Water has been a major focus of life lately for fun and…much less fun reasons.
Let’s start with the less fun. Nova Scotia is hotter and drier than ever, and the wildfire situation has escalated. We desperately need water. I’m so thankful we haven’t been directly impacted, but my heart aches for nearby communities battling blazes and trying to protect their homes.
One of the hardest parts of adulthood is holding two truths at once: good things happening in my own life while others are suffering. But life does go on. I can’t fight fires, but we did choose to seek out water.
I’ve already written about Nova Scotia adventures (surfing at Lawrencetown Beach, lighthouse gazing at Peggy’s Cove, and boogie boarding at Beach Meadows.)
But there were even more happy things this week that tied back to water.
ONE LAST TRIP TO THE LAKE
John was away for work, so I took the kids to visit my parents in New Brunswick.
A few years ago, a dear friend’s husband passed away suddenly. Her kids — two teen boys — have became like cousins with our kiddos. (They call us Aunt Elisabeth and Uncle John and my parents Grammie and Grampie.) Since they feature prominently in our lives, I think they deserve internet names: let’s call them Max and Leo.
In the 8+ years I’ve known them, I don’t think I’ve ever heard either boy complain. They are polite, grateful, and helpful, while still being tons of fun.
They had never fished, rarely swum, and never been in a boat, so a week at the lake was like stepping into a new world. They had an absolute blast tubing behind my dad’s little motorized canoe, jumping off the raft, and collecting skipping rocks from the island. Because of the fire risk, we couldn’t have campfires, but everything else screamed Summer at the Lake.
Most of one day was spent making a movie. They scrounged for costumes, assumed pirate personas and then filmed scenes until the sun went down.
Toad and frog catching is always a hit.
It was such a gift to showcase life at the lake to kids who have never experienced anything quite like it. It was also a gift to have them slip right into our routines, make themselves at home, and add so much fun and novelty to the week. (Without a single complaint! That’s more than I can say for my own two…though they were also exceptionally well-behaved all week.)
Our last full day was probably my favourite. Delicious food. Calm water. A quick catnap in the hammock, tubing, an evening swim, and closing down the day with a sunset fishing adventure where we all caught multiple fish.
HAPPY THINGS IN BLOGLAND
- Kathleen (who guested on my blog back in June) was a podcast guest on Best Laid Plans this week. She has relaunched her podcast as The Reframe.
- Birchie visited Nicole in Kelowna and got to eat delicious food and spend time with Rex sprawled at her feet!
- Daria’s month-long adventure in France came to an end in Paris. I enjoyed reading every word of her recap.
- Despite incredibly wet conditions, Melissa persevered and had a great City2Surf run in Sydney, Australia. This year there were over 90,000 entrants. Wowzers! That’s A LOT of runners.
- Laura’s post about Aim for a few enjoyable moments has a personal spin to it. Here’s the comment I left on her blog: In 2022 we did a 3-week family road trip. The kids were fairly grumpy most days. Both kids had colds (in an era when COVID was still circulating). We travelled through an intense heat wave. In short, it wasn’t the most fun trip of my life. On the final leg of our trip we stopped at a gorgeous lighthouse and the kids started fighting and I lost my mind and started sobbing. After 3 weeks and so much management of emotions and making sure people were hydrated and trying to find bathrooms in cities (WHY IS THIS SO HARD), I was just over all of it. We skipped all the other things we had planned that day and I went to our crappy hotel in Portland, Maine, and cried in the tepid shower. And then I came out and opened up Feedly and that very day you had posted an article about aiming for a few enjoyable moments. It was like a lightning bolt.
Yes, the trip hadn’t been quite as fun as I had imagined. Yes, the kids were sick and cranky. Yes, there was a heat wave. But, if I reframed the road trip in a way of looking for a few enjoyable moments, we’d managed to do just that. I think of this often AND just last week was discussing a trip a friend was quasi-dreading and brought up this exact experience and how perfectly timed your article had been. - Y’all know how I feel about mornings, but Catrina’s hike to catch a sunrise AND EAT FRESH CROISSANTS AT THE SUMMIT would be enough to entice me to set a very early alarm. Such gorgeous pictures!
