Amazing Celebretion.... takes you back to warm, sunny days!

As the days get shorter and darker, I thought it would be appropriate  to share this last little bit of early Fall celebration with you. Melanie and Julie double celebration.. which we shall call the Virgo Birthday Party!

Amazing but true. Brent made it to a pool before it was closed. He felt so free and 'back to normal' after months and months of no water because of his foot surgery, he was as happy as a little guppy.

... and what about this little cutie pie offering me a flower...

...wait, no... don't eat the flower Stephanie!

Look ma tante Chantal, I have 2 flowers for you!

Gorgeous!

Let's smell it Stephanie!

Ok... now onto the food, you know, the focus of all celebrations! This time I made a couple of healthy alternatives salads- no leafy greens this time-  cucumber, honeydew salad...

...and the famous quinoa salad... recipes to come!

My mother served lamb and some mint jelly of course.

... and made the girls favourite treat- Frozen Yogurt Pie with a Rice Crispy, peanut buttery crust! Fantastic way to celebrate with the most beautiful girls in the world!

More Family Fun and Discovery

We continued to have so much fun just spending lots of time in the pool/sun and easting all of my sweet and gracious parents food! So all the cousins got to know each other, gently, and carefully, Lola touching he baby cousins face.

 Gentle, Gentle, holding on tight, with a lot of coaching, it was a warm and cuddly moment.

 Some people decided to discover the baby pool... so cute eh!

I think maybe Julie was having more fun than Stephanie.

 Charles showing his 'guns'- Usain Bolt Style!

Ok, here is a shift in the mood. Aaaaaah, such love and sweetness.

 Elsewhere in the house... Stephanie and I have lunch... she prefers a rubber friend...

 Sophie the French Squeaky Toy Giraffe. P.S.- check out her awesome eyelashes!

Still, elsewhere in the house, much of the chasing around in my parents' house was around the kids playing in the stairs... this photo just says it all- Safety first! Like monkeys in a zoo behind bars... but cute, nice smelling monkeys.

The Beginning of some Australian Fun in the Sun

Guess who was just here???? That's right my lovely little brother and his family came all the way from Australia and stayed with my folks for a wonderful 3 weeks. We had such fun with all our kids and the pool and the running around, oh and I mean running around. His little girls are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2.... so that equals Olympic strength running around because of the pool... well, that is unless we are all in the pool together!

 Here's Handsome Charles and his little Estelle.

 His beautiful wife Rebecca- a real Australian- and their little Lola.

 Check out this action shot... ok, jump!

 Not so much for this pair, just 'cheesy' grins!

 Lola preferred walking in the grass and collection specimens between her toes.

 Here's a little Canadian cousin too- Stephanie's first meeting with her Australian family! Oy!

Playing with the retro Fisher Price boat- too cool! And so was Estelle with the cutest little Australian accent, and so polite, always starting her sentences with 'excuse me'.

Playing with more retro Fisher Price - Hickory Dickory Dock Clock.

Everyone's gotta a baby! Such cousin love eh! It was so sweet seeing Lola getting upset when her mommy was holding her little polka-dot niece... so they had to play switcheroo and everyone was happy in the end!



Port Credit Farmers Market

Wanted to support locally grown products, so.... why not try the Port Credit Farmers Market!

The family and I spent a nice leisurely morning walking around and sampling the products. Located right on Lakeshore Rd, just east of Hunrontario in the LCBO Parking lot- it's convenient and not too crowded.

We just love strawberries, but the best are the locally grown fresh Ontario berries. They are so naturally sweet... you could just eat all these baskets... except maybe for the price ($6)... we bought just one as a treat.

We saw yellow watermelons...

We saw red watermelons... and after doing a taste test, we realized that they tasted the same.

Here's the 'det's'

I'll see you there, I'll be the one supporting the local 'non-chain' coffee shop.  It feels good to shop locally and support the little guy!

A few of my favourite summer favourite foods

Corn, I just love corn on the cob, fresh from the farmer's markets in the summer!

So plump and juicy... we just boil it, but I know you can BBQ it too! One day, we might get a little adventurous, but this is how we do it....

