10 Years Ago.....

On August 9th, Kevin and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary. It was a quiet celebration....with dinner and gifts for one another. There was no big trip or elaborate party.....just the two of us enjoying an uninterrupted dinner. Heavenly!

For us, the last two years have been spent traveling while we lived in Switzerland...so a big trip wasn't high on the priority list at the moment. Combine that with the fact that we just completed and international move...and we weren't too anxious to go away on a trip. We may try and go for a weekend away to New York for a Broadway show, or something along those lines later in the fall....if we can find someone to look after the kiddies (hint, hint, Mom and Dad)!

For Kevin, I made him an album. It contained photos from the time we met until present day. It was 37 pages long, and it was a labour of love! A lot of time and effort went into it...and I know that he will treasure it. This is a secret, but Kevin is surprisingly sentimental for a guy. Don't tell him that I told you that!

Kevin treated me to some of the most beautiful roses I have ever seen. They came in a huge vase with a red bow tied around them. After he gave them to me, he shared a funny story about when he went to pick them up from the florist. Apparently, there was a police officer parked in the lot outside the florist. When Kevin came out with the huge vase, the officer looked at him and said something along the lines of, "Man, you must have done something REALLY bad"! Kevin laughed and told him, "Actually, I have done something really good...it is my 10th wedding anniversary today". He was promptly congratulated after that.

When Kevin said that he had done something really good, he wasn't kidding. Besides the roses, he presented me with a one carat diamond ring set in platinum and white gold. It is gorgeous!

Our engagement took place when I was just in high school and Kevin was in university. There wasn't exactly a lot of money available for buying an engagement ring. As a result, for the past ten years, I have been wearing a small but much cherished engagement ring with a matching wedding band. I love the set. I also loved the idea of a big, sparkly ring...I am a girl, after all! Knowing this, Kevin took the opportunity of our anniversary to get me the big, sparkly ring I have dreamed of over the years.

I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. I don't know how 10 years has passed by already. They have been filled with adventure, and happiness, and some sadness too. I really hope that the next 10 years are as good to us as the last 10 have been. I never dreamed that my life could be so filled with blessings.

Plymouth, MA

Yesterday we decided to take a day trip to Plymouth, MA. We left late morning and drove for about an hour to get there. The day was beautiful....in the 70's (low 20's for you metric folks) and not too hot. The sun was shining and the sky was clear!

We arrived in downtown Plymouth and were lucky to find a parking spot right away...things seemed to be working in our favour! We took a walk along the waterfront on our way to see the replica of the Mayflower that is docked down there. Along the way we found a little beachfront area that was open...it was a bit rocky, but I took the kids down there to touch the water and throw some stones. They loved it.

After we made it to the Mayflower we went and saw Plymouth Rock and then afterwards we had lunch at a great seafood restaurant called the Weathervane. It was right on the water and the food hit the spot.

The best part of the day turned out to be the unplanned part...as is often the case. We decided to take the scenic route on the way home...hoping that the kids would fall asleep. We stumbled upon the most beautiful white sand beach....quite by accident.

We decided to stop with the intention of just checking things out for another day. We took the kids' shoes off and let them walk down to the waters edge. Well, then they started getting their pant legs wet, so we took off their pants...before you know it, they were both soaked. No surprise there!

I have to say, they had a blast. We were totally ill prepared for the beach, but we made due...and it was loads of fun for everyone.

I guess we will have to be ill prepared more often! :)

Mr. Manners

Last week Noah attended a summer camp program at a conservation area near our home. It was a very good experience for him....there weren't even any tears! The last day of camp the parents were invited to attend circle time with the campers. All of the children who participated were given a personalized award. I would never have guessed the award that Noah would receive.....

....that's right.....

....he got award for the best manners!

Now, if only he used his manners that well at home too, we would be all set.

I get consolation in the fact that even if his manners are lacking at home, it seems that at least he is using them in public!

I guess some of the things I try to teach him really do sink in. Maybe there is hope after all.......

The Castle Dilemma

Last year for Christmas Noah received gifts of money from Kevin's dad as well as from two of my sisters. We pooled the money and bought him a big Playmobil castle. It took me hours on Christmas day to assemble this castle. The pieces are microscopic and come by the hundreds. What a job!

