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Summer is in full swing.  Like many people, I love to spend as much time outside in the summer as I can.  For many people, myself included, an evening out on the patio is a fantastic way to unwind and relax after a long, busy day.  Surrounded by family or friends, I love to use this time to catch up on the day's happenings and enjoy the lovely summer evening.

Want to beautify your patio area and need some ideas?  Earlier this year, fellow blogger Rebecca Stanisic wrote a blog post about her garden patio.  You can read about it here. 

I also found this patio set by BuyCanadianFirst member Flamborough.

To many people, spending the evening with friends and a great bottle of wine is more than enough to create an enjoyable evening.  There are many great Canadian wines to choose from.  BuyCanadianFirst Member Peller Estates recommends their Private Reserve Muscat VQA 2008 for such an occasion.

 

Not a wine drinker?  How about coffee or tea?  BuyCanadianFirst members have a few great alternatives for both coffee and tea.  Kicking Horse Coffee has Mocha Yoho which is a light coffee that they describe as "fruity, floral and buttery - with body".  But if tea is your preference (like myself) then BuyCanadianFirst Member Porcupine Creek Farm has some great organic tea blends like Citrus Cooler or Chocolate Spearmint.

 

Need a late evening nibble?  There are many great snacks to choose from.  I like this recipe from Theresa Albert of "Just One Bite" on the Food Network Canada.  Its healthy but has a bit of sweetness that appeals to kids and adults alike.  I think the yogurt dipping sauce sounds really good!

Fruit Sticks with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

 

Yield: 6

Ingredients

Fruit Sticks with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

• 2/3 cup whipping cream (35%) (150ml)
• 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped (100g)

Vanilla Yogurt Dipping Sauce

• 1 cup plain yogurt (250ml)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (65ml)
• 1 vanilla bean

Directions

Fruit Sticks with Chocolate Dipping Sauce

1. Thread 6-8 skewers with a variety of your favourite seasonal fresh fruit. Here are some suggestions: Strawberries, Green Grapes, Pineapple, Melon, Orange or Clementine Segments, Peaches, Pears, Apples, Bananas. For a treat, you could also include marshmallows or cubed pound cake.
2. Heat the cream in a saucepan set on low until just steaming. Stir in chocolate and continue to heat gently until it melts, about 2 minutes. Stir until smooth and transfer to a small fondue pot to keep warm. Serve with fruit skewers.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Chocolate Dipping Sauce

1. Following the basic chocolate sauce measurements and method above, whisk in 1/4 cup/50 mL each smooth peanut butter and strawberry jelly to the warmed cream when adding the chocolate. Heat until melted, stirring to incorporate additions.
   Tip: This recipe could easily be doubled. And remember, the better quality the chocolate, the better the sauce. But in a pinch, baking chocolate or even chocolate chips, works wonderfully. You could "soup up" the sauce by trying flavoured chocolates in place of the plain chocolate.

Vanilla Yogurt Dipping Sauce

1. In a bowl combine yogurt and maple syrup. Cut vanilla bean in half and scrape out seeds and add to yogurt mixture.
2. Serve with fresh or dried fruit.

Makes 1.25 cups/175ml

Recipe courtesy of Food Network Canada

So how about it?  Spend a little time outdoors this summer enjoying time on the patio.  Kick up your feet and relax while making memories enjoying time with those who mean the most to you.

Cheers!

 

Photos Courtesy: BuyCanadianFirst Members Flamborough, Peller Estates, Kicking Horse Coffee, Porcupine Creek Farm, Food Network Canada

As a lazy, good for nothing, who tends to get a little, um, puffy if I don't watch it, I ask a lot of my exercise regimes. They must be fun, easy, inexpensive and ... fun! By George, I think that I have found it! It's hula hooping!

 photo courtesy of Wendy T. Gibson

We use weighted hoops that Basia Baklinski, our teacher, pictured above in the yellow shirt, makes herself. (Basia is in her early sixties and a fantastic advertisement for the benefits of hula hooping!) These hoops are big and heavy! I am completely uncoordinated and, for the first class,  could not get that hoop to hula for the life of me! All around me, other first timers were laughing in delight at how much fun they were having, while I tried one way and then another, to keep my hoop going, to no avail! By experimenting with a few different hoops, I found one that I could keep going and that was when the fun really began! It is completely exhilarating!

Organic Cotton Yoga Pants by Me to We

The secret of it is practice. The beauty of it is that you are thinking only of the hoop, not how much weight you are losing, or how hard your core muscles are working - and believe me, they are!!! If you are like me and have a mind that won't shut up, hula hooping also becomes an amazingly, meditative thing to do. I stand in my backyard in the early morning, listening to the birds and spinning my hoop, my mind peaceful and calm for what will probably be the only time that day. I'm told that this will burn 200 calories in half an hour!!! And you are going to feel it after, especially at first. Fortunately, there is something super addictive about hula hooping and in no time, you will start to feel stronger and more confident!

