Our little Pete Townsend

Spiderman Slip'n'Slide

I told that punk with the Leaf shirt that we don't let losers use our slip'n'slide.

Lacrosse

The father-son game is back on and scheduled for Thursday July 5th. Woo hoo.

Party

Happy Birthday to me! We had a big Party today. But it wasn't for my birthday. Declan's lacrosse team had an end of season party. It was really crappy weather but every moment the sun shone we were all by the water!

The boys has a blast in this seadoo tube thingy!


Ella didn't want to go in the water but she insisted on wearing a life jacket.

You can fit allot of kids into a hot tub by the way.

I really wish this one didn't turn out so blurry. Declan was so so happy.

Father-son Lacroose Game Cancelled!

Declan and I were stoked to play a father-son lacrosse game on Wednesday night BUT it got cancelled. It was cancelled for good reason though; the arena was being used as the HQ for a search and rescue operation: see here for the unfortunate details. On a related note, today Declan's school has cancelled their day at the beach Monday because of the recent tragedy - now this I don't agree with. The unfortunate incident is over with and had nothing to do with our school district nor were the kids elementary school age and the beach in question is not closed.

Pic of the Day

Father's day

I spent a good portion of the weekend in my shed. I emptied it, cleaned, organized and filled it again. I installed some hooks and patched a hole in the roof (yes, i know the shingles don't match). I had to board up another hole in the wall which a chipmunk used. An animal (i vote for chipmunk as i seemed to be the only who ever caught a decent glimpse of the intruder) made himself a home inside - the little bastard made a big mess.

Father's day Cake

Darby is none to pleased I caught them decorating a Father's day cake. But I didn't really catch them - they weren't hiding from me or anyhing like that.


They sprinkled the cake with care and precision.

Thinking Big

Well the Wolves lost again but they are getting better at scoring. The score was 12-2. Declan was goalie - despite the score Declan did do really well - seriously. The oposition was dominate - they had these two kids that controlled the entire game - and Declan actually stopped these two a number of times. Sure they scored 12 goals but Declan made 4 times as many saves!!!

Cutie

Ain't she sweet lookin'?

Why I Don't Work From Home Much Anymore:

 

Wide Open Wilderness

We've booked for Canada Day long weekend! Come join us!

Our tent is full - you'll have to bring your own

Stats

Declan

• 1.24 m
• 26.3 kg

Darby

• 1.12 m
• 18.6 kg

Ella

• 0.81 m
• 10.9 kg

and for the metricly challenged that's:

Declan 4'1'', 58 lbs

Darby 3'8'', 41 lbs

Ella 2'8'', 24 lbs

Swimming Lessons

The boys finished their lessons for this past session today.

Declan didn't quite pass Swim Kids 4. He has to take a special class now - called "4 Fast" or something like that. Basically, he has all the necessary skills to move on but one. He doesn't have the distance down to move to Swim Kids 4 so this "4 Fast" is an in-between class that focuses just on strokes. We decided to put him in a 2 week session that starts in August - that's Mon-Fri for two weeks - should be fun - since it should be hot here in August.

Darby passed Crocodile and is now going to be in Whale. Since Darby is under 6 he's not in eligible for the Swim Kids program. It's actually not a good thing that Darby passed. He can't move beyond Whale until he's 6 which is more than a year away. We didn't sign him up for the class right away but we'll put him in a Fall session. He's going to be stuck in Whale so we didn't see a need to put him in a summer program. He'll get plenty of swimming at my parents house and at the various beaches we go to.

Two-Face

As you can see Declan still suffers from that strange condition in which he only sweats on his left side - and apparently only drinks on the right :) Notice how red he is one side. There's a visible line right down the middle of his forehead. I wish the various doctors we mentioned this to believed us - it's always been difficult to actually bring Declan in sweaty so we can demostrate it. This of course only started when he spent that month in the hospital for pneumonia - we pointed it out to the doctor then who witnessed it. He's response: "Now that's odd."

Face-Off

That's Declan (#6) in black facing towards the camera.

View from my Office

This is a view directly out my office window. On the left is the grand parade and on the right is City Hall. I'm on the second floor overlooking Barrington Street. Barrington Street is one of the major streets in Halifax.

This is a of Barring Street with the Grand Parade in back. The Grand Parade is basically just a a green space that runs from City Hall to St. Paul's (Anglican) Church. It's just a little park.

This just another view of City Hall with Scotia Square Center in the back (that's where I park).

Again, another view of the Grand Parade. The building in the back is the Halifax's World Trade Center. I meant to take more pictures of in and around my work yesterday but only remembered that I brought my camera 10 minutes prior to my ride leaving! I'll bring my camera to work again and take better pictures our stuff like the Halifax Harbour, the Historic Properties, Citadel Hill, Parliment House, etc... I work right downtown so I'm walking distance to all kinds of stuff.

Poor poor Ella

She has to walk home alone.

Darby is going to school

Darby starts school in the fall like everyone else BUT today was an orientation day. He was expected at school today. He had a 2-hour class this morning. He spent 1-hr with each of the primary teachers: Mrs. Hammond and Mrs. A - we won't find out which teacher he'll have until the day before school really starts.
He wasn't supposed to bring anything with him but he insisted on bringin his backback.
We've been preparing for this for a a few weeks now. Up until today he was very adamant that he was not going to go to school. HE was telling everyone that he wasn't going. Fortunately, he woke up this morning excited about going to school.
Unlike Declan's experience, Darby knows a healthy handful of kids that will probably end up in his class.

Flowers again!

K - but this time it's just because I'm experimenting with Picasa. This is the "picture pile" collage option. I haven't actually figured out how I can adjust the size of the photos - I'm not even sure you can. Anyhoe - I'm just having fun when I should be working.

Sunday Walk By The Sackville River

Unfortunately, I had to work all weekend. Fortunately, Marla took the kids for a walk byt the river Sunday which helped me out a tonne!

Tofu-Mushroom Loaf

Ms. Marla Fancypants made us a Tofu-Mushroom Loaf the other day. I intended to get these photos of the chef at work sooner but it's been a really really busy week. She's made this before but its been years. Marla has started to revisit her old recipes lately.

We're having a party tonight - well sort of - we're having 6 people over (that's 3 couples for the mathematically challenged). Yes, I know it's game night! Go Sens Go! Hopefully our guests are warm to having the game on in the background. I've made the hummus and salsa myself. I even made the ginger-ale too - but not the rye (though I'd like to try that some day - is that even legal to do?).