Oh, one more thing...: Not Quite Spring... Yet

Oh wow - doesn't time pass quickly! We are now into springtime, finally. ~~The snow has gone, warm temperatures are here and hopefully will stay.~~ HA! HA! HA! HA! HA!

No.

Snow, below freezing temperatures, sleet, hail and rain... I want some global warming right about now. Or another cruise!

A picture taken from the kid's school.
Can you name all of the parts?

We drove to a bird sanctuary near Aylmer on the recommendation of some friends. The Tundra swan migration route is through this area, and they stop over for a few days as they make the trip north for the summer. We were able to see several hundred big swans, as well as the token Canada geese. Reports from a few days before said there were around 3000 swans in the sanctuary. That would be noisy!

Tundra swans and Canada geese near Aylmer

South end of a northbound swan

With spring come worms and bugs!

...and yard work!

LP has found taking pictures to be quite enjoyable. He'll shoot pictures of just about anything... several times. It's a good thing memory is cheap and easy to delete. He's managed to get a few cool shots, though, as he develops his skills.

A hover-squirrel...

A big bird...

A little bird...

and a bird launching out of the birdhouse. Great timing!

Winter Sports

All of the kids' sports are done for a couple of months as we wait for the summer season of soccer to begin. Brother KP didn't have a very successful season of indoor soccer. His team won ONE game all season. Yikes. He put in good effort, but the orange team as a whole wasn't very strong. He'll redeem himself in the summer, I think.

LP's hockey team wasn't looking like it was going to fair much better in the first half of the season. They only had a few wins, and mounting losses. After the Christmas break however, things turned around. They went 11-2 and went into the playoffs on a high note.

The boys lost one game in their playoff run and came home with the championship! It was fun to see them progress and bond as a team - and learn some humility before learning how to be good winners.

At the buzzer a 2-0 win - champions!

Proud to hoist the trophy earned by hard work.

Fishing For Birds?

On the past weekend we went fishing out near LaSalle. ET was unfortunate enough to hook a seagull out of the air with one of his casts. The line wrapped around the bird and hooked it under a wing. He reeled it in and his father and I gently removed the hook from it and untangled the line. It flew away, but not without first trying to peck at our hands. Some thanks - for being nice guys and not wringing it's neck!