Summer Fun List - Strawberry Picking

On Monday afternoon, we headed out with some friends to pick strawberries at a local farm. The weather was perfect - sunny, blue skies and high of 28 degrees. This was a great activity to do with the kids. They were able to run around freely, and although it did get a little warm, they found some shade and hung out while "The Moms" finished up.  

I had the bright idea that I would strap Maddie into the baby carrier to bring her along...

After about 100 squats with baby on board, I had to put her down before I blacked out - it was hot out!

Here's a few more pictures of our adventure...

When we got home, we munched on the best strawberries I've ever tasted. :)

Tonight, I am making Peppered Beef with Balsamic Strawberry Salsa for dinner. I prepared the salsa this morning and it looks delicious!

Yum, yum yum... Can't wait!

That's so Vaginal

Saw this today and wanted to share...

Weekend Wrap-up

I've been at a loss these past few days with what to blog about. I don't want to get boring and just log all the things we have done this past week, but I will bring you up to speed.

As I mentioned, I joined Goodlife last Tuesday. I have gone to work out 5 out of 6 days since I joined. I'm thinking that I will go every weekday morning and give myself the weekends off. That being said, I did go in for a quick cardio workout this morning since I indulged a bit on Friday and Saturday and thought it might get me back on track.

I've also been really enjoying the child minding service at the gym. It's a bit of a pain to book ahead for Maddie (all kids under 12 months) and also to lug her in the car seat, the diaper bag, my gym bag AND Cate up the stairs to get there, but I'm considering it my warm-up ;) I did try bringing Maddie without the car seat and it was even more challenging. I can't wait until she starts walking...

(Insert lame comment "Oh but its so much harder when they start walking," No - it's not, it's definately easier. I don't know why people always say that...)

Moving on, I also decided to upgrade my phone this week. I've been researching more about the Mitsubishi City Chase, and everything seems to indicate that we should have the use of a smarthone. After humming and hah-ing I went with the iPhone 4. I definately went over my usual budget for a cell phone, but I think it offers alot more than a regular cell phone. I've also justified it since we were going to buy a new point and shoot camera, so now we won't have to. Even more importantly, Cate loves playing with the Disney apps.

Here are a few Instagrams from this morning:

Hubby had the day off on Friday since he works in Québec and Cate still went to daycare, so we took advantage of the free time to start a clean up of our basement. We've been talking about re-finishing the basement more and more and so in order to do so, we needed to do some major purging. We have a little bit left to go, but I'm so happy with our progress. I'll share some pics once we get the last little bit sorted out (because I know you're all so excited to see pictures of my storage room...)

As a result of the clean-up, we had a few things to get rid of. I decided to give online selling another try and posted them on kijiji. I got varying interest and learned a few things along the way and so I've decided to do a bit of a case study post later this week to share with you.

Stay tuned...

Things I love about Summer

Flip flops


Getting a warm glow


Frequent pedicures


Wearing capris


Swimming in pools (not oceans or lakes...)


Less clothes to put on the kids to go outside


Walking everywhere


Trips to the park


Drive-in movies


Vacation time as a family


Weekend Getaways


Drinking beer

Patios

Reading a book in the backyard

Summer dresses


Waking up to sunshine


Windows open in the car


Flea markets


BBQ

and most importantly...

The feeling I get deep down inside on a beautiful day.

Summer Bliss!


What do YOU love about summer?

Day 1 & 2

So I kept true to my promise and yesterday I registered at Goodlife. I also got the kids memberships for the child minding.

I decided to start off easy and did 10 mins on the elliptical. It's definately a much smoother movement than the elliptial we have a home. From there, I went over to meet my friend Katie who showed me some exercises with the medecine ball. I kept it light the first day and left pretty happy :)

Today I was short on time since I had an appointment at 9:30, so I got there early and did 10 mins on the treadmill (fast walking, not running... hehe) and another 15 mins on the bike. I really pushed it on the bike, mainly because I couldn't figure out how to adjust the resistance setting, so I figured I go faster if I couldn't go stronger... Regardless, I was happy since I still had lots of energy left and was disappointed that I had to leave.

Looking forward to rounding out the week with some weight lifting tomorrow and then yoga on Friday :)

Summer Fun List

Blantantly stealing this post idea from Katie...

Sooooo, since today is the first day of summer, Cate and I made a list of all the things we want to do this summer.

Go Strawberry Picking

Visit Mikah & Zak in Quebec City

Swimming in Grandma & Grandpa's Pool

Go to the Biodome

Have a Picnic

Shop at a Farmer's Market

Fly a Kite

Go to an Outdoor Concert

Mitsubishi City Chase

Have scheduled Date Nights

Go Cross Border Shopping

Make Real Lemonade

Exercise every Weekday Morning

Go See a Movie at the Drive-In

What do YOU want to do this summer?

Step 2

It's set. I've spoken to someone at the gym and I'm going in there tomorrow morning to take a tour, try out the child minding and sign up. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I'm not actually sure why I'm nervous. Maybe of failing? losing ambition? not sure what exactly, but I'm going to ignore it and go anyway.

I'm looking forward to a month or so from now when I reach my comfort level with it and don't feel like a newbie anymore. I'm also looking forward to get stronger and building up my endurance in anticipation of the Mitsubishi City Chase coming up at the end of July. I'm purposely not looking up too much about it for fear of it freaking me out! I'm sure that will change once I started feel more "in shape".

Today, I will focus of cleaning our disaster of a house and buy a new patio door - it's time.

Princess for a Day

Yesterday we celebrated Cate's 3rd Birthday with family and friends. My inlaws were so kind to host the party at their new FABULOUS home. Here are a few pictures of the festivities...

The guests have started to arrive...

 

Bubbles!

Let the bouncing begin!

The Cake
  





And of course, there were presents!