• teenage_confidence
    family

    Straight Up Advice to My Teenage Daughters

    August 20, 2018 - By 

    Recently, we’ve have had a string of wicked hot summer days. High humidity and all that goes with it. Doesn’t bother me a bit. My favourite seasons are summer and winter for the outdoor sports and the travel opportunities. I live for shorts weather and I hate sacrificing comfort for trends. Bring on the heat and the lighter clothing too. In summer months I’d be happy to wear a swimsuit and occasionally a coverup and work by the pool all season. But I settle for shorts and nice T-shirts. This season as the temperatures soared I have started noticing a…

  • mother_daughter_trips
    Travel

    Secrets to a Successful Philadelphia Mother Daughter Trip

    August 7, 2018 - By 

    Our Mother Daughter trip to Philadelphia was sponsored by Visit Philly. Accommodations, flights, meals and attractions were covered. My opinion is truthful and all my own.  Recently, we returned from a wonderful Philadelphia Mother Daughter Trip. My youngest daughter Ainsley and I went together. It was our first time seeing the city and we loved it. Philadelphia is a city full of stories and this is one is ours. Consider it a guide to how to do a successful Mother Daughter Philadelphia Trip, especially relevant if your daughter is a teen. My younger daughter has missed out on a few trips…

  • playing_sports
    family - Giveaways - Health - parenting

    Playing Sports – Leveling the Field for Girls #PlayOnCA #Giveaways $60 ARV

    August 29, 2016 - By 

    My kids are both athletic young women. Staying physically active, playing sports and striving to do your best – well, that’s something we take to heart as a family. Whether it’s swimming, martial arts or track and field, sports matter to the health of both boys and girls. When kids get out on the field or the court, they learn teamwork, develop a better work ethic, get into better shape, and boost their self confidence. Unfortunately, girls are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to playing sports. With less opportunities and less variety, girls often have to take what…

  • growing_pains
    Parenting - parenting

    Growing Pains and Grace Notes – Raising A Daughter

    June 8, 2016 - By 

    Look away if you aren’t the kind of person who likes sentiment. It’s been a long time since I posted one of these stories about my life, my kids, snapshots of us, the Growing Pains and grace notes inside the nutty every day chaos of parenting, and growing youth, not kids, not toddlers, young adolescents. My girls amaze me more than they know most days. Their strength is apparent to me, their Mom, and yet they very often don’t see it themselves. Some strange warped tween and teen girl mirror only lets them see first the tiny little mistakes, then the itty bitty fleeting…

  • Family-Trip-to-Tremblant
    active family travel - family - Health - parenting - Quebec - Travel

    Hugs from Dad #WordlessWednesday #Travel #Tremblant

    April 1, 2015 - By 

    I rarely share shots of my spouse here. Why? Because he hates having his picture taken. Sad but true. Husband of blogger hates having picture taken. Honestly. So capturing a nice shot of him on film is a big deal for me. I often point my iPhone at him when we travel and he turns or moves ruining the shot. Early in March we were all invited to Mont Tremblant to visit as a family unit. While we were there, the entire family learned how to ski in two days!! I am super proud of that, in case you couldn’t…

  • Health - parenting

    Losing a Parent: Every Day is a Gift, Just Not Tomorrow

    June 4, 2013 - By 

    Every day is a gift. But today I would gladly trade tomorrow in if I could. June 5th marks a month since my Mom passed away. I can barely type that without crying. One month  of sadness and anger and frustration and forgetting and movement and tears and heaviness and guilt and devastation, and heart-stopping pain. One month ago I had no idea grief felt like a stone in your chest weighing you down with sad. This weekend, I attended TBEX, travel blogging conference, and it was the first time I really felt like I had smiled and kicked back…

  • family

    But I Am Not Done with You Yet

    May 5, 2013 - By 

    In the end, you think about the many times she danced through the living room holding the cat, with those tiny cat antlers it used to hate. The times she dressed at the vanity in her room draping jewelry on and your eight-year-old eyes thought it was magic. You dreamed she was beautiful and then wished years away so you could grow fast forward. You asked her to twirl. She did and spun you around. She held your hand and said I love you and then she gave you a kiss before heading off to the dance with a friend.…