Tuesday With The Team | Jan 28

***WARNING:  photo-heavy blog post ahead!***

Hello, blogland!!

I've been painfully absent lately (implication: painful for me, not you!) - I miss sharing here!  Life has taken over, as the kids continue on with exams and music lessons and cadets and homework… and I have been learning piano again, so much of my free time is plunking away at the ivories, in an attempt to learn Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata.

I'm still on the first page.

At any rate, I'm here today to share a project that is featured on the Canadian Scrapbooker's blog today for Tuesday with the team!

Remember this project from 2011?

Well, after completing the cover, I took it to several crops over the years and could never get into the groove.  Luckily, during our girls' scrappy weekend at our place last week, I finished it!

(can you hear the choirs of angels singing?!?)

I've shared some of my favourite pages on the CS blog, but here it is, in it's entirety:

Cover:

Pg 1/2:

Pg 3/4:

Pg 5/6:

Tag close-up:

Pg7/8:

Old maps are perfect background papers for travel mini albums.  And page 8 was created using a old film negative sheet!  I printed the photos to size and slid them into sleeves.

Pg 9/10:

For photos that were bigger than the negative size, I simply attached them to the outside of the page.  The facing page came together quickly by sizing all photos to 1.5" squares (or 1.5"x3") and assembling them into a quick collage with a doodled border.

Pg 11/12:

Pg 13/14:

Pg 15/16:

Pages 14 through 16 are simply baseball trading card sheets!  Photos were cut to size and inserted into pockets with minimal embellishments (patterned paper, rub-ons, stickers).

Pg 17/18:

For Page 17, I cut patterned paper to fit and completed the page layout, which was then just attached on top of the card pocket page.

The envelopes created pockets that were handy for brochures and receipts, but I also used one to document the story of Connor and the Sky Wheel, so the photo could take precedence on page 18.

Pg 19/20:

Pg 21/22:

Page 22 is the other half of the negative sheet from page 8.  Photos were attached on top and edges covered in washi tape.

Pg 22/23:

(forgot to photograph!  coming soon!)

Pg 24/25:

Tag insert:

Pg 26/27:

Pg 28/29:

Supplies used:  Little Yellow Bicycle patterned paper, glitter stickers and clear cuts; Basic Grey patterned paper; Bazzill cardstock; My Stamp Box stamps (Passport To Adventure); Silhouette Cameo, Impregnable, Mission Script, Arial and Sofia fonts; Fiskars, EK Success and Martha Stewart Crafts border punches; American Crafts, Doodlebug Designs, Basic Grey and Simple Stories alphabet stickers; SkribblzArt vinyl titles; Recollections washi tape; Studio Calico border sticker; Jenni Bowlin and Tim Holtz tickets; Heidi Swapp rub-ons; Doodlebug Designs glitter; Papermate Flair pen; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L adhesive; film negative sheets; baseball card sheets; unknown kraft tags; twine.

I hate Goodbyes.

Source: firstgraderatlast.blogspot.com via Nicole on Pinterest

Today, Amanda and the kids head to the airport, after having spent 12 days with us.  We are all going to miss all of them.  But hardest hit will be Aili.

She and Renee have developed a big sister/little sister relationship right from the start, since they are sharing the bunk beds in Aili's room.  Renee is so sweet and patient with her and Aili just LOVES Renee.

Photo by Amanda Lepage

Really, we are all going to be sad.  We have had so much fun on this holiday - lots of laughs and giggles and downright fun was shared.  And it's uncanny at how alike our children and husbands are!

We'll miss you, Lepage family - come back soon!!

More OC

If you weren't bored with yesterday's recount of our beach visit, welcome back!

As much as Connor enjoyed the beach, so did Aili.  It was so entertaining to see her in her little bikini, frolicking in the waves, making sand castles with "her sister", as she came to refer to her cousin, Sara, who was only 2 months younger than her.

Here they are... Baywatch 2025:

I think Aili was showing me her dance moves...

Everything about her and the beach seemed to just JIVE...  the wet, tousled hair:

The sunkissed glow:

The windswept look:

The "Mermaid" pose:

Except for the squinting, of course.  And she wasn't even facing the sun! {sigh}

Her "sister", Sara, wasn't as comfortable with the camera pointed at her all the time:

In fact, this whole look just SCREAMS, "Will you STOP already?!?" to me...

Sorry, sister - you're part of the family now... goes with the territory.  And you're just such a cute little peanut!! :)

See... even Connor tolerates it:

Somewhat.

OMGosh, is that peach fuzz on his cheeks???

Excuse me - I have to go lay down...

