Moving to WordPress

I've decided to move this blog to WordPress. I've had enough of the inability to make the edit window larger. The inability to choose a date using a calendar. What does 07/07/09 mean to you? Blogger has become stagnant.

The new address is http://twnl.wordpress.com/

Posted by Adam

Still No Word From Corbin

It's been over a week since we dropped Corbin off at Camp Winston. He must be having way too much fun since we have yet to receive a phone call from him.

Now, our standards our not too high. One phone call is all we want. We would rather have it in the first week rather then the second week as a way of checking in and making sure that there are no issues - Corbin has a tendency to be unable to communicate concerns, issues or problems with authority.

Several years back, Corbin was identified as having a dairy allergy. The doctor said he should out grow it. When he first went to Camp Winston, they were aware of the allergy, so they kept dairy product away from him. Over the past 18 months, we noticed that Corbin was able to tolerate dairy products.

So last year, we told Camp staff that he could have cheese and other products (but not a full glass of milk - we believe that he is lactose intolerant). Unfortunately, that information did not get communicated and he was not able to enjoy foods such as pizza (well at least not with cheese). He didn't mention anything during his phone call last summer.

We took care of that issue this year. It was wiped off his file. But still, it would be nice to know how camp is going and if there are any issues that we need to discuss with staff.

Posted by Adam

Jeremy Is Having Way Too Much Fun

Tina and I talked with Jeremy yesterday - our third conversation with him since leaving him with my mom.

He is hilarious on the phone. He sounds like he is 10-years old. He has been going to park and playing with the kids their. Tag. Rounders. Even some pretend gun game with some older boys.

If you know Jeremy, you know that he can be friends with anyone. He loves to play.

He has been to McDonalds. He has been to the International Villages. He has been to Ivey's house next door. He has been to the other neighbour next door (they have a Wii). He has been playing in the pool. He even went to some place that has inflatable castles and slides.

Babcia spoils him.

He does miss us, his house, his room, his toys and his guinea pig, but seems content in hanging out with Babcia and Grandpa.

During a previous phone call, he pretended to be Babcia saying "Hi, this is Babcia" is a high pitched voiced. Today, he had fun joking about things he could paint in his room (I intend to paint his room this fall instead of during the summer).

We miss you buddy.

Posted by Adam

A Week Later

Week one without the kids is over. While we miss the boys, it has been nice to not have to meet their every need, demand and want. Sleeping in is a nice benefit. We haven't done much grocery shopping - eating out a few times and eating up what we have in the house.

Tina cleaned up the rec room. The toy bins are back in their normal spot and the toys organized. She did an amazing job with Corbin's room. Won't go into the grisly details of what she found in his room - let's just say that OCD is a pain in the ass. The room looks good. A lot of stuff was taken out and things were given a home on the shelves.

We did some minor shopping on Saturday. Looked at some washer and dryers at Lowes. They have a pair on clearance. Will have to act fast.

We tackled Jeremy's room on Sunday. We moved the filing cabinet downstairs to the Everything Room (had to remove some things to get it fit) and relocated Jeremy's dresser to where the filing cabinet was. This made the room look roomier and more like a bedroom and less like an office (part of our plan to move the office out of his room).

There was plenty of dust and crap everywhere. I gave the room a good wipe down and vacuum. I think Jeremy will be happy with the additional space.

Later, Tina and I went through a whack of file folders and tossed a bunch of stuff. I still have to go through our financial folders.

The house is looking good. Just need to work on our bedroom, the fish tank and just clean, dust and vacuum the rest of house before tackling the great outdoors.

One project I hope to get started before the boys return, is tilling part of the rear yard lawn, levelling the soil and sowing new grass. I'll also be relocating our patio as part of this project. If the lawn turns out, then I'll do the rest during the fall.

We have less than a week left without children. We hope to maximize our work and relaxation time before mayhem (aka Corbin and Jeremy) returns on Saturday.

Posted by Adam

Childless, Finally

After Jeremy's soccer game Saturday morning we headed to Brantford for our annual "drop Corbin off at Camp Winston" weekend.

