the Summer ... a summary!

[galena417]

Ah, Labour Day weekend. The unofficial end of summer - particularly for a teacher who's been off since just before Canada Day...

The one question I'm hearing most often lately? "Are you ready?" Nothing specific attached to that - it's assumed, correctly, that I know they mean "for the first day of school".

I am. I think. I can get through tomorrow, at least, and have a vague idea of where the week is taking me. More of an idea with the grade 12's, but I've taught them recently (last year). It's been a bit longer (like 3 1/2 years!) since I've done this semester's grade 9 class. It'll be okay, I'm sure. Too late to worry about it now!

Anyhow, back to the summer-y...

• Canada Day weekend, we took Sonja's cousins to the Science Centre, along with some friends & their kids.  DH & I went to the local fireworks for Canada Day - not a bad show.
• Went to Ontario Place, took Sonja on some rides, and into the water park, and DH got into it with some rude kids cutting ahead of us & called racist - by his own race.
• Spent the mid-summer Long Weekend in Tobermory - our 4th annual visit.  Spent a great day at the beach, hiked part of the Bruce trail, and had some sweet treats at the Sweet Shop.  (Still disappointed they don't carry Tiger Tail ice cream anymore... *pout*)
• Went to several pool parties - it's great to know people who have pools, don't you think?  The first one, was one of my colleagues who lives in the country, just north of us, and she invited the "girls" from the department for lunch & swimming.  The next, we went to my DH's boss' house for an evening pool party, yummy dinner of lasagna, included.  The next, Mom, Sonja & I went to a friend of Mom's for lunch & swimming. 
  
• Speaking of swimming, Sonja did swimming lessons for the second half of the summer - she did so well, she covered all of Preschool "A" and "B" and can skip directly to Preschool "C" for her next lessons. 
  
• Went to the Zoo with two of my girlfriends - we had 7 kids between us!  Played at the splash pad (where were these things when we were kids?  Oh yeah, it was the garden sprinkler, wasn't it?) and wandered through the "Africa" section - had to see the elephants, right??  It's a gigantic zoo ... there was no way we'd see the whole thing, particularly with 7 kids in tow, so we tried to be realistic with our visit.
• Saw Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix - from the 4th row - and read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  The movie was good (but I'd still like to go back & see it from further back) and the book was too - but not my favourite in the series, and it really could have been so much more than it was.  If you've read it ... one word:  tent.
• Went camping with friends at Inverhuron Provincial Park - it ended up being a shorter trip than originally planned, due to my DH coming home late from work.  Still had lots of fun, and plan to return next summer.
• And finally ... this weekend, did some shopping (not really BTS, because most of it was for my DH) and today we went hiking at the Forks of the Credit.  It was hot, but a good day.

 
Now, I've prepared my lunch for tomorrow, set the coffee maker & my alarm clock (taking into account that I need to try & be at work earlier than normal due to construction), and I'm watching CSI-NY while I update you guys.  Here's hoping I get a good night's sleep - tomorrow will likely be a very long day.