I am so happy! This week I got a new cousin. And it’s a girl!

He said

Aside from the fact that we introduced the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus this week as well as the Watch Series 2 at the store and I had an overnight at the store to get it reset for the launch, the real big deal on our week was our anniversary and the way that we decided to celebrate it that made the most sense to us: together as a family, camping in Wolfie and going to a music festival. We couldn’t think of a more fitting way to celebrate the things we love most about each other (music, camping, being outdoors) as a way to commemorate our seventeenth year of marriage (and twenty-eigth year of being a couple).

But. First things first. Monday morning, before our alarms had even gone off, we were greeted to a deluge of missed text messages from my family. Being on time for things is not something Teeters are known for, so being early for something is even a further stretch! But, for once a Teeter was early for something and my brother Greg and his wife Testza were at the hospital bright and early to meet their new child about month on the early side. Just after 6:00pm as I was leaving work I got the news via my phone that Zoe Nova – our new niece – had entered the world. And immediately Emelia was asking when we could go meet her. Congratulations Greg, Testza, and Vaughan on the new member of your family, and ours!

As this weekend approached all three of us had admitted to really feeling weird about this summer’s camping trips having not gone to the Wolfe Island Music Festival what with it being paused for a year to reorganize. It has been cemented in our summer plans for the last six summers and was the reason we even got Wolfie three summers ago. We had really started to notice the hole in our summer plans when we started to think and talk about when we’re putting Wolfie away for the winter.

Last year was our first going to the Sandbanks Music Festival and despite the cold, wet weather we got, there wasn’t even a second hesitation when I asked Danielle if she wanted to go again this year. We had it booked back in April of this year—before we even knew about what would become of the 2016 version of the Wolfe Island Music Festival. In May when we found out, we were happy top have already locked down the weekend at Sandbanks. Even more so when the lineup was released. It featured Sloan – one of our mutual favourites –  headlining and then one of our good friends Jim Bryson was also on the bill. In fact, of the seven artists on the bill there was only one we didn’t know, and the rest were excited to see. Especially in that wonderful setting of an amphitheatre nuzzled in the woods behind the dunes that created the best beach on Lake Ontario.

Friday morning after working straight through the night to reset our store, I came home at 6:30am and grabbed a couple hours sleep so that  the four hour drive wouldn’t see me nodding off. With the sleep out of the way, we loaded, latched and were on our way. Not necessarily as early was we originally wanted but when my Friday morning hockey that I was counting on for a second wind waft of adrenaline was cancelled, grabbing a quick nap was necessary. We made it down to Sandbanks without incident and camp was set up and ready for us to relax by about 8:00pm. We had burgers and then hunkered in for a campfire on a beautiful late summer/early fall evening.

Saturday was the festival. It got underway at 1:30pm and ran throughout the day until 8:00pm. It is set up with families in mind as kids are free and there is clearly a lot of thought about entertaining the little ones as much as the old ones. Emelia was over the moon that the kid’s costume crafting area was back again this year. She then quickly also found out that our friend Jim had brought his daughters Bea and Ursula, which made her day as she thinks the world of these girls and now had friends to play with all day. With three girls all happily running around we got time to visit with Jim and his wife Lisa and time to take in the music too!

The fact that we got the same all day of rain that we did last year didn’t even phase us. Leading up to the festival Danielle kept tabs on the weather and once we were pretty certain about the forecast we planned accordingly making sure rain boots, coats our big umbrellas were packed. As much as it was wet and mucky and the rain persistent, it didn’t put a damper on any of our enjoyment of the day. And then, as the festival wrapped up just after 8:00pm and we had said our goodbyes, the rain stopped and allowed us to have a second night enjoying a campfire to cap off a wonderful day.

This morning we took a lazy pace finally getting up to have some breakfast after 9:00am. We packed up the site at a snail’s pace and were finally showered, clean and heading out of the park close to the 2:00pm checkout time. We had one stop we wanted to make as Emelia had fallen in love with a Prince Edward County tee that a vendor at the festival didn’t have in her size, so we resolved to stop at the shop on our way home as they did have one there and were open. That led to us getting lunch a wonderful little place called Saylor House Cafe. Sure, we ended up getting home a lot later than we had planned, but we’re home now and that’s all that matters.

