I am excited next week we go away with our friends for ten whole days!

He said

I guess one thing I haven’t shared here in a while has been my fitness journey. Last fall we got a rower and I began an ad hoc at-home routine that started with thirty minutes a day and very quickly became something I looked forward to and really enjoyed. And if the sweat and feeling good wasn’t enough, I started to also see a reduction in pounds on the scale and clothes fitting better again. In the late Spring, once the lockdown of the multi-use paths in the city was lifted, I shifted to going for bike rides on the Thames Valley Parkway. Within the first week, I found a 15 km route that I really enjoyed that only took 45 minutes out of my day.

It’s become the perfect way – like on the rower – to unpack all that is going on. For forty-five minutes I crank the tunes and the pedals on a sweaty, hell bent for leather rip on the bike that I have been doing consistently six days a week. Some weeks I even get out every single day—even up at the trailer. Today, after work, I got out for my ride, came home and like I do at least once week checked the scale and I was delighted to see the result: Since I started on the rower at the start of November I started out at 238 lbs – my heaviest in some years. Today, I stepped on at 212.2 lbs which is over 25 lbs from where this journey started. I feel great, clothes fit so much better, and I am really loving the two workouts I have.

This past week, we reopened the store which meant there was a lot of getting ready up to and then of course the excitement of customers once we were reopened to be able to get the support they needed. It was great to be honest to get back to some sense of normalcy – even amid all the ways that do things differently in order to keep our team and customers safe. And the overwhelming sentiment of customers as they came to see us was thankfulness for all the measures we take to keep them safe, and how happy they were that we were back. We feel the same.

This week after my work week wrapped Thursday, you can rest assured we made a beeline to the trailer to spend my couple of days off. Our prescription after having a crazy couple of last few weeks was to be as lazy as possible. Aside from cutting the grass (and the Sherwood’s as it was our turn) we spent much of the two days relaxing to nth degree. It was incredibly hot and sunny the entire two days and nights that we were there. A week ago when we had fire pits at night we couldn’t get enough heat, this time we definitely didn’t need the same proximity to the logs. After two amazing, relaxing days we headed back home yesterday afternoon.

Today is Father’s Day which is always a funny one for me as I feel that I don’t need a bid deal made about it, as I truly believe that Danielle shoulders so much more of the load around here for our family. And I would definitely get in line to support anything that makes her more aware of how much I appreciate that. But, that said the girls spoiled me last night. Knowing that I had to work today, Danielle made me a wonderful steak dinner, and then she and Emelia gave me my gift—the matching pair of Muskoka Chairs that I wanted to complete our side patio remodel.

Father’s Day for my Dad was a quick trip over to their house tonight after dinner to help with some things they needed and deliver some supplies Mom had ordered, and then to join the whole family in a FaceTime hangout. It was really good to see them live as opposed to on the other side of the camera. There’s so much I am happy about in the family I ended up with and a lot of that comes through the isms of Dad and how he taught us to see the world. We learned to ask questions, challenge answers and to listen as much as you talk. I am thankful for you Dad and the parts of me that I am because of you. And I hope I am able to pass on even a smidgeon of all that in the journey that Emelia is on with us. Thank you, Dad.

This week will be a full week of work that started today and then after Thursday the work week wraps and we head straight to the trailer for our first week off since August last year. We did have some extended weekends after that, but this length of time off couldn’t come at a more needed time. I am really looking forward to unwinding for more than just a couple days and really getting into camp fire life!

She said

This has been quite a week. Another busy one in the back yard reno world but the biggest part of my week for me was the announcement that I will be closing my daycare at the end of the summer after twelve plus years. The last few months have been incredibly stressful with the uncertainty around COVID and what this would mean for the daycare. Over the last couple weeks with the province moving into phase 2 of reopening protcol I had approached the daycare parents as to their needs for daycare over the next few months.

As I has suspected there was: some that said that they were not comfortable sending their kids to care for the foreseeable future; some said that they might be comfortable but only for a few days a week; and, some said that they were not entirely comfortable but might make it work. With the expectation of a second wave likely hitting in the fall, and I had to make the hard decision that I would reopen the daycare but only for the summer. I might have little ones here and there but it seems that the daycare is closing even sooner than that.

It is a hard realization that after twelve plus years of hard work to build a business and a strong reputation that it is gone over night. It is time for a new chapter for me and my family but is a bitter pill right now. What this means is that I need to start looking for work. I will spend the next couple weeks building my resume, working through contacts to hopefully get some leads for work. It is going to be stressful for sure, trying to find work in a pandemic with high unemployment. Not ideal but I am sure somehow things will work out in the end.

This week I will focus on getting the daycare stuff organized to sell, donate and give away. It won’t be easy but it has to be done. I will keep things for the little ones for the days that they might be here but with COVID protocol I have to purge a fair bit of what the kids love. The rest of the week will be working on getting more things done with the side yard reno and packing for our camping week.

Next week we are taking our first week away as a family since last August. It has been a stressful few months so we are really looking forward to this week away. It is kind of bittersweet. I love our seasonal site, love the friends we have there but this is the week I should have been going up to see my sister in her family. I miss Charlie, Todd and Marshall so much so I am going to miss our trip to the Muskokas this year. But we will have a great time with friends, lots of time on the river, go to the beach hopefully and hang out by the pool. Basically lots of laughs and relaxation.

Finally I wanted to say Happy Father’s Day to my amazing husband. You are our rock and happy place. We love you so much!