Last year Scott and I had a great opportunity to attend our first folk music festival. We’ve been to many music festivals over the years however they’ve all been related to the electronic bass music culture. We didn’t know any of the artists on the Vancouver Folk Music Festival line up. The only thing we did know was it was a very popular festival that is named one of the 10 best outdoor concerts in North America.

So, how are two electronica bass heads supposed to have a good time listening to folk music? To our surprise it was quite easy. With 7 stages it’s impossible to not find something to make your ears happy and even possibly make your bum wiggle. We were even surprise to find an act or two that used electronica memes during their performance!

Music festival or beach day? Why not both?

As much as this festival is all about the music to the die-hard attendees that line up night after night while the grounds are closed for cleaning to get in first thing in the morning and stake that perfect spot at the main stage with their blanket. This festival is also just about being a diverse community of individuals looking for a good time. Vancouver Folk Music Festival has to have the biggest range of festival attendees I’ve ever seen. It really doesn’t matter who you are or what your into, attend this festival and you’ll find yourself smiling all day long.

Million dollar views for the artists.

On top of this the Vancouver Folk Music Festival makes your experience even better with all the little extra details.

• Amazing vendors with handmade items and wares from all other the globe
• Very child friendly with even a whole section dedicated to the little folks
• Secure bike lock up for just $1
• Location, location! Jericho Beach Park with amazing views of the city, ocean and mountains.
• Pristine grounds. Green grass to sit on, large pond, lots of trees for shade, and no garbage on the ground.
• Beer gardens to enjoy a cold one in the sun
• Workshops to better yourself
• Great place to people watch
• Delicious food options or they allow to bring your own
• All food court plates are a hard plastic and have a mandatory $2 deposit. Return your plate to get washed and re-used to get your $2 back
• Recycling centres with staff working them to help you organize your waste appropriately. Nothing that can be recycled ends up in the trash.
• Free Water!! Just bring a refillable container. (no bottled water is actually sold on the grounds to limit waste.)

The Vancouver Folk Music Festival is on July 15-17 located on Jericho Beach Park, Vancouver. If your in the city and like to have a good time you should defiantly attend. Purchase your tickets online or at the gate. Full weekend pass or single day available. OR, if your on a budget and don’t want to miss out another option is to just head to Jericho Beach and listen to the music from the other side of the fence. The beach is guaranteed to be filled with a great array of people chilling and relaxing. You can even get into the vendors area to buy yourself something unique without a ticket. Check it out.

1. EAT! Vancouver did not give passes to every single TBEX attendee interested. Instead of giving some free tickets to be handed out by a TBEX rep as a first come first serve basis, EAT! Vancouver should of just allowed anyone that showed up to Will Call with a TBEX pass to be allowed in. Teasing is mean.

2. Early wake ups. 9am start? Really? On a weekend? Bah!

3. Those ear piercing sounds at the beginning of every movie played on the screens.

4. Our bums started to hurt from sitting and learning such great things all day long.

5. The sun was shining. Thus, making it hard to sit inside most of the day in a conference room with no windows.

6. Didn’t get into any of the special after party events or special tours due to limited space as we were too late to sign up for anything. See number #2. We are late for a lot of things that can end up resulting in a travel day from hell and finding out what happens when you over stay your Thai tourist visa.

7. With so much constant #TBEX Twitter activity going on non stop all day it was hard to pay attention sometimes in class. Especially when there were so many contests going on! (Which we even won one! Thanks @WheresAndrew for the great #TWITTERHUNT. We won the complete National Geographic – every issue since 1888 on DVD. Wowzers!)

8. It was only two days.

9. Way too many awesome people there being awesome in so many ways. Seriously. Stop it!

10. Do you have any idea how hard it is to write a Top 10 list for why TBEX sucked? Geez!!

So yeah, TBEX 11 did NOT suck. It was quite the opposite of that!! Much awesome sauce was had by all. But, we just had to make the post to practice some ideas we learned this past weekend. Hope you found the humor!

Cudos to the Community Panel: Tell it like it is with Spud Hilton (San Francisco Chronicle), Jim Byers (Toronto Star), Rich Beattie (Travel + Leisure), Don George (Gadling) and, Mike Yessis (World Hum) for the tip on post titles.

Thanks for the great time at TBEX everyone! Hope you all enjoyed our lovely city and leave us with a happy.

