Family and Blog Update

For the past two weeks, at exactly 8:55am, I’ve found myself standing on the sidelines of our local pool slumped up against the wall hoping that The Kids will think that my snoring is acknowledgement of their swimming feats. It was almost the death of me.

Each and every day, I asked myself “HOW DO THEY DO IT?” They being YOU. How do you get your kids up for school, soccer, dance, one of the 4,325 things that they day every summer, week or even day? HOW?

The good news is that The Kids are way better swimmers today than they were two weeks ago. They did everything that was required in order to receive their “Lifesaving Society — Preschool A” badge! They had to enter and exit shallow water, jump into chest-deep water assisted (Artemis just jumped in without the teacher even knowing!), Face in water, blow bubbles in water, float on front wearing PFD, float on back wearing PFD, safe movement in shallow water with (or in The Kids case), without assistance and glide on back wearing PFD (Artemis tried it without her lifejacket and promptly suck ;)) Artemis even spent 15 minutes without her lifejacket on (and no one holder her) as she bounced around the pool periodically touching the ground. Overall a very worthwhile activity and one that we will be doing next year as well. Probably for even longer. Did I just write that!?

Besides that, there hasn’t been much room for anything else but we’ve managed fitting in weekly volunteering, playdates, visits with Aunt Sandie and Uncle Bill and packing for our upcoming annual four week trip that will see us at the Family Far at the top of Blue Mountain, a week in Toronto and two nights in Algonquin Park at The Taylor Statten Camps. We usually go for five days but The Kids are starting French school in September and it starts a week early so we have to shorten our vacation (add that to the list as well!). More on that another time.

Even with all that on our plate, I found time to write a guest post for the “1,000 Families Project” about what it’s like living somewhere between Canada and Mexico.

There’s still another week left for you to enter our $25 USD PayPal Cash!. I don’t know about you but I could think of an awful lot of things to buy like an Ant Farm for The Kids.

Referral Giveaways

While we haven’t had much time to enter any new giveaways, we have a bunch of referrals here and a lot of them have daily entries. Remember that when you enter from the links below I will receive (at least) one additional contest entry. While I haven’t won any of the referral giveaways yet, I appreciate you using my link and remember, you can’t win if you don’t enter. Good Luck!

1. *NEW* WIN a Garmin GPS Unit Prize Pack, CAN, 8/12 http://gvwy.io/nr679tk
   
2. *NEW* Win a KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer, Ww, 8/4 http://gvwy.io/fi69hn1
   
3. *NEW* Win McFarlane Toys for a Year, US/CAN, 11/30 http://woobox.com/szgwa2/fm97c8
   
4. *NEW* Win a Kindle Paper White, WW, 8/7 http://www.ryanwiley.com/giveaways/kindle-paperwhite-giveaway?lucky=5076
   
5. *NEW* Arm and Hammer Laundry Prize Pack, CAN, 7/30 https://wn.nr/6y7As
   
6. *NEW* Win Great prizes from Home Away from Home, US/CAN, 8/27
   http://virl.io/VOUTvFac
   
7. *NEW* Win Cabela and Baffin Gear Prize Packs, ONT, 7/31 http://woobox.com/gdzzwf/flhh3z
   
8. *NEW* WIN POPCORN FOR A YEAR at Kernels Popcorn! CAN, 7/31 http://woobox.com/n8hn58/flgs1m
   
9. *NEW* Win a $200 Visa Gift Card! US/CAN, 10/23 http://woobox.com/8uk7ox/fkjrzy
   
10. July 28 -> Win 2 Muskoka Chairs and Weekly Prizes, US/CAN, 7/28 http://goo.gl/r6DfE0
    
11. July 30 -> Win an iPhone 6 Smartphone, WW, 7/30 https://gleam.io/IjmtS-uNcHj8?l=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.giveawaybase.com%2Fapple-iphone-6-giveaway-giveawaybase
    July 31 -> Win a 5 Night Stay for 2 at the Grand Oasis Palm in Cancun, Mexico! US/CAN, 7/31 http://bit.ly/1LtLpXk
    
