What's happening around here lately?

my #1 star:)))

NYC central park moment discovered book title!! with some amazing help from my brilliant buddy!!!

The winning team!!!

Visit to my older  bro and  family in NYC!!!

my adorable nieces

a  quick stop in to NYC where my collegue and buddy was too!!!

sunsets on way home

mothers day food made by kids

my mama bear:)))) love her sooooooooo much!!!!

MVP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! huge honor and new position too for Chase at business school!!

I have been such a bad blogger lately and will continue in that direction given that I am for the last 3 months and next many months building a second full time company along the first full time one . 

So I will likely be writing about 1-2 times a month as will be also starting another business blog in sept that I will announce closer to that time .

I am using this blog now for record keeping sake for myself and my family . Follow along if ever interesting for you !

Short recap of what has been going around here:

 beauty- ots and lots of dance ! And lots of winning . Every competition beauty has been in this season for team Hype or her solo she has won !! Most first place and a couple third place ! ( always based on top three ) . It's been an incredible season . This weekend when it all ends ( 7 shows back to back ) she will shed a lot of tears I am sure .  Seeing lots of friends lately ! Has some hard times in last month and was proud of how she handled . I am feeling sad for her that dance is ended for this season as has left a hole in her heart and schedule and we don't know what 2019 holds on terms of dance so all a bit scary . She is such a trooper and a strong girl . We all have a lot to learn from her . Prepping for her humanitarian trip in August !

Bear - in final exams now . In sciences this is hard and long ! Also tons of research for university and he is exploring Waterloo management engineering very closely . He is going all the way there by car in a few weeks to check it out and spend the weekend to get a feel for it at one of their events . So much ahead for this kid and so many big decisions . Very proud of all his hard work in school  . Now also totally into boxing ! Joined a boxing school . Hard for the mamas heart to have him come home with two black eyes last week . Letting go is no easy thing . Has an awesome group of friends he hangs out with . He seems to have mastered the balance thing lately . He finished school yesterday and soooooooo good to see him relaxing in front of video games this morning lounging around ! Waterloo visit next weekend and a whole new stage of life opening up 

Chase - named  head of logistics for huge committee at JMSb and worked so hard for this . Also named MVP for the same committee . I have never seen anyone as committed to volenteer involvement . Over 3 years in cegep and university he has likely more than 300 plus hrs of massive school involvement ! I guess it is no conincidece he on his own ( no coop ) got one of the best student internships anyone could home for . Oncology at a major  bug Pharma  that he started this week ! We are in awe ! It feels like a whole new world just opened up to this young man . I find these early 20s amazing to sit back and watch as a parent . So much growth and development is happening in the next number of years   and I am so excited to see his life unfold before him . So many new people and experiences and celebrations and obstacles to figure out . It's amazing to watch truly 

Me and Hubby - tons of work on new business together which is crazy and wierd but amazing ! Plus our other careers . It's a lot . 

Will be going to Bali in a couple of weeks with Bear and excited for that . Lots of house and cottage work in between . Spring is not a downtime for us . Can't wait until summer to have some time to unwind on our dock at the cottage . We really are eachothers true partners in life and love . This new business hares venture has really made this abundantly clear

We are being put to the test in what we can handle as workload lately ( and of course self imposed as we have made this choice for now) . We are also being put to the test with our kids 

Although great things going on for them - a hard age and stage in general 

We often feel lonely , alienated or frustrated . Other times blissfully connected to them and happy . Roller coaster ! Lots of disagreements between them and between them and us . Life is harder to all live under one roof at this stage . Two of them are adults trying to find their way ; and one of them is a 16 yrs old girl who can be really hard at times and a delights at others . It's all very hard to manage and deal with too be honest ! This stage are new territories for us to navigate and just trying not to drown !

Mothers days was this weekend and was really really nice . Some mothers days are better than others and this was one of them !

I spent the entire day with my mom on Saturday as we drove to a funeral 2.5 hrs away of my aunts grandma . We had a lot of talking time in the car .  Rushed home to get to beauty's end of year show and Went with hubby and chase and Simon . Then bear met us for dinner at the best all you can eat sushi Chinese place ever . 

