Steph and I are getting some unexpected time to relax already this summer. I was supposed to head out to work (buildin' decks in Hamilton) this week, but the weather, and tomorrow's Canada Day, have prevented me from getting any work yet.
SO... Monday. Well. that was a dull day. And I couldn't handle being bored. My muskoka chairs were built, and on kijiji - with lots of people looking at them - but no-one has bought them yet... - so I wasn't starting any new projects yet. And books can only get you through so much of the day before you're itching to do something. So I've quickly discovered that I need a hobby to do if I have any more time off this summer.
On the plus side - we've had lots of time for entertaining friends! Last saturday we invited a number of friends over for our first campfire in our backyard. To commemorate the event, I took the ol' dart board out of the basement and hung it on our fence gate. And it was fun getting to play darts outside. The beauty of it was that the darts could go in the fence boards and not bother me (I'll replace the gates when I move the fence...), and the darts could bounce off the board and not hurt the floor/ground which also didn't bother me one bit (my yard could use a little aerating). The fire was great too - thanks to Mom and Dad's stack of firewood in Brockville (which I might raid again someday), and thanks to all the cedar cut-offs from the chairs I had built.
On Monday, after a bitter loss at baseball, Tom and Sarah enlivened our evening by joining us for a couple games of Settlers. Which was excellent. Maybe some Cities and Knights will be in the mix next time...?
AND today - Steph and Sarah went out looking for Straw Bears, while Tom and I took advantage of a two-fer coupon to go golfing at PineView in Barrie. Tom beat me by three strokes, which was good of him, because I did have one terrible hole #9 - those summer snowmen do nasty things when you're not watching!
Steph came back with a few buckets full of Straw Bears. So we 'hulled' them and packed most of them away in the freezer. We'll pull them out for desserts and smoothies.
So - we'll see what Canada Day brings!
The Geertsema Commonwealth
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
The Big Plan
Steph and I are planning to visit Martin and Emily for a couple weeks this summer, and I think we've finally accepted the fact that we're going. It was hard to plan before, because for some reason or other, we just had trouble believing that we'd be able to afford it or something.
So, now that we've realized the trip is only a few short weeks away, it's time to plan what we'll do while we're there, but we're having trouble thinking of things we must do as opposed to what we can do... Anybody have some suggestions? Things that you really enjoyed and would recommend?
This is what we've thought of so far...
1) Drive there... see what there is to see.
2) Things to see:
The Citadel?
Port Royal (2 1/2 hours away)?
Annapolis Royal Gardens (2 1/2 hours away)?
Cape Breton Highlands National Park (a 2 day trip?)
Alexander Keith's really corny brewing company tour (free beer?)
Pier 21
The Big Boat Festival
The tide come in
The tide going out
3) Things to do:
Build a deck
Rent a sea kayak for a day
Whale watching?
So, now that we've realized the trip is only a few short weeks away, it's time to plan what we'll do while we're there, but we're having trouble thinking of things we must do as opposed to what we can do... Anybody have some suggestions? Things that you really enjoyed and would recommend?
This is what we've thought of so far...
1) Drive there... see what there is to see.
2) Things to see:
The Citadel?
Port Royal (2 1/2 hours away)?
Annapolis Royal Gardens (2 1/2 hours away)?
Cape Breton Highlands National Park (a 2 day trip?)
Alexander Keith's really corny brewing company tour (free beer?)
Pier 21
The Big Boat Festival
The tide come in
The tide going out
3) Things to do:
Build a deck
Rent a sea kayak for a day
Whale watching?
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sold
Well, we managed to sell the shed that had been posted on our blog previously. Without the shed, I've gained a little bit of our property to use for other purposes - but we don't know what just yet (maybe another patch of vegetables? flowers?...
Next up - I've just built a new set of Muskoka Chairs and we're hoping to sell them on Kijiji.
By the way - Stevin and Katrina, your new chair is in four easy to assemble parts and you'll probably get them the next time we visit or see each other.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
A few summer pictures
Mom and Dad VandenDool visited Barrie last weekend, so on Sunday we enjoyed a nice walk along the waterfront.
Summer has arrived - and just in time!
Summer has arrived - and just in time!
Friday, June 19, 2009
Survival and Summer
Ahhhh! Well I survived another year of craziness! I'm not sure that it's completely sunk in that we're finished the year....that might take a few days of relaxation (and sleep!). It was a great year, full of lots of new ideas and kids. But I'm definitely glad to be done! Now I have the summer to process everything and then go at it again (although I don't think I'll be thinking about next year for about a month or so!).