BONUS HAPPY THINGS
- Micronaps in the hammock on a windy day.
- Reading my Kobo in said hammock.
- Watching the lake from…you guessed it…the hammock.
- I really like our hammock. (This is not an affiliate link, but it’s this $30 one from Amazon; I bought it in the biggest size.)
- Feeling better after a good night of sleep. On Tuesday I was exhausted by the end of the day. It had been busy — lots of supervising kids and time spent in the sun and helping with food prep and cleanup, but I felt disproportionately exhausted. So exhausted, in fact, I felt like I would never have any energy again in my life. And then I went to bed early, slept soundly, and woke up feeling like I could get through the next day just fine (which I did!).
- Listening to the kids laugh through an open window while they played Telestrations.
- Playing Telestrations myself. It really is that funny.
- Eating meals outdoors on the deck.
- Going a full week without showers or makeup. At home that would feel gross; at the lake it just felt…liberating.
- Knowing how to swim. I take this skill for granted, but what a delight.
- Mom’s cooking.
That’s a wrap on this week’s happy things. Today we’re heading back to Nova Scotia. Tomorrow is our flex day, and then Belle is off for her final week at camp. And somehow, impossibly, it’s LESS THAN TWO WEEKS until school starts. Aside from sneakers for gym class, I haven’t bought a single back-to-school item. Oops.
Now it’s your turn:
- What “happy things” have you noticed this week?
- Do you find it easier to relax your usual routines (like makeup or showers) when you’re away from home?
- What’s one small “first” you’ve witnessed someone else experience that gave you fresh appreciation for something familiar?
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I love your story with Laura’s post – it really shows how much the timing of good advice matters. You clearly already had the ability to reframe, but reading her words at exactly the right moment gave them so much more impact. Such a good reminder for me, too!
And thank you for the shoutout and the absolutely gorgeous photos from your week at the lake!
Happy things: we had a little get-together with our neighbours on Wednesday, and one 87-year-old neighbour brought along an Austrian speciality, a spicy cream cheese spread (Liptauer). I made a point of telling him how delicious it was, and he was over the moon. I was surprised by how much that small compliment meant to him – and it made me happy, too. A lovely reminder of how powerful it can be to encourage and commend others.
Her post came at the exact right time for me at the end of an exhausting road trip.
Compliments and little words of encouragement can go so far <3
Oh, how fun that you were able to take the two boys to the lake with you! They sound like great kids, and yes, it’s so much fun to see someone experience things like that for the first time. It must have been an amazing week.
It’s boggling my mind that you still have so much time before school starts! We’ll have been back for four weeks by the time your kids start.
Thanks as always for your “happy things in Blogland” segment- I can rely on you to make sure I don’t miss anything really important.
Btw your photos from the lake are gorgeous!
We get out soooo late (the literal last day of June this year).
It was a wonderful week at the lake and I’m so grateful we had good weather and happy kids that all stayed healthy!
Lol I am never skipping showers or makeup, Elisabeth!!!
Yay for lake time, it looks VERY idyllic! Happy things this week: same old, same old. You know how it is! The garden is insane, the weather has been good, I am busy writing and reading and doing the things.
You have had such a wonderful summer in Kelowna! I’m so glad your garden is thriving and hooray for reading and writing.
How wonderful for the two boys to experience such a beautiful place for the first time. Your photos always look so enticing!
My happy things are all family related. Monday my nephew and niece were over for dinner then they took my husband and I out for ice cream. Today my sister on the island is coming over and Sunday we leave for a week in Lethbridge to visit our other sister. We’ve got side trips planned to Drumheller and Waterton and lots of time in her hot tub on the deck. Can’t wait!
