Posts Tagged ‘summer’

Maybe we were sun-drunk or perhaps we were fuelled by the fresh forest air, but my favourite summer moment from last year comes from a camping trip with a couple of friends in Quebec.

That was then
I'm dancing around a campfire with my pals Aileen and Barb, stopping only to collect twigs and firewood from a nearby stack of chopped branches to toss into the hungry fire. See? Here's the fire:

Our campfire is hot stuff!

We're relaxed, carefree, giggling together over our shared silliness, and singing along to the lyrics we're listening to: "She needs more wood for the fire."

This is now
I'm sooo ready for this weekend's camping trip, when our trio will reunite for more camping fun. Hooray for summer and the great Canadian camping adventures I enjoy so much!

Care to share one of your favourite Canadian summertime memories? Tell me by posting your comment below and subscribing to The Life Blog (it's free! Click the RSS icon or email icon at upper right).

You could win a basket of yummy food items from President's Choice to make for even more delicious summer memories. Each basket is valued at $100 and I'm choosing five randomly drawn winners from all the comments posted here by Tues., Aug. 2, 2011 at 10 a.m. EST.

The rules: You must live in Canada and be of age of majority in the province or territory you live in. You can't win if you live with me or anyone else who works at Transcontinental Media or Loblaws. And you must follow the terms of submission above: Post a comment that explains your favourite Canadian summer memory and subscribe to The Life Blog. I'll check!

You want to see what you can win, don't you? Here's what's up for grabs:

Is that ice cream sandwiches I see? It is! It is ice cream sandwiches! And a S'more's kit too!

Give us your great Canadian summer memory and you get a chance to win $100 worth of free yummy stuff.

Three summers ago, after yet another weekend of “what do you want to do today?” “I don’t know. What do you want to do?” my boyfriend and I drew up a to-do list. We named it “Our Summer ’o Fun.” We wrote down more than a dozen activities and hung the list on my fridge. By the first week of September, everything had been crossed off.

The tradition lives on. Here are just five things on this year’s version of "Our Summer 'o Fun."

• Pillage a pick-your-own. I crossed this one off the list this past weekend by picking about five pounds of strawberries. I think a return trip is in order, but this time for some fresh veggies. The potatoes just became available and I’ve been meaning to try my hand at making potato soup.

Delicious summer strawberries (Image via Wikipedia)

• Picnic in the park. I have a portable griller that is begging to be used. We’ll marinate some chicken souvlaki, cut up some fresh veggies and throw a couple of ice-cold bottles of water into our cooler and head off to the Toronto Islands. Now all we need is a shady space to lay our blanket.

• Hit the tennis courts. I used to play quite regularly; now, it’s more of an annual event. This is an early morning activity for sure. Any later in the day and the heat will likely cause me to curl up in a ball beside the net and settle in for a nap.

• Enjoy a ball game. No, I don’t mean the Blue Jays (although that’s fun, too). I mean the Toronto Maple Leafs, our local entry in the Intercounty Baseball League. As a child, I loved to bike down to the local diamond and take in a game. Now, I can ride the subway a few stops and check out these semi-professionals from across Ontario.

• Take a day trip. A yearly favourite is Niagara-on-the-Lake. A stop at Kurtz Orchards, where you can sample pretty much any of their jams, jellies, sauces and butters, is a must. This year I plan on visiting St. Jacobs for the first time. The village is known for its beautiful hand-crafted furniture and I’ve been looking for a end table, so who knows?

My list is far from complete so help me out. What should I add to it? What are your favourite ways to have fun in the sun?

End of school parties, Yearbook signing, Exams, Daydreaming in class, Focused on the end of the school day bell...

All signs that the end of the school year is here. Yay!

For us working parents, our day to day lives go on as normal (other than the occasional summer getaway), but the kids are looking forward to lazy summer days.
No alarm clocks. No assignments. No homework. No schedules.
Just a whole lot of staying up late, sleeping in and enjoying the dog days of summer.

Ahhhhhhh. Life doesn't get any better than that, does it?

I hate to burst their bubble.
It all sounds so awesome and wonderful and, well... so darn lovely, doesn't it?
But I'm about to put a wrench in their plans.