If you’re in the travel industry, blogging or PR, and haven’t been to TBEX you should consider hitting it up next year! Registration has already begun. Check out TBEX 12 in Keystone, Colorado!

Were you at TBEX 11? Have anything you’d like to add to list?

Welcome to Vancouver everyone attending TBEX ’11! There’s a crazy amount of things to do while traveling here for a weekend and little time to do it. I’ve created a brief description of a few of the communities that would make a great walking tour while your here. You can piece them together or try for an epic walk one day, the choice is yours.

Photo Credit: caseyyee

DOWNTOWN (map)

The downtown area of Vancouver is from Burrard to Howe, West Hastings to Georgia and has a huge variety of stores. You can eat some delicious street food that’s available or hop into a sushi shop for some great cheap eats. Robson St has the most variety of stores lined up on a great walking street leading you straight to the beach / West End. Granville St is another great choice that is full of unique alternative shops and night clubs that will lead you to the bridge that takes you into Kitsilano or if heading the other direction, towards the Vancouver Conference Centre for TBEX.

Photo Credit: Danielle Bauer

WEST END (map)

The West End has a huge residential area and starts at Burrard St until Stanley Park. You can walk along the seawall and get a great feel for the daily life the locals lead and of course enjoy some beach action yourself. English Bay is a popular beach and during late July and August an international fireworks competition is held each year. Head up any of the streets surrounding the beach for great food or to find that perfect latte. Sushi shops are everywhere and all of them are pretty good.  Life in the West End is pretty good with a strong and highly supported gay community that also loves to spend their time in this part of town. Life is pretty chill here. You can either walk into Stanley Park from here or go a bit across downtown to the Convention Center and on to Gastown for a big walk.

Photo Credit: deymosd

GASTOWN (map)

Named after “Gassy” Jack Deighton who opened the areas first saloon, it’s turned from skid row with ‘Blood Alley’ to a hip and edgy area filled with restaurants, nightclubs, pubs and hipster clothing stores. Surrounding by tree lined streets, cobblestones, and historic buildings there’s great photo ops everywhere. There’s even an old steam clock that still works with great accuracy. If your into street art check out some of the alleys in the area for a nice visual treat. Or, if alleys scare you there is a great street art inspired gallery located inside Tinsel Town Mall on the third floor. On top of this all, Gastown is perfectly situated right next to the Convention Center making it the perfect place for after TBEX drinks. A great place to grab a beer is at Steamworks Brewing Company who make excellent seasonal beers. One of my favorite being the Ipanema Summer White.

Photo Credit: Helen.Ailsa

CHINATOWN (map)

A popular tourist destination and not only Canada’s largest Chinatown but one of the largest in North America. An easy walk up from Gastown you’ll find things in the markets that you can’t find anywhere else. There’s quite a few historic buildings, a huge list of stores, and a fantastic traditional Chinese Garden. Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday head down here between 6:30 and 11pm for a Summer Night Market filled with traditional asian handicrafts, other made in china wares, and of course lots of food. So, enjoy some food and shopping and if your feeling thirsty and a little fancy, you can head to Yaletown drinks.

Photo Credit: YoavLerman

YALETOWN (map)

Vancouver’s trendy and yuppy area, here you’ll find overpriced drinks, 5 star restaurants with tiny plates and people walking small dogs on the seawall.  You might even spot the odd celebrity or two spending their evening after doing a shoot in the city. The area used to be an neglected warehouse district but after The Worlds Fair – Expo ’86 it was revitalized with building restrictions. There’s great architecture and people watching, plus some of the best food (although expensive) in town. Even with the high prices, every place is also packed so book a reservation if you can.

OTHER COMMUNITIES OUTSIDE DOWNTOWN

Photo Credit: Stephen Hui

GRANVILLE ISLAND (map)

Just across from Yaletown and a short 3 minute ferry ride is Granville Island. Named one of the 60 greatest places in the world it’s visited by tourists, Emily Carr Art Students and locals looking to eat, shop and watch the buskers. The Public Market is filled with all sorts of amazing top quality fresh foods to eat there or take with you. Or walk around the island to find an interesting mix of shops filled with that perfect gift for anyone. In the evenings you can find some nice restaurants for great seafood and even catch yourself a great improv comedy show. For the best fish and chips in Vancouver (and in my experience, the world) walk along the pier to Go Fish. It’s a small hut right on the pier and you can sit on the seawall looking at the boats while eating your snack. DO NOT GET DISTRACTED by the other fish & chips shops or the long line, it’s worth the wait. If your not standing in front of the fishing boats your in the wrong place.

