Sophie's pool party...just for the fun of it!!

As you know, we have just put in an above-ground pool. Well, my little girl is so happy with it, I decided to throw her a little party so she could celebrate the start of the summer with a few of her little friends. Of course what better theme for a pool party is there than a Hawaiian theme? Oh yes- all my favorite colours, grass skirts, pink fizzy drinks with little umbrellas in them, funny bathing caps...lots of fun things!!

We decided to serve some "nuggets 'n' fries" in some cute take-out containers from Michael's. They were a dollar a piece and made the food look all the better. Lots of watermelon was eaten and we tried our hand at making snow cones with my new machine I purchased at Target. The girls loved cranking out their treat and I loved cleaning up the sticky syrup!! All in fun!!

Sophie had drawn the sweetest picture of herself and her friends swimming in our pool a while back, so I thought, why not use it as her invitation? We photocopied it and when I told her we were going to go around delivering them, she declared it the "best day ever". To me, every day spent with my little girl is my "best day ever!", even if it does mean cleaning up sticky syrup from my deck!!

***Next up for me, a surfing-themed "end of school party" for my youngest son and a "birthday party by the pool" for my eldest son. I'm going to be busy!!

A Camping We Will Go!!

Yay, it's summer!!! Too bad it's forecasting rain again...This Nova Scotia weather is downright rotten. And to think I put up ceiling fans in the bedrooms when I could have installed chandeliers and funky lighting instead. Grrr!!

Well, the house building process was last year...and (ahem) maybe the past few summers prior. No more! We are done building for a long while and we are determined to go camping again! Oh yes, this is going to be the summer for doing all we can and should and making lots of great memories (which should be easier now that we don't have to travel around together in my little car...hubby got himself a BIG truck!!).

Yes, we are definitely packing up the (sigh) tent, air matresses, and camping chairs and heading over to Marco Polo Land to do some "urban camping". They call Marco Polo the spot for urban campers because they are very accomodating to those of us who like our creature comforts in the great outdoors. They have two large pools, nice bathrooms (for a campground), a little convenience store for those forgetful campers...who moi?..., a youth drop-in center, ice-cream stand and even a fast-food take-out! It does sound a bit pathetic doesn't it?? Oh well, it is the place for me as it is also nice and safe with lots of security, nightly bonfires, and the kids can roam around on their bikes and feel quite independent.

My family often teases me when I say I want to go camping. The first time we took our kids was a family trip with my siblings, when I was 5 months pregnant with my third child. My bladder was on high alert, I was nauseous and my youngest boy had the remnants of a bad chest cold. Our tent said it was a four-man tent, and we were a four-man family (soon to be five...) but it sure didn't feel like it. I spent much of the night in pain trying to delay my frequent trips to the "bathroom" ( we were not at Marco Polo), and alternated that with worrying about my little guy whose cough seemed to be returning with a vengeance. The real kicker was that we were in a tent not a camper. You see, when we pulled up to our spot earlier in the day, full of good intentions, I was met with the sight of my brother and his family puttering about in their camper. They were cooking spaghetti (spaghetti??!!), had the radio going and were sitting at their table with a little fan blowing a cool breeze their way. I instantly felt sick...with envy!

Did I sulk for the remainder of the trip...you bet!! Pregnant, hormonal, nauseous and jealous! Yep, I was a prize...perhaps even acted a little child-like. Well, no more! No siree!! That was not the end of me as a camper. No way were my kids going to be able to say that their childhood was rotten because they never got to go camping. In fact, I treated my next camping trip like a really important "mission". That meant research, lists, lots of trips to the dollar store...you name it. By the time we left, we were sooo prepared! All my work paid off as it turned out to be a great time and I was a born-again camper!! No more sulking for me!!!

Since I'm now an "expert", I'll leave you with a few of my favorite tips: 1. If you want to be sure you always have clean hands (I'm a bit obsessive about this), take a bottle of liquid soap. a small handtowel and wrap a bungie cord around them and the tree near your water source. Perfect!! 2. Bring along a cheap vinyl tablecloth and a staplegun to secure it to your picnic table 3. Bring some of those dollar store "necklaces" that you snap and they light up. They make great night lights. 4. Don't have a portable toilet, but you do have a toddler? Bring along a potty for those inevitable middle of the night bathroom wake-up calls. This is a good one..trust me! 5. Precook your bacon so you can impress everyone with how fast you (or even better, your hubby) can get breakfast served. 6. Don't go camping pregnant...and whatever you do, don't go camping with a tent when the other parties in your group have a camper...unless you're really mature!! Happy camping!!!

Out to sea...cottage style

I have long had a fascination with the ocean. I am partly afraid of it and on the flip side I am totally enchanted by it. One of my first memories is of the water and it is one that I think helped shape my fear. It was in Ireland (my birthplace) and I was a little girl probably not much more than 3 or 4 years of age. I was being coaxed to climb aboard a small fishing boat by my Dad and brothers and I'm not sure who else. I remember looking down between the dock and the boat at the deep, dark, murky water and being terrified that, as I made the leap, I would fall into that scary crevice and disappear. Now, whether this memory is totally accurate I'm not sure (as you know, my memory is very bad...), but it was and is very real to me, and to this day I am nervous when I am on a wharf or dock.

So, I guess I would have to say that I have a love of the seaside, a fear of the ocean, and a phobia of sharks (because of the movie JAWS). I am one of those people who sits on a beach chair, shielding my eyes from the sun, scanning for sharks!! I know I'm a bit odd, but somebody has to do it!!!

Back to the topic at hand - decorating with nautical treasures... I am dabbling with them myself. My home has a predominantly light colour scheme that lends itself well to this scheme. Watery blues, linen fabric, lots of white...I am finding it quite easy to add these beachy accessories and I think I have not yet overdone it. I place white starfish in my windows, scatter some of the sand dollars we have found at the beach on table tops, and decorate my mantel with nautical decor. Again, not too much...I don't want to get "themey" and I figure if I want to go "over the top" with it, I'll just head outside to my pool deck. Hey, I'm not making any promises of restraint there.

These pictures show my front window with starfish (I usually have stars), the framed picture is of some of the girls in my family baring our toes, and the rope ball used as a doorstop is just brilliant (just not my brilliant). The mantel above is mine...all decked out for summer!

**Sorry for the goofy way some of the writing is appearing...I have fiddled with it over and over and can't make it look like it should!! Aagh!!