THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life ~ July Edition

IT'S SUMMER VACATION!! (Which is why I'm a week late in writing this and everything is off the rails.) As much as I cling to our routines and schedules, most of everything is out the window and we're busy living our best summertime lives. It feels pretty good! At the start of the month we were living in hotels because we were having electrical and spray foam work done on our house. We decided to treat ourselves and make a fun staycation out of it and stayed at our favourite fancy Edmonton hotel, the JW Marriott Edmonton ICE District for one of the stays. That was a lot of fun! I don't mind living the hotel life at all.

My brother was also in town for work (with his girlfriend Tricia) and it was really great to see him and have some hangouts. Jamie has been dating Tricia for a year now and it seems pretty serious! She's divorced and has three kids. She and Jamie don't live together. She's really cool and I like her a lot! (For Regina people, her name is Patricia Thomas and her maiden name is Grandy. She went to Riffel High School. Everyone knows everyone in Regina so I assume that someone knows her or knows someone who knows her.)

I got a bicycle! I literally have not owned a bike since I was in high school. Now that Archie can ride a bike we really want to be able to go on bike rides all together (AKA The Golem Family Bike Gang)... Which meant that I needed a bike!! Of course the bike that I picked is very cute. It's an Electra Townie 7D EQ Step-Thru. This is a "before" photo from when I first got it. There will be an "after" photo when I am done doing my sweet customizations to it, ha ha. (Tim also got a bike because he also didn't have one!)

Speaking of gangs, there were Girls Nights and there were scoot gangs... Summer fun with my ladies is the best!

There was a Pops with Pop Father's Day celebration at Archie's school that Tim got to attend. It sounded really cute just like the Mother's Day one. It was great to see that all of the kids' dads showed up for it!

Then on actual Father's Day Archie and I gave Tim gifts and we all went out for brunch at Biera, which just recently started serving brunch. It was a nice time!

It was International Day of Yoga so... You know.

We also went to The Art of the Brick exhibit at the science centre because obviously this is something that Archie would enjoy. It was really cool and super impressive!

My dad was in the hospital this month due to a giant kidney stone. The Domanskis are clearly prone to kidney stones and it sucks!! (My dad has had three, my brother has had one, and I've had one.) This time was especially terrible for my dad and he had to be admitted to the hospital and had surgery to remove it. Thankfully he's totally fine now and recovering well!

Archie had his last day of school! Kindergarten is finished!! I can't believe that his first year of elementary school is over! He loved school A LOT and was always excited to go every day. We also LOVED his teacher (and I still hope that I can make her my friend, especially now that Archie isn't in her class, ha ha). I was so proud to read Archie's glowing Progress Report. He seems to have excelled the most in French Language Arts ("Archie is thoughtful and insightful in verbal communication, and has a talent for expressing his ideas clearly") and Mathematics ("Archie has exhibited a strong math foundation"). Archie missed 14 days of school this year, all due to family vacations. No regrets!! Amazingly, he did not take a single "sick day."

Then my parents came to Edmonton and we all went to Jasper together! It was a great kick-off to summer vacation! Five whole nights in the mountains staying at our favourite tiny Becker's Chalets cabins! It was really nice to have a bunch of mountain time. (See? My dad is alive.)

Tim and I celebrated our TEN YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!! The day before our anniversary we continued our tradition of taking photos every five years in our original wedding wear. (Pictures to come.) It was pretty fun to dress up in all of that stuff again! I still fit into the dress but it's tighter than I remember!! It's not a wedding gown anymore, it's an adventure dress.

On our actual anniversary, at the same time and place, Tim and I had a vow renewal ceremony. You can watch it here. It was very special and felt very meaningful. I was surprised to find that I felt much more emotional at this ceremony than I did at our actual wedding. But it makes sense because there has been a lot more life under our belts to reflect on. I'm very, very happy that we did this and that we made the effort to reaffirm our commitment. We used the same photographers, same florist, and same salon for hair & makeup as we did for our wedding. (Pictures to come for this as well.) We also had dinner at the same restaurant as where we held our wedding Rehearsal Dinner. Unfortunately, we couldn't use the same officiant as she has sadly passed away. Archie had a sleepover at grandma & grandpa's cabin on our anniversary night so that Tim and I could be alone, drink champagne, and have romance times. It was really nice. I even wore my original wedding lingerie!