Photo Credit: bruce…

KITSILANO (map)

If you walk along the pier from Granville Island you’ll walk into the friendly neighbourhood of Kitsilano. You can follow the water and beaches up as far as you want until you feel like grabbing a drink or looking at some local shops. Just head up one of the streets south to 4th Ave. If the hockey game is on when your there check out one of these top pubs to watch the playoff games. When you finish up you can either catch a cab downtown ($10) or if you have energy walk across the Burrard St Bridge back into Vancouver.

Photo Credit: SpareChange63

COMMERCIAL (map)

Known to the locals as “The ‘Drive” , Commercial Drive can easily be considered to have the largest counter-culture demographic in Vancouver. Expect to walk by a vast array of hippies, punks, artists, hipsters, political activists, interesting cats, whatever. However, what truly makes Commercial Drive unique is the large immigrant population. Italians, Asians, Latin-Americans, East Indians, Africans and more have set up amazing and authentic cafes, delis and restaurants with some of the most delicious food that cater to their individual specialties. The majority of these eating establishments are also kind on your pocket book. Love to shop? Be prepared to find many artisan shops, one of a kind items, vintage clothing, green friendly products, antiques, and anything else considered fun & unique. Once the sun goes down it’s quite easy to find a little spot to have a few drinks and listen to some live music in one of the many pubs found along the street.

To get here just hop the Skytrain from downtown to Commercial St Station. Worth dropping by and checking out for sure.

So there’s my list of some local communities to check out here in Vancouver. Let me know if you hit up any of these places and where you went!

The many parks and beaches are one of the main reasons any local will give you for why they love living in Vancouver, BC. Doesn’t matter where in the city you are, it’s always an easy trek to a nearby park or beach by foot, bike, or transit.

TIPS FOR ENJOYING VANCOUVER’S BEACHES & PARKS TO THE MAX

Conceal your booze.

As free and laid back of country Canada is, we are still in the stone ages when it comes to alcohol. Drinking is 100% not allowed in public. But, if you like to enjoy a cold one while relaxing at the beach don’t let this silly law hold you back. Just do what the locals do! Purchase your chosen poison (and mix if required) then, find yourself something to hide it in that is far better then a paper bag. Pouring it into your travel water bottle or coffee mug is a grand choice. We tend to favour the coffee mug as you get the added bonus of keeping your drink cold for longer. Since many locals can be spotted drinking coffee from one of the hundreds of cafes around, you will fit right in! PS: Be sure to recycle your packaging evidence before arriving and DO THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK.

How about some tunes?

What makes chillaxing under the sun even better then the above? Some awesome tunes! Pack a travel size speaker and a mp3 player filled with your favorite tunes. Just be sure to watch your volume level. Us Canadians will probably be too friendly to complain directly at you, however if your near a nitty-bitty they will jump at the chance to complain to some authority to go speak to you instead. Instead, be like us and ask your neighbor if the music is too loud for them.

Sunscreen? Yes!

Yes, your not in the tropics but our sun can still do some serious damage to your skin. It’s main weapon to trick you is that cool ocean breeze making you think your skin isn’t getting hot. So, be smart and always wear sunscreen!

Comfort is key.

Why do we all love to chill and relax in our own homes? Because it’s filled with comforts. So, why not bring that feeling with you to the beach or park? Pack a beach towel or small blanket with you to sit/lay on. Even better, bring along a small pillow for supreme luxury.

Photo Credit: dzungvo

Arrive by bike!

Vancouver’s sea wall is one of the best places in the world to take a casual stroll or leisurely bike ride. It’s nice and flat with spectacular views of nature and city melded together in a beautiful way. Most of Vancouver’s beaches and best parks are connected by the sea wall with intriguing art installations in between. Having a bike with you just makes it all that more easy to see it all. You might even catch a street art performance or two while cruising along the sea wall to the next beach. Do a search on google with the terms “vancouver bc bike rentals” to get a good list of all the available rentals shops in the city.