Corbin has been looking forward to Camp Winston for about two weeks now. How do we know? He talks about things he did at last year's camp.

We arrived late Saturday afternoon. Jeremy wanted to know if Ivey, the girl from next door was home. My mom said Ivey would be back Sunday. Corbin went straight into playing mode. We had perogies for supper.

On Sunday, Babcia joined us for our trek up to Sparrow Lake. The drive up was uneventful. Exactly one hour from Brantford to the 400/407 interchange (well worth the 10 dollar or so toll). In Orrillia, we stopped for late lunch at Boston Pizza. We arrived at Camp Winston at 2:20 pm.

Corbin immediately wanted to go fishing. Sorry buddy but here is your sleeping bag and your ruck sack. Headed over to Cabin 4 where Corbin showed us his version of unpacking - shoving the ruck sack into the bottom shelf. Okay.

Next, Corbin gave Babcia a tour of the camp under the watchful eye of Kerri, a camp counsellor. Tina headed over to unload the meds and I hung with Jeremy as he played.

About an hour later, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Brantford. Tina drove this segment. Traffic was much heavier due to all the Canada Day vacationers/cottagers returning to the Greater Toronto Area.

We had a quick bite to eat, gave Jeremy hugs and kisses and headed back to Windsor childless. The ride back was quiet - no kids saying they are hungry or need to go pee. What an whirlwind weekend.

Posted by Adam

Schools Out For Summer

Corbin and Jeremy had their last day of school today. For Corbin that meant finishing Grade 5 and for Jeremy it meant he would be in Grade 1 come September.

Both boys seemed to enjoy school this year. Corbin played on the junior Basketball and Soccer teams. Academically, Corbin had a successful year. His reading is coming along and he seems to learning something. Jeremy had some difficulties, partially a result of vision issues, issues that we hope will correct themselves with glasses.

We have no idea who their teachers will be for 2009/2010. Several teachers and educational assistants have transferred to other schools. Lets hope they are willing to work with us.

Posted by Adam

Heat Wave 2009

Seems that Mother Nature is following the whole change of seasons thing to a tee this year. Not only did June 21 mark the beginning of Summer in terms of the Summer Solstice (and Father's Day), it marked the change from pleasant weather to stinking hot weather.

For about four weeks the air conditioning did not come on. Now, it's on a lot. We went from a very comfortable 22 Celsius to life-draining 34 Celsius (41 if you include the humidex).

I want the humidity to be gone. Now.

Posted by Adam

Soccer Update

With a couple of games in the bag, it's time to recap the soccer season.

First, Jeremy and Corbin are still interested in playing soccer. Hooray. Will see how that interest holds up in the hot weather. Both boys will miss about two weeks worth of soccer due to camp, but I think that will give them a much needed break.

Second, both boys are improving their skills. Jeremy is getting better at throwing the ball in and dribbling it. He needs to work on tighter turns and hanging around in his territory. His coach is impressed with the improvement in his listening skills.

Corbin is becoming a strong defender. He is learning how to take the ball from an opponent and how to block kicks.

I'm hoping that the kids want to play soccer for the next few years. It keeps them busy and it forces Tina and I out of the house.

Posted by Adam

Point Pelee And Back

Who knew that it takes an hour to get to Point Pelee National Park from Windsor?

Corbin spent the day at Cubs camp at Point Pelee (though the camp was an overnight camp, Corbin went for the day only). Tina drove out in the morning.

I was to pick him it up at 3:00 pm. On Tina's advice, Jeremy and I left Windsor at 2:00 pm. Wow that was a long drive. The Shriner's parade in Leamington did not help. The main road was blocked off at the Heinz plant, so (and other drivers) decided to go around the Heinz plant. But guess who was their - the damn Shriner's. Did a U-turn and got back to the main road, which was open at this point.

Arrived at bug-infested Point Pelee just after three in the afternoon. Walked over to the camp and Corbin was doing an activity with his pack. A few of the Leaders were sitting down and said that Corbin had a great time and they had no problems with him. That was good to hear.

