B I T T E R S W E E T R E T U R N T O T H E C I T Y

As quickly as Summer has left us, Fall is rearing its head just as quickly.  I can say without a doubt that Ben and I have had our best Summer by far and we are having a great deal of difficulty pulling our sweaters out of storage!  For your reading pleasure (or just plain curiosity) let me give you a brief overview of our Summer of 2016…

A small backstory – Ben and I had been searching since early Winter 2015 for a new family home.  As Ben’s job requires us to spend the majority of the year in the city, we wanted our “home” (aka. Not our tiny condo) to really feel like a “home.”  For this reason, we put a great deal of thought into finding the perfect place for us and our little one when we are not required to be in the city. 

Low and behold, after a couple of failed bidding wars and a mental shift in what our idea of “the perfect place” was – we found it!  While friends and family weren’t initially sold on our diamond in the ruff, it didn’t take them long to come around.  Situated on a winding dirt road far from all the conveniences and amenities of life, a tiny, worn-out, well-loved cottage was now ours! After a tearful goodbye from the previous owner, whose heart ached at the mere thought of leaving; we packed our suitcases and headed to our new home.  Said previous owner can rest assured we are definitely taking good care of his beloved oasis!  While the cottage is a work in progress, we spent the majority of the Summer enjoying the treasured space that it was.   In late August, when Ben and I finally decided to tackle the “linens and games closet” (the previous owner left…err….everyyythingg they owned behind) we found some well-used vintage toys we simply couldn’t part with.  While the initial plan was to pitch most of the old left behind – we found new value in the broken cardboard box that stored a 1970’s version of Battleship.  A toy walker which makes the most wretched squeaking sound when pushed across our living room floor is now one of Calvin’s favourite playthings.  As a lover of all “modern” décor, I find myself now hunting for simplistic, classic furniture for our condo to give it the look and feel of our cottage.

Oh, and did I mention our backyard is the beach? YES – our backyard is a BEACH!  By far the best part of our new property is the glorious view I was able to wake up to each morning.  My little one was in absolute heaven at the fact that he could so easily access the outdoors without mom and dad having to pack up the stroller and walk 20 minutes through busy streets to get to the nearest park.  Calvin learned to love the water (despite my apprehensions about the somewhat choppy shoreline).  Once we got him in the water, it was usually a battle to bring him back inside for dinner. 

Another noteworthy part of our Summer – Ben and I got a paddleboard! Although we both have a devout love for the Hawaiian shores of Maui, we had never been paddleboarding (I know right?).  But, we thought to ourselves, who needs a lesson and we went ahead and bought the paddleboard.  To our relief, it wasn’t too difficult to learn and we both LOVED taking turns making sandcastles with our little guy and drifting down the shoreline. 

While we have now retreated back to the city as Ben has returned to work, and sadly, so have I, we have the fondest Summer memories and I cannot wait to return.  Ben still often makes the eight hour drive to tie up some landscaping odds and ends before the weather turns too cold to comfortably stay the night.  Calvin and I are still re-adjusting to life in the city with new anxieties that didn’t exist this Summer. As I become re-acquainted with life is a working mom, Calvin is acquainting himself with his new caretaker five days a week.  I still notice his longing for our inherited baby tree swing every time we visit the nearest city park.  I’ve also noticed his new love for dogs (or, as he would say, “daw”) every time we see a furry friend on the street as we saw so many this Summer on the beach.  It’s bittersweet to say goodbye to a place we love so much until the warm weather returns in the Spring, but until then, we will enjoy many cozy, snowy nights nestled in our condo.

NOTE: As a tribute to Calvin’s 1^st birthday party, I took it upon myself to build a montage of video footage taken at our new home to remind myself of all the wonderful memories made this past Summer.  Feel free to critique my amateur videography skills here.

As always, please visit again soon friends.