A Happy Canada Day, indeed.

Hoooo boy, getting back into routine after a long weekend is TOUGH, man.  But here we are, a short work week, Wednesday already, and I'm feeling just about back to normal. Finally.

This past weekend, our country celebrated it's 150th birthday, so there were big celebrations from coast to coast to coast, and of course, our little town was in on the action.  As usual, we celebrated a day early, my favourite way to kick off Canada Day festivities!

The weather last week left something to be desired, and I admit, when they told us to leave work early on Friday, I didn't depart with that extra skip in my step that I usually do on a long weekend.  It was pouring rain, and my heart was sinking at the thought of what a damper this was going to put on our party.  Still, I went home and immediately went about my last-minute preparations - getting my nacho dip made and the burger fixings ready, changing into my red & white, painting my nails red, and decorating my yard with my flags and pinwheels.  Late afternoon, my mom, my sister and her kids, and her MIL/my neighbour Donna all gathered at my place, and we enjoyed BBQ'd burgers and dogs, salads, chips, nacho dip, and ice cream cake for dessert, as well as a tasty Canada Day cocktail my sister had whipped up.  Yum!

Miraculously, the skies cleared in time for the parade and the sun actually came out, so we all took our lawn chairs out to the front yard and watched a fantastic parade, one of the best I've ever seen in our town!  Other friends and neighbours joined us, and we had a fantastic time waving flags and shouting "Happy Canada Day" at the folks in the parade.  It was great.

I walked down to the flag pole for the annual flag raising ceremony and singing of O Canada, then joined friends in the park as we killed time before the fireworks while their kids played and had fun with the clown.  At dusk, the fireworks were set off at the river and it was an awesome show, the best our town has ever seen.  A big thank you to the Canada Day Committee for all their hard work and fundraising for putting on such an amazing show for our community!

After the fireworks, a group of friends and I headed to the Legion where a Canada Day party was going on.  I fully intended to "go for one", and ended up "staying til 3"!!  Whoops!!  But it was such a blast.  The DJ was playing great tunes, and the drinks were going down so well.  We had lots of laughs.  So much fun!!

So, needless to say, the next day - actual Canada Day - I was a bit out of commish.  Still, I managed to get myself up and back into the red & white, and headed for Shawville where my BIL's dad was entering his classic car in their afternoon parade, and my niece and nephew were going with him.  Once again, the weather co-operated, and it was another wonderful parade.  I was happy to take in some of the celebrations in Shawville, as I don't think I've been up there for Canada Day since I was a kid.  We returned back to my mom's to eat leftovers from the night before and a Canada Day cake that my BIL had brought us. I hung in there as long as I could, but I had to take an extended nap post-supper. LOL  I woke up just in time to catch the last hour or so of festivities on TV from Parliament Hill.

Sunday was a low-key and peaceful day.  I spent the morning relaxing and catching up on Big Brother before taking advantage of a few sunny hours and cutting the grass.  The afternoon was a perfect mix of reading on the deck, napping, and watching Prison Break on Netflix.  There were STILL leftovers left from our BBQ, so I joined my mom for supper to clean up what was left, before heading back home to continue my Netflix binge.  It was exactly the kind of day I needed!

Having Monday off, I was a little disappointed that I didn't have any plans - other than laundry - but unable to come up with anything fun to do, I had resigned myself to another afternoon on the deck reading.  But then, I got a text from my friend Kerry shortly after lunch, wanting to know if I wanted to go out on the boat with them for the afternoon.  Um... yes, please!  Finally a day of super nice weather, and the chance to spend it in my happy place, on the water?  I wasn't going to say no!!  I changed into my bathing suit, packed a cooler of drinks, and headed down to meet them at the boat launch.

It was such a nice day out on the water.  I loved every minute of it.  Just before supper time, we docked the boat at friends of ours who live on the water and decided to stay for "a drink".  Well, one drink turned to two, turned to three, turned to four... and as much fun as it was, with the sun started going down, I knew I needed to bail.  Calling in "sick" Tuesday morning wasn't an option for me, and I needed to get myself to bed in order to be functional at work.  We walked down to grab food from the chipstand, and then I headed for home.  It was the perfect way to cap off the long weekend!

So, yesterday was a bit rough.  Tuesdays after a long weekend always are, so add in the touch of a hangover, and...well... I was happy when 5 o'clock rolled around!  I ate supper and read for a bit, before putting on Prison Break and promptly falling asleep on the couch.  I got all caught up on my sleep and I'm feeling much better today!!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, celebrating Canada Day or the 4th of July!!