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

THIS SUMMER FEELS LIKE IT HAS LASTED FOR SIX MONTHS!!! People complain that summer flies by but from my perspective this summer has lasted forever. And it's not even over yet. This blog is so late because I literally haven't had a free moment to stop to do anything. I'm somewhat exhausted but also so glad that I've been able to squeeze every drop of summertime goodness out of each day. This blog is going to be super picture-heavy because there is just so much to cover. So let's go! July began with Canada Day and our annual BBQ at the Coxes house followed by going to see the fireworks. This has become a tradition that we all look forward to!

Then Archie and I were off on our (now annual!) mom & son road trip! This has honestly become one of our favourite parts of the summer and it has been such a memorable way for the two of us to spend the best quality time together. I know that these days won't last forever so I'm very grateful that I can take advantage of this time right now. Our first stop was Calgary where the Stampede was taking place, which we (very intentionally) did not attend.

Our next stop was Crowsnest Pass, an area that we'd never been to before, and we were so impressed! I'd heard about this part of the Rockies but it seems totally underrated! We stayed at Charmed Resorts which was such a fun experience. We had Elvyn's Cottage and Hook's Pirate Ship Cabin and both were so awesome and well done. I also had no idea that Crownest Pass was such a beautiful and interesting place with the astonishing Frank's Slide and the Bellevue Underground Mine which we loved. Certainly worth a visit! We want to bring Tim because he totally missed out!

Next we continued to Waterton Park where we enjoyed the most magical mountain time. Honestly, I think that Waterton is my favourite of the mountain towns. It's like being in a Disney movie! It's in a pretty remote location so it's never that crowded. We stayed at the beautiful and historic Prince of Wales Hotel and we did so many activities; from Royal Afternoon Tea, to a Waterton Shoreline Cruise (which took us across the border into Montana!), and an incredible horseback River Trail Ride where we rode the horses right into the river!

And then we ended off with one more stop in Calgary on the way home. I truly love that I'm independent enough to just go off and do a road trip like this! And also that Archie is old enough to be a person that I actually enjoy spending time with. These are some of my best summer memories and I'm so glad that it has become a new tradition. Back at home there was still plenty of other Edmonton stuff to get up to! We love doing "Fire Fridays" where we have a fire in our backyard and a BBQ (although we haven't had that many free Fridays this summer!) and we also love to bike to the farmers' market on Saturday mornings.

The Whyte Ave Art Walk was fun to visit and I saw my first Mayfield Dinner Theatre show!

One of the items on our summer bucket list this year was to float down the Pembina River - an activity that we used to do all the time when Tim and I first started dating. Archie had never experienced it before so I drove us out there one day for a float (which takes about two hours) and it was so much fun!

Tim and I had a total blast at the Great Outdoors Comedy Festival! We had an incredible third row table and we loved getting to see Aziz Ansari and Pete Davidson perform. Such a fun date night!

And then of course we had to pay (two!) visits to Taste of Edmonton where I ate 32 different things and also a (very hot) day at KDays. We crammed alllllll of the Edmonton stuff in before we left town!!

Then we were off on our big family summer vacation! I feel very fortunate that we are able to explore different parts of Canada in this way - our country is so big and beautiful! It would be a shame not to get to know as much of it as possible. Our first stop was Toronto where I was so happy to meet up with friends! We did an escape room with Colen's family and we beat it! We also visited Little Canada which we loved and attended a Blue Jays game (they played against the Tampa Bay Rays and won!) and had great seats - it was so much fun! And I got to have a visit with Melanie too! Toronto always feels like a city that we know really well and that's nice to return to.

Our annual ABC photo! With movie magic because Sarah wasn't actually there!

Next we were off to Baysville in Muskoka. Our family still owns one cottage on Lake of Bays so we figured that we should take advantage of it! Tim's sister Emily and her family also joined us, so that was extra fun. It's a lake that we've been visiting for a long time and it feels very special to still get to go there. Getting to stand-up paddle here is my absolute favourite.

After that we were off to Sudbury! Everyone keeps asking if we chose this on purpose, ha ha ha! Yes. We wanted to visit Sudbury!! And we actually loved it! We saw the Big Nickel (of course) and the Superstack that Archie had been wanting to see. We did a Heritage Mine Tour and visited the super fun Science North. It was great! Plus we've gotten into watching the show Shoresy which is set in Sudbury and we had a great time spotting locations from the show.

