Monkey Aces his Second Test

Monkey went on Friday and got tested for allergies. They tested for mould, pollen, trees and other things. Dave was so distracted by the testing that he forgot to ask what they tested for. We'll have to follow up on that. He was really brave. They pricked him more than 30 times and he was so good.
You can see the lines on his arms where they pricked him for the tests. In the end, he wasn't allergic to any of the things that they tested him for. Yay!!

DPoD July 4th - Camping !!!!

I thought that it was finally time to get Monkey into some camping. The weather has been less than cooperative all summer so far, so I took things into my own hands today. Monkey, Big C and I decided to set up our own 'tent' in the basement. I'm pretty sure that the 8-man tent I bought last summer won't fit into the basement. I realize that I went a little overboard on that one.

Here are some shots of the 3 of us on the inside. We only have 3 rules (so far):

1) We don't touch the blankets

2) When it's time for sleeping we put our heads on our pillows and go to bed

3) We put our flashlights in our pockets when we're all done with them

The flashilights were a HUGE hit. Here are some of the cuter moments.

Unfortunately we tried this out and Monkey is still too excited to sleep there. We'll have to try again later when I can black out the windows.

We love mommy

I've learned that to get the deals on stuff you've got to show up to the grocery store the first morning that things go on sale. Doing a little scouting around I was able to find these little gems for mommy. We love you sunshine!

July 3 - An evening out at one of our Favourite Restaurants

We didn't feel like cooking last night so we were off to Lone Star. Big C was beside himself, let alone the fact that we were going to meet up with E-man there! Mr. I had a great time and loved the fajitas. He was the only one at the table reaching for the hot sauce though! We had a great meal all around and we'll surely be back soon enough!
Hey Dada, sorry that we missed the 'dough-ball mustache' that you made. I just wasn't quick enough on the camera!

Belated Canada Day Post

We had a blast on Canada day this year. In the first 4 days that Mr I was in Canada we either hosted or attended a grand total of 4 BBQs. He might leave thinking that is all that we do here! All of this talk of international students and BBQing reminded me, and mybe some of our long time viewers, of one of my favourite posts from this site. Last year when Y was here, we even went so far as to BBQ a pie. It got a lot of attention both from us and the Busseys.

We went over to the Bussey's for a BBQ and they had the pool out. In the absence of his proper swim suit Monkey found a perfectly reasonable solution to keeping his clothes dry and still going in the water. Apparently it is even more slippery this way!!!

Later the hose got hooked up to the side of the fort and aimed down the slide. We tried to capture a proper view of the splash made at the bottom of the slide when Monkey hit what rapidly became the mud hole.

Mr I was having fun with Jackie and Eric so I left to drop Dave and the kids off at home and came back to pick up Mr I. When I returned I discovered that the annual Canada day water fight was in full swing and Mr I was right in the middle of it. He is the one in the orange shirt.
He was having a ball.

Cumberland Firefighter and Emergency Protective Services Day-Sunday July 13

Firefighter and Emergency Protective Services Day

Celebrate the work of firefighters, paramedics, and police officers of the City of Ottawa. Join us for a day of fun in commemoration of those who risk their lives for our safety and security.

Sunday July 13 from 10 am to 5 pm
Regular admission applies. Information: 613-833-3059

Will you be there?

Cumberland Heritage Village Museum

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Now open Wednesday to Sunday!

Costumed interpreters recreate what rural life was like in the 1920s and 1930s.

Cumberland Heritage Village Museum consists of 28 buildings on 25 hectares in the village of Cumberland. On site you will find seven houses and six buildings depicting residential and agricultural architecture and public buildings such as a one-room schoolhouse, fire hall, church and community hall. You can also visit a Canadian National railway station and caboose, a working sawmill and an Imperial garage.

The Cumberland Museum is located 30 minutes east of downtown Ottawa and 10 minutes away from Rockland.

Hours of operation

Open Wednesday to Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. from May 18 to the end of September 2008.

