Happy Birthday Mom!

Finally I had my vacation and what a great one it was. We left home 2 weeks ago, dropping our boat off at the cottage on our way to my Mom's place for a celebration of her 80th birthday.

Everyone in the family was able to get the time off to join us with the exception of my eldest. My youngest son ended up being a big surprise since he only got the time off at the last minute. So he kept his plans secret and surprised my Mom when he walked in the restaurant at her dinner. What a thrill it was for her to have everyone together like that. It had been 5 yrs since the last time all the cousins were together. Obviously there had been some big changes and it was so fun to see them connecting once again. Here's a pic of the whole family taken at my sister's following the dinner.

During our time together, I took my sons for a drive to show them the neighbourhood where I'd grown up and also to take them down to the riverfront for some pictures against the Detroit, Michigan skyline. Now you can see just how close Windsor is to Detroit. The Ambassador bridge crossing between the two countries is the largest international crossing in North America. I also took the time to visit both of my sisters and their families during my visit.

So basically there was practically nothing in the way of stitching during the first week. I stitched while in the car during our travels and that's it. I did however, manage to find Thread & Eye, a stitching shop in London, Ontario, during our travels. My purpose was only to purchase a couple of skeins of GAST floss which I needed. Did I come out with only the floss? Of course not! I added several skeins of floss, three charts and some fabric. The charts were LHN The Counting House and Love One Another as well as My Big Toe Designs Cast All Your Cares. I just enjoyed being in an actual needlework shop once more where I could actually see things in person including many of the stitched models. Gives you more of a feel for things, you know?

After a lovely first week where the weather held out for us all week, we packed things up once more and hit the road. We dropped the boys off in Toronto including my nephew and then it was off to Muskoka for DH and me! By the time we arrived in Bala I'd stitched more in the car then I had all the previous week. Here's a progress pic of HC. The fabric isn't ironed because I didn't realize there was an iron and board in the cottage. Besides, I'm on vacation!

I'll continue week 2 of my vacation on the next post. By then I should have a picture of my latest happy dance and a new start. After all, I don't want to bore you with all my vacation pics at once!

I'm slowing catching up on my blog reading so if you haven't heard from me yet you should in the next day or so. Thanks for stopping by.