Our next stop was Tobermory which involved driving down to Manitoulin Island and taking the Chi-Cheemaun Ferry. Tobermory is on the Bruce Peninsula on Lake Huron and it's a stunningly beautiful area. I was very excited to do the Halfway Log Dump to The Grotto hike which is about 10kms long. It took us about four hours and was challenging! Archie didn't complain once and it was SO COOL to get to swim into the grotto at the end! We also did a boat tour of the shipwrecks (there are lots of shipwrecks here!), grottos, and flowerpot rock formations. This might have been my favourite part of the whole vacation!

And that was it for July!!! The trip continued into August but you'll get to hear about that part next time! (Or else this already-too-long blog would be WAY too long!) Meanwhile, during all of our adventures and travels, there was another pretty significant thing in the works. Tim decided to apply for a new job at a video game studio called Arcanaut Studios. This studio is based in Edmonton and was opened by previous BioWare employees... So basically all of his friends work there, including his old roommate Nick. They are making Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic and of course working on a Star Wars game is a very exciting prospect for Tim. They hired him as the Principal Cinematic Animator pretty much immediately. SO. Tim left his job at EA Motive Studio and his last day was before our vacation. He spent our vacation unemployed, ha ha. And then he started his new job once we returned. I think that he's going to be really happy with this change! Plus they're paying him a substantially larger salary and have an exciting profit-sharing program for once the game comes out. So that's been the other big news around here! Life with Archie: Archie has been living his summertime life to the fullest! Canada Day with friends, getting covered in mud - you know, the usual summer kid stuff!

Some of Archie's highlights from our road trip together include; me serving him his "rations" every morning (a glass of water and a glass with his vitamins and a Mornings Soft Baked Oat Bar in it), the kind of reading that he brings with him to a restaurant, and just the coolest adventures that a kid could have!

Archie built a Go Kart at the latest Kids Workshop at Home Depot.

He also attended two programs at the library; a LEGO Motion Lab where he learned about making stop-motion animation with LEGO and Introduction to 3D Printing for Kids where he learned how to 3D print. The library is such a cool resource for free activities in the summer!

Archie loved the river float that we did and had a ton of fun going over the rapids! We had a lot of laughs!

Archie turned nine and a half. I still don't know where this entire kid came from... But I like him a lot.

Archie got a new, bigger bike. He loves going on bike rides!

And he loved activities like checking out the Edmonton Explorer trolley and our visit to KDays.

Some of Archie's highlights from our family summer vacation include; taking his 85th, 86th & 87th flights, hanging with friends and cousins, he loved going to the Blue Jays game, did a bunch of kayaking that he learned how to do completely on his own, and loved Science North. Hiking, boats, swimming, adventures! It was all so memorable. Not sure how it could've been any better!

And now we have August, which is already half over at this point! Our vacation continues in August! After the Ontario leg we are flying to Montreal to spend some time in Quebec! My family suggested that they wanted to take a Montreal trip all together and since we were already in the east it was easy to add it on! We are spending four nights in Montreal, still one of our favourite cities. I'm most excited that I have a dinner reservation at Le Violon, one of the top restaurants in the country right now. After that we're leaving my family and spending two nights at Le Champlain B&B in Philipsburg in the Eastern Townships. It's right next to the USA border so we'll probably pop down into Vermont as well. And that's the end of our big summer vacation! Back home in Edmonton, Archie will be doing a week of Pedalheads Trail Rider Camp. I think that it will be really fun for him on his bike. And then the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival is happening, which I love! As you are well aware, I love this festival the most and I completely immerse myself. I usually see over 20 shows and I can't wait to do it again this year! BRB, I'm fringing!! Tim will be running in the Servus Edmonton Marathon and he is going to run his first FULL marathon!! He has been training a lot and I'm sure that he will do great! Thennnn we are going camping for three nights at the Pigeon Lake Concert Series in Mulhurst. We'll be tent camping and it's a music festival so we'll be seeing bands like Everclear, The Blue Stones, Valley, The Royal Foundry, and Hotel Mira. That's phase two of the summer! We really had a big and busy one this year! Kinda looking forward to September in a way, when things will really slow down. However, I love that we've made the most of the summer! I hope that you've all been soaking in every bit of this magical season and have made a ton of memories! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: August 3rd is Zena Domanski’s 75th birthday!

My mom is turning the big 75!! I'm extra lucky because I get to celebrate with her this year in Montreal! (Which is where she was born 75 years ago!) You're the best mom and I love that we get to spend so much time together doing exciting things! I love you! <3 August 8th is Lacey Suttie's 17th wedding anniversary!

Wishing you a romantic day to celebrate the two of you! <3 August 15th is Enobong Anstey's 11th wedding anniversary!

Wishing you a romantic day to celebrate the two of you! <3