Summer Days

Ramping Up For Summer

Cheesy, I know.  

The boys found a big pile of mulch behind their school.  It turned into a bike ramp for the bigger two, and just a hill to ride up for the Half-Pint.  

At some point Brother KP could even stand upright on the mound without gravity taking over!  Half-Pint managed to bury his front wheel and face-plant into the mulch.  LP crashed out of camera range on the back side of the mulch pile - so a good time was had by all!

Gravity getting the best of Brother KP

A pensive moment contemplating Newton's Law

LP getting up over the pile

Racing towards the jump....

....  stuffing the front wheel - and his face - into the pile...

... and loving it all!

A Horrible Day At The Beach

I don't really care for beach days.  I find I need something to do other than stare out at the water.  Lots of other people love hanging out at the beach so I bravely faced the elements, as well as some questionably attired patrons along the shore,  I didn't take any pictures of those people - to protect the innocent and young readers of this blog... both of them.

The weather was great.  The water was warm.  The company was pretty good, too.

The staircase down to the beach

The boys attacking a sand castle

Bigger boys jousting in kayaks

Getting artsy with filters

The gang playing in the lake

E-Bomb going all out to catch the frisbee!

Sorry, getting artsy again with the beach grasses

Late in the afternoon we had the beach to ourselves.  I bet we
would in February, as well.

Hatchet Jack performing seagull patrols

A couple of gulls narrowly avoiding a mid-air collision

Best way to keep this one out of trouble is to bury him in the sand!

Other Stuff That Happened...

The window-lickers went to day camp at the church.  They scrambled their way up the top of the climbing wall.  Half-Pint's comment; "It's not as high as the rope at home so it was easy."

Half-Pint raced his uncle up the wall!

Brother KP got a sunburn on his back.  I went to check on him be heading to bed myself and found this:  wearing track pants, sleeping half-standing. half-flopped on his bed with a little pillow tucked under his shirt to keep it from touching his back.

Canada Day fireworks!  My dad and I got crafty and glued a bunch of these piddly little sparklers to a board so we could light a bunch at a time.  Flip the board, light a bunch more.  It was a SPEC-TAC-U-LAR display!  Nah, wasn't that great - but still fun.

Oh yeah, the big show!

Not every picture I have of E-Bomb are of him about to land
in water.

Someone got older, and seems to have mellowed out a little bit.  Perhaps she's a nice person after all.  Probably not.

Remember that time she stole my chair...

Oh, one more thing....

We caught some fish, too!

Hey - this one is bigger than the lure she used!

Chicken, Turkey, Fish...

Chicken Nugget

Brother KP was defending during a scrimmage at soccer the other night.  He darted in and stole the ball away from a player and kicked it up to another teammate.  Then he beaked off at the other team's player, saying "Take that, chicken nugget!"  Not sure where the Chicken Nugget name came from, but a bunch of the parents sitting on the sidelines thought it was pretty funny.

That might be his new nickname on the team...

Turkey Season

Well, the spring turkey hunting season is over.  The Teacher is now a turkey hunter!  He got his first one early in the season.  He had a bit of a struggle getting it to stay dead - but in the end it all worked out.  

The zombie-turkey is truly dead... finally.

Now, if it had been the autumn season, when hens are eligible targets, it would have been a different story altogether...  This hen must have spent 5 minutes picking seeds and bugs right in front of where LP and I were set up.  We were hoping a love-sick tom would follow her to us.

A hen walking around right in front of LP and I one morning

Packing up and heading home empty-handed

AK and I didn't have the same good fortune this year.  We had a good opportunity at a wary old tom one day, but I spooked him, then he ran away from AK before he could make a clean shot.  Oh well, that's why it's called 'hunting' and not 'shooting'.  

Now - we fish!

Catching The Big One

Fishing around Fanshawe Park, LP called out to me from down the bank for some assistance.  I wandered over to the area he was in only to see him giving me a big 'thumbs-up' from his knees. Strange, indeed, but he's funny like that.  

Apparently, he had snagged a lure on a branch as he was moving from one spot to another.  When he released the lure from the branch the fishing rod was under a bit of tension.  As he let go of the lure it shot out of his hand - except for the trailing treble hooks - one of them sunk deep into the meat of his thumb.  

So there I found him; thumb up in the air because it was stuck at the end of his fishing rod.  I unclipped the lure from the line and gathered up his gear.  We walked back to the truck to see what could be done.

First, I cut the hook off the lure so no more injuries could occur.  Then his mom and I decided if we just pulled it out right there, it would save time going to the hospital, a needle for freezing - and probably a stitch or two.  (Not that I have anything against stitches!)

So, I grabbed it with my multi-tool, a Leatherman Rebar on this day, and firmly tugged it out.  LP didn't really care for that approach, but he survived!  He cared even less for the Dettol antiseptic I put on it right after!  Thanks to brother-in-law (and caring uncle) Andy for the pictures during the ordeal!  

Just another reason why it's always good to carry a few things with you all the time.

No fish were harmed on this excursion.

The look on Half-Pint's face, intrigued by the experience!

He's not a big fan of the barbed hooks...

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!

Reeled it in...

Pinned it down...

Removed the lure...

A game of Angry Birds, anyone?

Man, I just noticed there are lots of birds in this blog post.
Here's a picture of a Jeep playing in the mud.  Well, not so much playing as wallowing.

And a couple of pictures from the press box at Bryan Adam's 'Reckless' concert...

No birds to be found!

Oh, one more thing...

This blog, it will be continued.