The Summer in a Nutshell

It is definitely time to revive this blog, and I'll start with, "What I Did During My Summer Vacation." One thing I did was work, as I wasn't fortunate enough to have the whole summer off, but I still had plenty of time to spend with family and friends. My cousins Beryl and Rob spent several days with us, and the girls had a great time with Emma, Amanda and Olivia. We went into Toronto with them after their stay here and spent an afternoon at the Ontario Science Museum.


Julia had a terrific two weeks at summer camp with one of her friends from school. She claims she had a great time, despite the fact that she and her cabin-mates got caught in the biggest and wettest storm of the summer during their three-night out-trip. She then spent the rest of the summer relaxing at home and doing some volunteer work at the library and at our neighbourhood pool, reading with kids and assisting with swim lessons. Julia seems to enjoy working with younger kids, as long as the group doesn't include her sister.


Kate also had two weeks at a different summer camp with one of her good friends. This camp had a small lending library and Kate made it a personal mission to finish one Nancy Drew mystery each day at camp. Not surprisingly, she earned a "fastest reader" award from her camp counsellor. She told me that she did put the books aside long enough to swim, canoe, learn to make a fire, and do the usual camp activities, and she is looking forward to returning next year.

Todd and I had the opportunity to enjoy a kid-free weekend with our friends Mark and Sharon. We spent a couple of days in the Niagara Region, tasting and stocking up on wine, eating excellent food, and playing Settlers of Catan and Pandemic. I also got through at least a dozen novels and produced a decent crop of lettuce, peas, beans, eggplants and cucumbers this summer, though tomatoes were disappointing. Tomorrow, it's the start of a new school year!