Heading back to Ocean City, NJ!

Not literally, although I would not be disappointed if we did!

What is it about the beach?  I'm instantly more relaxed, more carefree.  I took off my watch when we got there (because I vainly feared that I would forget and get the dreaded watch tanline!) and you know what??  I have not put my watch back on since then!!

What a liberating feeling.  I am no longer controlled by the time.  Life passes at our own pace around here this week.  When I do need the time, I simply have to glance at my BlackBerry (although he and I are on the outs this week - he is NOT behaving well AT ALL! *pout*).  Things may change when I head back to work next week, but for now, we're on BEACH TIME...

And speaking of the beach, I wanted to share Ocean City with you all!  If you've never been, it comes highly recommended - especially by my family and I!  It's perfect for a family vacation, because it is a "dry" city.

Not dry, as in no water.

Dry, as in no booze.

Years ago (as few as 10, I'll admit...), this would have sent chills up and down my spine.  A vacation without a little margharita?  WHA-AAT?  But funnily enough, it was refreshing to not have the drunken university/college kids swearing up a storm under the umbrella next to you.

Ocean City is basically a grid, running from 1st Street, all the way to 59th Street, with a few others mixed in for good measure.  (I think it's just to keep the tourists from getting too cocky, thinking they know where they're going.)

There are three main streets that run parallel to the beach:  Central Ave., Asbury Ave. and West Ave.  As you get closer to the high 20's (29th, 28th), there are a few other streets.

The beach houses are all remarkably the same.  They are two stories, with one tenant/owner per floor.  There are pretty balconies at the front and back of most of the buildings so you can always see what's going on.

My cousins have a beautiful top floor beach house that is just steps from the beach.

Some of the houses that are on the beach are phenomenal, like this one:

This photo only shows the top floor of the whole house, which is being renovated and is for sale.  I asked my cousin's hubby, who is in real estate and he said that this home is selling for about $1.5 million.  Per floor.

Wow.

But for good reason, as you see from the next photos. 

Let me just interject here... These photos were all taken with the Nikon D300s that was sent to me to test drive and almost all of them here are completely SOOC (straight out of the camera)!  I may have adjusted the levels on a few, just because I tend to like my photos a little overexposed, and I brightened up a few of the beach ones because of the haze from the heat.

Now can you see why I'm Jonesin' for this camera??

Anyhooooo... From where we were sitting (which was in front of my future $1.5 million dollar home... at the corner of 41st and beach), you could see Atlantic City in the distance.

I had to practically sit on Gary to keep him from jumping in the car and trying his hand with our life savings at the poker tables.

Okay, so not really.  But when we go back next year, I think we may take a few days and head into AC - just to say we've done it!

By the way, that fleck on the right hand side above the water is not a dirty spot on your monitor, or from a dirty lens... it's someone parasailing out on the ocean! 

The view on the other side was just as spectacular:

As you may notice, the sandy beach area was HUGE!  It started near the dunes (you can see them slightly on the right side of the photo, near the blue umbrella) and went to the water's edge.  You can sort of see where the dry sandy beach starts... at night, the tide comes right up to there!

There was a lot to do on the beach.  Our cousins had shovels, pails, sand toys, boogie boards and skimboards.  If you aren't familiar with skimboards, here's a video.  It's basically surfing, on a smaller board, that starts on land, instead of paddling out to the waves.

Connor tried it, but didn't really like being shown up by his little 7 year old cousin:

So he tried his hand at boogie boarding:

He had a blast, spending most of the day riding the waves! 

I was surprised though that he stayed in the water, especially after a man, who was fishing out there, waist-deep, showed him the baby sand shark that he caught!!

Eek!  I can only say that I'm glad Gary didn't tell me about that until after we left the beach!

More Ocean City pics tomorrow!

Summer Vacation 2010

After a wonderful 10 days with our US cousins, we finally arrived back on Canadian soil on Sunday night.  The trip home was a nightmare - an accident on I90W held us up for about an hour and then an overly busy border crossing took a few hours.

Nothing could dampen our enthusiasm over our trip though.  We had such a great time!! In fact, we discussed making it an annual family vacation in Ocean City, NJ, each year, with a visit to see family in PA for a few days as well.

We traveled up to Erin to pick up Aili, who had been spending the week with her grandparents.  Originally, we were going to meet in London to pick her up, but we decided to just change our route to cross the border at Buffalo, instead of Detroit and save a few hours of driving.

With grand plans to leave for 8:00 am, we finally hit the road around 9:30am! We arrived late the night before and still had to sort out a few things, since Connor would be coming back and heading straight to a competitive swim day camp for a week.

