4th of July and Wisconsin trip

We celebrated the 4th of July and our 11th wedding anniversary with a party! We had about 20 friends over for all-American food, red, white and blue crafts for the kids and sparklers around sunset. Our guests included fellow Americans, Canadians and Chinese. It made for a very eclectic group to enjoy a very American holiday. I've included a picture of a plate of sweet rice dumplings that are apparently a staple of many Asian holidays. We made them American by sticking US flags into them! I'm all for starting new traditions! 

Shortly after, we drove to Wisconsin to visit Mom and Dad and Grandma and Grandpa. We survived another 16hour drive by breaking it up with a hotel stop that resulted in a very poor nights sleep but was still a nice break. We made many special memories with our family and had a great time despite the cruddy weather. Most days were rainy and cold with a few days stuck in between that actually felt like summer. One of the items on Will's "to do" list for the summer was to camp and that was accomplished at least! Wayne and Will took the canoe across the lake my Mom and Dad live on and went over to the island across the way. It has a nice camp site that they set up our tent ( we apparently have a tent) and Mom, Dad, Zanna and I went to visit and roast hot dogs for dinner before heading back for home and leaving the men to pee in the bushes and sleep in the great outdoors for some serious male bonding. 

Other highlights for the guys included much time spent riding motorcycles, an unfortunate game of golf and killing bats in the house that made my Mom scream like a bad horror movie. Highlights for me was enjoying my Mom's good cooking, spending time with my parents and grandparents and shopping like a maniac with my mother after a 31/2 hour drive to Appleton/Oshgosh and back. 

Wayne celebrated his 34th birthday while on our trip and he requested my Grandma's ribs for his birthday dinner. She obliged and we feasted on a delicious meal! 

Summer's flying by and it's been lovely. As we head into August we have a Calgary trip to look forward to but not before VBS and Wayne's trip to NC to be in friend James' wedding. I'll be preparing for the upcoming school year and updating the bathroom and painting trim. 

Summer....continued

Happy Canada Day! To celebrate the occasion we went to Billings Estate - a preserved home and grounds that was built and owned by one of the first settlers to come to Ottawa (I hope I got that right). Anyway, it was a step back in time as we celebrated a 1909 Dominion day. The children helped to churn homemade ice cream, munched on popcorn, painted their own wooden yo-yo and toured the home. It was fun, low-key, low-stress. Next year we'll probably do the fireworks thing and be out later. I just need Zanna a bit older for that. But this was good. 
We came back home and did some sparklers in our back yard. We were careful to try and teach proper care and safety concerning the handheld fireworks but no matter. Sometimes things must be learned first hand the unfortunate way. The evening ended with Zanna grabbing the hot end of a used sparkler and she got it. She has a pretty high pain tolerance so I knew she was hurting but not to the extent of an ER trip or anything. As a matter of fact it could have been a lot worse and we're thankful that after the initial accident, it didn't seem to have any lasting effect. 
The last picture is of our yard. Our home improvement project for the year was a patio to cover up the muddy mess in the backyard with better drainage put in and rocks. We then purchased the gazebo structure and furniture to lounge on and I must say - it's been a dream! We enjoy sipping coffee/tea out there in the morning or cool drink in the  hot afternoon. We've done some entertaining. I've napped sprawled out on the couch. It's like having a whole other room. We are loving it!!

Anyone that knows me well knows that I not what one would consider a nature girl. I prefer to experience nature behind a window in comfortable air-conditioning where there are no bugs. Having said this, since becoming a mother I yearn to instill in my children a love for God's creation and a fascination with nature despite my inadequacies. I was determined this summer to do just that. I purchased a bird feeder and seeds to encourage birds to "hang out" in our yard and that the children would observe them. They could use their binoculars and wait in the play structure awaiting the little visitors. This was my vision. Reality is quite different.

It took a few days but word got out to the birds that there was a new restaurant in town and soon enough they came! But it was the unexpected addition of the chipmunks that came too. We couldn't figure out where all the little seeds all over the lawn were coming from until I realized that Wayne had moved the bag of seeds out of the shed where I had put them and instead placed them under the stairs. This turned out to be a veritable smorgasbord for the little animals. This bag was promptly moved back into the shed but no matter - the chipmunks just hung out under the feeder waiting for the inevitable seeds to drop. The squirrels then thought they would join in. While this is indeed nature in our backyard I was not altogether bothered by this but my husband was. The final nail in the coffin was the arrival of raccoons. That did it - Wayne and the raccoons stared each other down until he took a hose to them and then took down the feeder after their departure. But it was too late. The birds had come to like our backyard and decided to start a family in the corner of our new gazebo within the bug netting. Wayne removed the beginnings of the nest 3 times but mama bird would just return to build it again. The netting came down. So much for nature. Now we have no birds, chipmunks, squirrels or raccoons. Maybe we'll go to the zoo......

