Big News in the Wilson House!

July 13th-- Ever since she was a little girl Nicole has wanted to be a teacher. She has never wavered in that decision although what she wants to teach does change, from elementary to high school to special ed. She just knows that this is what she is meant to do. Well that dream is one step closer to becoming a reality- Nicole found out this past Thursday that she has been accepted into the Honour Arts program at Wilfrid Laurier's Brantford campus to do Contemporary Studies- Childhood Education and Development & Psychology. She is so thrilled!

It has been a long road for Nicole to get here. If you never remember anything else you ever read here on this blog this is my one life lesson for you- do not, I repeat, do not take your grade 12 child out of school for a family vacation before mid term marks are in!!!!! We took Nicole to Florida this winter for an extra week at March Break and then we came back and she had a bladder infection and the flu- she missed over 2 weeks of classes altogether so when it was time for her mid term marks to be sent into the university her teachers didn't have enough work from Nicole to accurately represent her mark. As a result Nicole did not get accepted into university in the Spring. She did contact the school and asked them to reassess her with her final marks when they came in. Well the university agreed, her marks were great and they sent Nicole an acceptance last week. She had resigned herself to going back to high school for a 5th year so this news was very welcome but also met with trepidation as now she was under the gun to get everything organized. She need to accept, get registered, apply for residence and pick her courses all by Monday afternoon! Thank god for wi-fi! We spent a lot of our weekend away reading all the Laurier sites and figuring it all out.

Well she pulled it off- it is all done. This is going to be a big change in Nicole's life. She is the first from my family to attend University. We are so proud of her, her grandparents are amazed and her boyfriend Josh is super supportive- she should do a great job and have a fantastic year!

Way to go Nicole !!!

Katie's Update

July 12th--I have come to realize that with Katie gone to camp she is very absent from our home and also on my blog. I do get texts from her almost daily so I know what she is up to I just don't get to physically see her. You would think I would be used to this since she was gone on her exchange for 3 months but it is still hard- I miss her.

Katie was home from camp this weekend. She brought with her much laundry and many funny stories of her first week as a councillor. I am so proud of how much she has grown this past year. She is so much more self confident & outgoing- gone is my quiet, shy, hang out in the background daughter. Katie also had her 2 month anniversary with her boyfriend Nate. With her being gone to camp and him away on a mission trip they are not going to be able to see a lot of each other over the summer. Nate did an awesome thing and sent her a dozen red roses. She was so shocked and happy- a really nice thing to see.

On Sunday after dinner it was time to take Katie back to camp. It is always a hard trip to make, I am a little sad every time I drop her off. I do however laugh at the luggage that goes along with her. The plastic set of drawers from Zehrs that she used means she has a dresser in her cabin with her. A handy way to travel and keep organized- I just hate lugging them up and down to the cabins!

So she is gone for another week, learning, growing and sharing and I will just wait to hear what she has been up to next weekend.

Road Trip!!

July 8-11-- Nicole had a couple of days off from work, Katie was at camp, Shawn had a golf tourney and Josh was out of town playing ball - perfect time for Nicole and I to head out on a road trip. I have been away many times with the girls, from synchro competitions, to camping trips to girls weekends but I have never been away one on one with either of the girls.
Nicole had been saving up some money and needed a bunch of new clothes so we decided on a shopping trip. My friend Kirsten told me about a place she had been in the states with great deals and best of all no sales tax- Grove City Pennsylvania. Sounded like the perfect place for us!


Nicole found a bunch of really great deals. We spent a day at the Prime Outlet Mall then headed out the next morining down to Erie to the regular mall. My best deal of the weekend was Nike running shoes- I need them cause I go to the gym now don't you know.

We had such a good time. Laughed a lot and solved many, many issues. My favourite thing to do when I am away is to go to the movies. I find it interesting to to go to different theatres and see what is different there, for instance, in England you can actually book your seat in the theatre on line- your actual seat, you never need to show up an hour early to make sure your not in the front row. The theatre in Erie was neat in that it had the most comfortable seats I have ever been in in a cinema, they were padded, wide and reclined, you could also put up the arm rest if you wanted to snuggle- very cool.

We ate at Olive Garden one night and an English pub the other, we could do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted. It was such a nice time together, really getting to talk and share. I am so proud of Nicole and the women she is becoming, I am glad to be able to call her my friend as well as my daughter. - now I can't wait to have the same kind of experience with Katie in the future.

A day Home Alone? Not!

