Spring Forward – Excited about More Daylight

After a long, depressing, freezing cold winter, I am excited, anticipating, anxious and thrilled about more daylight. I Can’t wait to hear the birds to start coming out and chirp, when the sun comes out early in the morning and sets after 9pm, the beautiful flowers start blooming, the trees become green once again, the warmth in the air, the beautiful colours of spring and summer. With Spring just around the corner, I feel so good with that transition from a long harsh winter. I love to wear lighter colour clothing, and just enjoying the beauty of this season and more. Just to enjoy life, stopping to smell the roses, and just enjoy the beauty of a vibrant season.

I want to take up walking and go to the malls a lot more, visiting friends and family a lot more, being outdoors all day, finding activities to do, probably go camping and enjoying nature.

I have many plans for the spring and summer months. I have already ironed out some of the places I want to go as well as of course hanging out with my family, friends and just going out and getting fresh air that we really do need. We are so cooped up indoors from all the freezing weather, and snow we endured since Beginning of November and now that we are approaching half way into March, I am excited to be opening up windows, and breathing outdoor air. It feels incredible. I do not plan to stay home and try to go out and do a lot of things.

I absolutely love giving water to the flowers, washing the cars from all the snow, salt and winter debris that is left on it, as well as washing down all the salt left on the car mats and so much more. I am jumping for joy. I have never liked winter and I never will. That is how excited I am.

What do you like about transitioning to spring and warmer temperatures? Have you planned your days yet? What do you enjoy most about it all?

Bring on the daylight savings time and lets spring forward shall we?

***Remember to turn your clocks forward 1 hour March 8, 2015 at 2am in the morning, so before you go to sleep to change the clocks***

 

Have a wonderful season and best wishes.

Spring Is Almost Here! Excited For That. Are You?

After the many months of winter, this is the moment I always wait for, I really like this time of year when it becomes Mid March, I really enjoy it when our weather gets warmer, and when the winter is behind us in a way and almost time when the trees start growing its leaves again, when the grass gets greener, the roads are washing away from the salt and snow, when everywhere gets thawed out, mild temperatures start and increase by day, when the flowers start to grow again, colour and life comes back after the cold, dark, wintry days, the tulip and other spring  flowers blooming, the spring air and smell of mud, dandelions start to grow, the smell of top soil, garden centers open, outdoor furniture, barbecues, outdoor equipment starts coming back into the stores, spring colours, clothing and bright vibrant colours come back on our store shelves,  the sunlight shines, birds start chirping, animals come out of hibernation, the geese fly back north. I just love this time of year when life comes back. I am so tired of winter, snow and having to bundle up every time I go out. I’d love to go somewhere for 5-6 months of the year and not see snow and be part of the cold freezing weather and not wear layers outside.

I also like spring because it gives me a time to wash the cars and I love washing my car, washing the car mats, detailing and getting rid of the winters salt and sand they put on the streets, and taking care of it. I also like to wash out my driveway and clean up my garage, having to put the shovels away, and just enjoying the whole process of getting rid of winter. It is my favourite.  I am a person who loves vibrant colours, who loves warmer weather, the beautiful sun shining, and among when the days get longer. I really didn’t enjoy when the days get shorter and it would be dark before 5pm. I really enjoy it when time and daylight time increases. In June and July it is still sunlight after  8:30 and you would still see a bit of light after 9pm too. those are the days I love, plus you don’t feel that the night is dragging on so long and plus it gets brighter earlier in the morning and its so refreshing and you start your day earlier and you appreciate the daylight and days. I also like getting rid of the boots and jackets I wear and pack them up for 5-6 months of the year.

I really enjoy sitting on the patio, I like driving with my windows down, listening to vibrant music, going camping, and I enjoy leisure time away too.

What season do you like? Do you also enjoy spring and summer months? What do you mostly enjoy when the weather starts getting warmer? What activities do you like doing outdoors? Would love to hear form you. Happy Spring!

Annual ACYOC Camping Trip at Rideau Acres, In Kingston Ontario 2007

throwback of 2007

My articles I wrote of the past.

Friday morning, August 10th, 2007, 68 ACYOC youth from Montreal, Laval, Ottawa, Mississauga and Toronto embarked on a wonderful journey to Rideau Acres Campgrounds in Kingston.  The youth gathered for a weekend full of fun, togetherness, making new friends, and reuniting with old friends.  As the campers arrived and put their tents up, we created a little Armenian Village.  The barbecue started with hamburgers and hot dogs and at night we gathered around the fire for fellowship and just having a great time until wee hours of the morning.

