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

And that's a wrap on the summer, people!!! I realize that summer isn't technically over yet but with a kid in school, the start of the school year really feels like it marks the end of the summer. It was a great, busy, fun, and exciting summer season! I hope that yours was too! We spent all of August in Edmonton and there was no shortage of fun activities and events to keep us very occupied. Like mom hangs with Amy while our kids were in horseback riding camp together.

A three hour raft float down the North Saskatchewan River.

Attending the Edmonton Folk Music Festival (and letting Archie stay up past midnight).

I also had a permanent bracelet put on! Have you seen this trend? It's a gold bracelet that gets welded on and cannot be removed (unless you cut it off or have it removed). I love it! Mine is rose gold and the three Swarovski crystals are me, Tim, and Archie's birthstones. <3

And then... FRINGE. The second half of August was dominated by the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. You know by now that I am very, very into the Fringe. I love everything about it. This festival really epitomizes the Edmonton experience for me and is truly one of the best things that the city has to offer. I fringed my little heart out for all of the eleven days, saw 23 shows in total, hung out at the Fringe grounds practically every day, and just really immersed myself. I was pretty tired by the end but I had an amazing time!

Now that the Fringe is over I feel like I need to get my life back on the rails again and like... Drink water? We also got a new washer and dryer!!! (New appliances are the most exciting thing as an adult!) We have now replaced ALL of the major appliances that came with the house (they were all old and shitty) and it's so nice to feel like we've really upgraded the overall experience and functionality of our home.

And finally, this was a fun trend on the socials this month so I wanted to share it here. It's called "How I See Myself" (or you can do it for other people as well). You find photos to represent yourself for; animal, place, plant, character, season, hobby, colour, crystal, and food. SO THIS IS ME!

Life with Archie:

Like I mentioned earlier, Archie was in Pony Up! horseback riding summer camp at the Whitemud Equine Learning Centre Association for a week at the start of the month. He did this camp last summer as well and really loves it. Plus he was in it with his friend Sawyer, so that was great!

Other friend hangs included movies with his friend Brendan (he actually hung out with Brendan A LOT this month) and he was also invited to a birthday party for his school friend Nathan.

We all tried dosa for the first time and loved it - it was bigger than Archie's whole body, HA HA. And of course Archie feasted on multiple green onion cakes at the Fringe because he's a good Edmontonian boy.

Archie loved Folk Fest and when we asked him if he would be okay with staying up SUPER late he responded "YES!!! STAYING UP LATE IS MY FAVOURITE THING!!!"

This bear is huge and amazing...

And Archie had a private ride on the High Level Bridge Streetcar where he got to sit up front with the driver and it basically made his whole life.

Archie also did the "How I See Myself" thing for himself. I asked him the answers to each of the categories and we searched for the photos together. I loved his responses and I think that he did an amazing job of representing himself! Again, it's; animal, place, plant, character, season, hobby, colour, crystal, and food. (For "plant" he said "Oxeye Daisy" and I was like "HOW DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT IS?!")

SEPTEMBER!!! I actually always love September a lot. Everyone always thinks of it as the fall but I usually find the weather to be wonderful during this month and a great extension of the summer. Fall isn't until the end of the month, after all. For one last summertime hurrah, we are headed off to go camping this Labour Day long weekend! We will be camping (in a tent) for three nights at Wabasso Campground in Jasper. This is our favourite campground and we will also be on our very favourite site! We're ending the summer holidays the same way that we started them - in the mountains! Archie is very excited for the first day of school on September 5th! He's going to French Immersion Grade 1! His teacher is Mme. Amel and he can't wait to see his new classroom and to get back together with his school friends. This will be the FIRST TIME that he will be at school for the full day, from 8:35am to 3:30pm. I can't believe it. It feels like this will be my first real break in six and a half years. We will be taking a mini overnight trip to Calgary (with Nicole!) this month because Tim and Nicole are going to see Game Grumps Live: Tournament of Gamers together. Originally the two of them were just going to go together but Archie and I decided to tag along for the adventure. My parents are also coming for a visit this month and I'm looking forward to some quality time with them! Happy back-to-school time everyone! Many of us are moms, so we know what a big deal this time of year is! THIS MONTH’S SHOUT-OUTS!: September 6th is Zena Domanski's 48th wedding anniversary!

Wishing my parents a wonderful anniversary! I hope that you do something fun to celebrate! You're only two years away from a big huge party???! (And you know that I want to plan it...) September 10th is Sarah Tasker's 12th wedding anniversary!

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

September 17th is Sarah Tasker’s 41st birthday!

I hope that you have a fabulous day and that you get to feel very loved and appreciated! You're my oldest friend and it's really surreal to think about how far we have come. I'm so grateful to have had you by my side throughout it all. It's pretty amazing that we're still in each other's lives after all of these years! I love you so much! <3 September 19th is Rachelle Helston's 1st wedding anniversary!

Wishing you and Sarah a lovely anniversary and hopefully a date night to celebrate!