12. July 31 -> Win a PetValue Prize Pack, CAN, 7/31 http://a.pgtb.me/tNGbfJ/hZ1Q0?w=36230074&e=95060488
    
13. July 31 -> Win a $100 BH Cosmetics Gift Card, CAN, 7/31 http://bit.ly/1f2NTOQ
    
14. July 31 -> Win a $100 BH Cosmetics Gift Card, CAN, 7/31 http://bit.ly/1f2NTOQ
    
15. July 31 -> Win a PetValue Prize Pack, CAN, 7/31 http://a.pgtb.me/tNGbfJ/hZ1Q0?w=36230074&e=95060488
    
16. August 3 -> Win an Arm & Hammer Laundry Gift Basket, CAN, 8/3 http://is.gd/XKRi5k
    
17. August 4 -> Win a Maplelea Sports Outfit! CAN, 8/4 http://is.gd/IzrJMp
    
18. August 4 -> Win a Maplelea Sports Outfit! CAN, 8/4 http://is.gd/IzrJMp
    
19. August 15 -> Win a $50 Amazon GC, US/CAN, 8/15http://bit.ly/1fYzO5y
    
20. August 12 -> Win an All Inclusive Stay for 2 at the Grand Palladium in Punta Cana, CAN, 8/12 http://bit.ly/1I4y8BH
    
21. August 6 -> Win a $250 Columbia Prize Pack, CAN, 8/6 https://apps.facebook.com/my-contests/columbia?from=user_link&ref_id=n0bp04
    
22. August 6 -> Win a $250 Columbia Prize Pack, CAN, 8/6 https://apps.facebook.com/my-contests/columbia?from=user_link&ref_id=n0bp04
23. August 18 -> WIN an Axon Phone, WW, 8/18 really long url 
    
24. August 30 -> Win a $100 Gift Card! US/CAN, WW, 8/30 http://woobox.com/sk7fa6/fhf9bu
    
25. August 31 -> Win a Massive Lens Giveaway, WW, 8/31 http://bit.ly/1Ua901F
    
26. August 18 -> Win an Axon Phone, WW, 8/18 really long url
    
27. September 8 -> Win Two Round trip Tickets Anywhere Delta Flies, US/CAN, 9/8 http://bit.ly/1CzPPZo
    
28. September 15 -> Win a $500 Nordstrom Gift Card, WW, 9/15 http://woobox.com/rku5sp/fbhcxu
    
29. September 20 -> Win a $150 Estee Lauder Gift Package, WW, 9/20 http://www.stokescontests.com/contests/?id=69&inv=3e00a754
    
30. Oct 31 -> WIN 1 of 2 Thermador Star Sapphire Dishwashers! CAN 10/31 https://gleam.io/mX8eN-uNcHj8?l=http%3A%2F%2Fhouseandhome.com%2Fms%2Fthermador%2Fen-ms-kitchen-contest-2015%2Fcontest.php
    
31. November 27 -> Kikkoman Prize Pack, US/CAN, 11/27 http://bit.ly/1FY1As7
    
32. Win over $770 in Thirty X ThirtyNine Prizes! US/CAN http://woobox.com/wnbmiw/f9ikty
    
33. Win a Dream Vacation from @OutriggerResort, US/CAN http://hawaiiinsider.pgtb.me/Jlmdgb/hQlwl?w=35100533&e=92672795&utm_source=TS&cid=HXT
    
34. Win 4 Nights for 2 in the Riviera http://woobox.com/x3msy5/f0uaca
    
35. WIN over $770 in Prizes from THIRTY X THIRTYNINE, US/CAN http://woobox.com/v8c9gk/eyeryh
    

CANADIAN-FRIENDLY Giveaway Linky!

Remember that I tweet out and promote this linky each and every day as well as try and enter all the giveaways that are linked up. Thanks for all your support.

Please Retweet and help promote all of our giveaways.

The linky below is dedicated to giveaways OPEN TO CANADIANS. So, if your giveaway isn’t open to Canadians, please don’t post it to the linky below. NO referral giveaways.