We were off to an auspicious start, only to hit a huge thunderstorm as soon as we hit Hwy 403:


Since we were facing a 9.5 hr drive, I took the time to dig out the manual for the Nikon D300s and start playing with my new camera (well, mine for the next two weeks anyways!)


What can I say?  I'm in love.

A few people have asked me why I prefer it over the D90 and I will write more on that another day, but I wanted to share the photos of our first day of vacation.

We crossed into New York and Connor excitedly started looking out the window for the Empire State Building!  He was more than a little disappointed when we told him that we wouldn't be passing by.  So much so, that it prompted a little discussion on maybe traveling to NYC for a day, since we were already traveling so far.  That boosted his spirit! :)

We hit the Pennsylvania border around 4pm and pulled into the tourism centre. 

By now, the sun had started to shine and the kids were anxious to finally see/meet their cousins!

If you've never been to Pennsylvania, it is truly God's country.  At least the parts I have seen.  It is filled with forests, covering the sides of mountains and roadsides alike.  The roads are very curvy and hilly, and some are literally carved out of the sides of the mountain:

We finally arrived at my cousins' home around 9:30pm.  Not bad, considering we had several bathroom breaks and a sit down dinner in a quaint little diner called the Gap Diner, found in Wind Gap, PA.

We spent the next few days, swimming in their pool and recuperating from the drive.  On Sunday, we took the kids to Dave & Buster's in Plymouth Meeting, PA.  If you have never been, you need to put this on your Bucket List!  Think of it as Chuckie Cheese, but for adults!

And the food is WAYYY better.

From D&B's, we continued on our way to my cousins' beach house in Ocean City, NJ.  More photos of our beach days to follow...

Ocean City, NJ

We arrived in PA and have headed down to the shore for a few days.  We spent yesterday at the beach - it was beautiful! 

Just on our way to Uncle Bill's for his famous breakfast, but I wanted to share a few images with the new D300s - I am seriously falling in love with this camera!

These shots are all SOOC (Straight Out Of the Camera):

Heading to the Boardwalk tonight...

Continuing on...

...with our summer update!

July:

July seemed to fly by this year again, taking with it another year of my life! :)  We celebrated Canada Day out at Liz & Gino's again, but the weather was so cold for much of July - and the long weekend was no exception! 

It was a quiet birthday for me - I spent the morning across the street at our neighbour's, chatting, while our kids played and then came home and spent some time outdoors with the kids - it was another cold day!!  We all bundled up and headed to Connor's soccer game in the evening.

Excuse the blurry image - I think my teeth may have been chattering!

Even the armless pixie with me was cold!  (and again... chattering teeth = blurry pictures)  It was at this point that I began to question the sanity of the decision to come and watch the game... and then I had an epiphany:

And KNEW that we should have stayed home!  Luckily, the storm held off and passed us by.

The rest of July was spent making the agonizing decision to stop producing the Just Cre8 kits.  So many friends contacted me with their expressions of sadness over this decision, but with equally supportive comments at this difficult task.  You know who you are - thank you!!  Now to decide on what direction to focus...

The end of summer brought about another change - my "real job" was picking up and moving shop!  On July 30th, we opened the doors to our new location, so on the 29th, the staff on hand posed out front for a final goodbye:

(Photo credit: Sue Leslie)
While I love our new location, I sort of missed the old place that I called home for the last eleven years.  But the memories won't fade anytime soon.

Or the nightmares.

LOL - just kidding, Ted! :D

The kids spent part of their summer vacation with Gary's parents in Erin.  This was Aili's first year and she was so excited!  Because we had pity on them, we didn't saddle my inlaws with BOTH kids at once (yet... :D).  Connor went from Jul 19th through to Jul 25th, during which he attended sailing lessons!  He has been looking forward to these lessons for a few years so he was pumped!  I have some good photos that my inlaws were so kind to burn to disk for me, but I've uploaded them onto my computer upstairs and can't find the disks!  That's okay - these lessons surely deserve their own post, don't they?!?

Aili spent the following week in Erin - my inlaws certainly kept her busy, but I'm just as certain that she gave them a run for their money!  It would probably have been better to send her for the first week, when they were fresh and full of vigor! LOL! 

The timing worked perfectly for us, however, because it was our grand opening that weekend at our new Shoppers location and I was working alot, while Connor was able to meet up with some friends at Latchkey.  Opening Day was exciting and busy and fun - and by the end of it, I was ready for our mini-vacation that was about to begin on the Thursday night...

Stay tuned for August highlights...