Jacquie, this all sounds just wonderful! Time with family, good food/treats, and outdoor adventures. Enjoy!
I love that you brought a couple of extra kids along for your trip. That makes the getaway extra novel and exciting for your kids, too!
We are up at my parents’ home, too. It’s been a really nice getaway. I’ve relaxed my bedtime so I can play cards with my parents. Sleep has suffered a bit but I will be kid free next week so sleep should be excellent!!!
It really did make it feel extra special and unique since everything was new to them in terms of both the location and vacationing at a lake.
I hope you have such a fantastic week at home. The boys will be having a blast, and that makes it easier to relax and enjoy that solo/silent time.
Beautiful lake pictures!!
This was a bonkers busy week!
But good because:
– We started school
– my daughter lover her college art class
– my son loves his Taekwondo class
– we’re almost done with a huge job for my husband’s business. Taking carpet out and refinishing the cement underneath. We hit multiple snags, but it’s almost done.
Phew. That DOES sound like a very busy week. I’m sure you’re glad to get to the weekend for some rest. (Me too! Though my “hard work” this week was vacationing which, as the mom, isn’t always overly relaxing.)
What a blessing you were all able to help your husband complete such a difficult job.
Ahhhh, gym shoes! Excellent reminder, I immediately checked in. I think they will need to go on next week’s shopping list.
Happy things:
– I started HRT, it’s already improving my sleep
– my youngest turning 8 and celebrating
– being part of a great team at work
– being able to cycle to work
– listening to podcasts
I’ll be so curious to hear you you make out with HRT. I was just reading a blog post earlier this week where someone mentioned it changing their life.
Happy Birthday to your 8-year-old!
I love hammocks. We moved to a house with no trees in the backyard and in the fall I am glad not to have to rake, but other times I am so sad not to be able to put up a hammock. I guess I could get a frame. But also our backyard is quite buggy, so who knows if I would really spend a lot of time in the hammock.
Your days at the lake sound so restorative. I didn’t have a chance to schedule any restorative getaways this summer. I should try to find opportunities to do that more. Whenever we get out of town, I feel like we’re going somewhere to do touristy things and even though there are pockets of chilling time, it’s not the main reason for getting away. Camping is usually my restorative getaway, but I didn’t have a chance to do it this summer.
I know between your trip and your latest show this summer has not been very relaxing for you.
It is hard to find time to carve out for rest and relaxation, especially when kids are involved.
That is one thing I really love about going to the lake – there is no pressure to go adventuring. We almost always just stay on their property the entire time. While there are lots of things to do, it’s the same activities over and over. So while the days are full, there is no packing lunches or being out late at night. When we go elsewhere, we pack A LOT into our days (which is fun), but I appreciate the chance to spend time in a hammock and no shower or wear makeup 😉
Sorry to hear about the wildfires – we call them bushfires in Australia and are very prone, so awful its happening in Nova Scotia. Hope they come under control soon.
But hooray for a good week at the lake! Lovely you could bring your family friends along and everyone had a great time. This week my happy things were:
– having a great time eating out as a family with my sister and brother in law mid week
– taking some time on Monday to work from a pretty location, instead of just from home
– watching my daughter do her book week parade at school (she went as Hermione from Harry Potter)
– creating marble runs with my son (he’s loving this right now)
– lots of time spent developing the plot of my novel I’m writing
I’m so proud of you for dedicating more time to your novel! Hooray. That was part of your plan and you’re doing it.
I’d never heard of a book parade until I started reading your blog. What a fun idea (though the thought of coming up with costumes does not thrill me, I admit)!
The lake visits always look and sound so life giving! Hoping and praying all of the Maritimes get a good soaking rain soon. I miss rain. Sounds strange to say given how much we usually get, but I do. In addition to knowing how desperately it’s needed, I miss the sound of it, and the coziness of a rainy day. (But also, let’s not overdo this and get 100+ mm of torrential downpour in a hurricane, ok?)