When I look back at the weekend, I couldn’t be more delighted and satisfied with how we chose to celebrate our wonderful seventeen years of marriage and twenty-eight years of being together. Music, camping and us. All three of us. Thank you Danielle for being a wonderful partner and sidekick for every single moment that has mattered to me along the way. I am so happy and delighted to not only have you as a best friend for all of my stories but to also have you as my wife and the mother to the wonderful daughter you baked in your tummy for nine months for us. Thank you, and me too always.

She said

This entire week was all about celebrations. We knew this week was going to be an event filled one when we woke Monday morning to buzzing cell phones filled with a mountain of unread texts. In the middle of the night our sister in law’s water had broken and that she was in labour. The excitement was building with the whole family. What added to the excitement is that this little one was coming very early. Testza’s due date wasn’t until October 9th and here we were on September 12th waiting for the news of the baby’s safe arrival.

Throughout the day not only were we getting updates from Greg about how Testza was progressing but the family was in full planning mode on making sure that the baby had everything they needed when they arrived. With quick action by everyone the baby was well set up even before they were born. Thank goodness for the Messages app and our group chat to make sure everything that could be taken care of, was.

After what seemed like the longest day (I am sure even longer for Greg and Testza) we finally got the text we had all be waiting for – Zoe Nova Teeter had arrived safely weighing 6lbs 1oz at 6:01pm and she was doing amazing. She was deemed pre-term not preemie not sure if that was based on her date of birth vs due date or it was due to how well she was doing being born almost a month early. Quickly the photos came and we were all instantly in love. Emelia of course wanted to go to the hospital that instant to meet her new cousin. We had to explain to her that once a baby is born there is a lot that happens not only for the baby but for the new parents so we were going to wait until the next day before heading over to meet her.

The next day of course the first thing out of Emelia’s mouth was, can I go meet Zoe tonight, again the same question came once she got home from school. I unfortunately had plans for the evening so John and Emelia went up to the hospital to meet the baby and visit with Greg, Testza and Vaughan. Emelia was instantly in love not wanting to hand her off to anyone. The moment I got home from my painting class Emelia wanted to tell me all about meeting her new cousin.

The next night John and to work but I had the night free so we managed to get a visit in once Greg, Testza and Zoe were settled in at home. She is such a sweetie and is a total mini-Testza down to her toes,  now Zoe does have the Teeter nose like all her cousins so there is some Teeter girl in there too. We got in a visit that wasn’t long enough by Emelia’s standard, but she did manage to get in back to back visits with her new cousin so that I could meet her too.

The rest of the week was a mixture of waiting for more pictures of the new baby combined with planning for our weekend plans. In the middle of all this exciting news for the family John and I were settling in for our anniversary weekend away. We could not have done anything more ‘us’ than taking Emelia with us on a camping music festival weekend.

As John said this summer although amazing with so many incredible camping trips, lots of great music but there has been a bit of a hole in our summer plans, the Wolfe Island Music Festival. This year the festival had to take a hiatus for a year so there wasn’t an annual trek to the 1000 Islands to spend two nights under the stars camping and listening to some incredible Canadian music. Thankfully this weekend we filled the hole for camping music festival weekends. The festival was incredible and although we had some rain to deal with we all came through with smiles and amazing memories.

Today we celebrated not only 17 years of marriage but 28 years of our relationship. So many people say things happen for a reason, there was a reason John and I crossed each others paths that day in August 1988. The chance meeting was all a result of my friend and I not having a ride back home from Wallaceburg to Chatham. My then boyfriend who bailed on us and left us stranded (yes he was a real winner), if he had given me and my friend a ride home we wouldn’t have been walking over by those tennis courts to walk to a friends place to see if we could get a ride home. If I had taken a different route to our friends place I wouldn’t have met John. Perhaps we might have met some other day down the road but our destiny was set in stone that hot August day. We hit it off instantly, he made me laugh, he listened to me and he was just a great person all around. Within a few weeks we would start officially dating and the rest is history.

In the last 28 years we have been through more ups and down than most people ever have to deal with, but through every crushing down and every incredible up we come out stronger. I cannot imagine going through this crazy life with anyone else. Here is to the next 28+ years, I love you more than words could ever express, thank you for loving me for who I am and the life we have created.