It’s my first week of vacation and after a weekend of camping, I find myself lazing around the house.  It’s 10:30 in the morning and I haven’t even showered yet.  We did some cleaning yesterday and a little re-organizing.  Hubby is doing the laundry as I HATE doing laundry.  He actually does a much better job.  I’m better at cooking, cleaning and organizing the house.  We went to see a movie last night, “The Dark Knight”.  I really liked it.  It’s a bit darker than the others and Heath Ledger was awesome as the joker.  He was such a talented actor and one of my favorites.

Today we are doing a bit more house cleaning as we are expecting quiltingmom and family over for supper tonight.  Which reminds me, I have to do up a grocery list for hubby.

Next week, we are taking Braeden to Halifax.  He is leaving august 6 to go to edmonton for 2 weeks to visit with his dad.  Of course the flight leaves at 7am in the morning and his return flight gets in at 6am.  Blah!  I am NOT a morning person at all.  I’m not truly functional until 9 or 10am.  Hopefully we can go over the night before but if not, I may just stay home with the girls and let hubby take him over.  Braeden has had quite the summer.  He has been to new york and now edmonton.  This will be his first time flying so hopefully he will get along ok.

As for the rest of my vacation, we’ll probably go to the beach a few times and of course a trip to the mill river fun park.  My best friend is home for a few weeks, so we usually get together and do stuff with the kids.  Tomorrow night, we are going to take the girls to an outdoor movie down at the boardwalk.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate.  I can’t believe today is the last day of July!  Where has the summer gone??

We just arrived home from our first family camping adventure.  What a great time we had!  We’ve already got a site booked for a weekend in September and we are going to book a site for next summer.

We arrived Friday around noon and attempted to set up the tent.  I made the foolish mistake of booking on the new side which is very open and windy.  We couldn’t get the tent up for the wind.  So we went up to see if we could get another site on the sheltered side.  We did, but for one night only….which meant we had to set up and then take everything back down again the next morning.  Oh well, we were there and that was all that mattered.  The next day we found a permanent site for the next 3 nights…thank goodness!  No more moving!!  We met up with quiltingmom and family coming up from the beach.  It’s funny when you see pictures of someone and then run into them face to face how you always second guess yourself about whether or not it’s really them.  I’ve met Cara once before and because her family is usually dressed in the same outfits, she’s very easy to find.  We bumped into them on the beach later that evening.  Saturday we spent the day on the beach again and that evening we went for a hayride.  They had an “Anne” character give a history of the campground.  It was pretty cool and the scenery was amazing. Saturday night we heading to quiltingmom’s for some pina colada’s. We were on our second drink when Cara and family arrived with some treats! We had lobster rolls, s’mores and a special pina colada drink Cara had tried while in the Cayman Islands.

Sunday, we took a stroll by Cara’s site to say goodbye and met up with Tricia and family. After chatting and getting some pics, we made plans with tricia and family that evening and headed our separate ways.  That afternoon, we hit the beach and went for a nice walk to the twin shores rock. We got some great pics and the rock formation was really cool!

Monday was the day I was looking forward to the most. It was chocolate bar bingo!! You bring a chocolate bar to play and the prizes are bags of chocolate bars. The first few games were prizes of 15-25 chocolate bars. The last game, which was a full card, the winner was awarded 92 chocolate bars!!! WOW!! I can’t even imagine the sugar rush! I was close once…one number away…I needed O71 and O72 was called for bingo. Oh well, it was fun. There must have been between 150-200 people there. Apparently chocolate bar bingo is very popular.

We had such a great time, it was hard to leave this morning.   After unpacking the car and seeing all the laundry that needs to be done, looks like I will be pretty busy the next few days!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

If you are coming to PEI and you get a chance…go to a dinner theatre!  I go every year with a few friends and i’ve yet to be disappointed.  If you are not familiar with the concept, it involves an interactive performance while enjoying a fantastic meal.  Last night we went to see “Victoria’s Secret” in summerside.  What a hoot!!  I love the way they interact with the crowd and the food…yummy!!  They serve a light salad followed by some bowls of mussels…double yummm!! Then you have your choice of chicken or salmon with dill sauce with smashed potatoes and veggies….sooo good!  The dessert was a chocolate/vanilla layered cake with creamy vanilla/chocolate filling.  Here are some pics of the show:

Keith, the brides brother and geek extraordinaire

interacting with the crowd:

us girls with some of the performers:

the performers

Braeden is 14 yrs old and has always been a really great drawer, but these last few years his drawing abilities have really developed.  The detail he puts into a drawing is phenominal and he draws images over and over again until they are perfect.  He went through a spell of drawing titantic and spiderman.   Now he is into comic book drawings and alien vs preditor.  He did go to a 6 week art program and even the art teacher was impressed.  Below are a few samples of his drawings.

We are all going camping for 4 nights this friday and I CAN’T WAIT!!!!  There is so much to do, I don’t know where to start.  Friday morning I have some running around to do.  We have to pick up some lanterns, a tent shelter ( I waited too long for the one I wanted and they sold out…grrrr!), and some groceries.  I’ve been browsing the internet and cpo for some camping recipes and I have my grocery list complete.  We’ll be taking both cars with the amount of stuff we will be taking.  We talked about putting the dog in a kennel, but I think we’ll take her.  She loves the beach, she just gets a little excited when she sees other dogs and there will be plenty of other dogs at the campground.  For being a medium size dog, she is VERY strong.  It takes every bit of my strength to hold her when she spots another dog.

