This month I turned 50 years old. To celebrate, I decided to spend the month in Hamilton visiting friends and family. We were camping at Olympia RV Park in Waterdown and enjoyed it thoroughly. The people are very friendly, and I even got a chance to get in on a Euchre game.
First, I visited London for a week where I got in visits with Sheila, Cindy & Peter, and Maggie, Justin and Paul. It was awesome. It started with a visit to Sheila where she introduced me to a great Vegan Chinese food place … it was delicious! Visiting with Cindy and Peter is always a blast. I loved relaxing with a glass of wine and catching up and Peter’s cooking is always a highlight! It always amazes me how after 5 minutes of being together, the years melt away and it feel just like yesterday that we saw each other last. Then Maggie and I had a wonderful visit together with Justin and then spent some girl time together having dinner at East Side Mario’s and shopping. The weekend Joerg came up and Cindy and Peter took us out to the driving range and Maggie made me my favourite lunch (Beefed up Mac and cheese!). It was all so wonderful.
I was home for one night (i.e. RV Park) and then it was off on the train to Whitby to visit Caroline and the family. It was a great week where Caroline introduced me to Two guys and fries (great burgers!) and I met Eric’s pet rat Maddi. We worked during the day and then relaxed, chatted and watched TV in the evening. Again, they years melted away! On the weekend, we headed to their new trailer in Port Perry and it was a lot of fun. Joerg met us there and we had a great time swimming and riding in the boat. After a week, it was time to head back home.
On my birthday (which was Monday the 23rd), Joerg, Aunt Mavis and myself went out to Tuckers Marketplace for dinner. It is a buffet dinner place where you get to eat free on your birthday … just had to do it. Stuffed ourselves silly though.
The next weekend (July 28th) was my official birthday party. My only request was that it was one of our typical GNI’s (Girls Night In). Cindy and Caroline did all the planning. All I knew was to be ready to go for 1pm. First stop was a paintball range. It was an outdoor range and we were all newbies (I had been once but at an indoor one). Well, we all got shot pretty quickly and we can all testify that it HURTS! Some of ladies will have bruises (aka badges of Honour) for weeks. Next it was to Burlington where Aunt Mavis graciously offered up her home for the party. The night was a blast. We sat around talking, drinking and it was full of non-stop laughing. I got some great gifts but best of all, some great memories. These ladies always breathe new life into me. When you have friendships this deep, it doesn’t matter the miles or the time, they withstand it all. I love you ladies!
Amongst all this celebrating, I also got a chance to explore the local area a little bit. Visiting Dundas, Hamilton, Burlington, Paris, St. Jacobs and Ikea were among some of the things. We have decided to come back to this same park for the month of September and at that time, we will do more hiking and exploring of the area.
Now is the time for the cottage. We left the park on August 1st> and drove to Casino Rama to spend the night. We met up with June and Heinz for dinner and that was a wonderful treat. The next day we left for the Cottage in Latchford and arrived around 1pm. We are staying here for the month of August with Aunt Mavis. See you in September!
