May
2023

A weekend away!

I missed playing softball with my team this week. Cannot wait to get back on the diamond next week!

He said

We had a new to us experience this weekend… Emelia having shifts on both Saturday and Sunday and not wanting to give either up asked to stay home for the weekend from the trailer. Me having the weekend off, there was no way I was going to give up a weekend at the trailer. We knew this was likely going to be the year she would be less and less interested in spending every single weekend at the trailer what with her job and budding social life. She’s stayed a night on her own before but this was the first time she would be on her own for the weekend. The only wrinkle in all of this was she had a closing shift yesterday so we had to lean on my brother Matthew to pick her up from work at 11pm as there are no bus options and we really didn’t want her taking an Uber at that time of night. Matthew was able to so that was a huge relief to us.

The second we were done work, and had Emelia set up for the weekend on Friday, we were off to the trailer. The Sherwoods weren’t coming up until Saturday morning so, Danielle & I had a quiet night at our fire pit which was quieter than most weekends as there were not a lot of transient campers there for the weekend. Heck, there weren’t even a lot of the seasonal campers there either. We got to relax by the fire and watch the stars fill the sky as it was a clear and warm night. In fact that was the forecast for the entire weekend. Saturday, Danielle and I got out on our bikes early and got in a ride to Blyth and back on the G2G trail before starting work on getting our outdoor string lights hung. The solar panel extension cable did not arrive in time, so we didn’t get a chance to try them out. But, they’re hung and we’re really happy with where they are and how they might look once we get to use them.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and hanging out at the Sherwood’s firepit. We were all kidless so the time there this weekend was really about unwinding and having a laugh or two. This morning the decision was we would al go for a bike ride into Goderich on the G2G Rail Trail. This section of the ride is much more picturesque as you see Lake Huron as you come into Goderich. However the cost of that beautiful scenery is that you have an 886 foot descent to Goderich which sure makes the pedalling that much easier. However on the return to the trailer, you’re riding back up that 886 foot—now as an incline! With three of us on eBikes, that wasn’t all too soul crushing, however yours truly rides a human assisted pedal bike and it knocked a lot out of me. But, I survived and we were left with a 4o km ride in the most perfect of weather conditions (that did have some swear words towards the end).

All-in-all it was a perfect weekend. Our regular check-ins with Emelia returned that she was alive and doing well and actually helping out by running the dishwasher and even unloading  and putting the dishes away  (we found out today). It’s hard for us at times to accept that she is in the a place where this okay, but I have to remind myself that she’s not the little girl that relied on us so heavily and that she is a responsible 16 year old on the verge of being an adult and able to take care of herself. As much as I’d like to think that she’d want to hang out with her parents all the time, I also know I was 16 once too and that was not the case for me either. But, the reality is she is a much better kid at this age, than I ever was!

She said

After weeks of constant sports filling our calendar, it was the first time in a long time that we didn’t have to drive Emelia to any sports, now this was due to the fact that she was working a ton over the last 7 days but it was a nice little break for us. Emelia is now done rugby and cheer has not started back up that only leaves us with softball until cheer starts back up in early June. Emelia is missing rugby but has certainly kept herself busy. Emelia’s social life has exploded over the last few months and this week was no different. She had a full week with her friends. The girls puttered around the mall and hung out Friday since Emelia was going to be busy all weekend and the twins were going to be at the cottage.

Once Emelia was home from hanging out with her friends John and I packed up and headed off to the trailer for our first full kid free weekend with Emelia staying home solo. We did a one-nighter earlier in May but she is now ready to stay by herself for the entire weekend. She had a full weekend. With Emelia happily settled John and I had a relaxing first night up at the trailer.  For a park that is normally packed every weekend it was surprisingly quiet. There were very few transients at all and even thin on the number of seasonals up there for the first night. The night was clear so we watched the stars around the fire and crashed pretty early.

Steph and Justin arrived early the next morning and after John and I got in an early morning bike ride we started again dealing with a few more projects we wanted done around the trailer. Mainly the lights we have for around the site. We got that all set up and then spent the rest of the day and night hanging out with Stephanie and Justin.

Today was another perfect weather day so we—as a group—had decided to do a bigger ride into Goderich from our trailer. In 2020 we attempted this ride all together and the ride there was perfect. Stephanie and I even commented why don’t we do this ride more often, its perfect. Well that was until we realized that the fast pace going to Goderich meant that it was a full and steady incline on the way back. With the eBike I can do the ride easily. Poor John took the brunt of the  tough ride back. The eBike is still a workout but the hills are a million times less brutal with the assist there for you.

This week we are back to a more normal sports life. Emelia has back to back softball games early in the week. Friday she has a big school event with the Relay for Life Friday night and then we start the week after back to the grind of cheer and softball practices.

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