Photo Credit: spalla67

Stay for the sunset.

Pretty much every single beach in the main part of Vancouver has an amazing view of the sunset. Its our favourite time of the day to witness something magical.

WHERE TO GO: BEACHES

Photo Credit: autumnlight

West End Beaches: English Bay & Sunset

Probably the most accessible beaches for any traveler to Vancouver as they are both located right downtown and beside each other. No more then a 30 min walk from the core. Due to this, its quite popular with tourists and celebrities and of course the locals that are lucky enough to live in the condo buildings lining the bay. Great location, mixed aged crowd, lively and vibrant.

Photo Credit: bruce…

Kitsilano Beach

This is our friendly neighbor beach. Mostly adorn with a younger crowd of locals and known as one of Vancouver most popular beaches. It has a range of views from an open bay, to the North Shore Mountains / Stanely Park, and the downtown core. Lots of action if you want it or also just a great place to relax and people watch. There is also a massive heated salt water pool to get your swim on and if your up for a nice dinner The Boathouse restaurant will serve you up some amazing seafood.

Photo Credit: Julien

Jericho Beach

An endless sandy strip with even more boasting views of the North Shore mountains and downtown core. Known as a great family beach with bbq and picnics, sailing and kayaking. A more quiet spot then the two above.

Photo Credit:respect_the_architect

Spanish Banks

This is the beach to truly get that ‘away’ experience yet still have an gorgeous view of the city. Our least crowded beach making it the perfect escape from the pace of the city life.

Photo Credit: nredmond

Wreck Beach

We’ve talked about Wreck beach before in our guest post on Got Saga. But, this is Vancouver’s famous clothing optional beach. Secluded at the bottom of over 500 steps it’s a haven for Vancouver’s alternative lifestyles.

WHERE TO GO: PARKS

Stanley Park

One of Vancouver’s top tourist destinations but also a locale that is highly cherished by all the locals. Doesn’t matter what type of person you are, Stanley Park will have something for you. Just look at the size of it! Hiking / biking trails, old growth forest, great beaches, one of the best parts of the sea wall, epic views, swimming pool, water park, gardens, totem poles, miniature train, lagoons, concerts, restaurants, horse & carriage rides, and the one of my favourite places, The Vancouver Aquarium. 1000 acres of natural awesome and 3 times the size of New York’s Central Park. All, conveniently located right next to downtown.

Photo Credit: DennisSlyvesterHurd

Trout Lake

Situated just south of Commercial Drive. Trout Lake is East Van’s most popular outdoor location to soak in some sun. Tranquil fresh water lake with a mini beach and gorgeous mountain views. A farmers market is also here on Saturdays from 10 – 2.

Photo Credit: Arlene Gee

Queen Elizabeth Park

Vancouver’s second most visited park next to Stanley Park. A horticultural gem filled with world class displays of flower filled gardens and breath-taking landscaping both outdoors and indoors at the Bloedel Floral Conservatory, home to tropical plants and 100′s of birds. The peak of the park is a plaza with panoramic views of the city and dancing fountains.

Hopefully your visit to Vancouver for TBEX’11 will be a lucky one with blue skies and sunshine making a stop at one or more of our many beaches and park a definite good time.

Do you have a favourite beach or park your already like to visit in Vancouver?

Photo Credit: Sandydog

We’re also pretty excited that this years Travel Blog Exchange is held here in Vancouver, BC on June 11th. If you haven’t heard of TBEX, it’s a conference for Travel Bloggers, Media and travel businesses to meet face to face rather than over the illumination of computer monitors. Both Dee and I grew up in the suburbs of Vancouver and currently live right in the heart of the city. Since, we have a lot of insider knowledge about things to do in Vancouver, it seemed appropriate to write a series to help out all of you who may be coming down for TBEX’11.

Vancouver is a beautiful city that was just ranked the #1 most livable city in the world for the fifth year in a row. It’s quite easy to see why it keeps winning too. Nestled in a picture perfect sunset ocean bay, with an elegant skyline of a metropolitan city complete with the epic backdrop of some majestic mountains.  Right downtown is 1000 acre Stanley Park and within 3 hours is the world famous Whistler Blackcomb ski hills or head in the other direction towards the Rocky Mountains. Inside Vancouver there’s a plethora of various communities all with their own unique vibe, making it easy for all walks of life to find a hang out spot to love.

