THE GOODS BLOG: Erika's Precious Little Life - September Edition
Updated: Jun 18, 2021
Hello friends!! Can you believe that it's September already?! It feels very "end of summer" to me, even though the weather is still pretty good over here. My parents are currently visiting, so I'm trying to get this blog out before our day picks up too much!!
August was busy and crazy and fun. There were a lot of outings to various places. First up was the 3-day music festival Osheaga, which was super hot and dirty... But also super fun. We saw a ton of bands that we like, so the value seemed to be really good. (Bleachers, The Mowgli's, Childish Gambino, Foster the People, Band of Horses, Kevin Drew, Local Natives, Phantogram, HAIM, Modest Mouse, Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Jack White, Vance Joy, CHVRCHES, The Temper Trap, The Replacements, Lorde.) The whole thing was held on an island and the grounds were really neat with plenty of things to see and do.
Our usual park tricks...
Day at the beach! (There is an actual beach for swimming in Montreal! You swim in the Saint Lawrence River.)
Rachelle was supposed to come to visit for four days - her flights were all booked and everything... And then only a few days beforehand she had a terrible accident while playing in the park with her nephews. :( She ended up injuring her knee severely and had to have surgery. Needless to say, her trip to Montreal got cancelled and I was/am very concerned and worried for her. I'm hoping that her recovery keeps progressing well! I went to see Hedley without her and that majorly sucked!!
We attended the LGBTA Pride Parade, which I always love, no matter which city I'm in! I love putting on my loudest outfit and dancing along! My outfit seemed pretty famous at this parade because so many participants kept stopping to take photos of ME!
The leader of the Liberal Party, Justin Trudeau, was in the parade, so I jumped in and bombarded him for a photo. Ha ha! I find him pretty dreamy! I barely care about politics at all, but I really do think that he has a pretty good chance at becoming Canada's future Prime Minister. I like gay rights, women's rights, the environment, and gun control... So he seems like a decent candidate for me... Even though I normally vote for the Green Party.
We had a lake weekend where we drove off to Ontario and spent four nights at two different lakes! First we went to the Quinn cottage on Big Bald Lake and spent time with my wonderful Toronto friends. I love getting to have these times with them again!!
Then we drove to Hay Lake Lodge on Hay Lake, which is a place that my family used to go to while I was growing up. It was so nice to be able to take Tim there and share it with him!! It was exactly the same as I remembered it, even though it had been 20 years since I was last there! We had a lot of nice, relaxing fun.
Once back home, my parents came to visit us in Montreal for the first time since we moved here! They were both born and raised in Montreal, so it's fun and weird to be here with them now under completely different circumstances. We've been doing A LOT of eating! My only other living family members live in Ottawa and some of them came up to Montreal to see my parents as well, so that was awesome to have a bit of a reunion. My ENTIRE (living) extended family including both my Mom and Dad's sides is 10 people... so you would think that "family reunions" would be easy. Ha ha! My parents are staying for a total of 12 days, so we still have plenty of fun times left ahead of us at this point!
Tomorrow we're taking a mini trip with my parents to the Laurentians (a mountain range about an hour north of Montreal) for two nights. So I'm super excited about that and yet more lake time! My Mom's family used to have a country house there for many years.
After my parents go back to Regina we have only three days until we leave on our Mediterranean cruise!!! (We leave on Friday, September 12th.) I can't believe that it's already here!!! AHHH!!!! Tim and I have been planning to go to Europe this year for a long time, and the time has finally come! Somehow this will be my second trip to Europe of the year, which is a little bit crazy. On our way over we have a 10 hour layover in Brussels, so it's kinda neat that we get that as a bonus city to see. Then we head to Barcelona, Spain and spend a couple of days there. Our cruise begins from Barcelona. Personally, I don't see myself as much of a "cruise" person (I've never been on one before) but all of the European countries that we most wanted to see are Mediterranean ones, so this seemed like an efficient way to cover them all without needing to figure everything out on our own and/or having to go for like a month. Our cruise travels to Marseille, France ~ Pisa & Florence, Italy ~ Rome, Italy & Vatican City ~ Naples, Italy ~ Mykonos, Greece ~ Istanbul, Turkey ~ Kusadasi, Turkey ~ Athens, Greece ~ Venice, Italy. From Venice we fly back to Barcelona, and then home. So the whole trip works out to 16 days away. Each city is going to be a major whirlwind, but I feel up to the challenge!! We have two days when we are at sea on the ship and not in any cities at all. So yep! That's my big current excitement!!! I will have my phone with me and will be making trip updates, so it'll be easy to see where we are and what we're up to! Facebook and Instagram will be the two main medias that I'll be using - Facebook for statuses and check-ins and Instagram for posting photos.
By time we return September will be over, so my entire month consists of my parents followed by Europe and that's all!
THIS MONTH'S SHOUT OUTS!:
September 6th is Zena Domanski's 39th wedding anniversary!
Way to go to my parents Zena and Stan! I feel very fortunate that I've been able to witness such a happy and healthy marriage my entire life. I'm fully aware of how rare that can be these days. They have certainly given me a lot to aspire to and to look up to. And Tim and I get to celebrate with them in Montreal! We're going to go to the church where they got married on that day. :)
September 10th is Sarah Taskers' 3rd wedding anniversary!
Wishing you and Darren an incredible day as new parents with baby Taylor! Your wedding in Toronto seems like it was just yesterday. So very glad that we've been able to spend so much more time with you guys recently as well!
September 17th is Sarah Taskers' 32nd birthday!
I love you with all of my heart Sarah, and like I said, I am so incredibly glad that we've been able to be together again so much!! I think of us as tiny best friend 6 year olds all the time and it brings a tear to my eye that so many years have past... Yet here we are. I'm so sad that I didn't end up getting a photo of the two of us together at my wedding!! You're such a wonderful mother and you've always been such an amazing friend. I hope that your day is super amazing and that Darren spoils you like crazy!!! Can't wait to see you again SOON and to convince you to jump off another cliff! (Not much has changed since we were kids.) ;D
Comments