The transition home went smoothly. Corbin gathered his back pack and bike and headed to the van.

We stopped at the Dairy Freez in Northridge for some ice cream. Back in Windsor we did a quick stop at Rogers Video to rent some games for the PS2 (the PS2 section is getting smaller by the week - might be time to upgrade).

It was a tiring but uneventful afternoon.

Posted by Adam

Gooooooooooal!

Jeremy had a soccer game today. Drove out to the Vollmer complex in LaSalle, walked over to the pitch and setup my chair.

Today, Jeremy played defence, forward and goalkeeper. He is getting much better at dribbling with the ball. While in net, he stopped a few shots and made a valiant effort to stop a penalty kick (he did pick the right side though).

On forward, Jeremy actually took the ball to the net and scored. At first, it didn't appear he scored but then every one was walking to the centre of the pitch, so he scored. Yeah Jeremy. He was very excited.

Good game and the kids are starting to get a hang of things.

Posted by Adam

Electricity Can Be Fun

Just before Jeremy's soccer game, I noticed that the lights in the house were doing 'unusual' things like dimming, flickering and all sorts of good things. Oh oh.

Tried some other switches and the same thing. Hmmmm.

Went downstairs and no breakers were tripped. Aye carumba.

I decided that I had to stay home and do something (rant, rave, worry, cry, laugh and anything else that made me look like an idiot). I told Jeremy to get out of his soccer uniform. He wasn't too impressed but rolled along.

The boys were getting anxious, so Bev took them outside. I called Tina to let her know what was going on. She was busy with her works Annual General Meeting. She called Pam & Chris to see if Chris (an electrician by training) could figure out the problem.

Tina came home and shortly after, Chris and Pam showed up. Chris checked the panel and discovered that one of the two phases into our house was dead. That explains why the lights were flickering. I thanked Chris and Pam for stopping by and immediately called the after hours line at Enwin Utilities.

About 30 or so minutes later, Enwin appeared. He took off the meter and told me the good news - the problem was with their line. His plan was to connect a temporary cable between the meter on my house and the meter on the house next door. A few minutes later another Enwin employee stopped by with the cable. It wasn't a complicated procedure and would take all of five minutes to complete.

Well, five minutes took three hours. Seems the neighbour next door wasn't buying any of it. Her husband was not home and there was a language barrier. The Enwin employee identified himself and even had the lady call dispatch. No go. Time to get the on-call supervisor out here.

About 30 or so minutes later, Val comes by and speaks with the neighbour. The answer remained a resounding "NO" and this time she called the police. Fun.

The Enwin employees and supervisor thought of alternatives. About two hours, I told the supervisor, I could wait until the morning for a new cable to be installed - I had partial power to the house (including the fridge) and it wasn't hot or humid (it got cold and windy). The supervisor thanked me for my patience and left.

As the other two Enwin guys were about to leave, the police showed up. They chatted and the police relayed the neighbours concerns to us. In the name of neighbourhood peace, I said I had no problem with waiting till the next day for a fix. So the police talked to the neighbour again and this time she capitulated.

Enwin guys looked at me and I said "I'm not going to turn down full power". So they got the equipment about 10 minutes later were done and we had full power.

My thanks for the Val and the afternoon emergency guys for their patience.

Now I just have to wait for the yard to be dug up. Exciting times.

Posted by Adam

P.S. A huge "THANK YOU" to Tina. You are awesome.

Geocaching

While at Camp Cedarwin, Corbin came across some Scouts who were Geocaching. What is Geocaching? According to Wikipedia:

"Geocaching is an outdoor treasure-hunting game in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers (called "geocaches" or "caches") anywhere in the world.

Treasure. Check. Hunting. Check. Game. Check. Electronic device that tells you where you are. Check. Of course, Corbin is going to like this (and so am I - a geek for electronic gadgets).

So I did some quick research and the GPS receivers start from reasonable $150 up to a whopping $600 plus. Wow. There are so many units with different options. My head started spinning.