On Saturday morning, August 11th, additional people arrived from various areas of Ontario and Quebec.  All the campers went swimming in the campsite pool, where we spent majority of the day.  We enjoyed playing ball, diving into the water with different moves, playing different water games,  getting some sun, and just relaxing by the pool and having a good time  cooling off from the hot sun.  As the nightfall neared, our wonderful Toronto ACYOC crew prepared shish kebabs and salad for dinner.  The fellowship that we started on Friday night continued, as we roasted marshmallows, told stories and riddles, and had fun.

On Sunday Morning August 12th, everyone packed up tents and belongings and prepared to return home.  It was a very short weekend that passed quickly, but we will never let go of the bonds we created and old friendships that we strengthened.  Thank you to the Toronto ACYOC for working extremely hard for a successful weekend. Without all the helping hands, this camping trip would not have been possible.

Thank you to all 68 Participants for participating, and we hope you enjoyed the weekend as much as we did.  God bless everyone and hope to see you next year.

Here is to ACYOC Camping Trip 2008!

The Armenian Youth Getaway in Kingston, Ontario Was A Great Success – June 1-3, 2012

On Friday June 1st, 2012, around 63 or more people From Montreal and Toronto embarked on buses to North of Kingston, at Camp Iawah, in Godfrey Ontario to reunite with friends, to make new friends, to share, to also learn about Armenian Religion and to learn about our faith and community a lot more. Since this year is the 500th anniversary of the printing of Armenian Books and literature, this time we dedicated it all to that. We discussed the importance of Armenian Language, to speak and write Armenian, and why it is important to keep our culture, and heritage alive. On Friday night June 1st, we had arrived at Camp Iawah, and we began with an Orientation, then we all go our room numbers where we are going to sleep, but what sleep? We had little or no sleep at all, all weekend. Who goes to a Youth Getaway and sleeps right? It’s just for a weekend. Then afterwards we all met up in the conference room and we played an ice breaker game called get to know others bingo. So we had to go around the room and find someone similar to what month were born, what type of music we like, where each of us were born, and when it was all done, someone had to call bingo. It was a fun start to the weekend. After that we did our night prayer then we had free time.

On Saturday June 2nd, 2012, we woke up, had our morning prayer, then breakfast. After breakfast we had a few discussions, followed by lunch, after lunch we did a lot of sporting and outdoor activities such as canoeing, soccer, rock climbing, basketball, and among other games. After all that we had dinner and after dinner we had a strong debate on the importance of reading and writing Armenian and it was a heated one to two hours of it, but we sure did learn a lot from it, and how important it is to learn a new language so on and so forth. After that we had some time to spend outdoors again around a bonfire we made and we danced, sang, and just enjoyed each others company with cookies and hot chocolate. After we went back toward the building we were staying in and we had a karaoke night, it was such a great time. After everyone did their own thing and people were awake all hours of the night. including myself. I got like 4 hours sleep all weekend. Now, I am paying for that.

In conclusion, the whole weekend was an incredible experience for me again. This was my 3rd time attending the Youth Weekend getaway and it was nice to see my friends from Montreal. My Montreal circle keeps getting bigger and bigger and Its so awesome to see. Thanks to all the Organizers of this beautiful and great trip we had. It is not an easy task to plan and to organize events. I appreciate all those who worked so hard to make sure that we all are taken care of, we all had a great time and we made memories to last a lifetime. I mean that is what it’s all about right? Making friends, making memories, sharing our lives with others, and just going with the flow in life. All the best and I cannot wait until the next Getaway. It needs to come back fast because I miss everyone already. I am hoping I make a trip to Montreal soon to see my friends and hang out with everyone. All the best to the Armenian Religious Education Council (AREC) and thank you again for a beautiful weekend which I will never forget. God bless everyone.

 

Loving The Outdoors…

It is that time of year again, where people get out from the winter hibernation and go out to explore nature and go outside to enjoy the weather and everything else. I cannot wait to go to my first lake front relaxation with my friends. Its going to be an incredible night I feel it. I will still dress a little warmly, but I just love the outdoors and everything. Once May Hits, I am usually out and about and traveling, driving more, and enjoying the much needed warm weather we need. Living in Canada is great though. I cannot complain, but I love the weather when it becomes April, May all the way to October. I have been an outdoors person since I was a kid and I couldn’t wait for picnics, camping, fishing, Yes I love to fish and haven’t in such a long time. I know some people are probably wondering, a girl liking to fish? Yes I love to catch fish. Its relaxing, yet fun and also among going to the beach, lake front, just chilling and walking around. I am now doing exercise and when the weather is warmer now, I plan not to do it on my treadmill, I plan on going outside to do my workouts. I will feel it more because the inclines and the levels on the street is a lot different than on the treadmill. You will feel the burn pain a lot more than the treadmill too. I get so excited this time of year after my birthday which passed on Monday and summer and spring makes me feel more cheery and happy.

Winter not so much. I am excited for my first official outdoor outing! yay!