1. Seeing a real prince and princess (or duke and duchess, as they are officially known). My mom, D and I went to Rideau Hall (parking for free at the Aviation Museum and availing ourselves of the complimentary shuttle) to see Will and Kate on Thursday afternoon. It was a beautiful day, and D wore the pillowcase dress I made her last summer, with the shrug I made her this past Easter. D's favourite parts of the day were running around the grounds with Grandma and riding a bus for the first time, respectively. I suppose it wasn't free to drive there, factoring in gas and wear & tear on the car, but it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
2. Berry picking. We went to a farm down the road from us (Dekok's), on a random Wednesday early in the strawberry season, about an hour before closing time. It had been raining, but that just made the berries seem nice and clean. I think it was about 10$ for a huge basketful, which we ate in short order.
3. Outdoor art. So far, we've drawn on the driveway with sidewalk chalk (1.50$ for 12 pieces at Dollarama), and finger-painted.
4. BBQs with friends and creative baking solutions. We had a bunch of awesome people over for a Canada Day BYO-meat potluck, and it was so much fun! A few people brought side dishes and desserts, and we made one of each. Oven fries were our easy, although time-consuming, side dish, and for dessert I made cupcakes (with all-purpose and spelt flours). Unfortunately, I had no icing sugar and all the stores were closed, so I made seven-minute frosting instead, using white sugar, cream of tartar, egg whites, and vanilla (although maple extract would have been more festive). It worked out great, and I threw a dash of red sprinkles on for colour.
5. Cheering on my sister at her third-ever triathlon, where she placed first! It was her boyfriend's birthday, and he was racing, too; his family came to town to surprise him, with one of his sisters actually entering the race. All three of them placed in the top three for their age categories.
6. Meeting a brand-new baby. My friend Sarah just had her second daughter, and we got to meet the little cutie last week. I held her for as long as was reasonable, and D and baby's big sister were kind enough to mostly ignore her. (This is a blessing as it did not involve eye-poking or suffocating hugs.) Here's what I just finished knitting for tiny baby A today:
7. Watching an auto-cross event in the Palladium parking lot. Hubby, D and I were out running errands today, and happened to be driving by when we noticed a bunch of cars racing around parking lot 9 of Scotiabank Place. We stopped to have a look, and ended up staying to watch for quite a while. D was enthralled, and kept saying "fast car!" It was not unlike her favourite movie Cars, during which she likes to point out all the titular vehicles. Apparently they have auto-cross almost every weekend during the summer, so we may go back again.
D was excited to ride in Grampa's Mustang (on loan for the weekend) with the top down. Joe Cool even kept her hat and glasses on for most of the drive.
All these activities are in addition to the more everyday ones, like going to the library for new books every few weeks (Curious George is a particular favourite at the moment), splashing in the kiddie pool, going to parks, grocery shopping, and housework. We strive for a balance of fun and productive activities, with mixed results sometimes, but we always enjoy spending time together as a family.
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