Frogaliscious Funky Back Tank-Limited Edition from Terra Frog

I don't count calories or weigh myself. I go by my clothing sizes and how my favourite pants feel on me. Since I started hula hooping only a few short weeks ago, I have already lost inches around my waist! I had to make a new hole in my belt, people! I'm getting into some of my one size smaller pants again! My arms, legs and bum bum are getting toned as well and my waist has shown up again!!! Another wonderful and unexpected side effect is that my complexion has improved! Nasty, stubborn blackheads have been flushed out by the massive sweating that hula hooping brings rise to!

 

Bamboo Tank Top by Me to We

Hooping gear is pretty straightforward. You need a hoop! Lots of people practice barefoot but I prefer to wear lightweight shoes. Clothing that gives the hoop something to "bite" on and soaks up the sweat fast is best! Then you need just enough space for the hoop to clear. Consider finding a spot inside to hoop, for rainy days and winter time.

I highly recommend checking out the amazing Canadian site called Hoop City! It will help you find shops, classes and hooping friends in your region.

Have I convinced you yet to try hula hooping? I would love to hear about it!

Image sources: BuyCanadianFirst.ca

ACK!!! I mean how many weeks of summer vacation do our kids get, 8 perhaps 9 weeks? Are you panicking yet? Summer is here and once they eat breakfast they.will.not.be.going.to.school! Perhaps you have summer camps, art workshops, trips to the cabin and a week at grandma's house pre planned, but what can you do to ease the summer blahs for the rest of the season? Fear not brave parent for I will provide for your children a handy list of fabulous things that may keep them busy for minutes, hours and perhaps even days at a time!!

50 awesome things to do!

1. Go birding! Canada is filled with a wide variety of spectacular bird species of all shapes and sizes. Encourage young budding ornithologists to go into the yard open their ears and eyes and look into the skies. Arm yourself with a pencil, binoculars and a great notebook from Buy Canadian first Member EcoJot to log all of your discoveries. Check out bird canada. It is both a great blog with amazing links!

 

2. Make a house of cards

3.  Recreate a famous painting  in your own way ( like Big Raven by Canadian artist Emily Carr)

4. Do everything with the 'wrong arm'.

5. Make a doll but only use recycled materials

6. Enter a poetry contest.

7. Make a diorama of your favourite place in the world.

8. Plan an old fashion tea party, be sure to bring your parasol, manners and a pretty dress like the Poppy dress by Sweet Peanut from out member Apples n Oranges.

 

 9. Find all the pens in the house and make sure they all work.

10. Start a summer business 

11. Get your grandparents to dish out some dirt about your parents when they were young!

12. Learn how to walk the dog and go over the falls with a yoyo! Buy Canadian First member Toy Maker of Lunenburg makes fabulous Yoyo in great colours. Once you master the tricks you can show off to all your friends.

13. Read a book.

 14. Go for a walk and collect anything you wish (perhaps everything yellow, everything round, everything with letters) then create a mini museum with your objects.

15. Make a terrarium.

16. Study an ancient civilization or learn about many with Professor Noggin's Ancient Civilization Card Game.

  

17. Learn CPR.

18. Discover where the smallest bone in the body is.

19. Raise a tadpole into a frog.

20. Create lists of ten (ten foods I love,  ten types of trees in my neighbor hood, ten wierd habits my mom has etc.).

21. Find out how many of your favourite music artist are Canadian.

22. Learn to cook a new dish

23. Bake muffins  and deliver to a friend.

24. Teach an old dog a new trick with a little insentive. Give Fido a delicious natural treat made with holsitic ingredients from Fetch'erz Ballz.

 

25. Observe your neighbourhood everyday at the same time for a week. Log what is the same and what is different daily.

26. Start an ant farm.

27. Be a pirate for a day, ahhrrr or to the plank with Yee.

28. Rewrite the endings to your favourite fairy tales.

29. Set up a lemonade stand.

30. Learn to knit and make scarves to donate to shelters.

31. Create your own world. Make maps, civilizations and local wildlife and plants.

32. Do fish pee? find out!

33. Negotiate a new privilege for yourself.

34. Start a 2000 piece puzzle

35. Spend the day with a younger sibling  on purpose.

36. Do a chore without being asked first.

37. Discover why your shadow is longer or shorter depending on the time of day.

38. Make a sun dial.

39. Tie-Dye T-shirts

40. Dedicate a song to someone over the radio.

41. Practise a new skill (skateboarding, catching popcorn in your mouth after you toss it in the air or juggling).

42. Are you prepared? Get your family prepared for an emergency.

  

43. Create a scavenger hunt for your friends and bake a cake for the winner.

44.  Make posters and hang them up in the neighbourhood.

45. See if you can follow a bee back to her hive, be respectful and give her space. Later find out why bees dance.

46. Start a collection.

47. Go fly a kite. 

48. Become a master of origami.

49. Plan activities for your whole family.

50. research  all the mythical creatures of the world and write a story about your all time favourite!

The possibilities are endless. Fortunately, should all else and your children are still bored and you are there with them, know that the laundry, dishes, dinner, and lawn can wait a few minutes, hours and (this is pushing it) days. Your children grow fast and time is fleeting so forget the work and go hang out with your little muffins. We'll always have dishes but we won't always have our babies as little ones.