... just add a bit of butter and a tiny bit of salt. Of course, Melanie's teeth aren't falling off anymore, but I still have to slice it off for her in a bowl and add a little bit of butter and salt. I love when you get a big chunk sliced off, I always steal it, it's my fee for having to slice it for her. At about 120 calories, with 4 grams of fibre and 5 grams of protein... it's a wonderful side dish.

But here is the other summer favourite. BBQ Chicken, with the burned, crispy bits... so delicious.

Ok, so here's a healthier alternative than a DQ Strawberry Sundae- A small strawberry sundae is about 280 calories and loaded with 55 grams of sugar. Now, what we did at home is we took a half cup of Chapman's vanilla frozen yogurt and a tablespoon of that delicious freezer jam from Sturgeon Falls and it amounts to 150 calories and about 25 grams of sugar. Similar taste but a much healthier alternative, mmm, mmm, good!

Nice Nails- Beach Polka Dot Party

Check out my summer Beach Polka Dot Party! This was one of my favourite nail designs- it reminds me of little polka dot bikinis... on my nails!

 It did take some time, but it was an awesome fun outcome. I spent the week asking everyone which their favourite colour was. Mine was the blue/teal.

 You saw these colours before when I received them in the mail. But here is what I used for this design, from left to right, Reagan, Lara, Arizona, Wednesday, Tracie and L'Oreal I Do.

Here are all the colours for you. Summertime polka dot fun!

Fire and Water in Sturgeon Falls

This is the second installement of three about our fun trip.  This one is all about the elements... Fire and Water.

We were so excited to have a bonfire. We would get to have 'smores' a summertime treat. But as you can see from this picture- one of my favourites... we were covering our heads and bodies with hoodies because of the enormous amounts of mosquitoes. They were giant, and hungry and there were soooo many. Gaetane and Melanie have the sweetest blood because they got devoured!

Melanie and Nicolas posing in front of the giant bonfire. I know... Melanie is so 'hot' right?

Here we are all posing and tolerating the mosquitoes. The fire was so hot... I couldn't get close enough to roast a marshmallow.

... but Nicolas was brave enough and laid on the ground for me and 'burnt' one up for me... we did use some extra dark chocolate.... but heck... this was a treat, one that Nicolas went to battle for me and so I enjoyed it with bliss!

Onto the water fun now. We spent a day at this most beautiful clear lake in the middle of nowhere just 15 minutes north of their home. It's aptly called Lac Clair. There's my gorgeous girl sitting on the clear lake, not fearing anything because you could see everything.

We walked into the lake for quite a while before it hit our knees, and it was so soft, you didn't even need lake shoes for the 'yuk' factor.

So clear, look you could see the bottom and do you see what's there? A little tadpole and we weren't even freakin' out... it was all part of nature.

What was so amazing was that this beautiful clear sand and water beach was basically deserted.  Such peace and beauty... you never would have believed it. Nothing like this would ever happen around here in the GTA.

See, deserted! There was one other family and us! Heaven on Earth! I told them that I wanted to buy a house right on the water and live there forever... well except for their brutal winter time...

Healthy Homemade Iced Capp... you won't believe it

So, there are so many beverages out there that 'trick' you into thinking that they are good for you. One of those is 'Frappacino'. It tricks you and says, 'It's hot out there, I am a frozen coffee beverage, I am just like a cup of coffee with ice chunks'- but do not be fooled... an Iced Capp from Tim Horton's has over 250 calories- and it's all sugar. Here, then, I have for you a 'Healthy Alternative' that you can make at home so easily for less than 50 calories (it's just made of milk!)... ok, here's the end of the drink shot for you at least!

Healthy Frappuccinos

(adapted from http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2011/08/01/healthy-starbucks-frappuccinos/)

(Serves 2)

•             2 cups milk of choice

•             1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

•             2 tsp instant coffee

•             1/16 tsp salt (don’t omit)

•             sweetener, such as 3 nunaturals stevia packets or Splenda (or 2-3 tablespoons sugar) 

Mix the ingredients together in 1 or 2 ice cube trays. Freeze- (I did overnight). Once frozen, pop the blocks out of the containers. Thaw until just soft enough for your blender to be able to handle it. (I was using my Magic Bullet so I had to let it thaw for almost 1 hour).

Blend each serving individually, until desired slushiness is reached. Pour into two glasses and enjoy.