You see, they're old enough now to stay home on their own.
No more babysitters.
No more Grandma.
No more homemade chicken soup .

Which means the torch has now been passed on to them - the children of the home.
Which means our home is theirs between the hours of 9-5.
Which means they're not spending the day at the babysitter or Grandma isn't coming over to make them lunch and wash the dishes and sweep the floors.
Which means... THEY DARN WELL BETTER CLEAN UP AFTER THEMSELVES!

I'm going to put a chore list on the fridge with each child's responsibility. I expect that the house be tidy, beds made, dishes washed, floors swept and children happy by the time I walk through the door after work.

Is that too much?

Do you think teens & pre-teens should be given more responsibility during the summer months?

Oh my.
It's the end of May.
Already.
I'm thinking of my summer plans.
Already.
I'm envisioning sitting on a beach chair sipping pina colada's overlooking a lake somewhere.
Because it sounds lovely, right?
Because it sounds wonderfully relaxing and it pretty much sums up what I expect from my summer vacation.

I wish I could just twitch my nose (like Samantha from Bewitched) and transform myself from the here and now to the then and there.
But I'm no witch nor wizard.
I don't possess any magical powers.
I have to get busy so I can get relaxing.

And this is how I plan on doing it...

1 - Start looking now (actually, I'm a little late, the earlier the better) for your vacation destination. A few great cottage rental and camping sites I've come across are cottagesincanada.com, ontarioparks.ca and cottagelink.com.

2 - Renew your CAA membership and obtain maps from your CAA dealership. Have your vehicle serviced before you start your drive.

3 - Have each family member pack for themselves. However, I suggest taking a gander at everything before loading the car, especially those of teenage girls. I mean, how many tank tops does a girl really need?

4 - Take a look through the house before driving off. You don't want to find yourself sunbathing on your daughter's tank top because you left the beach towels in the hallway closet.

5 - Make sure you stop somewhere along the way to fuel up the bellies. The last thing you want to hear is "Mom, I'm hungry" when pulling up to that little piece of heaven on earth.

A little piece of heaven on earth

With a little organization and a plan in motion, I'll be ready.

There'll only be one thing left on my to do list.

So...

who's going to deliver my lake front pina colada?

Cheers! and happy summer planning.

Is canoeing or camping one of your fave summer pass times?

A while ago, I blogged about eco-friendly warm-weather activities. I can't believe I didn't mention canoeing and camping! We all have our favourite summer pass times, and canoeing and camping is probably right up there at the top of many Canadian's lists. As soon as summer rolls around, we're all thinking about exploring the wilderness (or at least us city slickers are).

In hounor of a sunny summer, I've rounded up our best canoeing/camping articles for you to read. If you leaf through these, you'll be well-prepared for your summer:

• 7 great Canadian canoe trips

• A camping primer

• How to be a green camper

• Camping cuisine

And my fave article:

• 7 ways to keep the bugs away

What are your summer plans?

Don't forget to enter my current giveaway. I'm annoucing a winner tomorrow!

Hiking - A common summer pastime.

With summer arriving in mere days, we all find ourselves willing to pick up hobbies we let fall to the wayside in the winter. One of my most beloved hobbies, running, always gets put on the back burner as soon as there's a chill in the air. There's something about motivating myself to run on ice-covered sidewalks that doesn't really get me up from the couch. This bad attitude lasts from about December to late February. But now that the weather's warmer (and I have no fear of slipping on the ice and breaking an ankle), I can hardly wait to put on my running gear and pound the pavement a few times a week.

There's also a lot more opportunity to get out hiking in my surrounding areas. And with the days getting longer it's just so easy to find an excuse to wile away the time in the woods.

I also intend to keep up with my gardening, catch up on some reading and do some more cooking.

What hobbies will you pick up this summer? Are you going to revive and old craft project? Learn a new talent? Or simply pass the time relaxing on your back deck?

Don't know what to occupy the time with? Try out one of our favourite eco-friendly craft or hobby ideas.

Also, don't forget to enter my President’s Choice Green Stow Away Shopping Bag contest!