The Month of May

The past four weeks seemed to have flown by!  Derek and I both had a great time at home, saw lots of family and friends, celebrated lots and got some relaxation in, too.  Here's my attempt at a concise yet informative summary of the fun we had at home.  Sorry if I left anything out!

Week One

After a rough 18 hours of traveling (including 45 minutes waiting around the luggage carousel in Toronto), Derek and I made it home.  There had been doubts, what with swine flu and my never-ending ear infection, but we made it!  However my ear was giving me a fair bit of trouble, so by Thursday I was at the doctor's and put on a third round of antibiotics.  Derek spent the days in the lab, gearing up for his thesis defense.  A friend's belated birthday party was on Friday night, so this was a great opportunity to meet up with good friends whom we hadn't seen since the end of August.  And I got in some time on the swings with my best friend, and lots of cinnamon sugar doughnuts from Tim Hortons.  Finally, mum and I went over to Derek's parents' for an excellent barbeque and a chance to play with the cute little dog and his sister's cat whom I adore.

Week Two

Derek continued to prepare his talk for his MSc thesis defense, and I spent a good amount of time relaxing at home with my mum.  Wednesday was our third wedding anniversary so we attempted to go for a picnic, but the cold and rain had us picnicking in the car.  We also went to see Star Trek, which we both enjoyed even though I had never watched the series.  Our moms took us out for lunch to celebrate, so we got a chance to visit the Mandarin and Boston Pizza :) The long weekend offered us a great opportunity to see all of our grandparents, so Saturday morning we were off on a whirlwind trip of Southern Ontario which continued until Monday afternoon.  It was wonderful to see them all, especially after the trouble we had at Christmas with the winter weather and illnesses popping up.

Week Three

The moment Derek had been waiting for for so long finally arrived.  Wednesday afternoon he stood in front of his supervisor and two other professors and gave a 20 minute powerpoint presentation on his work and findings (with myself running the slides).  After about 50 minutes of questions, we were sent out in the hallway as they talked amongst themselves (with a lot of laughter!), and then out they came, shaking Derek's hand, congratulating him on his achievement and letting him know he had been nominated for an award.  But this wasn't the end.  Derek still had to make minor revisions to his thesis, get them approved from the professor, submit it electronically and receive confirmation it went through, get various papers filled out and signed by various professors, and return his keys.  This needed to be done by the end of the day on Friday in order to get his summer tuition back.  It was quite the end to the week!

Week Four

Derek went up to his family's cottage with his dad and brother for the weekend.  Not much swimming, as it was 'painfully cold,' and they had to fight off the black flies throughout the weekend, but it sounds like they had a great time.  I also got the chance to meet up with a good friend who is about to move to Ottawa, which was great.  Afterwards, I started off our fourth week home at my grandma's house, where we travelled around a bit and enjoyed the company of her indoor cat and outdoor visiting cat.  My dad and little brother and sister arrived in town on Tuesday morning with their trailer, and stayed for the next few nights.  It was great seeing them all -- the kids are growing like crazy!  The Lego store was a big hit on a rainy Thursday.  

I spent Wednesday shopping in Toronto at the Eatons Centre (tied for my favourite Canadian mall with West Edmonton Mall), and got several awesome pieces of makeup.  Friday was the wedding reception of two friends who got married back in April.  It was lot of fun, and a chance to get dressed up, have a couple drinks and dance the night away, and as were weren't seated with anyone we knew, why not get up and dance?  

Saturday morning we were feeling a bit rough, but we had a busy day ahead of us down at Queenston Heights.  There we met up with some of dad's family for a picnic and photo opp.  My little sister noticed people going in and out of the Brock monument, and after a couple questions we found out that it was open to climb again, for the first time in 4 years.  As dad realized right away, that meant we had to do it!  While he opted out, having climbed it 'hundreds of times,' Derek and I took the kids of the very narrow (and constantly narrowing) 235-stair spiral staircase, where we had to press ourselves against the wall as others passed by on their way down.  It was great -- windy, but great -- and I took a bunch of photos from the small platform at the top.

I think we made pretty good use of our time (and our parent's cars) while we were home.  Derek can now embark on a whole new chapter of his life, and how better to do that than in a new place!  More details on our new flat to come!