Open in December for Christmas programming

See annual programming

Admission:

Adult: $6
Student: $4
Senior: $4
Family: $15
Season family pass: $30
Extra fees may be charged for some activities.

some neat facts from the Art Of Being Green Website http://artofbeinggreen.ca/

The average child who takes a disposable lunch bag with plastic-wrapped food and single serving items like pudding to school each day generates 30 kg of garbage every school year.

 

Even when turned off, home electronics use standby power to run internal clocks and memory settings that accounts for 40% of their total energy consumption.

 

Idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting your car.

 

The Art of Being Green Festival is on in Lanark the weekend of July 11.  Will we see you there?

DPoD July 3 - Where I've tickled Big C today, a photo montage

DPoD July 2 - Photos Usurped

Since mommy had the day off yesterday she took the honours of posting the pictures. So, I had a thought instead that came up on our car ride to the Museum yesterday.
I have a letter that I'd like to send to Canada Post.
Does it need a stamp?
I'd love to hear your comments on this one.

The first Wednesday at the Museum of Science and Tech

Every Wednesday and Sunday from 10-3 you can ride the Shea locomotive at the museum. It goes without saying that this is a HUGE deal for Monkey and Big C. They go every single Wednesday. I (Saje) took today off to enjoy the great summer weather and we went to the museum.

This is Monkey and I waiting for the train. Daddy and Big C in the cupola. The new girl tried to tell us that she didn't think that people are allowed to ride up there. We explained that we are allowed, we're sure. We've done it about 50 times. Up we went.
Family shot taken by the family in the other seats in the cupola.
Somehow at the end of the first ride (yes, there was more than one!) Daddy managed to get himself and the two boys up with the engineer. Big C was in such awe he couldn't even speak or dare to try and move.
We asked if we could put a penny on the tracks before the train came by.
Then we rode the train and this is what happened to our penny. Cool!

We went on a tour of the lighthouse. We got to climb all the way inside. Ask Monkey about the single (energy efficient fluorescent) light bulb that is lighting up the whole thing. It's pretty cool.
The rugby player in me couldn't resist tackling two little running buddies and tickling them until they gave in!!
First I jumped Monkey, then big C jumped us.
What a great day. Walking back hand in hand with my two of my three best guys.

Mr I is on the bus

Today is the big day that Mr I goes to school on his own. He got up in lots of time and had breakfast with Monkey and Big C. He and Dave packed his lunch and then it was time to go out and wait for the bus.

We all piled outside and waited with him. The boys ran around thoroughly enjoying the morning sunshine. It took me three pictures to get them all waving. I guess teenage boys don't always want to make a big fuss *wink*.
I reminded him that he is the stop after the water fountain and he was comfortable with all of that. The bus arrived and with his map and directions in his hand Mr I climbed aboard.
The bus pulled away and he was off. Have a great day!!

DPoD July 1 - A beautiful decade

Today, in fact likely right about the time that I'm typing this, marks a decade since the day that my wife and I met. We were dating for 2 years, engaged for 1 and now married for nearly 7. It's been a wonderful time and has travelled both smoothly and all too fast at times. I consider myself lucky to have her and our kids in my life.

Here are some photos from our fabulous day together. We started with strawberry pancakes that Mr. I, Big C and daddy made together. We then went to the community centre where we made cotton candy as volunteers for our church. It was a great time. We had about as much cotton candy on our arms as we did on the little sticks. The boys played on the bouncy castles and did a few laps of the go kart track before we had a bbq lunch and headed home for a little down time.

We then went to a friend's Canada Day pool party. Both boys LOVED the pool, especially Big C who shared some really cute moments with Daddy. We left from there after saying our farewells to go to E-man's house for the next party.

There we lots of food, fun and laughter. Mr. I hung out with E-man's cousins, J and E. They went over to the nearby park to kick a soccer ball around and then returned for dinner. The boys had lots of fun playing on the big climber in their yard and splashing into the puddle at the bottom of the big slide. All too soon we sung Happy Birthday to Canada and were off for some well deserved R and R. Whew! What a wonderful way to spend our 'anniversary'.

I love you more each day than the one before sunshine.