It was a pretty busy start to sabbatical with lots of friends and family visits along with catching up on chores around the house. I’m not sure what this says about me, but I’ve found it surprisingly easy to disconnect from work despite being worried that I’d have it on the back of my mind for several weeks at least. Perhaps my preparation paid off? Or maybe I’m a little too good at compartmentalizing, who knows…

Saturday the 28th we went to Toronto for a wedding. Lolo and Lola came to Poppy’s soccer in the morning and then took her to their place for the weekend so Jill and I could have a mini-vacation in Toronto. It was great being back and spending time with friends, not to mention a lovely wedding at The Gladstone Hotel. Sunday was spent visiting favourite old haunts and bumping into friends.

Monday we picked up Poppy and headed over to our friend’s house in town for a playdate with Harry.

Tuesday was Canada Day. It was a hot one but we spent a good chunk of the afternoon in the backyard with some neighbourhood friends who came over for a BBQ. We made chicken wings, a mexican corn salad, and a green pasta salad.

Wednesday – Friday was a few appointments, running errands, catching up on household chores, and prepping for our weekend visit to my parents.

Saturday, we went to Poppy’s soccer again in the morning and then drove up to Wasaga Beach to spend a night with my parents. The weather was pretty great so went to the beach Saturday afternoon and again Sunday morning. Poppy had a blast playing in the sand. It was a quick visit but an excellent one.

Monday – Wednesday was very similar to the end of the week before: running errands, household chores and then prepping for our next trip – a drive out to our friends’ cottage for the weekend.

Thursday we got up early and the hit road for a ~4h drive to our friend’s cottage out near Chaffey’s Lock. Our friend’s have a daughter a little younger than Poppy. They had fun playing together. The cottage is on an island, so the boat rides and swims in the lake were so awesome for Poppy. Since her first “of age” boat ride was a memorable one in Vancouver with fake pirates everywhere, she now thinks there will be pirates every time she’s on a boat. Only one mini-meltdown over a toy that had to be taken away (too popular amongst the kids) and a dinner she didn’t want to eat. Otherwise she was friendly and happy the whole weekend.

We got back Saturday evening and are now 100% in prep mode for our next trip: we leave tomorrow for a roughly four week vacation to Paris and Copenhagen.

I’m still trying to flex my blogging muscles. I hope to blog regularly while we’re there but only time will tell how successful I am at that.