A day at the track

Since we couldn't go to the track yesterday with soccer in the morning and a birthday party in the afternoon. We decided to make a morning of it today so that Mr I could join us and get to the airport on time.

Mr I found it to be a bit early. But since it is a reasonably long drive, he found a way to make up for lost sleep: (thank you to my co-pilot Grandpa for capturing this one!)
We arrived and Mr I and Grandpa decided to hang out and watch the cars. We had some socializing that we needed to do. My awesome friend the race official had to be located as did godfather Jeff and his lovely bride to be.

Between my awesome friend, her awesome daughter and Jeff Monkey got to get in THREE race cars. It was about the coolest thing ever!!We was really good about not touching the cars, just letting the drivers and their crew load him in and pull him out.
This driver gave him the visual tour first.
Then they strapped on all of the belts. It was really neat. As you can see, Monkey loved it.

Here's Mr I up where we were sitting to watch the races. We only had one chair since ours all got borrowed and not returned. We took turns on it-lol!
Monkey got to watch all of the cars that he had been sitting in racing around the track. What could be cooler??
Monkey was not at all happy to say goodbye to Jeff. He was quite sad to know that the visit would be a very short one and not repeated again for many months.
Thanks Jeff and Bride to be for the awesome books. Monkey loves his and Bic C is pretty much beside himself! You have them both absolutely nailed!!

From 3 wheels to 2

For a while now there has been discussion about dropping the 1 training wheel and learning to ride on 2 wheels. Slowly but surely Monkey's friends have been spotted proudly riding on only two wheels at the park, going past our house...none was motivating for him. Until....EMAN CAN DO IT!! Oh man, it was ON! We came home and after the initial tour on his new kettcar, he wanted to ride on those two wheels.

We had been loaned a stick that gives parents a handle bar but it doesn't fit. So we going to do it old school.

First Mr I took him out for a bit of a spin. They went tearing up and down the sidewalk with Mr I holding on tightly.
I got a video of Monkey and Mr I. It is a little windy and you can hear Big C riding his bike in the background.

Next it was mommy's turn. I took off my boots, put on my runners and gave Mr I the camera.
We had some good runs. And we had some good falls. We talked a little bit about the basics of physics. If you lean too far to one side, you'll end up on the ground on that side...
A bit more discussion. I remember this same discussion with my father while I was learning to drive a 5 speed car. Me-"I've had it, I want to go home". Him "I'm not unlocking this door, get back in the car and drive". Me-"no". Him, "yes".

I did it. And so did Monkey.
Ready? Go...I'm holding on with a finger...
no hands! Just him-glorious!!
He knows he's got it. My hand is hovering behind him, but he's on his own.
Another milestone.

Graduation Day

Today was Mr I's last day of school. He graduated and got his certificate. I was so proud of the whole group of them. Apparently some of the students have been here for the last three summers. It has been very interesting for the teachers here to watch them growing up.

I appologise for the quality of the photos. The auditorium was dark but the stage was lit. It was hard for my camera to figure out what to do. I went with the "kids and pets" setting after trying several others on the kids who went before him. He is the one in the top left hand corner in all of the group shots.

Waiting for his name to be called (blue shirt, between the heads)

Going up on stage...
Shaking hands...
exiting and getting back to his seat.
Still at the top left
Guess where??
still top left
It is always a sad day when we watch the students start to wrap up thier visit. Off to the airport on Sunday. Mama, you must be looking forward to having him back soon!

What a fun night!

Mr I and Saje had a blast this evening! We went over to my friend's place for a BBQ (yes, another BBQ). While Mr I was so cold that his poor teeth were chattering, the Canadians were swimming in the pool. Different standards I guess : ) Our host brought out the badminto rackets and engaged mr I in a game. He quickly got warmed up running around the backyard chasing the birdie.
She soon switched out and her 12 year old daughter switched in.
Mr I had never seen badminton before but was a very good sport about the whole thing. At the end, in the car he turned to me and said "badminton is a very strange sport". I have to admit, he has a point!!
Mama, do you see how long his hair is getting?? I offered to take him to get it cut but he said no. He doesn't like getting it cut. He'll be quite shaggy when I send him home to you!!

Berry pickin'

Today was a typical Saturday. We got up, met up with the Busseys for breakfast then Monkey had soccer. Seeing that it is the beginning of July, there is a fine Canadian tradition that we had to engage in today-we went to the strawberry patch and picked berries-mmmmm.
We couldn't get Mr I out of his room this morning or this afternoon so we just went the 7 of us. The boys all had a blast. We pay for the strawberries by the pound...they likely should have weighed them on thier way in and on their way out to be fair!!
Here everyone is, picking berries row on row. Some of them are getting a bit too ripe considering how late it is in the season, but that just meant that they were yummier for the eating fresh off the plant!
This is one of my favourite things to do with the boys this time of year-thanks for suggesting it Bussey Family!!

We've made arrangements for Mr I to hang out with another teenage boy and go to see a movie this afternoon. I hope they are having a blast!

Soccer Saturday

We are the parents of two young children. This seems to mean that every moment of their lives are captured on film. Wait, I'm showing my age with that comment! Every moment is captured digitally and then uploaded to our blog! I am starting to wonder if that will always be the case. When I wonder if that will always be the case I start to wonder if the fact that I am wondering it will mean that I will soon stop doing that.

I wonder!

Today is Saturday so Monkey had soccer practice. Off to soccer we go in the green train. Yes that is a sledgehammer in the back of the green train. It helps with discipline issues that might arise ; ) He is in the red hat.
Gimme the camera mommy...
puhleeeeze...
I wanna randomly take pictures of Mrs Bussey
lots of them
just 'cause I like to press the buttons
Monkey as the British Bulldog
Big C hanging with Mr Bussey Mr I chatting in Spanish with our friend from Uruguay.

There you have it. A photo montage of the morning soccer practice. I noticed that Dave also has a slew of photos from the afternoon spent playing in the pool and with the hose. This, is a lot of photos. They will start to call us the paparazzi.