O Canada

     We had a glorious Canada Day long weekend here. Weather was great and we got to spend some quality time together as a family. <3 

     Friday morning we went berry picking. Josh generally isn't an outdoors kinda guy, and he also hates all fruit, so needless to say, he was less than excited about the idea. Once we got there though, he decided it was less awful than he had anticipated. "It smells like candy out here! I wish I liked strawberries." 

      We proceeded to pick one large basket of strawberries (and it only cost $6!) with which I'm not quite sure what we are going to do I ended up making pie. mmmmm. And Saturday morning we had crepes with strawberry/peach puree that were amazingly delicious (although Josh didn't like them and Laura threw hers on the floor for Chester. :S)    

     After berry picking we went to the beach for a little while. Laura has always enjoyed the water, and the few times she has been in the lake this year we were at a rocky spot that is not easily maneuvred by a one-year-old. So I had been wanting to take her to the sandy beach where she could play and run around freely. The water was a little cold, though, so we didn't spend much time swimming. I think she still had fun.

Daddy showing Laura how to make sand castles

      We came home in the afternoon for a BBQed lunch (what would Canada Day Weekend be without a BBQ?!) and so Laura could nap. I also took the opportunity to grab a snooze. I was laying on the couch wishing I had a blanket (but was too lazy and comfortable to go get one) when I realized Chester would do just as fine a job keeping me warm. So I invited him up and we napped together on the couch. <3

       I also used Laura's nap time to make some Canada Day cupcakes and cut up our haul of strawberries. (I can get so much done now that she finally naps well!)

   

mmm freshly picked strawberries :)

     After Princess Laura awoke, we took a family bike ride downtown to check out what was going on. Unfortunately, it appeared as though we had missed most of it, so we went to the grocery store to pick up a few things instead.

     We came home and had meatball sandwiches on garlic bread (buns) for dinner, at Josh's request, and then headed down to the park to watch fireworks in the evening. Laura seemed really interested in watching them this year, unlike last year when she slept through the whole thing. ;)

     The rest of the weekend we just kinda laid low and played around the house enjoying good food and each other's company. Sometimes it's just nice and refreshing to have a long weekend together where we were not stressing about going somewhere or about entertaining guests. <3