My Igloo Life: Canadian Ways

Showing posts with label Canadian Ways. Show all posts

Monday, January 27, 2014

Fresh Air.

The trick to surviving Northern winters is to embrace it. Essentially, the opposite of what I've been doing. It's so easy during these long and cold winters to hibernate and only leave your house when absolutely necessary.

Exhibit A: I froze my gym membership until April because it's too cold to go out at night and I'm a weenie.

Exhibit B: While having an exciting night of watching Sex and the City 2 on Saturday night I had to message a few girlfriends and ask them if we could make plans for this coming weekend because I haven't seen anyone other than my darling husband on a weekend evening in a month. No lie, we've been hibernating since Christmas.

Exhibit C: I legitimately couldn't remember the last time the dogs walked further than the mailbox.

Exhibit D: Last Friday morning the thermometer was hovering around -40. I was outside helping kids out of their parent's cars at school drop-off. I helped a little girl out of the car and when I shut the back door the back window shattered because it was so dang cold. The entire thing cracked and glass rained all over my boots. I stuck my entire arm through the hole just to demonstrate the damage to the mother.

However, it is oh so much easier to embrace when the temperature is at least kind of close to being a positive number. There actually isn't all that much snow on the ground right now so TC and I decided to take advantage of the sunny skies this past weekend and hit the trails.

We weren't out there for more than an hour but it sure did feel good. Fresh air is so rejuvenating this time of year. Not to mention that those ridiculous dogs of ours had more fun than any dog has ever had in the history of the world.

It flurried just enough during our walk to make it pretty. The trees kept most of the wind away and we moved just fast enough that it wasn't even too cold. It was just what I needed to remember that winter is half way over and we're on the downward slide to spring!

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Sledding {Finally!}

This week has been a bit of a wake up call after having two glorious weeks of holiday vacation time. The time off was just what the doctor ordered and I did my absolute best to have a good time, be slightly productive with projects and sleep in as much as humanly possible.

Mission accomplished.

On our way back from Atlanta we purposely scheduled our flight to drop us right in our favorite New England city - Portland, Maine. That way we would break up our trip a bit and tag on a few days with several friends from camp.

We spent two nights curled up in the cutest house I ever did see, complete with a barn out back and a wood burning stove that kept us toasty for the New Years celebration.

We were only in town for one full day and we obviously chose to bundle up in all of our snow gear and head over to camp for a little exploration. Between the five of us, we've logged an astonishing number of summers at camp so it only seemed appropriate that we finally get to see it under a blanket of snow and, more importantly, finally walk on the lake.

Looking at all the snow was cool, and the lake was most certainly frozen but the main attraction was (drum roll please) sledding!

Y'all. It's been on my winter bucket list ever since I moved to Canada. Every year our friends discuss how we're all going to go sledding THIS weekend. Every year we talk about it and every year sledding gets but on the back burner.

But not last weekend. We bundled up in full snow gear, dug a sled out of the shed, filled the thermos with hot cocoa and set off for camp.

Of the few hills that we suspected would be good for sledding, we settled on the water ski beach first and then moved over to the baseball field. I'm not going to lie, a very small part of me was a little nervous. I mean, I haven't been on a sled since I was about six years old.

Let me tell you, it was awesome. We each took turns blazing a trail down the hill so that the next person in line got an even faster ride.

Our blue L.L.Bean kids sled was impressively fast and even managed to dump a few of us over on occasion.

We kept sliding (as the Canadians call it) until the sun set on our little party. I had long forgotten my frozen toes at that point and our sledding had progressed to the point of shoveling small hills to catch air on and trying to avoid hitting the camp theater. Most of us were out of breath from climbing up the hill a million times and TC had long since thrown off his gloves and jacket.

After almost a decade of working at camp it was definitely a career highlight to see it in the winter and go sledding down the very beach that I usually walk barefoot on while wearing my bathing suit and board shorts.

Now that real life is back in full effect, I'm even more glad that TC and I added on the extra few hours to our trip in order to make time for New Years at camp. It was definitely the perfect way to finish out 2013.

{Yes, walking on icy snow is tough. Kasey demonstrated that several times.}

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Apple Picking.

We went to the apple orchard this past weekend. Not because any of us can eat the huge amount of apples we picked, and certainly not because I even like apples that aren't Gala, but because it's one of our fall traditions. In the spring we go to the maple sugar shack and in the fall we go apple picking. It's just that simple.

There are three couples that make our group of adventurers. TC, Tyler and Mike have been friends forever and of the wives I am the only new-comer since I've only been hanging around for about eight years. So yeah, they all go way back and they're all pretty great people.

