What a summer we've had!

Blogging has obviously not been #1 on my to-do list this summer - but not because there was nothing to report!  We have had an extremely full AND absolutely fantastic summer.

We had great visits from grandparents and then in August my brother & family came to Toronto for a week.  It was so much fun to see the cousins playing together.  Helena adores Emma, and Charlie loves Benjamin!

A highlight of their visit for me was taking the three older kids on a log flume ride.  Their reactions and then excited faces when we got to go again were just the best.

 

Another activity of the summer was housesitting for one of John's colleagues.  Having a house of our own was such a treat.  I may have told John every couple hours "I love living here."

First thing we did after arriving at "our house" was buy a kiddie pool to use in the fenced-in backyard.

A few blocks away was a ravine so we took evening walks.  As soon as we got to the entrance, Helena would hop out of the wagon and just run run run.  Or pull the wagon :)

We made at least one meal a day on the grill.  Hamburgers, brats, barbecued chicken, grilled pizza - so good.  We also ate almost every single meal outside!

 

It was possible to squeeze a few fun Toronto festivals into our summer schedule.  Helena & her friend Zoe had a lot of fun at Dundas Square's (think Canada's Time Square) 10th birthday!

The huge Toronto Buskerfest (Festival of Street Performers) was held 10 minutes away from us.  She liked the acrobats but Helena's favorite were the seagulls.

 We wrapped up the summer events with our annual camping trip and apple picking with friends.  

 

Benjamin was such a good camper.  (Thanks again, Millie, for this great baby chair.  It helped protect Benjamin from bugs and the girls loved turning on the nature music, as if we needed it while in nature.)

 

We had a few gorgeous beach days while camping, as well as a few days of rain.

It's sad summer has come to an end, but with the brisk breeze coming in our windows right now, we're looking forward to wearing hoodies, drinking hot chocolate, eating squash and crunching leaves this fall.  Life is full with these two kids and so so good!

Prequ'ile Provincial Park, Take 2

Like last August, we went camping with our friends Peter, Christa & Holly.  The girls were mobile this year, which made it so much more fun!

 

Helena & Holly loved seeing all the animals.  In the above they're watching a caterpillar walk on the tent.  Overall, Helena accidentally crunched two caterpillars with her loving touches, kissed one right on its back without killing it, and got one to hold on so tight to her finger that I had a hard time getting it off!

The other major animal sighting was a frog.  It immediately hopped under a car, but the girls continued to observe it for a very long time. 

 

The beach is the big draw at Presqu'ile.  The guys played frisbee for so long that John got a blister!

The beaches have a beautiful white sand but our campsite was near a rocky beach, so we also spent time throwing rocks into Lake Ontario.  

One evening John cooked hobos and corn on the cob over the fire.  Best meal of the trip! 

Thanks for the hobo addition, Erinn - the sweet potatoes were excellent!

 
 

Helena had her first hot dog and first marshmallow in the park.  She loved both.

 One morning we went on the Marsh Boardwalk, which completely surpassed all our expectations.  It was beautiful and 100% not buggy.

 

One afternoon Helena danced and ran around with her shadow.  It was so much fun to watch.

Helena & Holly seemed to decide the front door to our tent was a makeshift couch for the camping trip.  They'd be running around playing and then both decide to go plop themselves down at the door, sit and play for awhile, and then get back up to run around some more.  This happened over and over and over again.

 

Every morning Helena would wake up with a huge smile on her face.   John & I loved being outside of the city where we could hear the leaves rustling, the waves hitting the shore, the birds singing, but even more we loved seeing Helena enjoy the outdoors so much.

Presqu'ile Provincial Park

This past weekend we went camping with friends from church. The campground was very unlike what John & I typically go for. Instead of hiking trails that rise and fall with the landscape, we had the sandy beaches of Lake Ontario.


Earlier this summer I was amazed with the beach of Lake Michigan. There was a good ten feet of nice sand before you got to the lake. But check this out!


Unfortunately, we had a sick little babe with us. So, laying on the beach consisted of this:


Despite Helena being sick for some of the time, we had a really nice weekend. Helena had a playmate for when she was feeling good:


And we had nice conversations with friends. A campfire is usually good for that, isn't it?