The castle has seen a lot of use since it was received. It was a popular enough toy that we brought it with us in our limited air shipment from Switzerland so that Noah would have it for the 6-8 weeks that we were living in our temporary apartment in Boston while waiting for the rest of our belongings to arrive by sea.

Once it was time to move into our house, we then had to move all of our belongings from the temporary apartment to the house. What a nightmare! Up and down in the elevator countless times and numerous trips between the city and the new house in the minivan to unload.

One of the last loads from the apartment was completed by Kevin and Noah alone, while Rebekah and I stayed out at the new house. When Kevin and Noah arrived with the van packed to the roof, the Playmobil castle made its appearance in a big plastic bag. Hmmmmm....the castle should not have fit in that plastic bag......

As it turns out, the castle fell to its doom during the move. Kevin crawled around on the floor in the hallway of the apartment building hoping that he found all of the tiny castle pieces so that it could all be re-assembled again.

The problem was, I no longer had the instructions! Who would have ever dreamed that I would have to assemble that castle a second time?! I attempted to assemble it again....there wasn't a hope that was going to happen. So after some time on the internet to figure out which castle it was, then a phone call to customer service at Playmobil, a charge to my visa for a new copy of the instructions (yes, they charge you if you were dumb enough to throw out your first copy), and two weeks of waiting for the new copy of the instructions to arrive, we finally have the castle back together again!

Noah is a happy boy.

Good Old Timmy's

We were excited to discover a little while back that Tim Hortons is in Rhode Island, not that far from where we live in Massachusetts. For us, just moving from Switzerland to the USA, this is a great reminder of our Canadian home. For those of you who are reading this who are not fellow Canucks, Tim Hortons is to Canada as Dunkin' Donuts is to the USA (at least in New England).

In Canada, Tim Hortons actually has 62% of the coffee market cornered, and they have twice as many locations as McDonald's!! So....I think it is fair to say that Timmy's is synonymous with Canadians!

While living overseas, Tim Hortons is one of the things I missed most. We actually bought their coffee in bulk and brought it back to Switzerland in our suitcases. It's funny, because now that we are in the USA, we are hooked on European style Nespresso coffee, and order it online while missing the coffees of Switzerland and beyond!

For me, I am past my Tim Hortons coffee addiction....it is more about the familiarity of seeing that brown cup with the red lettering. It reminds me of home.

Oh, and you can't forget the timbits! You have to have the timbits too!

Mmmmm, Mmmmmm, Good!

Friday the kids and I arrived home around lunchtime to find a package sitting on the ground outside our garage. The box was labeled 'perishable' and I couldn't figure out what it might be. I hadn't ordered anything perishable, but it was addressed to me.

So, I tore into the box and found a message saying 'We hope this reminds you of Switzerland. Happy 10th Anniversary. Love James and Tara.' And inside the box (amazingly, still frozen, considering it was over 100 degrees F outside!) there were two boxes of croissants!! They were from Williams Sonoma. I had heard about these croissants before...they have been featured on the 'Oprah's Favorite Things' show. She raves about them!

I made the mistake of telling the kids that they could each have one for lunch...thinking that I would pop them into the oven for 20 minutes or so, and we would have croissants. Well, that isn't how it works. It turns out that you have to let them thaw and rise for 9 hours before baking them! Oh, oh. I had Noah screaming and Bekah crying. My kids LOVE their croissants! I used to call Bekah my 'croissant baby'. She has been eating them her whole life and loving it...until we moved to the USA, that is. You cannot get a good croissant here.

When we were in Switzerland we lived right above a patisserie. We would buy croissants almost daily. Those croissants were the real deal! I remember traveling home to Canada and having Noah ask for croissants. The one I bought for him from a donut shop was promptly handed back to me with an "I don't like it". So, it is fair to say, that if these croissants were going to be eaten by my kids, they would have to be good!

The leaflet that came with the box claims that they are made by a French-born and trained pasty chef, who prepares them the traditional way.

I promised the kids that I would take them out to thaw before I went to be so that they could have them for their breakfast the next morning. That managed to appease them...I don't know how! I did as promised, and here are the pics of the kiddies with their croissants the next morning.




Kevin thinks they were "pretty close" to the same taste as the croissants we used to buy from our little patisserie. Noah and I agreed that they tasted different, but that they were delicious! Rebekah ate two all by herself....enough said.

These are by far the best thing on this side of the pond! I can see the orders to Williams Sonoma in our future. Christmas...Easter...birthdays....