Summer Pleasures

My goodness; time does fly when the little darlings are out of school all day.  I have been enjoying all sorts of simple pleasures, but at this point I couldn't possibly list three week's worth without putting you to sleep.
We kicked off the start of summer holidays by going to the theatre to see Toy Story 3.  What a wonderful movie!  If you haven't seen it yet, make plans to do so.  Oh and bring your tissue box because it's a weeper.
My Favorite Girl and I attended the Canada Day parade and wore our patriotic pinwheel brooches. Our special Canada Day desserts this year were strawberry shortcakes:

...and lavender panna cotta with strawberry puree:

I had some of this at a small patisserie in Toronto and have wanted to make my own ever since.  It was very good!
We've had a bit of a mini-vacation as well.  We made our way here:

Despite the crowds and all the vendors/shows/shops anxious to have you deposit your Loonies with them, the natural attractions at Niagara Falls are simple awesome.  

That's one of the Maid of the Mist boats.  The next morning we donned blue raincoats and had a closer look:

Going on the boat tour was worth every penny.  I would definitely recommend going on the first boat though, because after that they really pack you on like little blue sardines.

The town of Niagara Falls has one very touristy street, called Clifton Hill.  It's lined with cheesy souvenir shops, over-priced restaurants and all sorts of child-appealing things that have nothing to do with the natural wonder around the corner.  So, because we have two kids, we had to make a few stops along the way to a "haunted" house; Rainforest Cafe and Brick City:

Then entire room was filled with Lego creations and one little boy was very happy to be there.  He desperately wants to visit Lego Land someday, so we told him this was the closest we think he will get for a while!
Before returning home we took a drive to scenic Niagara-on-the-Lake.  What a pretty, pretty little town.  It's full of lovely shops and beautiful buildings, like the Prince of Wales hotel:

I wanted to take more pictures of the main street, but it was so crowded and I could never seem to get the photos "just right" in the view finder.

It was so hot that week that it was hard to get motivated to do anything creative. Temperatures were around 35 degrees every day, but with the humidity it ended up being around 45 degrees every day.  We are not big on turning on the air-conditioning, but we did have to give in after several uncomfortable nights.
  So that's a bit of a catch-up on our activities.  This week things should return to a bit of normalcy as Mr. Crafty World went back to work and we are settling back into our routines as well.  I am hoping that some sewing and crafting will be part of it!