Our little traditions have been going on for several years now and over the years we've added a couple of kids to the mix. Mike and Christina have the coolest four year old in town and Tyler and Carla have the cutest two year old plus another one on the way.

We missed our annual apple picking trip last year which means that the last two times we've been to the orchard Carla has been in her third trimester. Since TC and I only have pups, we luck out and fill the role of the cool aunt/uncle who's entire existence revolves around playing, running and generally causing trouble with the kiddos.

It's a good role for TC, especially since he's basically a giant ten year-old himself.

The best part of our little excursion is, of course, the tractor ride out to the orchard. Only this year the tractor drove in a big circle and then dropped us off at the edge of the orchard, not 30 yards from where our cars were parked. While we did get jipped on the ride, it gave us plenty of field to lounge around in. Let's face it, we're only a little bit there for the apples and mostly there just as something fun to do that let's us all hang out for a bit in the sunshine.

So we did. We filled our bags with apples and then hung out in the sun. Gwen's favorite thing to do is walk and when she wants you to follow her she waves her hand in a pattern that is very similar to the Miss America wave (you know the one I'm talking about?). We take turns dutifully following her nowhere, and she is happy. Annaleigh on the other hand walks right up to you and says "Chase me!" So we do. Until TC puts his toes on her feet, leaving her completely paralyzed until she eventually collapses in giggles on the grass. The whole process takes less than a minute and may be the most fun game ever invented.

The other fun game is being super short and having a super tall dad. Do you know what that equals? Having your own personal elevator up into the trees. This new concept took apple picking to a whole new level. Literally. Everyone knows that the best apples are way up high.

After lounging in the sun and turning blades of grass into whistles and eating enough apples to make ourselves sick we finally headed back to the store for to find the perfect pumpkins.

Obviously, we had no trouble. On our walk back we decided that all of these freshly picked apples were going to need a good home - in the shape of apple pie and/or apple crisp. Naturally, we would need to have a little dinner party this weekend in order to create the perfect atmosphere in which to serve the apple pie.

So that's the plan for this weekend. Except I don't like apple pie, which means Christina is going to have to make me my own mini apple-less pie with nothing but brown sugar and cinnamon.

Sounds delicious.

Monday, October 7, 2013

The Perfect Weekend.

This weekend was as close to perfect as they come. The weather was the epitome of fall - clear, crisp blue skies and trees that are absolutely on fire. If you follow me on Instagram, you've already seen the evidence.

It was the kind of weekend where anything on the to do list was thrown out the window in the name of fun. It was just too good to pass up. And with a long winter right around the corner, I've been feeling very I-don't-care-what-we-should-be-doing-let's-go-have-fun-ish. I hate to say it, but generally I see the weekend as catch-up time when I can be productive and get things together. For whatever reason, lately I've been trying to keep up during the weekend to eliminate the need for catch-up during the weekend. That frees up time to enjoy the weekend as it is truly meant to be - time for fun and a little bit of rest.

We packed in so much this weekend that it feels like forever since I've been at work. And this week is only a three day week because Canadian Thanksgiving is next weekend. Five days off work? Yes please.

Friday night we spent under the stars around the fire. Saturday started at the market for breakfast and coffee as a meeting point to head out to the apple orchard. Right from there we hit the woods with more friends and the dogs and then ended the day watching Tennessee football and finished the evening with a small party. Today brought sleeping in, a late breakfast and then a trip to the park with Carla to get some shots of her baby belly. Just seven short weeks and her second little one will be here. Is it wrong that I'm hoping she goes into labor at our American Thanksgiving party? I think that would make for a really great story.

I hope you managed to do something fun this weekend too!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Sailing.

The sailing season, along with summer, is slowing trickling away and morphing into fall. Much to my dismay.

But fall is off to a nice start. A few last sailing sessions. A new house. Another teaching certificate, finally. Fresh apples. New reading glasses. Maybe even some pumpkin patching and hay rides? That would make my day.

It's late. Plus, it's only Tuesday and I'm already exhausted enough for Friday. So, I'll give you some of my favorite photos from our last sailing outing on Out of the Blue.

She's a good boat. Twenty four feet long and she sails fast. John, Tyler and TC had a blast getting her going in the wind.

Pay attention to the angle of the boat versus the horizon. That's how you can tell how fast we're going.

It's also worth mentioning that I've really been enjoying my new lens (16-35mm L f/2.8). It's making photography more fun than I ever thought possible.

Enjoy the tour of our final sail for the year!