viva las vegas

I love the sound of fresh lake water softly slapping against the side of a canoe, the distant call of a loon, or maybe the buzz of a cicada high on a tree top.
And is there anything nicer than the sound of leaves gently rustling in the wind?
Or maybe the sounds of splashing and laughing children echoing across a lake....
Ahh the sounds of summer.
sigh....

Well not my summer per say.
My summer vacation sounded more like constant ringing of slot machines.
 And **bleep**what the **bleep** I should have doubled down g-d damn it!!!
And the wonderfully intelligent sounds of drunk people.
And the constant dinging of an elevator with Cher cranked inside. Then again I suppose it could have been worse.
I also heard plenty of this which was o-kay, only I could had done without having to hear it 18 times over the course of the weekend.
And the ever present "Dude, tonight's going to be *beeping* awesome dude, let's get liquored up pronto *bleep*" 
Clearly the movie The Hangover was inspired here.
or last but certainly not least "where can I find "premium" Russian prostitute around here?"
Said with heavy eastern European accent.
All heard whilst breathing in lovely clouds of fluffy white marlboro cigarette smoke.
ah...the sounds and smells of my summer....
sigh..

Okay maybe a slight exaggeration.
But if you are looking for a relaxing summer getaway, Vegas is NOT the place to go.
So no great surprise here.
However if you are looking for a place to wear some trashy high heeled hooker shoes, short skirts, and I mean short, tight tank tops, a bucket load of perfume, love 50 degree heat, crowds and plenty of loud music everywhere, and mostly you feel like you wanna just
Par-tay and stuff yourself to the point of sheer gluttony, this is the place to go.

Then again, that's not why we decided to visit Sin City mid July.
I know, hard to believe I didn't want to strut my stuff in 7 inch stillettos...
Though admittedly I do wish I had packed some elastic waisted pants when I bellied up to the all-you- can-eat dessert buffet.
I'm pretty sure that my sweat currently smells like cheesecake..


It was actually Big Daddy's parents 50th anniversary and all the family met up in Vegas.
Definitely not my first choice, but hey might as well go with the flow and everyone is from the west coast so it kind of made sense.
The weekend flew by and despite my complete lack of love for Las Vegas we had a fun time.
Lulu met her new adorable cousin and got to see her grandparents for the first time in over two years.
It is grandma's happy place after all.
We also got to know our future sister in law, who couldn't be nicer.
Yay finally someone I can relate to in the family!
Bonus that it was all very short and sweet.
In on Thursday, home by Sunday.

Anyhow it's good to be home.
Bonus that we are up $100 from when we left.
Maybe we can put that towards a weekend up north before the summer is over...

too hot to eat

The last few weeks have been hotter than Hades here in Toronto.
We have broken all kinds of records.
Fortunately we have air conditioning and haven't had to be outside for the worst of the heat wave.
So glad Lulu was in the shade for most of last week at the Brickworks camp.

I'm okay with hot weather, but it does tend to make me lose my appetite.
And that is not an easy thing to do..
Not always a bad thing once and a while I suppose.
I just don't feel like cooking or even eating when it's 35+ degrees outside (45 with humidity)
Aside from chips and cold beer of course.
I haven't felt like eating out either.
Extreme heat always freaks me out when it comes to food safety in restaurant kitchens.
Shudder...
Besides so few restaurants have seasonal menus that appeal to me in the summer months.
That is aside from side from Vietnamese food.
Vietnamese food is perfect on a hot day.
Maybe not the Pho soup per say, but Bun is the ticket.
Delicious cold noodles, shredded fresh veg, grilled BBQ pork and shrimp on sugar cane.
Yum.
Even better with an iced Vietnamese coffee.
so so good.

What's your favourite food to eat when it's too hot to cook?

camp grandma & grandpa

Lulu has been at camp "Gran & Grandpa" all week and I can't believe how fast it has flown by!
It's the one time all year that I can just completely relax and not have to worry about her.
Well I suppose I always "worry" that she is okay, but I feel at ease knowing that she is having fun and is completely fine.
Though when I dropped her off and said good-bye her tears unhinged me a bit, but I knew that after a few minutes she would be completely okay.
Besides she is lucky that it wasn't at a camp up north like some of her friends are starting to do.
I can't even begin to imagine how dramatic our good byes will be when she starts doing that.
If she ever agrees to do that.
Until then it's Niagara-On-the-Lake for a couple of weeks each summer.
Oh the poor little thing...

She's so incredibly lucky to have such amazing grandparents.
Her week will be filled with swimming, art camp, play dates, tea parties, treats and more kisses and hugs than I'm sure I could possibly ever shower on her in an entire year.
My parents are so enamoured with Lulu.
I wish I had that type of special bond with my grandparents when I was a child.
Unfortunately distance made that difficult, not to mention I had so many cousins that I was never numero uno the way Lulu is for my parents.
She's also lucky that they're still so young and energetic that they have no problem keeping up with her.
In fact, I have a hard time keeping up with them!
When you look up The Perfect Grandparent in the dictionary, I'd be surprised if there wasn't a picture of my folks in there.
They really are fantastic.
Such a lucky girl.

Anyhow with all this freedom we've been trying to take full advantage of our temporary empty nest.
We went out for dinner a couple of times and took the pooch for walks after dark.
Who knew that it would be such a small luxury to go for a walk in the neighbourhood together after 9 pm?
But truth be told, we've both so tired lately that all we really want to do is just enjoy the quietness of the house and relax in the backyard.
G-d we're getting old..
Big Daddy has especially been working like crazy and really could really use the down time.
Bonus that our neighbours and their *daycare* I mean kids, are away at the cottage, so it's super quiet and a nice break to not hear crying, screaming or fighting for a change.
We want to try enjoy all the peace & tranquility while we can.

But once again, as nice as it is to have a breather from being a parent, it goes without saying that we both miss Lulu and look forward to having her back home.
Because as nice and mellow as it is, it always feels like something is missing when she's not around.

Until then, I'll be sitting under the tree in the back yard reading my book, not thinking about anything or anyone for the next 24 hours enjoying the sound of the birds, cicadas, and Chelsea snoring at my feet.
Ah the sounds of summer...

happy belated

Had a very low key Canada day long weekend.
We enjoyed the back yard for the first time all season and came to the conclusion that it might actually be quieter in the city than in Cottage country on a long weekend.
The neighbours were away and there were no trades making any noise.
Holy construction on our street...
We didn't hear any jet skis, power boats or people across the lake "given' r" all night long.
All we could hear were the birds and the crickets.
It seems as though our entire neighbourhood has made the annual pilgrimage up north for the summer.
Fine by me.
There are times when I miss our family cottage and wish my parents hadn't sold it.
And occasionally I'll even miss the boat.
Just a little bit.
But after being able to just chill out and do very little this weekend- especially not having to pack, prep, slather on the bug repellent and be stuck in traffic, I realized that it's really not so bad to be city bound in the summer.

Then again, big daddy was on MLS all weekend "checking things out".
So who knows what next summer may bring?
Until then, just enjoying keeping things simple.

Happy Birthday Canada.
Glad that you are my home & native land..