I had already said goodnight to beauty and at midnight she came in and gave me the sweetest  hug and kiss and said she wanted to be the first to wish me Mother's Day . Made me feel really nice ! ( although the next day she said forgot to make me a card so at least had that !! )

Both boys came into room as I woke up with huge hugs and kisses and love which was also nice ! Bear then came in room later with the cutest card he made with the most beautiful funny words on it - his cards totally rock and I treasure them year after year 

I chauffeured a good part of the day as beauty had three more dance shows and wanted her with us in between for Mother's Day lunch .

Started day after driving with taking my mom to chapters to browse and choose a book as part of her gift 

Then came home and chase had made a super yummy pesto chicken veggie pasta and beauty cupcakes and hubby fruit platter and was delicious . My mom and I enjoyed it all and just the relaxed time with everyone which is so rare with the 6 of us now these days .

Chase gave me a cute pic with some loving words on the back and hubby gave me an amazing gift of white berkenstock sandals as love the black ones I have and wanted a second pair for upcoming trip to Bali . 

Then we watched a ted talk I had carefully chosen and had our dessert 

Bear had set the table to eat outside on the nice warm and gorgeous day and was so nice to feel like summer is around the corner . Bear also cleaned up everything . Was cute to see them all take over what hubby used to do on Mother's Day and have them select the meal and cook it and clean up etc . I felt very cared for 

After some more back and forth driving hubby me and my mom sat in the backyard to read and write a bit and  napped as the kids went off to all their activities . A nice way to spend the gorgeous day 

It was a super nice Mother's Day and I appreciated every moment of it 

(And ps yesterday beauty presented me with the MOST beautiful card with pics and amazing words I will never forget . Made my Mother's Day complete and I felt so special )

CheapSkate Vacay Miami 2018!

We experimented this year and did something we have never done before . A long weekend get away on a massive budget .

Usually for us vacation is the opposite - we save money for it and spend it there . We have drinks when we want and food and treat ourselves . 

This year because we are going to Bali with Bear in June we didn't plan  for a family vacation or a weekend away as a family ( we usually do a  family vacation week every two years and a skiing or long weekend  away as a family every alternate year )

So we booked Miami south beach for the Easter long weekend And tries to make it as cheap as possible by :

• driving to platsburg USA for the flight 
• - taking a flight at 3am there and 2am back ( aka losing 2 nights of sleep )
• Being on a plane with no reclining seats 
• not having any luggage with us and only a  small knapsack on our back each 
• - having a room of two queen beds for 4 people and bringing a camping mat and sleeping bag for the 5th . And concealing the fact that we are even 5 in a room 
• - not having drinks during whole vacation except one Diet Coke on beach and one piña colada Virgin for beauty 
• No snacks except bought from grocery store 
• Cheap shared meals except one nicer supper 
• No souvenirs 
• Walking everywhere vs taxi 
• Uber on way back to airport 
• Breakfast in room bought at Walgreens 
• - 4 beach chairs instead of 5 
• Way way more I can't think of !

It's fun to do cheapskate ! When beauty got her piña colada and hubby got his Coke on the beach they looked as if they won the lottery !

Lucky for us there is a couch in the room that is big enough for one kid to sleep on alternating each for a turn so we don't even have to use the camping mat :) still have to hide one toothbrush from the cleaning ladies though 

One thing I can say above everything else is that when you have older teens abs young adults it really feels like a big treat to get to have them for four full days . It's an amazing luxury . And often people with same age kids ask me don't they get annoyed with the family time after a few hours - but not at all . We have always been a family I think because of the cottage where a lot of togetherness is enjoyed and very much expected . Lots of fights and irritations but among it all loads of fun and laughs and time together 

And the kids seems to be loving every minute of their time here . They all study and work so hard . Like really really hard and it's fun to watch each of them unwind in their own way. Chase works a lot on his computer for planning his events and schoolwork on the plane , on the beach .. everywhere . But he looks like he is having fun doing it . Amazing to see bear just relax ( this is a very rare occurance as either studies or works out or at boxing )

And beauty schedule is just so full of dance and competition and studying that just nice to see her be a teen  for a bit 

