Lovin' the summer

So we're moved and settled in for the most part. (Alright, alright - I've been procrastinating and still have a lot of unpacking to do). But we're here at the new house and so far, so good. Chris' commute has gone from about 45-50 minutes to about 20 seconds, and although my drive into work is now longer (about 35-40 minutes), I'm most likely transferring to a store around here in the near future so then my drive in will only be about 10 minutes max.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks though - it's hard to believe it's already the middle of July! I did have my first "beach day" yesterday though, so now it actually feels like summer has begun for me. Chris and I went up to Wasaga yesterday with some friends from church and spent a fabulous day in the sun and playing in the water with our lovely blow-up dinghy. I'm now sporting a lovely tan and am slowly catching up to the killer tan I had last year. (I'm now a safe tanner though - most of my tan is actually fake spray-on self-tanner. Since a scare earlier on this year I have become a big proponent of SPF 30!!)

Chris and I also had a great day this past Saturday. We had planned on going to the scenic caves in Collingwood, but when we woke up it didn't look like the weather was going to co-operate. While we were trying to decide what to do with ourselves, yours truly came up with the truly wonderful idea of driving to Buffalo to go shopping. My ever-spontaneous husband said "sure!" and off we went. It didn't take too long to get there and we decided to go to the Fashion Outlet mall. Now I haven't been to Buffalo to shop since I was probably around 16 years old. This place freakin' rocks. Tons of great stores, great prices, and only 4% tax!! Why in the world don't I go there more often! Needless to say, we bought a ton of much-needed clothes and decided to start driving back at around 6:30pm. We ended up stopping in Niagara-on-the-lake for a bit to walk around on the lakeshore and then had dinner at a great spot called the Anchorage overlooking the lake. Stuffed to the brim we finally headed out, got home super-late and crashed as soon as we walked in the door. (Shopping takes a lot out of you)!

Next up on our summer fun list is a camping trip with the senior high youth group from church. We're heading to Turkey Point next Friday for three days of camping and fun outdoor stuff with 4 other adult leaders and about 10 youth. Then we have our week-long vacation in August and although we're not 100% sure what we're going to do for that week, we're thinking of driving through the Adirondack Mountains in New York State and spending a couple of days hiking, mountain biking and white water rafting. Both Chris and I are craving a bit of an "adventure vacation" so we're gravitating towards that.

P.S. To all those planning on shopping in Buffalo. Apparently when crossing the border back into Canada, if the border officer gives you a slip of paper, you're supposed to pull off to the side and pay the Canadian taxes on your purchases. Chris and I had no idea, so when he handed us the slip and said "do you know where you're going?" we both thought the slip of paper was just some sort of documentation everyone got, and that the officer was just being really polite and making sure we knew our way home! Ha! We kept driving and didn't realize until we got home and googled it that we should have stopped and that you can be charged and prosecuted if you keep driving! (Oops!) After a whole night of me worrying that we were going to get arrested, Chris called them the next morning and they said that although we should have stopped, they appreciated us calling and this could be our "freebie". Goes to show you how naive I can be . . . ("wow - that border patrol man was so nice making sure we know our way home - how nice Canadians are)!! ;