On the road

We were on the road this weekend.  It had been planned for a while that we would go visit our friends V and J for a ski weekend along with our other friends N and S plus all our kids.  And it ended up being a good weekend to do so as this was the weekend that we would put our house up for sale officially.  We spent every night during the week preparing, cleaning, decluttering and staging.  This included buying some furniture and curtains for our front living room.  For the last 8 years, this room has been one giant playroom for the kids.  But prospective buyers may prefer to see it as a formal living room. 

Here is a before:

And here an after:

We left the house at 1:30PM on Saturday to make our way up North.  A little more than an hour into the journey, we get a call from our realtor announcing that he has taken photographs of our house, planted the FOR SALE sign outside and has already shown it to a couple.  Geez!  This guy is quick!  And, he proposed that we have an open house the following day since 2 other homes were having open houses.  We carried on merrily with our weekend, drinking, eating and having lots of fun with our friends.  What we did not notice was that an email had come in from our realtor.  We only noticed the next day that we already had an offer on our house!  We carried on with the open house with lots of interest but by the time we came back from our weekend, we accepted their offer!  Can you actually sell your house so quickly?  We'll see as a few things need to happen before it is completely official.


Here is a picture of 4 of the 6 kids present during our weekend away.  Check out the 2 older goof balls.  They are too cute!  They both come from the same orphanage in China.  Isn't it great that they can be friends here in Canada?

Winter Fun

This weekend we decided to hit the road and pack ALL our sh*t and head out to Jay Peak to visit with C, P and G.  It takes an entire minivan to move all the stuff needed for 4 people (skis, snowshoes, ski suits, boots etc).  It is totally ridiculous... and exhausting!  But it was soooo much fun to go somewhere else other than our cottage.  The girls love road trips especially sleeping in different places.  So needless to say, everyone ended up in pjs rather quickly and settled in to watch a movie while the moms quietly relaxed and enjoyed a glass of wine.  The boys were to join us later once Gord landed from LA.

We spent the entire day skiing on Saturday.  It was great especially because this year, it wasn't nearly as cold as it was last year!  And we ended our Jay Peak experience with a wonderful beer (or two!) at the bar.  What?  The girls had hot chocolates...  Oh and I forgot my camera so no pictures of us on the slopes.  

The following day we decided to take it easy.  After a long drawn out breakfast, we headed out for a walk on the property and the girls played in the treehouse for a while followed by some toboganning.  Here I had my camera...

It was a great day and great weekend.  Thanks C, P and G!  We'll be back  ;)

A mish mash of things

Wow!  I can't believe it's been a month since my last post!  Frankly, I have not been in the mood and I been fairly tired lately.  Not sure what it is but I am fast asleep by 10PM.  It's also the end of the school year and the kids (and I) are done.  Where is summer?  When can I simply sit on my dock and sip coffee (or beer!)?  Soon, soon!  My next post will be about our cottage renos.  I hope to show you our before and after.

For now, here's what we've been up to.

We went to visit Gord's family in Guelph for the long weekend in May.  As usual, we took Friday off as well and had a four day weekend.  Road trip!  We spent Friday and Saturday in Guelph visiting with Mom and Dad and sisters too.  Cara-Li and Alexia got to spend time with theri 2 little cousins C. and N.  They always have so much fun together!  We were staying at the Holiday Inn, where kids stay and eat for free (I did not know this!), which had an indoor pool.  Needless to say, lots of time was spent there on Saturday as it was raining.  I did a little shopping as the mall was across the street.  And we had a really nice family did at a Chinese restaurant.  No, we didn't choose Chinese because of the girls but because Gord's parents LOVE Chinese  :)

On Sunday, we headed out towards Niagara Falls where we would spent the next two days.  On our way out of Guelph, I remembered that there was a wonderful Antique Market in Aberfoyle.  And I have been looking for two antique headboards for the girls' cottage bedroom.  Gord was NOT thrilled about stopping let alone having to jam 2 wrought iron headboards into our already full car but I made a deal with him.  Since I knew what I was looking for, we would leave as soon as I found it or maximum one hour.  I found exactly what I wanted, purchased it, stuffed it into our truck and were back on the road within 45 minutes.  Talk about speed shopping!  Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of the before but here is what they look like now after having them sand-blasted and painted (by moi).  Total cost:  $190.00.

After our Aberfoyle adventure, we made our way to Niagara Falls.  Since check-in at the Hilton is after 3PM, we decided to go to the American side first.  Well really, I just wanted to go shopping at Gymboree and Target.  Oh and a quick stop for lunch at Taco Bell  :)  After check-in, we met up with cousins C. and N. and Gord's sister for a swim in the pool (seems to be the popular activity during this trip) followed by an Italian dinner and fireworks at 10PM.  The next day, the girls finally got to see the Falls in their glory from the top, from the bottom (in the Maid in the Mist) and from the sky (from the giant ferris wheel).  I love Niagara Falls!  It's so cheesy!

Cara-Li has been taking gymnastics at school as a lunch time activity at school.  And last week was their Gala Sportif in front of the school with a presentation in the evening for the parents.  Much to our pleasure, Cara-Li was nominated along with 2 other children for the Best Athlete in elementary school.  She didn't win but we are so proud of her for being nominated!  And her gymnastics show was fabulous! 

We had the pleaseure of having N. ans S. over for dinner along with their daughter M. last Friday.  The girls played in the yard while parents got a chance to chat and sip some sparkling wine.  You know they're going to China next week to pick up their baby boy!  Yahoo!  Cara-Li was really great with the 2 little girls (they're the same age) but at one point one did not want to share with the other and well, all hell broke loose!  Tears were flying and the noise level suddenly got extremely loud.  The funniest part was Cara-Li's reaction.  She just looked at them and started laughing!  In fact, we all were.

Next, we went to a friend's 75th birthday party at the cottage where 150 people were present to help celebrate with him.  Lucky him.  Hope that I will have 150 friends at that age!

Alexia can write her name.  Is it just me or is that advanced for a 3 1/2 year old?  I guess we all think our kids are geniuses!

Funny view in my backyard yesterday.

Doesn't it look like we've been shearing sheep?  Seriously, good thing we had our friends over last weekend.  We CANNOT eat outside as these big chunks of cotton are falling out of our cottonwood!

We are renovating... the main floor of our house is a mess!  The roof leaked into our family room a couple of years ago and the ceiling has to be redone.  And we are added new pot lights while were at.  God knows what else I'll come up with while the guy is here....