I’m hoping we’ll have nice sunny weather.  There has been discussion of a hurricane heading to Nova Scotia.  Hopefully it won’t amount to much.   I’m really looking forward to having some daiquiris and pina colada’s with quiltingmom and ladybugmom.   Break out the s’mores and the doritos girls…..woohoo!!!! Twin Shores will never be the same!!

It is a given that during the summer months, Sundays are our day at the beach.  We usually start the day off by attending church and then coming home for a quick lunch and to pack up the car.  The afternoon is spent laying on the beach, playing in the sand, swimming and when the tide is out, we’ll walk across the beach.  Today was a great day.  The weather was warm and the water was great!  Braeden even joined us.  At 14, it’s getting harder and harder to convince him to hang out with the family, so I was thrilled when he wanted to join us today at the beach.  He is staying at the cottage with my parents for a few days and then he will be home in time to go camping.  What a life!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!  I am starting my vacation this thursday and it feels as though time is literally standing still.  Once Thursday does arrive, it will be a worldwind after that.  We are going camping fri, sat, sun and monday night.  Nothing set in stone for the following week, but we have talked about camping a few nights in Souris.  I have some close friends that live there and I love the beach up there.  Basin Head beach is one of the most beautiful beaches on the island.  They call it the “singing sands” because the sand makes a squeaking noise when you walk on it.   I think the last time we camped there was before we were married and my brother and his wife were with us…no kids!!

The following week, hubby’s brother and girlfriend are coming for a visit.  We all worked for the same company a few years back and we always have a great time together.  I’m really looking forward to their visit.   A few days after that, we will be getting ready for Gabby’s 2nd birthday party.  We don’t usually have any kids over for birthdays.  We make it a family event with cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents instead.  Braeden had a sleepover this year for his birthday and when the girls get a little older we may do the same.

I don’t go back to work until August 11th.  Of course once I am actually “ON” my vacation, time will pass by super quick and I will be back to work again…blah!  Summer is just too short!!!

I took the girls berry picking last night with a friend.  I must say I was very disappointed with the berries.  I went to the same place last year and the berries were amazing.  This year, they were small and not as plentiful.  I guess I waited too long.  The girls had fun though.  Gabby was eating the berries faster than I could put them in the bowl.    Below is a pic of this year and last years berries.  As you can see there is quite a difference in size.  Gabby is a little bigger too!

Grace and Gabby ~ 2008

I have been trying to lose weight since January and not having any luck.  I’m so unmotivated and I LOVE to eat…especially snacks.  Chocolate and ice-cream are my two biggest weaknesses.  I just have no will power.  So this week, I decided enough is enough and I must get on the ball!  I injured my knee in high school during a rugby match (the day before prom would you believe!) and it has been really bothering me.  I’m hoping if i can lose 20lbs, it may help.  It doesn’t sound like much, but it would make me extremely happy.  So I am going to plot my progress over the next two months.  Hopefully it will help me be more accountable.  This week I have made the following changes:

• no snacking after 7:30 pm
• drink more water throughout the day
• eating between 1500-1700 calories per day

I am hoping to lose 2lbs per week which I think is reasonable.  My current weight is 165lbs and I would like to be 145lbs by the end of October.  By setting deadlines, I’m hoping it will help me accomplish my goal.  WISH ME LUCK!!!

P.S.   if anyone can find a site that lists calories of various foods, please send me the link…thanks!

Being on PEI, I feel a little isolated from everyone else on CPO.  I was so disappointed I missed the CPO picnic in N.S. last year that I made a promise to myself I would make it this year no matter what!  So this morning we packed up the car and headed to Truro to meet up with the lovely ladies from N.S.  (btw….thank you all for making us feel so welcome!)

We arrived shortly after noon and met up with Trinity2006.  Unfortunately, she had to leave so it was a quick chit chat, a few pics and she was off.  I love this pic…the girls were having quite the conversion although no one had any idea what they were saying.   It was all “gibberish”.

We were instructed to follow the “smoke” to find the rest of the gang.  There was a pretty good turnout and I was able to chit chat with a few people.  I must say little marcus is every bit as cute in person as he is in his pics.  It was so great to meet more cpo’ers in person.  After lunch, I wanted to get a quick photo of the group before everyone went to separate areas of the park.  Thank goodness for the hubby’s!  Gabby was totally uncooperative.  I tried to distract her with some strawberries, but that didn’t work at all…she wanted down and she wanted down NOW!!

She did discover a bumbo chair…too bad I hadn’t noticed it before.  Notice the change in mood???

Next we headed to the waterfalls.  The scenery in the park is truly amazing and I couldn’t resist snapping a few pics on the way to the falls.

We finished off our visit to the park with a dip in the pool.  What a great pool and $8 for a family of four is a great price!  We were enjoying ourselves so much, we lost track of time.  Here is a pic of the girls enjoying the pool.

It was really great meeting everyone and we had an awesome afternoon.  Tracey…sorry I left without saying goodbye..I hope you were able to get that family pic!   Perhaps you, mike and the boys will pop over to PEI for a visit???  If not, hubby and I are talking about going to the cabot trail for our anniversary this year (sept).  If we do, we will definitely look you up!  MargotB, hubby wanted to thank you for helping him….emilyx3, littlepeanut, cherbear, newmomof3…i’m so glad i was able to meet you all face to face and I am looking forward to next year.  Hopefully we won’t be rushed to get back to PEI and we can spend a little more time with you all.

Hubby is in town as we speak waiting for braeden to arrive home from his trip to new york and i am bracing myself for the smell!!!  a whole week on his own and no mom to nag him to shower?  i have a feeling it is NOT going to be pretty….barf!!

Thanks again ladies!!!!