I found that a new version of "An Idiots Guide to Geocaching" was being released. One day, after soccer practise, I took Corbin up to Chapters and picked up the book. He was excited. I told him that after he was done reading the book and after I had a chance to review the key chapters, that, then and only then, would I look into buying a GPS unit. He agreed.

Corbin has been reading the book. He is not finished yet. I'll have to encourage him, so we can start this new hobby during the summer.

Stay tuned.

Posted by Adam

A Day at the Toledo Zoo

Tina suggested that we should go to the Toledo Zoo this weekend. It's been a while since all four of us have gone. They were calling for sunny but cool conditions - perfect zoo weather if you ask me.

We headed out in the morning, leaving around 9:30 AM. Traffic at the Ambassador Bridge was light. We only had to wait a minute or so. No problems at US Customs.

We stopped at Denny's in Monroe. Wow. The place had been renovated. Looks good. The boys asked and received Mac & Cheese for breakfast. Tina and I had the All-American Slam. The food was hot and tasty.

About 20 minutes or so later we arrived at the Toledo Zoo. During fall of 2008, the parking lot was expanded. Much more parking available now.

The cool weather meant that the animals were much more active. The boys were enthralled by two bird 'fighting' with each other. In the Primates exhibit, we were amused by the show put on by four Gibbons as they battled each other for some Romaine Lettuce. A dominant female would just grab the lettuce out of the hands and feet of the other Gibbons. Very amusing. A baby Gibbon moved around looking for her share. It was quite the display.

In the Gorilla exhibit, Jeremy could not believe how close the gorillas were - right at the window. After viewing the fishies and the amphibians, we grabbed some ice cream before Jeremy and I checked out the hippos and the elephants.

We saw a dominant penguin stand it's ground with another penguin.

The polar bears were pacing back and forth and I managed to get some excellent photos. The boys enjoyed the train ride. Jeremy got to see the giraffes and Corbin got to take some pictures.

It was 3:30 PM. Wow time flew by. A quick stop in the gift shop before heading home.

Canadian customs was full, but it only took about 20 minutes to get through. It was a great family outing.

Posted by Adam

The Strike Through the Eyes of a 10-Year Old

On the way back from soccer practise, Corbin asked when will he be attending karate classes again.

"Not until the strike is over" I responded.

"Oh, Sensei is on strike' Corbin said.

"No, the Community Centres are closed during the strike" I replied.

Well that made Corbin mad. "I'm gonna call the president" Corbin stated.

"The president of what" I asked.

"The President of America" Corbin retorted.

"That is different country" I said.

"Well, then I'm going to call 911" Corbin shot back.

"You mean 311" I asked. "Ya, 311" Corbin confirmed.

"Well they are on strike too. Some people are working there, but not as many as usual" I explained.

"What the? Then I'll go 311. I used the equipment on the school trip. I sat in a chair and used the headset." Corbin fired back.

That sums up Corbin's view of the strike.

Posted by Adam

Happy Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful moms out there. Enjoy your special day.

Posted by Adam

One Parent and One Child

Tina and Corbin headed out early this morning for a full day of Cub Scout activity at Camp Cedarwin. The day was filled with activities that kept Corbin and his troop very busy. Digging for things. Orienteering. Trails. Geocaching. Rope courses. All sorts of thing.

Jeremy and I stayed in Windsor. First order of the day was to pull out dandelions. My arms were hurting after that job. Then I filled in the holes where the dandelions were with a mixture of soil and seed.

Next up, get the lawnmower running. I needed a new air filter. Hmm, let's make hot dogs for lunch instead. Oops ran out of propane. A quick trip to Canadian Tire was necessary. The place was busy. So much for a recession. Had to wait at the checkout. Got both propane tanks filled - should last the summer.

Made us hot dogs before working on the lawnmower. Jeremy helped me remove the spark plug. I cleaned the plug, replaced the air filter and changed the oil. The mower started on the first pull. I cut the grass. Jeremy played in the backyard. At one point when I was cutting the front yard, he came out with his lawnmower to help me. Cute.

