Some Summer Travel Ideas for Southwestern Ontario

I've just added a link for "101 Things to See and Do in Southwestern Ontario". I love to have ideas for day trips in my area and this article in the London Free Press gave me some great tips on things to do that I never thought of before. When travelling across Europe, I started to realize there were so many places in my own back yard that I've never seen and took for granted. I've since started to take daytrips and have found it's a great way to get out and immerse myself in my local culture and have time to spend with my family. It allows me to pass on some traditions, culture and heritage to my kids. If you live in Southwestern Ontario or think you might like to visit, check out some of these ideas.

For myself, some personal favourites are picnics in Stratford along the river by the Festival theatre, picnic at Queenston Heights at the base of Brock's monument, a drink at Rock's Pub and Grub in Innerkip. Please let me know of any of your personal favourites.

Layers of Diapers

My mom and I got this idea from a gift that my sister got at her baby shower. It looks like a wedding cake but it's made up of layers of diapers. We rolled each diaper so that the fold was on the outside and then held them together with tiny elastics that we got at the craft store (came in a box of 1000 I think). Then we tied each layer with a string (or ribbon) to hold them in place and also to cover the elastics that held the diapers together. We used a medium sized silver platter that we found at the dollar store for the base.

Once all the layers were done, we stacked them and placed a small stuffed animal on the top - I guess we were thinking of a star on a Christmas tree. Finishing touches included sticking some bath toys, socks and face cloths around the finished product, glued lace to the edge of the base and wrapped it in cellaphane. It was the talk of the shower.

Happy Mother's Day

It's the end of a long but wonderful day. It was my third Mother's Day and my son rewarded me with some trees that I've had on my wish list for years (of course he's only two so I imagine he had some help from Daddy). I had hoped to get them planted tonight but after fitting in so many other events for the day, we just didn't get to it. It wasn't just Mother's Day for me, it was Mother's Day for my mother too. I got her a gift certificate for Micheal's and placed it inside this card I made for her. I cased this from a design I saw on Taylor Van Bruggen's blog: "Taylored Expressions".

Happy Mother's Day to all of you.