Tim gave me a ring as an anniversary gift and I'm going to have "10 years" engraved inside of it. It's made by TACORI (same as my engagement ring and wedding band) and it's called the Crescent Crown. The stone is Prasiolite Quartz and I love the colour because it reminds me of our wedding colours. (The stone is 7.50 carats but is obviously no where near the cost of a diamond.)

It was very special to have people that I love in attendance and I wish that you all could have been there!! We're totally going to do it again for either 20 or 25 years, so clear your schedules. :P

And just one more picture of me because I loved my hair and makeup and huge ass flower crown... (When I asked myself if I could pull off a "sumptuous" floral-heavy crown the answer in my heart was "hell yes I can." HA HA!)

While in Jasper, we found out that we are getting another niece or nephew!!! Tim's sister Emily is pregnant and due in January!!! There are going to be EIGHT KIDS!!! Maybe this one will finally be another boy but it will be hilarious if it's yet another girl. Archie is super excited for another cousin! We always kinda knew that Emily & Matt would have another one. They're picking up our slack by having three, since we only had one. Ha ha. June was a special month and I feel so ready and excited to have a wonderful summer! Life with Archie: The month began with Archie still in school. All of his programs wrapped up for the summer and it feels like he is very "wild and free" at the moment with zero commitments. Archie's class went on a field trip to the U of A Paleology Museum, which was perfect because we had just recently been to Drumheller.

Archie enjoyed "hotel life" as much as the rest of us, if not more.

They had Beach Day at school as well as the Father's Day celebration, and Archie dressed appropriately for both.

Archie's food adventures continued and he tried hot pot for the first time.

Archie was invited to two birthday parties; a friend from school named Lily and his best neighbourhood friend named Brendan. He had a blast at both!

Archie also loved The Art of the Brick, obviously.

The last day of school came and Archie is definitely going to miss his awesome school crew for the summer. He's got a great class of kids and I'm sure that they'll all be happy to reunite for grade one in the fall. On the last day of school we let Archie pick any restaurant that he wanted for dinner... And he picked La Poutine. That kid is crazy for poutine!

Archie had an amazing time in the mountains and was a perfect adventure kid! It was so special to have our vow renewal with him by our side and to have him see how much his parents still love each other.

June was a busy month and July isn't going to slow down either! We spent Canada Day in Jasper before returning home. Next week we are off to Toronto! This is our annual Golem family summer get together and this year the whole family is going to Bayview Wildwood Resort in Port Stanton (Muskoka) on Sparrow Lake for four nights. This is an all-inclusive resort with all of our meals included. Tim's parents are paying for everyone to go, which is incredibly generous. We're looking forward to this so much! After that we will be returning to Toronto and spending three nights at an Airbnb in the city to enjoy some Toronto adventures. (I always have plenty of stuff that I need to do there!) One thing is that we're going to Medieval Times Dinner & Tournament which I've been wanting to take Archie to for years. I'm also looking forward to seeing my Toronto ladies a lot too! When we return home Taste of Edmonton will be going on, which is one of my favourite festivals. Can't wait! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: July 5th was Candice Weingartner’s 41st birthday!

I hope that your day was wonderful and that you felt truly celebrated and appreciated! I hope that it involved wine (that you didn't spill) and luxuriating in a pool. I love "getting things done" with you and I am so happy that we are still making memories all these years later. You are so thoughtful and kind. Love you very much! <3 July 8th is Crystal Hawker’s 41st birthday!

I am so happy that we are still so close after all of these years and I love that we still have adventures together! You have reinvented yourself into such an incredible version of YOU and I love the chapter that you are currently living. Love you!! <3 July 15th is Robin Checkowy’s 41st birthday!

You're a wonderful human who deserves to be celebrated in a special way! I hope that you get spoiled! I really hope that we get to see each other sometime soon and I'm always wishing you the very best. Love you and your great hugs lots! <3 July 26th is Nadine Ottenbreit's 9th wedding anniversary!

Wishing you and Kyle a lovely anniversary and hopefully a date night away from the kids!