It's not all roses either people ! Bear and I had it out at midnight , they are messy , they scream at us when we eat Krispy cremes and they are highly irritating to me as put me in a small room with 4 other people ( three of them under 25 ) and this brings out the worst in me ( and the best of me ) in many ways . It's hard to do  for me and brings out the nagging in me a lot and the control freak but after a couple of days I calm down ( and then it's time to come home )

But man do I love his bunch and our times together 

We all love miami south beach . For us it is the perfect balance between big city and great beach . The kids love all the fast and fancy cars and the night life that when they are 21 they want to be part of . Every second person you see truly looks like a movie star . It’s very cool for a long weekend away

One of the Cool things we got to do while we were here was to see hubbys beautiful niece who lives in Naples . One of her daughters is his go 

D daughter and was so cute to watch them bond . Her hubby and other adorable daughter too all met us for a great pizza dinner on Lincoln for the evening and was so fun to get caught up with them all . Hubby ended the evening at Dilans candy store with the three girls ( Daniela , Sofia and our baby girl ! )

Today we had trouble deciding what to do with the day . I am not a great Person to plan it out as I would be happy everyday with nice weather to lie on the beach and read . Chase had his big interviews to prep for and so bear and beauty and hubby headed off on bikes on the boardwalk and intercostal . I got my irritating and annoying self out of their way and headed  to the beach alone with a good novel and chase joined me later on .

They had a super bike ride and stopped for some nachos on the pier . We all had a light lunch together and a swim in the ocean all five and then did our own stuff in the afternoon ( of course hubby and I slept half the afternoon on the beach which feels so good )

Man have we lucked out on weather this trip ( for once ! ) as hot sun everyday and evenings warm and lovely without even wearing a sweater . Feels so good .

Tonight we are heading for a loooong walk to the holocaust museum and then wanted to go to our one fancier dinner at a super meditarian place that my brother and I had found when we were here a couple of years ago . The museum which was a very sobering and humbling experience for us all as we looked at the sad sculpture and read the thousands of names of the people who died in the holocost . At one point it all just so sad as did a group hug in the middle of the place . I love my family and it's moments like this that bff savvy calls "thin moments "

ChAnge of plans and didn't go to the tapas place  and found a seafood steak resto on Lincoln road and had a great dinner . I love seeing the kids eat and love what they eat ( lobster and steak at decent prices was nice too ! ) Really good conversations about life and everything and was just really really nice

Stopped for Starbucks coffee for bear and hubby ( I find it very endearing that bear likes a coffee here and there and love that he and his dad share this passion ) and then some frozen yogurt for the rest of us .

Walgreens again for a few items and thankfully for our waistlines they were out of Krispy Kreme donuts

My fave part of this vacation is disconnecting . For a girl who loves her phone I am very disciplined . Usually I  or hide it away but this time family needs it as the only phone that has a USA plan and loads of data because of my work . So they all use it and I don’t ! Turned off all my notifications  and beeps and icons and just relaxing my brain

I have so much going on in my work and life all the time that I need to just think of nothing for a bit . I also find that since we found out about beauty surgery I have felt more distanced from my usual life which I am sure is not uncommon . Many days I feel disconnected from my life  and other people's lives too . It feels so good here to be just us five . It’s something my heart has missed a lot these days

We are trying to figure out a way to possibly own a condo in Miami one day . Fun to dream !

This cheapskate trip ( which is turning out to be not so cheapskate as we are cheating a lot on the food part !! )is really just good for us . Perfect timing and great togetherness . There are many things I love in life , but having all five of us together in a relaxed setting like this is really top of my list

Ended vacation getting home this morning at 4:30am . Skipped our early morning  classes and work and all got up around 10am so at least had a bit of sleep 

Best Bali bed ever . will be in my dreamhouse one day!

Not posed!!!

Back to the grind !  Loved our Easter weekend in Miami . Will celebrate next week a dinner at my moms for late Easter with some chocolate egg hunts  . I think in this family as they get older and older Easter weekend might just be the perfect time to escape the five of us . Excited to do another cheapskate vacation like this again one day !