July 7th-- So this is what my house looks like when I scrap at home. I spent all day Monday at 2 Scrapbook Friends scraping up a storm and I wanted to keep going. I tend to spread out all over the room at home. I love to scrap in front of the TV and thank goodness I have a PVR because occasionally I will realize that I have missed entire chunks of the show I am watching and I need to rewind. Shawn just stays out of my way and has learned not to touch or move anything because although it looks messy and disorganized I know exactly where everything I need is.
As I was busy I could smell something yummy coming from the garage. Shawn loves to cook and is always trying out new things. I hate to cook so we are well matched, having him around means that the girls and I don't starve. Shawn has all kinds of kitchen gadgets, things I have no idea what they do- nor do I want to learn. Last year he bought a smoker- smoked meat is not one of my favourite things but he keeps on trying out new cuts of meat and creating his own sauces. Last night we had BBQ ribs and a great Greek salad. Thanks Shawn!


July 8th-- So today I was supposed to have a peaceful, quiet day at home by myself. Shawn had meetings in Toronto all day and a dinner, Nicole was working a double shift and Katie is away at camp- I was so excited to be at home all by myself- it doesn't happen very often. I had grand plans of reading the day away, watching a movie and maybe even having a nap- I should have know it was never meant to be.
Katie suffers from ear issues, has for years. She has had blocked ears for the past month, we have been to the doctors 3 times, had prescriptions, cold and sinus pills, a spray for her nose and we were even putting nose drops in her ears (don't ask). There is fluid in there that will just not go away and is causing her a lot of pain- enough pain that she actually called me from camp (her favourite place on earth) and asked me to take her to the doctors. I knew it was serious because Katie would never leave camp if it wasn't. So by the time I drove out to the camp, picked her up, saw the doctor, took her back to camp and got home- 4 hours had gone by! It is worth it if she feels better and can make it through the rest of the summer- she may have to get tubes put in in the fall.
I had just gotten home and was contemplating a bath when Nicole called about going out for her dinner break. Well I couldn't say no to that- I love to spend time with Nicole and I am happy she likes to spend time with me. So after I got home from there, did my e-mails, tidied up a bit and empty the dishwasher it was now 7:00. So my day has gone by, I didn't get to read my book, watch a movie or have a nap but I did get to spend some quality time with the people I love the most in the world- so I didn't have a day alone but I certainly had a day well spent.

July 1st to the 6th

Summer is going great. I have been sticking to my resolutions, I have been to the gym with Nicole & Michelle twice this week- and survived! I have also been taking a picture a day so I can remember all the things that I have been up to.



July 1st-- Today was Canada's birthday an important day to celebrate but the big deal in our house this year was taking Katie to camp. The girls have been going to camp Ki-Wa-Y for a few years now. Last year Katie went to the month long LIT program, this year Katie went to camp as a Counselor in training. She will be gone for the entire summer, only coming home on Saturday nights and returning on Sundays. We will miss having her around but she is so excited about camp and will have such a wonderful experience it wont be hard wish her well.


July 2nd-- Summer just hasn't started officially for me without a night at the movies. Nicole, Katie and I had all read My Sister's Keeper- great book- and were excited to see the movie. Unfortunately it didn't work out for us to get to the movies before Katie left for camp so it was just Nicole and I. We started off with dinner at Wild Wings- still love that places- I have tried 12 out the 101 flavours so far! Then it was off to meet Michelle, Gen and her daughter at the theatre. Gen's daughter Nicole is 4 years older then my Nicole but they used to swim synchro together so they get along well. There was a medical emergency during the movie so it was delayed for about 40 minutes but we got to see the whole thing and also got free passes to go back for another movie so it worked out well for us. The movie was good, the ending was changed a lot from the book but it still worked and I cried like a baby through most of it.



July 3rd-- After being gone camping for a week and getting Katie ready for camp it was time to spend the day cleaning the house. During the school year I have a cleaning lady- whom I love with all my heart!!!My favourite thing is coming home when everything is all done and just sitting there, alone, taking it all in. Since I am off in the summer she doesn't come as often so it is up to me. I don't actually mind cleaning the house when I have the time- now spending time in the kitchen is a completely different story.

July 4th-- Finally a nice sunny day. A couple of weeks ago Shawn installed a clothes line for me on the side of the house. I haven't had an opportunity to use it until today. I love the smell of fresh from the outdoors laundry. I feel like I am making a contribution to the environment when I don't use the dryer as well. We also had my parent's over for dinner. Shawn made pulled pork in his smoker, it was delicious. We had a wonderful dinner and then watched a DVD, all in all a great day.

