Last Day of School 2008

Today was Corbin's and Jeremy's last day of school.

Both boys had a successful school year. Corbin made great progress in math, music, reading and french. In fact, the school year seemed 'ordinary' - save for a few episodes. Tina and I tend to agree that that is a good thing. Awesome job Corbin - who is already talking about Grade 5 (a new teacher, a new EA and in a new wing of the school - should be fun in September).

Jeremy learnt most of the alphabet, number between 1 and 10, colours, shapes, months and the days of the week. He had some rough patches, but managed to work through them. Jeremy made lots of new friends and looks forward to SK in September. Another change in September is switching from morning to afternoon.

Thanks to Ms. Mayea, Ms. Coolen, Ms. Johnston, Mr. Carter, Ms. Thompson, Mr. Bradacs, Mrs. Marshall and Ms. Ouellette.

Posted by Adam

She's Back

Tina and Corbin travelled to London today to accomplish two things: to attend a consultation at CPRI and to pick up Beverly.

The drive up was uneventful, as was the drive back. Corbin had an excellent session at CPRI and he didn't have any major transition issues. Tina even managed to pick up Jeremy, enabling me to get a much needed hair cut.

Posted by Adam

Fries With That?

Williams left a message that our Waring Pro deep fryer was ready to picked up. We chose this model because it is simple to use. It's not a fancy cool-touch fryer with a charcoal filter. It's a deep fryer. This thing even comes with an on-off toggle switch. When was the last time an appliance came with a toggle switch?

Since Tina had to take Corbin for a session at Regional Children's Centre, I decided that we all should head over to the west side. While Tina and Corbin were are RCC, Jeremy and I would pick up the deep fryer.

I dropped Corbin and Tina and headed over to Williams which was a few blocks away. At Williams, Jeremy first had to to go pee and then get some popcorn and lemonade. While we waited for the purchase to processed, Jeremy chatted it up with one of the employees. He told the lady that he had been at the store before and that he likes the popcorn.

After getting back in the van, we headed over to Malden Park to kill some time on the playground. Jeremy tried every piece of equipment, reminding me that he is older and bigger and "can do it". We had fun and headed back to pick up Tina and Corbin.

Next, we headed over to the Columbia outlet store where Tina and Corbin looked for a new raincoat for Corbin to take to Camp Winston. Seems he has a habit of growing just before going to camp. Fortunately, Tina got a deal on the raincoat - it was under $20. An awesome deal.

We headed home along Riverside Drive to make some french fries.

Posted by Adam

Wild Weather

Well that was interesting. The torrential downpour included hail, lots of it. Some hail was an inch in diameter.

Corbin and Jeremy stood by the front window in awe of the power of the storm. Then I told them there is hail. Jeremy had no idea what I was talking about. I opened the door and grabbed a ball of ice and gave it to Jeremy. He was in awe. About 15 or 20 minutes later, the storm was over. The sun was out and it was warm.

I went to outside to survey the damage and the lawn was littered with hail. I decided to get the hose and wash all the gunk of our driveway. Part way through, the boys put on their bathing suits and decided that they would have me spray them with the hose. I obliged.

They were soaking wet. But they had fun. And my driveway was clean.

Posted by Adam

Shopping Anyone?

Tina and I decided that it was time to do some shopping. After a quick breakfast and showers, we headed out just past 10:00 am.

Our first stop was Shoppers Drug Mart. It was 20x points day and the place was packed. I had to look for a parking space. That has never happened. Inside the store we stocked up and proceeded to the cashier. Naturally, we ended up in the line with two people checking each price - eventually they paid and the line moved quickly.

We dropped off the stuff at home and headed out to Canadian Tire on Walker Road. There we looked in the patio furniture section and bought two Zero Gravity lounge chairs. We also picked up a tee ball stand and a bat for Jeremy and some other things. We headed across the street where Tina exchanged a pillow she bought.

After a slow lunch at Boston Pizza, we headed to a different Canadian Tire to look for a replacement gun for my pressure washer. For some reason there is a 'shortage' of replacement guns. I really don't want to buy a new pressure washer. But it may come to that.

Our final stop was Williams Food Equipment to look for a deep fryer and a griddle. We found both, but only the griddle (a Cuisinart model with a reversible grill/griddle) was in stock. Tina purchased that and put in an order for the deep fryer (not a fancy 'cool touch' model but a tried and true model that is easy to use and clean). Should be getting a call soon about it.

The boys were happy that we were heading back home. A quick stop at Tim Horton's for a coffee for Tina. Given that we were out for 5 hours, the boys did well.

Posted by Adam

Lucky 13

It was our 13th wedding anniversary today.

Tina was unable to arrange babysitting for the boys, so we all went out to Boston Pizza for a celebratory dinner. Tina, Corbin and I shared a large pizza - Corbin chose and ordered the pizza. Jeremy had a grilled cheese sandwich.

We even ordered desert. It was an excellent meal and time well spent.

Posted by Adam

Weekend Away: Brantford

This weekend, Tina and I went our separate ways.

I travelled down the 401 and 403 in the Wave to Brantford to help my mom with whatever help she needed. Tina had the van and headed up to Goderich with the boys and Bev.

The drive on the 401 and 403 was uneventful. I arrived in Brantford around 5:00 PM. Because of Alex's surgery, the vegetable garden and flowerbeds had yet to be planted.

So we headed out to buy plants. I said lets go to Lowe's - my mom had never been. She bought plenty of plants and some soil - enough to fill the back of the wave. We also stopped at Canadian Tire.

The next day the real work began. After an excellent breakfast, my mom and I attacked the great outdoors.

The vegetable garden had to be rototilled. While my mom picked out weeds, I got the rototiller down and filled it with a mixture of gas and oil. It took a few pulls but eventually the tiller started up and I began tilling away.

My mom's vegetable garden has about 30 or so years of work. The soil broke up very easily. Not like the clay soil here in Windsor. In about an hour or so, the garden was tilled. Good thing because it was getting hot.

Later we headed out to a few stores for some more plants. We stopped by the cemetery to plant some flowers at my father's grave. Then we had supper at Red Lobster (I had the arctic char and my mom had the salmon).

I relaxed by reading the newspaper and playing my Nintendo DS.

After yet another good breakfast, I loaded the car with my stuff and the rototiller, and headed back to Windsor. I stopped in London to checkout some things at the local Canadian Tire. The drive was uneventful. There seemed to be fewer vehicles on the 401. Looks like gas prices are having an effect.

Posted by Adam