After 5:00 pm, Tina and Corbin returned home. Corbin had a great time. He found a new hobby: geocaching. I knew what it was. So I told him that I'll look into getting a GPS unit and we can start hunting.

Tina was hungry. She went out to get some fish and chips. Tasty and filling. A good way to end the day.

Posted by Adam

A Hot Weekend and the Return of Angela

Tina's friend, Angela, visited us this weekend. Tina and Corbin picked her up in London, which worked out well for everyone.

Angela brought the kids a present. Thanks for the Nerf guns, Ang. I'll be finding Nerf balls for the next 20 years.

On Friday, Angela helped Tina and Pam get Pam's house ready for Chelsea's Sweet 16 birthday party. Yes, Chelsea is 16-years old. Time really does fly by.

Jeremy and Corbin loved having Angela over as she spent lots of time with them. That gave Tina and myself some time to do some chores and errands.

Posted by Adam

Wayne Landed On His Feet

The dealership - Jerome Taylor Pontiac GMC - where we just purchased the Montana SV6 from shut down for good. Mr. Taylor was unable to secure mortgage financing and had to close down his 16-year old dealership. Tina and I were kind of bummed because we really didn't want to start a new relationship with another dealer. But it was what it was.

Toady, out of the blue, Wayne Sanford, our go-to guy at Jerome Taylor, called and left a message that he was at the Gus Revenberg, a GM dealership about 10 minutes east of us. Tina called back and he just wanted us to know that he was alive and kicking and that we could still rely on him for top-notch service and assistance.

We felt good that Wayne landed on his feet and that he took the time to let us know. If you are looking to purchase a vehicle, we highly recommend you speak with Wayne Sanford at Gus Revenberg. Let him know that Tina and Adam sent you.

Posted by Adam

Feels Nice To Do Some Outdoor Work

With Corbin's help I unloaded the van and had him help me with a few chores. I had him bring out the indoor plants into the garage.

In the garage, I asked Corbin to sit on a milk crate and hang out with me for a few minutes. He turned on the radio and I emptied a bag of potting soil into the new wheelbarrow. Took it over to the hose and with Corbin's help, I moistened the soil.

I then began re-potting the plants with Corbin's help. Even got him to shove his hands into the new soil. No complaints. After a little while Corbin got bored, and asked if he could water his tree (a Rose of Sharon). I said sure, after which is hung out in the backyard for a while. I continued my re-potting.

I decided that a Coffee Tree plant would not come back inside and planted it outdoors. I still have to re-pot my Yucca Tree plant but that requires some hacking - maybe next weekend. I washed the old pots and let them dry in the warm sun. I also hosed down the easel so Tina could use it with Jeremy.

Back in the house, I worked on replacing the old thermostat with the new one I purchased. Installation was simple and straightforward. The packaging says 15 minutes or less for installation and it took less than 15 minutes. There is an error on the packaging in that it says you need two AAA batteries. You need three.

With that work done, I relaxed and enjoyed the warm and sunny weather.

Posted by Adam

A Baseball Glove, A Wheelbarrow and A Sub

Taking advantage of the warm weather, I spent late morning and early afternoon running some errands with Corbin in tow.

At first, he didn't want to come, but like everything with Corbin, you have to tell him upfront what you intend to do. I said "don't you need a new baseball glove". He said "Yes" and reluctantly put on his shoes.

At Canadian Tire I looked at some BBQ accessories. Need to get a new ignition for the BBQ - ours lasted almost nine years. I also purchased a new Honeywell thermostat with touch screen and 7-day programming to place the existing Honeywell thermostat with 5-2 day programming. And Corbin did find a new baseball glove. He also tried out the riding mowers.

Next it was off to Lowes. There, I purchased a new 6 cubic feet steel wheelbarrow, some potting soil and some new plastic pots for the indoor plants. I pushed Corbin around while he sat on the flatbed cart. We had subs at Subway before heading back home.

I spent quality time with my Corbin, who seemed to handle himself with no problems. Arriving home, I realized that there were a few things I forgot to look at. Naturally.

Posted by Adam