July 5th--Shawn is still off work. It has been nice having him home with me this week. He is so used to being busy that we need to keep coming up with projects for him to do. He got the bathroom done, all the gardens and he hung up an awning over the deck last week. We were eating lunch outside on Sunday and looking at the garden. When we first moved into the house there were farmers fields behind us. Over the past few years construction has been going like gangbusters over the road. There are now thousands of homes behind us. When the building started I said to Shawn that we should plant some trees, we have a sound barrier wall but I wanted to block out the view to & from our bedroom window. Shawn didn't want to plant trees, doesn't like the leaves and how trees effect the lawn-so we did not get any -- until yesterday that is. It may take him a while but he usually comes around to my way of thinking. I wish we would have gotten them 5 years ago- they would be so much bigger now but I am happy to have them at last.

July 6th-- I spent the day at Two Scrapbooking friends today with my good friends Deb and Lori. It was Deb's birthday so it was nice to get together on her special day. We had a great time, a nice lunch and got lots of pages done. Carolyn, co-owner of the store, was working today, she works hard but always has a smile on her face and time for a chat. We are the same age, have been married for the same amount of time and have kids close in age so there's always some kind of story to share or experience to mull over. I stayed for the class and was pleasantly surprised when my new scrap friend Kelly showed up. I got to meet her friend ?Sarah?, got some new book titles to check out and we signed up to do another class together.

It has been a great week- stay tuned for more adventures next week!!!

My Quest for the Perfect Cooler

I am not a big drinker. Ever since I had the girls my tolerance of alcohol has gone way, way down. After 2 drinks I can hardly form coherent sentences- it's ridiculous. Having said all that there are certain times that a you would like to have a nice drink. Hot summer nights with company, around the campfire, those kinds of times.

I would like to find a cooler that I would enjoy. Something easy to grab to take to friends or have in a cooler camping- no mixing, no pouring- easy. I am looking for suggestions- what do you like to drink? I have tried a few and other than my standard caesar have not been successful yet. I am picky mind you- I don't like wine, anything that tastes like alcohol or lemonade- I know, I'm hard to please. I tried banana Vex and Pink lemonade Vex- no good--

So if you have any ideas I would like to hear them.

The Start of Summer

Well my summer has officially started. We wrapped up at school Friday afternoon and I headed over to Two Scrapbook Friends for a crop night with my girlfriends. Gen, Sam, Karan, Andrea and I had a great time, laughing it up and actually getting some layouts done. I made a new friend- Shelby- so my scrap circle continues to grow, yay.

On Saturday we headed up to Grand Bend to camp at the Pinery for a few days. This is our annual family tradition we have been doing this for at least the last 15 years. I started my photo journal and tried to get some shots of what we did each day. It is very hard to pick my favourites since every picture has my favourite people in them. Here are some I chose from the weekend.

We love to feed the chipmunks- they are so brave and friendly, they will eat right out of your hand.

This raccoon came to visit us one night. I caught him hanging out in the tree across from our campsite.

Our community dinner. We spread out over a few different sites in the park but we always have a least 1 dinner together. We all pitch in and as the saying goes ..many hands make light work. We were lucky in that the weather was much better then predicted. We got to spend time on the beach and eat all our meals outside- great!

After dinner we all walk/ride down to the store for ice cream. When the kids were little my dad used to give them a dollar and they could buy a huge bag of candy- those days are gone but the trip to the store isn't.

This year was unique in that Nicole's boyfriend joined us. As my parents said it is a sign of the times- my girls are growing up- there are signs everywhere of the changes to come. Josh was great, he just fits right in, playing games with the girls, cards with the guys and watching sunsets with Nicole

I had to throw in a couple of shots of my nieces. Jadyn is close in age to my girls, just 2 years younger, so she has always been around, having the same experiences that we have had over the years. Drea, Addie and Josie are my youngest brothers girls. They live very close to us so my girls get to spend lots of time with them. We have so much fun watching them grow and learn. My parents have 6 granddaughter - no grandsons - and they wouldn't have it any other way.

Katie & Jadyn

Drea Rae
Addie May

Josie Faye

Campfires are the best!!! We have spent so many hours around the fire singing songs and playing games. My parents love to have all the grand kids together, with the older ones teaching the younger ones so that our traditions get carried on.

It was a great way to start the holidays- I am really looking forward to next 9 weeks and more adventures.