Nathalieland Update - Ottawa/Racketlon/Sleepover/Maze

Girls Weekend. I had the pleasure of meeting up with two childhood friends and my sister in Ottawa last weekend. We did so much chatting, walking, eating great food (including Peruvian cuisine for the first time), and marvelling at how we're all in our 40's with kids of our own. Some friendships stand the test of time!

Boys Weekend. Steve had an adventure of his own: this weekend he travelled to Drummondville, Quebec, to play in a Racketlon Tournament. He competed in Ping Pong, Badminton, Pickleball, and Tennis and had a great time despite his tennis elbow and sore Achilles. 

First Sleepover. We've hosted sleepovers before, but for the first time ever, Jessi went to someone else's house to sleep! She was totally ready for this milestone and had no issues. Meanwhile, since Steve was away at his tournament, it was just me and Emily holding down the fort. Sunday dinner was pretty different too as we were missing the grandparents and dads. A unique weekend for sure! 

Wynn Farms 25/09. The girls didn't have school today (PA Day), so we made our annual visit to the Wynn Farms corn maze. It was the perfect way to celebrate 23 years as a couple; on this day in the year 2000 Steve asked me out and I said yes!

(source) 

Together for 23 years ♥

15 More Seasons of Survivor

Since my post in October 2022, where I listed the 15 seasons of Survivor we'd watched as a family, we have now watched an additional 15 seasons. We continue to enjoy the show with all its challenges, social dynamics, culture, and life lessons. 

Here is a recap of the seasons we've watched over the last 11 months, including comments and cast photos:

16. Season 38: Edge of Extinction

This season appealed to us because we liked all four of the returning players. The rest of the cast was decent, and the addition of the Edge of Extinction added a new twist to the game.

17. Season 32: Kaôh Rong

We avoided watching this season for a while because it paled in comparison to Season 28 -- the original Brain vs. Brawn vs. Beauty division. But after getting to know some of the contestants from other seasons, we decided to give it a try. It was a good season with quite a few memorable players.

18. Season 35: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers

In Survivor Season Rankings (no spoilers), this one is near the bottom. But we found we still connected with a few of the players and enjoyed it overall. I guess we don't need bells and whistles to be entertained. The show itself is good enough!

19. Season 43

The newer seasons (41+) are quite different in their structure and game play. Sometimes the twists (and funny camera angles!) bother us a bit, but this was a good season nonetheless... until the end. We (accidentally) found out who the winner was before we finished watching, and we were none too pleased about it.

20. Season 24: One World

What a bizarre season! The tribes were split by gender and then were placed on the same beach, which was a big, awkward mess. Knowing a few of the contestants from other seasons helped us get through this one.

21. Season 25: Philippines

This is a highly-ranked season and we can see why. It has memorable players and an epic underdog story. 

22. Season 26: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites

Aside from one contestant's crazy outbursts, this season was pretty funny and entertaining. We'd heard a lot about John Cochran as a famous contestant on the show -- it was great to see him in action.

23. Season 12: Panama - Exile Island

We were starting to run out of options for seasons in the 20's and 30's, so we went all the way back to the earliest ones available. Five of these contestants were familiar to us, which is always nice and makes up for the poor camera quality, harsher conditions, and awkward interactions (of which this season had a few).

24. Season 14: Fiji

I was about to brush this season off as middle-of-the-pack forgettable, but as I looked at the cast photo, I was reminded of some of the interesting events that happened throughout. This was one of the few seasons left where we didn't already know who the winner was. We enjoyed it!

25. Season 15: China

The location and challenges of this season were interesting, but we found that a few of the contestants were irritating, which made it less fun to watch. We don't like jerks!

26. Season 17: Gabon

This season also had a neat setting (Africa) and some entertaining players. It's actually quite low in the Survivor rankings, but that meant we went in with low expectations and were pleasantly surprised.

27. Season 18: Tocantins

This was an excellent season with many memorable contestants and moments!

28. Season 44

We went from season 18 all the way to Survivor's most recent season: 44 (My, how you've aged, Jeff!). The best part was probably that there were zero unlikeable contestants, which made for a pleasant viewing experience. We also managed to remain spoiler free until the very end, which is sometimes hard to do with newer seasons.

29. Season 23: South Pacific

We thought we were scraping the bottom of the barrel with these last two seasons (23 and 22), but I guess we really like the show and can see past the mainstream critiques. There were memorable people and situations here, and it was refreshing to see such tight alliances in both seasons.

30. Season 22: Redemption Island

Anyone who's familiar with Survivor knows who Boston Rob is. We wanted to see 'his' season! Especially after Steve ran into him at the World Series of Poker. Very cool!

So what's next? Right now we're re-watching Season 40 (Winners at War), which is so much more satisfying now that we've seen nearly all the winners' previous seasons. This season and all the players are fantastic!

Other than that, unless we can somehow get access to the first 11 seasons, I imagine our viewing pace will slow (or even stop) soon enough. But we have made memories and have definitely become a part of the fanbase of this unique show. Our props especially to the fantastic host, Jeff Probst! If he keeps putting out more seasons, we'll keep watching them.

Source: All Survivor logos and cast pictures are from Survivor Wiki.

Final Birthday Events

Like I mentioned in Emily's birthday post, she still had a couple of celebrations left. At the end of August she and her bff had a great afternoon of climbing and ziplining through the treetops (mom and dad included -- what a workout!).

Then we had one more celebration with my side of the family. Dinner, cards, gifts, and cake!

Last but not least, it was my mom's turn: we celebrated her 65th birthday on Sunday! Sadly Steve and Jessi missed it because Jessi was down with a back-to-school cold, but the rest of us enjoyed all that birthday goodness.

New family pictures

We continued the tradition of updating my mom's family portrait wall for her birthday -- a tradition I'm quite fond of!

The Paul Family 2023 ♥

Updated the Paschkowiak pics too ♥