We want to make sure all of our readers attending TBEX’11 or that plan to visit Vancouver in the future have the best possible time. This is why we’ve created your ultimate guide to Vancouver – Travel tips from the locals. So, stay tuned for our series leading all the way up to TBEX’11 on June 11!

Are you attending TBEX’11? Let us know!

During our travels in Europe we specifically changed our plans when we heard about Banksy’s exhibit at the Bristol museum. We made it there on the last day of the show, waited in line for over 3 hours and then experienced the best art exhibit we’ve ever seen. (and we’ve seen a ton!). Much to our surprised our little post: Banksy vs Bristol Musuem has become one of our most popular posts. Our site is also mostly discovered through search engines with the term “banksy” of some form. Banksy is a popular guy!

Now, I’ve learned he is nominated for his work on his feature film documentary, “Exit Through the Gift Shop”. This alone makes me want to watch the acadmy awards on the 27th. Don’t think I’ve watched them since I was living at home with my parents with nothing better to do!

It’s really going to be interesting to see if he wins and even moreso what he is going to do to accept the award, that is if he even shows up! Supposedly the Acadamy  has been discussing what to do if he fails to appear or even worse (better??) plans to pull a stunt of some sort. Will we finally get to see his face? Personally, I hope we don’t!

If you like street art, anything sub-culture, or heck if you even just like documentaries and  haven’t seen ‘Exit Through the Gift Shop’ then go torrent it right now! I’m sure with it being created by an artist that beleives in ‘stealing’ he won’t mind at all. Especially since that is pretty much the theme of said documentary anyways!

For Scott’s birthday last year we rented a couple scooters to whiz around the sleepy town of Chiang Pai to see the all the sights. But, more importantly, we rented said scooters so we could go on an adventure to buy some moonshine! I’ll  never forget that old man’s face smiling and waving us quickly into his secret place and smelling the pure alcohol in the air before he opened the door, revealing all the garbage bins full of the shine. He then smiled even bigger when he scooped some out to give us a taste just so he could see the reaction on our faces as we drank his prized glory. That was a pretty great birthday!!

But, now we are back home celebrating Scott’s birthday. Nothing compared to last year but still great in its own way. Sleeping in, breakfast in bed with the awesome french toast I made, topped with a plethora of fruit goodness. Relaxing with our cats by our sides and looking forward to this evening when we go out for a great complimentary fancy dinner at La Bucca italian restaurant. (Thanks to our realator Sayo Nickerson!). Alex and Heather will also be joining us too. More celebrating will happen this weekend too of course ,with friends by our sides and the music we love to fill our ears.

So, this year is not quite as thrilling as buying illegal moonshine…. but still pretty awesome!

Happy Birthday Scott!!!!

Happy New Year everybody! It’s been a crazy year so far, a pretty huge roller coaster of everything. Dee and I came back from traveling the world to a whirlwind of life in Canada. It’s been a bit crazy for the last 6 months, but I’m looking forward to the next year. There’s a bunch of stuff that we need to do, and writing on this blog is one of them as it’s a way we can keep connected with all of you. We did a whole bunch of crazy stuff in Vietnam and Laos, and wrapped up our traveling in Thailand that we need to put down on paper. Though we need your support and comments to help keep us motivated, because sometimes it’s tough! (small plug)

So say hi, stay tuned, we’re here and talk to you soon!

Happy New Years from both of us!

Scott and I made a tradition to get something to hang in our Christmas tree from each place we travel too. We started this on our honeymoon 4 years ago and since then we’ve filled the tree pretty quick with all the ornaments we gathered from our recent round the world adventure. It was lots of fun putting up our tree this year and reminiscing about all the places we’ve been.

Check out our ornaments from our RTW travels below:

A pretty little four leaf clover to represent Ireland

A double decker bus is a great symbol for the United Kingdom

In Denmark we visited Christiania Town and this is their emblem

A swedish version of Santa Claus straight from Sweden

A bell we bought at a craft fair during our visit to Jurmala beach, Latvia

Russia’s coat of arms symbol

A little ninja found on the island of Sardinia, Italy

Can’t mistake this one for being from Austria

Peek through and see Prague’s famous bridge in 3D. (Czech Republic)

Gotta love the windmills in the Netherlands!

