sisters

last week i had almost 3 days with my sister, christine.

it was fun, energizing, and super productive.

we were working on creative projects, purging and catching up on life.

her kids were at camp and mine were in day camp.

no distractions during the day.

but she also made the most of her time to really connect 

with my girls when they weren't at day camp.

so special for them to get some auntie time!

my sister lives in new jersey now.

it would be amazing to be closer together.

she is someone i will always look up to.

i know,

she's beautiful too!

inside and out.

can you canoe?

we took the girls canoeing.

it was the smiley family (and more) who ventured out 

to the saugeen river on an overcast sunday morning.

 it was a great way to spend the day! 

 emery loved learning to paddle and watch for rocks, as it was quite shallow in parts.

 selah loved hearing daddy's 'river rat' story, eating snacks and napping...

i think it's safe to say that canoeing is not at the top of her fun list, 

but she wins for being in my favourite photo of the day.

hopefully she'll grow to love canoeing as much as we do.

have you ever canoed?

the beach

many great memories already this summer.

i'm having trouble finding time to share my photos...

here's a couple from the beach.

where is your favourite place to be in the summer?

hope you've made it there once or twice already!!

skopelos via atv

these are photos from our last full day in skopelos, greece.

judah had sessions in the morning and 

then a good chunk off before the closing ceremonies in the evening,

we knew we needed to make the most of that time.

so, we rented a four wheeler!

as you've seen from earlier photos, most people ride a scooter around town.

originally we were thinking of renting one of those,

 but i knew i didn't want to drive my own and 

jude wasn't sure about me riding on the back of his, 

so we chose 4 wheels over two!

though we did not venture off road,

we did make it to a popular beach on the other side of the island.

this is where we had lunch

before trekking down to stafilos beach.

 this is a beach where you pay for a lounge bed, 

or get comfy on the sand and rocks.

we saved our 6 euros!

 upon return to our mode of transportation, 

there was some difficulty getting it started again.

so i took pictures of flowers...

 and after a few minutes we were good to go...

but cautious not to turn off the engine until back at our hotel!

 and there is our hotel room, with our towels hanging to dry.

 the closing ceremonies for the symposium were held at an 

archeological site conveniently located right next door to our hotel!

 we were given a tour of the small museum and the dig site.

 after that we enjoyed a beautiful candlelight dinner 

and a lovely time for speeches, gifts and goodbyes.

canada day - doon heritage village

we spent part of canada day at the heritage village in town.

we got there early to beat the crowds!

 i could spend all day at a place like this.

jude was loving the museum on site.

we had fun playing with the stilts and other outdoor games.

it was a great place to celebrate canada day 

and learn more about the history of our hometown!

selah in southampton

we spent the first part of this week in southampton. 

family time.

it was a fantastic start to our summer!

we went to the beach, played at the parks, fed the animals at fairy lake, enjoyed some ice cream...

we do these things every time we go there.

~

i haven't had a chance to upload my photos from this week, 

but here are two from our may long weekend visit:

 you may remember this photo from last summer in southampton.

love my messy girl - and definitely seeing some improvement with the ice cream cones!

practice makes perfect, right?!

~

after a challenging day or two with selah, 

it is so nice to focus on this photo:

my sweet girl who seems to embrace the camera these days...

happy weekend everyone!

hoping to be back with more photos tomorrow...