were about to leave so it was high on the list of things to find this time. What was really great about it was the boys could take them selves off to play without us, it’s completely free & nobody else was seen using it.
• We barbequed most nights while drinking Mason jar G&T’s.
• After dinner we all played a board game, the kids thrashing us at Harry Potter trivial pursuit!
• Hubby & I then read, did grown up colouring or I scrapbooked while enjoying peace & quite with a glass of something.
• We had lazy sleep-ins, even the dog wouldn’t move some mornings until I got up.
• The cats came too. I don’t think Salt moved off the top bunk all week, she just slept & watched the birds. Pepper, who is much more sociable hung out with us in front of the fire.
• We saw some wildlife, a young grizzly bear on the driving range in the local village. A few dear, & discovered a Marmot lives under the front deck. He used to tease the cats & the dog by sitting on the deck outside the glass front door.
• We even made ice cream with younger child’s ice cream ball that older child bought him for his birthday – & it was delicious. Basically you put the ingredients in one side, ice & salt in the other & roll it around the floor for twenty minutes, au voila… ice cream!

It didn’t matter that it wasn’t blazing sunshine every day like it was a couple of years ago when we were there. It was quality family time & a lot of fun for everyone, I think even the cats were happy to be cozied up with us in a quarter of the space they are normally used to. It was the kind of family vacation that you can’t put a price on, & will be one to remember in many years time – the one where I got the name of the contestant in the tri-wizard contest from the Goblet of Fire mixed up & called him Seamus Diggory instead of Cedric. They all thought this was hilarious, you will too if you have read Harry Potter & know who Seamus is.

… And we are STILL on vacation for the rest of the week with more adventures to come.