I had a birthday party, a sleepover at Poppa & Grandmas and a visit Uncle Todd, Aunt Charlie and Marshall!
He said
This week was a mixed bag of all things great. First and foremost, on Wednesday we officially were one, mere month from the day we load up the truck and head down to Toronto for the night in preparation for our 8:45 am flight to Florida the next day. Crazy to think the thing we started planning over a year ago is now right around the corner. It was this way last time too, but still something we’re delighting in again this week! So, with that on our radar it has been full-steam ahead making sure we have everything in place for the trip which when it comes to packing isn’t the most exciting of tasks. But, the idea of packing shorts more than anything else, certainly is — especially when the weather this week has been so wintery.
This weekend for me was a 3-day weekend starting on Friday which came at the perfect time given the tail end of Danielle’s cold I am fending off. Friday morning was the second to last session of my beloved Friday morning hockey before we break for the summer, and the rest of the day was spent vegging at the house with the daycare kids and Danielle. Once the day wrapped up we had dinner, went to the gym so Danielle could work out and Emelia & I could swim, and then we headed over to Mom & Dad’s to watch game one of the second round of the London Knights playoff drive against Kitchener. (The Knights won the game)
Saturday was all about the regular routine (gymnastics, groceries, etc.), but while we had Emelia elsewhere and attention not on us we were able to pickup some cruise-finds for Danielle thanks to Kijiji and her bargain hunting ways. She got a beautiful dress for the formal night of the cruise. The second we got Emelia from gymnastics it was a quick trip home and then over to a grade school friend’s house to help her celebrate her birthday. We used that time to grab Danielle’s Kijiji shoe find (as well as a gaggle of shoes for $15) and me a pair of shoes for work and the cruise.
Before we knew it, the day had flown by an it was time to collect Emelia from her birthday party shenanigans and bring her over to Poppa & Grandma’s for a night there so that Danielle & I could have a grown-up night out. And, as is the way with us, it involved live music. Hayden a performer that Danielle & I have loved for quite some time was performing his album Everything I Long For, start-to-finish in honour of its twentieth anniversary of coming out, this year. The show was at The Aeolian Hall and the best part is we had other friends going to the show as well. We’ve seen Hayden a bunch of times but I’d have to say this show was one of our favourites. He played for over two hours, did three encores and played all the songs we wanted to hear. It was the perfect night out for Danielle & I!
Today, as much as we could have slept in until whenever we damn-well wanted, I managed to make it only to 8:30am which was somewhat disappointing for a kid-free house. But, up and with coffee I enjoyed the quiet of the house before Danielle found her way downstairs and we took the morning at a quiet, lazy pace. After we were breakfasted up, it was time to showered up and head over to pick up Emelia from Poppa & Grandma’s. But with Mom needing a new SSD hard drive she bought for her MacBook Pro installed and a Knights game on at 3:00 pm the visit was a little extended which I am sure Mom & Dad didn’t mind (well, I think Dad might mind for the emptying beer fridge problem he has when I visit).
But the best part of this week came in news later this week that Todd, Charlie and Marshall would be in our neck of the woods today and had time to come for a visit and Sunday dinner! Emelia was over the moon with the prospect of getting to see Marshall (and Todd & Charlie of course). They’re set to move up to the north of Toronto to the Muskokas in the next month or so as Todd has found a new job up there. It means visits might be a little more tricky for us and require a bit more planing for us. But it is also a neck of the woods that we can use as an excuse to bring Wolfie for a look-see — so quite a happy predicament to be in.
And that is where this week leaves me, happily watching afternoon OHL playoff hockey with parents, and about to head back to our house to play host to even more family there for Sunday dinner. It’s the perfect kind of way to end a week that was already a lot awesome. The perfect way to wrap up a pretty perfect week!
She said
In spite of the crappy weather this week, I have been floating my brain the tropical weather we will be basking in in less than a month. In spite of all my financial reservations I had about this trip that is now long gone and I am just embracing all of it, the enjoyment and the excitement is overtaking us for sure. Even now, our cover story and talking about going to Toronto she is so excited — today in a conversation she was asking me when she can have a sleepover with her cousins Reilly and Ruby again. I seriously I cannot wait until she not only knows that we are going on the cruise but going to be spending week with her cousins.
This week I was able to my normal bargain hunting ways and get a few more things finalized for the trip. This week I was able to find some stunning dresses on Kijiji and Saturday while Emelia was at gymnastics I was able to get a simply amazing dress for the formal night for an amazing price. The dress is stunning and I cannot wait until the formal night to get all dolled up and wear it. Add in that I was also able to get some really great summer and fall shoes on Kijiji for the trip. All-in-all Kijiji and second hand shops have really been our friend for this trip. We will look like a million bucks without spending even close to that.
I cannot tell you how excited we are about this trip, every funny little but carefully placed lie we have placed for Emelia is making the excitement about the trip build. Even talking to Bill about how we are going to tell the girls that they are going together is making things even more exciting. I can tell you this magic is what parenting is all about. All the frustration, all the parenting battles has builds to these magical movements. The moments when you can truly make a magical moment for your child, a moment that creates a memory that embeds in their childhood core that they carry forever, the moments they eventually tell their own children about their favourite childhood moments. And I really hope this is one of those moments that carry with Emelia (and Reilly and Ruby) forever. I think the fact that the girls are sharing this moment together is making it even more incredible. As parents Bill, John and I have essentially grown up together, Bill was much part of our early relationship and it has meant that Bill has been such a special person to me and of course to John. I cannot wait to do this trip together, it will be a trip of a lifetime.
But this was not the only amazing highlight of the weekend. Earlier in the week my sister and I were texting (which we do daily) that they were going to be in the area and would we be around for a visit. Of course we would be, anytime for me to spend time with my family I eat up. We invited them for a casual dinner that would allow us to catch up and give the kids some time to play together.
Emelia simply adores her cousin, even through her frustration that toddlers do not play the same way she does the love between the two of them is so pure. I try and cherish these visits as much as possible between myself and Charlie because they are never as long as I want them to be. Add in that they are relocating a bit further away I cherish even more our visits.
A few weeks ago Charlie told me about the amazing opportunity Todd had with a new company and this allowed them to fulfill a dream of theirs to move to a quieter life to raise Marshall. I am beyond happy for them, the pure happiness in both Charlie and Todd’s faces makes us so happy. Even today Charlie talking about what their life is going to be like once they settle just brings us so much joy. This is something they have been working for so long and to see their dreams come true just is amazing to see. We had a great visit and cannot wait until our next one, now the question is will it be in Toronto or in the Muskokas?
Basically that was the week that was, we are hammering out more details of our vacation, we are getting things squared away and officially on the less than one month countdown!