a mid-October visit

Grand-maman dropped by for a visit this month with her friend Diane. We love having a height-check picture!

We enjoying going to feed the squirrels and the geese, and then headed to the ByWard Market for a bit of walking around. I love how the Market is so seasonal!

There were still lots of veggies available! Lots of apples, pumpkins and squashes! Yum yum!

Apple picking!

What a blessing for us to have Kathleen and her family over for apple picking!! We met 34 years ago, and have been through so much... sometimes together yet mostly far away, and we are still friends :) Every time we see each other, it's like we saw each other the day before!

 

 

It was a bit rainy the morning we went out but it stopped shortly after we started!

 

I love seeing my daughter with Kathleen's kids. It's hard to explain...!

 Of course, this is Maelie's normal face when I act silly with her. She thinks her mama is c-r-a-z-y!

Hurry up mom! Take the picture! The branches are hurting me!

Quite the loot we were able to pick! Amazing picture opportunities as usual :)

A bit of play after all this work!

Pumpkins are out... Halloween is on its way! The apples were a bit late this year! Sometimes, the season barely lasts til Labour Day, and here we are past mid-September!

Thanks for visiting with us Friends!! :) We love every minute we get to spend together!!

Hot Air Balloon Festival 2014

We didn't get too many days of hot air balloons this year sadly. There was too much wind way up in the sky... even if we didn't feel it down below.

Maelie and I managed to go hot air balloon chasing one evening at least!!

We just drive to wherever they are heading! We follow a few as they land and take pictures.

This balloon was the Friendship balloon! I thought it was such a sweet message, being a world. It shows we are friends around the world! Oddly enough, the file name of this pic was DSCN5050. Friendship should indeed be 50-50!

The next morning, the balloons went up but I got up late, so I only managed to get to the Pirate Parrot once it had landed! LOVE it!

 

This festival is definitely one we look forward to every year!

 

Sunny Sunday at Bate's Island

 

Maelie asked to go and feed the squirrels at Bate Island. I love when she wants us to do something together :) So off we went. These guys aren't squirrels but they were happy we visited!

 

The squirrels ate out of our hands. It was quite cute!

Do we not have the most amazing creatures right here in our backyards?

So amazing. If we take the time to observe the nature around us, we can freeze moments in time with the click on a finger!

I appreciate the times we spend together, I know soon enough, Maelie will probably prefer being out and about with her friends rather than hang out with he mama!!

*Love* and *beauty*

Back to school! Junior High, here we come!

This year, Maelie is in Jr. High! That's Grade 7, or Secondary 1, depending on where you live. This is a big change since she was in the same grade school for K-6. She was SOOOOOO excited to change school. She was a bit nervous about the whole "new kids" thing, but I knew it wouldn't take too long for her to make a bunch of new friends. That's what high school is all about isn't it?

If pictures could speak, you would here it loud and clear : UGH! stop mom!

Don't be fooled by this smile! ;) She did not want more than ONE picture!

The first 1st day of school was before labour day weekend. Maelie was sooooo excited. We didn't listen to the news or anything... and Maelie walked to the bus stop. The bus didn't come so she came back home. A friend of hers called and told her that school was cancelled. We checked the news online, and it turns out there had been a gang related shooting in close proximity to the school so it was closed!! Thankfully, it was not an act directed towards the school or anything. It doesn't make it ok, however knowing the school was not a target is somewhat reassuring.

Maelie was SOOOOO disappointed!! She had been waiting for this day for so long and now she had to wait another 5 days!

Well, now we had a 2nd first day of school picture to take!

Good luck in Grade 7 sweetheart!! :)

Is this what your house looks like before school starts?

Best part of a new school year? Shopping and organizing supplies! Maelie is a PRO at that!!

 

School starts soon baby!!

The Capital Fair 2014

Maelie spent a lot of time with Ashley this summer since she lives close and she was in town for most of the summer. She invited her to come to the Capital Fair (what used to be the SuperEx) to simply have fun!



 

They were determined to try almost all the rides! This one in particular, the ship, they rode about 20 times!!

When they said EVERY ride, they meant it! They even tried the kiddie rides that they could fit it! This could be a picture of them on the road in about 4 years! A nice purple shiny truck!

A music store had supplied some instruments for them to play. What a GREAT instrument! It comes with headphones and barely makes ANY noise! Wooooo hoooo!!

They had a really good time. We had pretty tired girls by the end of the day!!