Details...

Well, sadly, I went back through my photos over the last month and realized that I hardly took any photos!!

So, to catch you up...

We had a great Father's Day. The kids and I dug into my stamping/scrapbooking supplies on the Saturday before, while Gary was out and created a few cards for him. Let's just say that we ended up with glitter where no glitter has gone before! But they had fun - Connor kept saying, "Mom, this is the best day ever!" which is a little sad when I think about it... I would have thought that we've had more fun than that!

We let Gary sleep in on Sunday morning and greeted him with handmade gifts and cards and a watch.

(Aili insisted on wearing her new bikini when she woke up that morning...)

We headed out to Leamington for the afternoon for some swimming and a BBQ at my sister's. Aili, in true typical Aili form, showed no fear and jumped right off of the diving board - no coaxing needed!

I love the look of pure concentration on her face! She and Connor both had to be dragged, kicking and screaming from the pool later - they LOVE the water!

Sadly, with all the swimming and cooking, I didn't even get a photo of my dad and I :(

The week following Father's Day was super busy for me at work, preparing for our annual inventory. And then after work on Thursday, Gary picked me up and dropped me off at the Via station - I was off on a girls' weekend away with 4 of my design team members!!

Luckily, I brought my Zen on the train, as there were four families traveling together with what sounded like 14 children! In actuality, I think it may have only been 8. Katrina picked me up at 11pm in Port Hope and so the fun began!

We woke up early on the Friday. Actually, Kat's boys woke me up by singing Happy Birthday to me, since they wouldn't be seeing me on the actual day. We headed out to do some shopping (note to self: Take Kat to the Tim Horton's BEFORE we go shopping...). She dragged me into a store and MADE me spent all this money on clothes!! After she told me that she didn't like the white shirt that I had on... ! ;)

We headed back to her place for lunch and to wait for Melanie and Lori. I had picked up a box of hair colouring to "touch up" my colour so I did that, and of course, Melanie arrived as I had a headful of goop! What a great first impression she's getting of me! Lori called shortly after from the 401 - there had been a terrible rollover accident in front of her and she was stuck in traffic! Luckily she wasn't hurt! Sadly though, it delayed her arrival by about 2.5 hours! So we had a nice cold Mohito waiting for her when she finally arrived.
And then the fun began. We had dinner, got ready, had a few adult beverages (or more) and then headed to friends of Kat & James for a pre-bar party. Melanie & Paul's house was beautiful! And what a crazy girl that Melanie is! There were about 20 of us - we all piled into cabs and headed downtown to the Junction (teeny bopper bar). There was an amazing band planing that night called Mid Life Crisis - they seriously brought the house down! The lead singer has a great voice and is very careful to pick songs that suit his voice. Yet they would perform AC/DC and then turn around and sing A Flock of Seagulls song!! We had soooooo much fun!!!

We all moved fairly slowly the next morning, some more than others... ;) We headed on a shopping trip to the local scrapbooking store and then a quick tour of the local sites. We came home and finally settled into scrapbooking. I had brought the August kit with me for the girls - it's so pretty!! I managed to finish a couple of layouts that I had originally started at Elaine's house in May!

These photos of Aili were taken just after her first haircut - love those little curls!
Using the Just Cre8 June '07 kit and April '07 stamps:

Using the Just Cre8 May '07 kit

Another late night and then we all sadly parted late the next morning. It was so great to finally meet Lori and Melanie in person and to see Kat & James and the boys again. I almost missed my train, we were having so much fun!!

It was a LONG ride home, with a 3.5 hours stopover in Toronto. I just vegged in the train station and listed to my Zen. I slept most of the train ride home, much to the dismay of my neighbour, I'm sure because as soon as I came to around Chatham, she chatted my ear off the rest of the way home! The train was running nearly an hour behind so I managed to catch Gary before he left the house with the kids. When all was said and done, I arrived at home at 9:45pm, after catching the 11:50am train in Port Hope! Although it was nice to sleep, the next time, I'll drive!!

The next morning was my inventory so I headed into work. It was also my front store manager's last day, as he and his wife were moving back out to BC. I worked an additional day that week to prepare all of the inventory files for head office. And then at 4pm on Thursday, I was officially on vacation!!

Well, not really, as I popped into work on Tuesday to do payroll and meet our new front shop manager. She's very nice and I think we'll get along just fine!! She's great with people, but I get the feeling that under that sweet exterior, there's a layer of steel! So I've no fears that she will let people walk all over her or get away with murder! It's a beautiful thing!!

On Monday, though, the Heavens parted and the sky fell... I turned FORTY!! Actually, it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. It's only a number after all, and I always say, "You're only as old as you act... " :D

I woke up and found a BIG box on the kitchen table. Gary is not one for wrapping gifts but he knows the way to my heart:

Isn't that adorable?!?

And what was inside, you ask??? A BEAUTIFUL Lowe Pro Compu Trekker Plus AW backpack for my camera gear! Wow!! A spot for every one of my lenses, my camera and all of the paraphernelia PLUS a spot for my laptop! How cool is that?!?

However, once I lifted it out of the box, I realized that with my bad back, I could barely carry the empty bag, let alone once it had my tripod and gear in it! So on our way to our family mini-vacation at Bingeman's Park, we stopped in London and exchanged the backpack for this beauty:

A SlingShot 100 AW! This bag is the perfect size! It carries my DSLR body with my 50mm lens, telephoto and standard lenses, all of my memory cards, and even has room for my charger! It slings over your shoulder and can swing around in front so there's no need to take it off to grab your camera! Perfect for moms who need to access their camera quickly! ;)

And it was over $100 cheaper! { Eek!! }

So if you're still reading, I thank you for bearing with me and my blabbering... I will continue on in another post about our vacation and adventures since then!