Well good grief… a pair of very colour coordinate holidays that I did NOT blog yet! Anyway… enjoy!

Canada Day or July 1st… Red and White. A rather at home event this year as it rained, but we made do. 

We drove out to a Tim Hortons and enjoyed all sorts of yummy donuts.

Hung up our Canadian lawn decoration.

Had yummy lunch together including homemade Nanaimo bars.

And of course, poutine!

And of course took all sorts of photos of the whole family in their Canadian outfits.

July 4th was another at home whole family kind of thing for us this year. Ken was very busy with work this summer and on call. 

It was a sunnier day so we did manage some fun outside with bubbles.

A colour coordinated meal.

Apple swan by Gavin

BBQ food.

Sparklers.

Even squished in some tie dying!

And of course… MORE PHOTOS! 

And now for the overflow of colour coordinated fun….

Seriously, VERY anticipated, we love having Karyn on her once a year pilgrimage to visit our family. This year she drove down which always makes her arrival more of a surprise.

This year she chose to come down in August. Her timing was pretty perfect. The right week to see Trinity and Emanuel test for belt levels in Karate, to see Echo’s dance recital (solo act version), see off Ken and the boys before their first 5K run AND celebrate an early birthday for Echo. Yup, we kept her busy!

We had all sorts of fun. Karyn is one of the very few who has now met our Momo in person. They got along swimmingly.

Then in a last minute plan we went out to meet the Schwartz family at a splash park. We sent the twins and dads out to play Pokemon. It was a little on the cool side, but fun was had.

Bedtime stories were read with Aunty of course.

And Karyn and I ducked off to check out a larger quilting and yarn shop and then on the way home stop at a series of outlets where we enjoyed Five Guys.

We took our favourite walk to the Catholic Church.

And took her to our favourite beach. That was just Karyn and my supervision on that one. We managed it!

Then over to the Schwartz family’s for dinner and Mystro time.

Karyn and I snuck off a second time for a marathon shop at Mall of America. Ken has still not accepted the flowered Dr. Martins I bought at an absolute steal. Never could afford a pair as a teenager.

Friday was our early birthday fun. A trip to the zoo no less. Birthday girls’ choice. Karyn is working on becoming an amazing photographer.

Then a nice long dinner adults only after the dance recital. And the week was over.

Hugs at dawn on Saturday and a tearful good bye and the visit was over in the blink of an eye! She came bearing snacks and gifts from her previous travels but the best part was just the time we got with her. Never enough, but so very precious and well loved. Can’t wait until next year!!!

And here is the overflow of awesome!

And of course, I had to reflect on my over all reflection. I was asked what made me begin this journey, what book (if any) I used, well that answer is… no book, just a wish to better understand myself so I stop feeling so guilty, tired and or pulled in all directions. It was fun, it was hard, and it was eye opening. Thank you for reading along. Feel free to share with me what you thought. I would love to hear it. Anyway… (Post 1 HERE Post 2 HERE)