I tried to create a summary of 2010 in one post for January, but due to multiple technical difficulties, such as: militantly tight internet security at work and a broken laptop which makes the writing of posts difficult if it is to describe photos. But finally it is posted, read below!

Now that spring has sprung, and taking pictures of the garden is constant, I shall endeavour to post more!

This past weekend involved a lot of work! Mark spent most of Saturday cleaning the deck with a cedar-cleansing substance (not biologically friendly, but I will ignore that fact temporarily), in addition to making the BBQ sparkle, while I prepared the third raised garden bed. If only I could persuade the grass to grow in the lawn instead of the ferns and weeds!


Sunday, I spent the day cleaning the patio furniture and basking in the sunshine! As a result, my arms have turned a lovely shade of burgundy… Let’s call it a good base.

Since apparently I have not blogged in nearly a year, I am going use this post as a summary of some of the things that took place before transitioning into 2011... Grab a tea and revisit as much as you like if you can't get through it all in one sitting ;)

After Baby Girl's baby shower in April, it was decided she was too excited to stay in utero and was welcomed into the world a few weeks earlier than anticipated. Violet Wilhelmina was born May 13, 2010!



Shortly before Violet was born, Mark and I moved into a lovely little house in downtown Burlington.


We decided, instead of renting an apartment in the downtown area at a premium, why not rent a house instead, allowing us time to adjust to the larger needs of a house and and invest in all the necessary equipment a house requires such as a lawnmower, snow shovels etc? It has certainly been a learning experience with regard to all the quirks, ie: squirrels in the chimney, carpenter bees, skunks under the patio and mice, just to name a few.


With the luxury of a large patio, for the occasion of Mark's 30th birthday we invested in an awesomely manly BBQ, which was majestically christened on Annual Steak Day very appropriately.



Also celebrating a significant birthday was Mark's grandfather, who turned 80! The weather was perfect for a lawn bowling competition for the 35+ relatives representing four generations in attendance.

As the first weekend of August involves a statutory holiday in Ontario, Mark and I took a day trip to the Bruce Peninsula with Mark's younger brother Craig to visit some of my family. Not necessarily a journey I would do again in one day, but it was well worth it just to get a taste of the north, and plant a seed for further visits. Our first stop was Owen Sound, where we will have to return to visit the Tom Thompson museum.


Our second stop, sometime around lunch time was in Wiarton, where we were able to see the enormous statue in honour of the the ground-hog "Willie".


Finally we arrived in Tobermore for "second lunch" where Craig was brave enough to try the famous Tobermore Fish Taco. Next time we will have to get him the T-shirt to prove it...



Before getting to our destination, we took a slight detour to visit the North Bay, where, surprisingly people were even swimming!



At the end of August we met more family at my Uncle's cottage on Lake of Bays for a weekend. Again, the weather could not have been more spectacular! It was great to see the next generation enjoying the beach as much as I remember enjoying it every year as a kid.

Not a month later at the end of September, Mark and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary! We decided to go treck up to Algonquin Park for a long weekend. No snow this year, but it did unfortunately rain considerably, causing fire starting and sustaining to be very tedious... We stayed on a secluded campsite on Mew Lake, of the highway 60 corridor.


During our trip, we hiked along the Track & Tower trail until we came to a beautiful little waterfall being fed by Lake of Two Rivers.

And that pretty much sums up the year. I hope to update more frequently, but make no promises ;)