And now it's on to summer break, which excitingly is supposed to be starting with some really hot weather next week! Wahoo!! So if anyone needs me, I'll be in the backyard: reclining in my new lawn chair (thanks to my husband!) and reading some great books! Speaking of books; does anyone have any summer reading suggestions?
Now on to my first "summer break task": cleaning the house......
And now it's on to summer break, which excitingly is supposed to be starting with some really hot weather next week! Wahoo!! So if anyone needs me, I'll be in the backyard: reclining in my new lawn chair (thanks to my husband!) and reading some great books! Speaking of books; does anyone have any summer reading suggestions?
Now on to my first "summer break task": cleaning the house......
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Keeping Busy
It's been a little hard to think of anything creative to write about these past months, so we'll just update everyone on what's been keeping us busy lately...
Watching the grass grow - literally. We had some leftover topsoil from our gardening endeavours, and spread it around a few areas of our yard. Then I threw some grass seed overtop and watered it a couple times and IT'S TAKING FOREVER to grow! It's actually only been about two weeks, but this brings me to the next topic.
Our garden - sometimes it seems that plants take forever to grow. Like, we put the plants in the ground two weeks ago, but they're all still the same size. At least... they look like they're still the same size. It's not like I'm measuring... But still, I want to see exponential growth with some of these plants and it's just not happening.
Some of the plants I want to see growth with more than others. A recent experiment of our gardens has been to branch into a few vegetable plants as well. These vegetable plants are where I really want to see a lot of growth happening. But there's no sign that we'll be harvesting anything soon. Which is too bad, because Barbeque season is in full force for us (mostly because we're too lazy to spend any time in the kitchen lately).
Baseball - actually, slow pitch... Known for standing at the plate and waiting FOREVER for the ball to reach you so you can whack it into outerspace... I was invited to join the slowpitch team for our church - this is the first season they've had a team... And we've lost a number of games. But we're making improvements. I'm just happy that my swing has improved a little and my confidence is improving at the plate. But no home-runs for me. Not even close.
Soccer - I was also invited to join our church's soccer team. Which has extended Steph's tolerance of my athletic endeavours to the LIMIT. But I'm enjoying it because I've never really played any summer sports since I was 8 years old. So I'm treating it as professional development for a wanna-be phys.ed. teacher. You learn quickly in a game setting. So far our team has won 1 and lost 1 and rained out 1. So, not a bad record.
Thinking - about ideas for a Petra story. Any ideas out there? (when Petra was born, we gave Naomi a story about Naomi who fly's by the seat of her pants - now it's Petra's turn to get a story). I'm thinking of a mystery story, but need more of a plot.
Watching the grass grow - literally. We had some leftover topsoil from our gardening endeavours, and spread it around a few areas of our yard. Then I threw some grass seed overtop and watered it a couple times and IT'S TAKING FOREVER to grow! It's actually only been about two weeks, but this brings me to the next topic.
Our garden - sometimes it seems that plants take forever to grow. Like, we put the plants in the ground two weeks ago, but they're all still the same size. At least... they look like they're still the same size. It's not like I'm measuring... But still, I want to see exponential growth with some of these plants and it's just not happening.
Some of the plants I want to see growth with more than others. A recent experiment of our gardens has been to branch into a few vegetable plants as well. These vegetable plants are where I really want to see a lot of growth happening. But there's no sign that we'll be harvesting anything soon. Which is too bad, because Barbeque season is in full force for us (mostly because we're too lazy to spend any time in the kitchen lately).
Baseball - actually, slow pitch... Known for standing at the plate and waiting FOREVER for the ball to reach you so you can whack it into outerspace... I was invited to join the slowpitch team for our church - this is the first season they've had a team... And we've lost a number of games. But we're making improvements. I'm just happy that my swing has improved a little and my confidence is improving at the plate. But no home-runs for me. Not even close.
Soccer - I was also invited to join our church's soccer team. Which has extended Steph's tolerance of my athletic endeavours to the LIMIT. But I'm enjoying it because I've never really played any summer sports since I was 8 years old. So I'm treating it as professional development for a wanna-be phys.ed. teacher. You learn quickly in a game setting. So far our team has won 1 and lost 1 and rained out 1. So, not a bad record.
Thinking - about ideas for a Petra story. Any ideas out there? (when Petra was born, we gave Naomi a story about Naomi who fly's by the seat of her pants - now it's Petra's turn to get a story). I'm thinking of a mystery story, but need more of a plot.
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