France of course!

Some tiny Spanish clappers

We visited the wold’s largest cuckoo clock and got this in Germany

An actual Malaysia Christmas ornament as it was around that time of year when we were there

Custom hand blown glass elephant to represent Thailand

We saw lots of dragonflies during our time in Laos

Miniature lantern from Vietnam

Handmade hanging star from Cambodia

And here is some ornaments from our previous travels:

Mamajuana from the Dominican Republic

Reminds us of our little private villa in St. Lucia

Hand-craved Bob Marley from Jamaica

And last but not least here is something we recently got to represent our summertime adventures in Canada:

This little owl makes us think of all the fun we have at the Shambhala Music Festival every year in Salmo BC.

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MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!

For those of you keeping up on our where-abouts you should fully know it’s been 4 months since we made the last leg of our journey to home. During this time I’m sure you also all noticed our blog entries died down to pretty much a sudden stop. Adjusting back to the real world has been some awesome fun, lots more work then we are used to, busy busy busy, and we can’t forget about the gambit of emotions to go along with all that!

Luckily we did not jump back into the work force right away and planned to have 2 months of seeing friends and family, espcially since we did not have a home yet. Our condo still had renters in it until July 1st. So, we stayed mostly with my parents, with sleep-over extended visits to various friends houses here and there.

The start to life back in Canada was a short visit to Calgary. Our great friends Steve and Karen who traveled with us for 2 months through Europe were great hosts for these couple of days and made us one of the best dinners we had in a long ass time. We love steak, especially Triple A Alberta Beef. You’ve never have beef until you have eaten this. Trust us! We tried steak all over the world and nothing came remotely close to Alberta Beef. Our friends showed up Gordon Ramsay in their own backyard. No fancy gourmet kitchen or posh restaurant with a ridiculous priced menu. Take that Gordon!

We then flew home to Vancouver filled with extremely happy family/friends to see our return. Welcome home BBQ’s, parties, simple get togethers, outings and repeat. We truly felt missed and were quite thankful of my parents letting us live with them until we got our condo back.

However, on top of all this hub-bub, we really had a hard time getting out of bed and doing anything during the day. We were still quite used to sleeping in and then relaxing all day on a beach or in a pool. Plus, I’m sure we had a large dose of jet lag in our systems as well.

May long weekend we drove out to Salmo B.C to help PK Sound with the Village stage tear down at Shambhala. Demolish parts of the stage and clean up the forest during the day and drink with friends around the giant bon fire at night.

After May long we drove back to Calgary for a couple weeks to do some much needed renovations on our loft in order to get a new renter for July 1st. New paint, new carpet, replace some light fixtures, replace the bathroom door, hang up curtains, clean it up, list it, and interview possible renters. When I look back at the work we did it doesn’t sound like much. But, like most renovations things never go as planned and ended up being quite the headache. It sure felt good once it was completed! I wanted to move back in after pouring my heart and soul into it. It looks SO good and in result rented quite easily. Unfortunately we were so down to the last minute we completely forgot to take after photos!! =(

Another highlight for us was participating in our first scavenger hunt with Alex and Heather. We named our team Gang Green, wore all green clothing, and decorated my car for some extra bonus point team flair and scavenged the city for items and photos. It was a blast and we won second place!! Can not wait to do it again next year. Much thanks to Mike Awesome for hosting this!!

Suddenly July long weekend approached us and that meant three things. First, Scott would be going back to work at his old job. The second was one more weekend spent at The Village helping now with the beginnings of the new stage construction. Third, we got to move back into our home! It was a busy week of driving, constructing a stage, moving, unpacking, and Scott adjusting back to the work life.

As great as it actually was to live with my parents for the past two months. We truly have an amazing relationship with them. Which was only made stronger when they both traveled all the way out to Thailand for a month with us. It’s now amazingly great to truly and finally be home.

We still have a ton more stories to share from our travels. Vietnam, Cambodia, and one last week in Thailand are still to come, even some tales from on the road in Canada. Also, coming up are more things to share about our adjustment back home and stories about the music events we have attended. I’m sure Furry Friday will also make a big come back appearance soon enough!

Sorry to have been on such a hiatus. But really… we are not sorry! We’ve been really enjoying life and every moment of being home. Hope your summer was as awesome as ours.