Summer time - and the living is easy

AHHH, Summer! I love it! It's been in full swing for us now for a couple of weeks. Swimming lessons wrapped up, Will took his violin exam and the weather warmed up. 
This is the last I'll be mentioning the next subject - Zanna is finally potty trained. Promised of M&M's, coloring books, etc were not enough incentive for this little diva. We pulled out the big guns. 5 poops in the potty equals a big girl bike. 
Here she is on the well deserved bike. I made up a big purple chart with little pictures and places to put stickers and she got it - FINALLY! 

My family also survived my trip to Denver. I myself had a fabulous time hanging out with sister-in-law Steph, shopping until we dropped - oh, how we dropped like flies. That was not the reason for our trip to Denver however. We attended the Lutheran Women's Missionary Society annual convention. We went to hear our WELS missionaries speak about the areas and people they serve around the world. We went for the fellowship of 1000 other women and men and our worship and praise to Christ. We went for the uplifting Bible studies and encouraging workshops. And yes, we went for the food.  It was really weird not to have hubby or kids around. I missed them like crazy but it felt good to miss them too. And it was terrific to come home! Wayne did a great job balancing the kids and work and I came back to a pretty clean house too. Super Dad!! I don't think he's keen on me doing that again any time soon but I'll take what I can get.

Wrapping things up

Will had his first violin recital this last weekend. He did a great job! 
Swimming lessons will be wrapping up for the year next week. Zanna had a rough start and got better after being bribed with ice cream a few times. Now she has a great time!
Will's doing great with his laps!

We've finished up school for the year and have been enjoying the beginning of our summer! We've planted our flowers, filled up the bird feeders and mowed the lawn.  Bring it on! 

Reflections

It will be 7yrs of living in Canada this July. Hard to believe! And now that I am a Canadian citizen I have cause for some reflection as I look back on my time here. I remember the most challenging obstacles that made it hard in the beginning to adjust. As silly as they are (and I knew they were at the time too) they all caused much stress in my life. 

Milk in a bag. After drinking milk from a gallon jug all my life, I was not amused by the milk in a bag. Originally, I bought the white plastic container that the bags go into. So cheap and ugly (I know, like the plastic gallon jugs are attractive). Some might say I was down right bitter about the whole thing. Knowing this my dear husband gave me the most precious gift he could have that Christmas. He went to a paint your own pottery place and painted a ceramic jug himself. On it says "This is the day that the Lord has made" on one side and "Let us rejoice and be glad in it" on the other side. Well good grief, how could I ever fuss about the milk in a bag while reading that? 

A trip to the grocery store ending in tears. This was a shock for me - truly. I had always walked into a grocery store and knew the brands I always bought and approximately how much I'd pay for it. Instead there you'd find me staring blankly at the shelves of canned whatever, confused by the french side and horrified by some of the prices. Meat -well, forgetaboutit. I still can't get over how expensive it is but since Wayne has no intention of becoming a vegetarian anytime soon I try to take advantage of sales. 

Yankee candles. I know - what the heck. Up until this point we always lit a Yankee candle in the evening. The scent would depend on the season or holiday. It never crossed my mind before we moved to stock up on these. I practically hyperventilated when I realized Yankee is American (duh) and may be challenging to find around here - not to mention that when I did the markup was crazy. OK, so I REALLY over reacted in retrospect and my first trip back to the States I bought an copious amount of candles in numerous varieties of scents so I will never run out. And indeed, even to this day, I have not and have no fear that I will for many, many years.

Target. 'nough said.

Ok, so now it's 7yrs later and I've embraced the country as my own. What happened?

Milk in a bag - I've come to prefer the taste. When I have it from a plastic jug now the milk tastes like plastic. And after all, this is the day that the Lord has made. Who can argue with that?

Grocery store - I am still amazed by the cost of many items but I guess I'm over it. After all, what am I going to do - we have to eat. But the big thing I really appreciate about my local grocery store is the diversity of flavours. Because of the many different cultures represented from all over the world that live in this area, they offer many authentic food products from a variety of countries. Mexico may be the exception - I've learned to make much of my own for that. I'm talking an amazing Asian selection - Chinese and Indian (my family and I just discovered Indian food and we are inhaling it. I try and make curry once a week now!) Then there's Italian, Greek and whatever else I run across. I love my grocery store. There. I said it.

Yankee candles. Well, as previously mentioned I have enough to last for years and I admit I may have over done it. 

Target. Watertown, New York is an hour and a half away and has a new Target and Kohls. This will have to do. 

Oh, Canada!

Yesterday I was one of 82 people that became Canadian citizens from 38 different countries. It was a very interesting and exciting experience! In the picture is the judge that presided over the ceremony. Behind us is Canada's coat of arms. I'm holding my citizenship certificate and a Canadian flag they gave everyone.  Now I'll have to start "talking Canadian" and ending everything with "eh".