roy, ahoy!

So, my husband has always wanted a boat. He grew up spending most of his time at the cottage with his grandfather touring around the lake on their boat. It is an activity that holds plenty of fond memories for him, and one that he's always wanted to recreate for our own kids.

While my childhood wasn't filled with boating or a cottage, we spent most summers with our family in Florida. I rode my first jet-ski around the age of 7 and was completely hooked. Of course the weather in Florida is a little more conducive to water sports than it is in Ontario, but that wasn't going to stop us!

We have been talking about it for a number of years, and decided a while ago that we wanted to get a boat. We planned that once we had settled in our new house, we'd take a little time off from travelling and get ourselves a speedboat that would allow for a summer filled with rides on the water, tubing, swimming and just good ol' family time.

Fast forward to this past May: Cal and Lady M were heading out one day a few weeks ago, and I knew they were going by the boat dealership to have a look at some options my hubby had his eye on. He'd been looking online for ages, checking out all of our options. He tends to be very detail oriented in his shopping - learning all he can, perusing every option. So off they went to the dealership to have a look. Just browsing...

...or so I thought.

A short while later I received the call from Cal and Lady M. Their excitement was noticeable right off the bat, and Cal shared excitedly: "Guess what? We're boat owners!"

My reaction was not what he expected. It was lacking the enthusiasm coming from the other end of the phone. Now, please note this caught me off guard on a very busy day. Lady A and I were at home knee-deep in preparations for her birthday party the next day, cleaning, cooking and trying to get her to a hair appointment on time. Not surprisingly, my reaction was not the most positive when I learned that we were boat owners and the excitement that once existed in that red Dodge Ram quickly dwindled.

I carried on with my mile-long to-do list, and our day moved forward. By the next day when the party was over the news of our new watercraft had sunk in. Sure, my sweet husband had jumped the gun a little, but he made a great choice, and upon learning more I was getting really excited too!

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and the boat is now in our possession, and I too have my boating licence. We have docked it in a marina just 20 minutes from our house - and a convenient 5-minute drive from Cal's office. I suspect that if the wifi reaches, our lovely new navy blue Monterey may be his summer office.

We took it for the inaugural family spin this past weekend, and while the water in Lake Ontario was still a little chilly to jump in, the nearly 30 degree temps made for a beautiful afternoon on the water.

Looking forward to many more...

this is 5

Time continues to fly around our home. It seems that I blinked one moment, and the next my youngest little girl, Lady A, turned 5.

A few weeks prior to the big day, excitement was already mounting. There weren't any momentous gifts she was hoping for, but there was one thing: gum. Ahh yes, a nice, fruity piece of gum is what my nearly-five-year-old was genuinely hoping for.

It started back when her big sister, Lady M was about 3. One day, seeing Cal have a piece of gum she asked for one. Cal casually said "you're not old enough to have gum yet", to which Lady M queried:"well, how old do I have to be?" Cal threw a number out into thin air that was seemingly light years away. "You have to be 5" he told her, and she tucked that little nugget away in her spongy 3-year-old brain.

Fast forward to her approaching 5th birthday, and when asked what she wanted, I recall her rattling off a list of things, punctuating it with "and GUM"!! Gum? Cal and I both questioned at the time. Seemed like an odd request, until she said "yup - you told me I could have gum when I turned 5!" Ahh, that one came back like a very patient boomerang.

Now, since she was a little girl, Lady M has told her little sister that she too can have gum when she turns the ripe old age of 5. True to our word, Lady A received a package of watermelon gum to celebrate the big day. She chose only to lick it a little bit before throwing it away, saying "maybe I'll try chewing it next time".

We celebrated Lady A turning "a whole hand" by hosting a tea party at our house for 8 kindergarten girls on a Sunday afternoon. The day before, on Saturday, I prepped the party needs and my mum and I took the almost-birthday-girl for a haircut. She chose to give her hair a significant chop, and suddenly looked so much older, and also looks like the spitting image of her big sister! Cal and Lady M were out for the evening, and Lady A was very sad that she wouldn't get to showcase her new short locks to them before going to bed that night, but drifted off into dreamland nonetheless...

Before!

After!

...until about 11:30pm when Cal and I were downstairs hanging the final decorations and a tiny little voice called "hey, guys?" from the stairs. When Cal went around to her, she popped up on her feet, arms in the air and proclaimed "look at my hair!!" nice and loud! It was awesome...she decided that her Daddy was going to see her new haircut no matter what! After that he tucked her back and in and she drifted off...

...until 12:05am, when Cal was in our upstairs family room. I was in the kitchen fixing the last of the party food, when Lady A's very excited voice rang through the house "IT'S PARTY DAY!!". Yes, at five minutes past midnight, she was correct...however, once again we had to put the excited little munchkin back to bed!

While Sunday's tea party was a great shin-dig, it certainly cemented my respect for her teachers who have 30 of them on a daily basis! The girls started by decorating their own loot bags, then made a vase craft that they could take home as a party favour. Between the crafts, tea sandwiches, cupcakes (courtesy of Grandma), presents, games and play time, 3 hours zipped by pretty quickly and all the girls seemed quite happy.

Monday was her real birthday, and she woke up excited to open her "morning presents" and then skipped off to school where she celebrated all day and shared her birthday with her teacher which made her even more excited. That night she came home, and we had [almost!] all of our immediate family over for dinner. Spoiled by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, she had a full day of celebration, topped off with a Smartie cake that she had requested I make for her.

After a whirlwind few days, our sweet girl was officially 5 and ready to continue taking on the world.