I feel like I SHOULD have a lot of happy things to share. The kids and I are visiting my parents and the cousin and grandparent time has been so nice. But… also I’m tired of solo parenting bedtime and night wake ups, and the kids are hitting the point of really fraying after almost two weeks of no routine, unusual sleeping arrangements, etc. There’s also unbloggable stuff that’s weighing on me too. I’m grateful we’re having this trip, and also sooo ready to go home on Tuesday.
Yikes, didn’t mean to make my happy things comment be a whine. Sorry!
Hey, hard stuff is just as real and present in our lives as happy things. And sometimes it weighs even more heavily at a time when we need to appear to be (or think we should be feeling) “light”.
Solo parenting is exhausting. Being on vacation and out of routine is exhausting. Sleeping somewhere else is hard. I get this 100% and completely understand you holding two opposite truths in the same hand: being grateful for the experience, and being ready for it to be over! Safe travels and enjoy getting back into a routine <3
There is just something about lakes! We have a beautiful lake about an hour north of us that we have visited only twice, but each time we are there, it feels like a balm to my soul (it helps that the water is very shallow for quite a ways out, so it’s actually relaxing to be there with toddlers — plus, the lake marks the halfway point between us and dear family friends, so it’s a perfect place to meet up with them).
That photo of Indy fishing in his Star Wars pajamas just SLAYS me. So big and yet so little.
Jumping on the bandwagon to say I really love your new blog roundup. It’s fun to discover new blogs and to highlight posts I may have missed from the previous week!
Happy things from this week: a new 15×21 baking sheet that allows me to cook a dinner’s worth of food on one SINGLE pan, weather conducive to having my telemedicine therapy session outside on the back porch, and a sweet older gentleman sitting behind us in church who told me after the service that the kids were very well behaved and that he loves to see young families at mass. The kids *were* fairly well behaved, but during an hour-long service with a preschooler and a toddler, there are inevitable shenanigans – it was so kind of him to encourage me rather than to be offended that the 2-year-old was making noise and the 3 1/2-year-old was dropping snacks left and right.
Ha! Yup, he took a giant onesie for his jammies this week and ended up getting out of the lake our final night, getting ready for bed…and then headed down to go fishing 😉
Thanks for the encouragement to keep posting about happy things I see around blogland!
It’s the littlest things that can make the biggest difference – like a new baking pan. Hooray!
I have a few times when people have reached out to compliment my kids behaviour (which is, admittedly, hit and miss in church) and it has meant the WORLD to me. It’s hard to pay attention to the service when you’re trying to keep the wiggles in control and manage snacks and colouring and all the things. I’m so glad he spoke up!!!
How wonderful that you were able to share your week at the lake with your friends children. It looks like a fabulous time. Since I rarely wear makeup, I don’t usually change my routines in that department. Although I might have less showers if I’m not running as much. We used to camp at the river and then we would go without showers because there wasn’t one. I guess swiming in the lake everyday substitutes for a shower.
We finally finished a particularly difficult puzzle this week and H immediately got a new one out. It was a happy thing for us.
Your summer at the lake reads like right out of the story book. Not sure if you know Astrid Lindgrens Children of Noisy Village. Bu I get those vibes whenever I read about the lake house. Not sure why because they don’t live on a lake.
I read the book a month or two ago and it was FABULOUS. What a relaxing, fun read and I enjoyed it so much. I can see why you’d expect them to live near a lake. That would have been a perfect addition to the story.
What a fun week away at the lake, especially with some friends for the kiddos who did not create much extra work for you! That’s always nice!
I loooove Telestrations. One of my favorite book club memories is all of us playing that game and laughing hysterically!
It’s my favorite thing to be out of my routine when I’m on vacation or away. It’s a nice little reset, too, because after a few days of being out of my routine, I’m usually ready to get back into it!
Telestrations is beyond hilarious. I definitely prefer it over Pictionary.