Nov
2017

Happy, haphazard moments

I almost did a back handspring at gynastics today – I am so close to getting it!!

He said

Last week was a one of the strangest weeks for me in a while. I managed to have a week off work because of some vacation time I needed to use up. Part of that covered off last weekend when we went camping. But the rest of it (Monday to Thursday until 4pm) there was nothing in the plans. And it was strange having that much time with not much to do. By the time I was back in to work Thursday evening, I felt completely refreshed and ready to go.

Monday I did officially become a truck owner in that I had my first request to use the truck to cartage some stuff for my parents down to my brother and sister-in-law. So after we got Emelia off to school it was over to Mom and Dad’s to load up and hit the road. We made good time down, had a quick visit and then were back in time for dinner in London. Dad got to see why I love the truck so much and found out first hand how comfortable the ride is.

Tuesday was the big day Emelia had been waiting for months for – Halloween! She was home in seconds from the final school bell and working on her costume. Within minutes of being ready, she was already bugging to go over to the twins to get ready for trick or treating. Danielle and I got about three minutes of solace to wolf down supper before the twins Mom texted to let us know it was next to near impossible to contain the kids any more, that we better come over if we wanted to witness any of their neighbourhood candy canvassing. They shot out of the door and literally ran up, down and all over the neighbourhood for the next almost three hours. The kids had a wonderful time, and Emelia retired for the night, proudly with 308 pieces of individual candy — yes, she counted.

Wednesday was a big night for Danielle and I as we had tickets to a concert we’d been long looking forward to: Arcade Fire and Broken Social Scene. They’ve been favourite bands of ours for quite some times. I have seen them both more than a few times and they have never dispppointed. Danielle had never seen Arcade Fire live, and I had never seen the two together on the same bill. When the tickets went on sale I opted for the Windsor show as the venue was smaller, and we were more likely to get better seats. And we did. The show was four hours of amazing music and we didn’t sit for the entire two hours Arcade Fire had the stage. Thought the trip home got us late to bed, the tiredness the next day was well worth it!

Thursday and Friday were regular routine days at work, but comer Saturday I managed to have another day off to be with my girls. Earlier in the week we decided on checking our the Farmer’s Market and Outlet Mall in St Jacob’s but when that turned a dud because of the weather and then the “old people stores” at the outlets, I decided that another 40 minutes to the Toronto Premium Outlets in Halton Hills was worth the trip. And oh was it! Emelia is definitely my daughter when it comes to shopping, and she and I were in heaven with all the options. We all managed to find some good savings and rescued a day together with some retail therapy. We got a bite to eat and then headed back home, all content with our haphazard day we cobbled together. Emelia the happiest because she found the Adidas shoes she’s been bugging us for, for like ever.

Today was back to work for me, which I’d spent so little time there this week was quite fulfilling. It was a tough end to the day because one of my close friends there and a fellow manager is heading into his last week at Apple. Today was my last shift with him. He’s moving on to focus full time on the gym he has started with friends, and I am going to really miss him at work. We took him out for dinner after work and it’s tough to think of him not being there but I am super proud of him and happy to see this new venture take off for him.

Looking back at this week now, while it felt like I didn’t have a lot planned for the week off, it sure does sound like we did and enjoy a lot, and that is 100% true. The weeks that have so much greatness to them always have a way of just sneaking up on you and giving you so much happy, haphazard moments. And that is just was this week was!

 

 

She said

This week was go go go all week. Monday John and Doug made the trek down to Welland for a quick visit and delivery of a bed to David and Linda. John’s trip was a whirlwind and he was back in time to for a quick last minute Halloween prep shopping.

In the past Emelia had been able to dress up in costumes for school but they phase that out for the older kids and as a replacement they have orange and black day and a dance for the older kids. With all the clothes that Emelia owns you would think she wouldn’t need anything. Well nope…not a single orange anything in her closet. Out we went. Thankfully a very quick trip to Talize settled that and we had a second hand orange shirt to add to her collection for halloween at school.

Then before we knew it Tuesday came, the day that Emelia had been waiting for for months. She adores Halloween and all the planning and YouTubing came together Tuesday as soon as she walked in the door from school she was in full Halloween prep mode. This year she was an 80s pop teen. She went all out, full 80s make-up, crimped hair and clothes that were bang on. She looked amazing and had an absolute blast.

As soon as she was dressed and ready to go she went to her best friends house with other classmates to help everyone get ready. Less than a 1/2 hour later she was back home and wanting to go out to get their treats. The weather was cold but not unbearable – we had strategically layered Emelia so she was more than warm enough. The other girls were cold but refused to slow down no matter what. The group was out for over 2 hours and covered the entire end of the neighbourhood. Emelia and her friends had a blast and she is already excited for next year.

With Halloween done we moved to other exciting things this week. The big one for us grown-ups was Wednesdays trip to see Arcade Fire with Broken Social Scene opening. The concert was in Windsor so we thankfully were able to get a bit of an earlier departure to get down in time to get food before and get to our seats just as BSS was getting on stage. I have seen them perform a few times and they never disappoint. But the real focus for me was seeing Arcade Fire. I have loved the band for years but have never been able to see them live. John had seen them before and told me it will be a show that I won’t forget. And he wasn’t kidding. The band went all in for over 2 hours and it was non-stop. The show was amazing!!! It was completely worth the sleep exhaustion the next day to see them live and it will be a show that will go down as one of the best I have seen!

The rest of the week was a bit quieter until Saturday. John had another Saturday off (I know we are super happy to have these days together!). With another rare weekend day off we wanted to take full advantage before the winter kicks in and going on little mini-trips are not as easy. When chatting about what we wanted to do for our family day we eventually settled on heading to St. Jacobs to the outlet and farmers market. Now I will say we were all disappointed in it, the outlet mall – well sucked and the farmers market although good was no better (because the weather was wet and cold) was mainly like our local farmers market. We regrouped and decided since we were out and about anyway that we would trek a bit further and head towards Toronto to one of the outlet malls. We found a few good deals, I needed a new winter coat and got one for an amazing price, Emelia wanted some new runners and John got some new jeans. Nothing massive but at great prices and we ticked off a few things we kind of needed.

Today John was back to work and I was back to the normal Sunday routine. Emelia to gymnastics, I got to the gym, got some errands done and Emelia and I did a bit of mommy/daughter bonding time and ended the day taking things a bit easier. Because today wasn’t full of massive numbers of errands I was able to stick around for more of Emelia’s training and see some of the amazing progress that she has been making. The big thing is her back handspring. She has been working sooooo hard on it and today she was able to do it into the foam pit. One step closer to doing it solo on the tumble track and then the floor. I know she’s frustrated that she hasn’t mastered it while her other teammates have but she’s so close, and I know it will come soon!

That was the week, busy as heck but great from start to finish!

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