She Makes Friends Easily

I got a call from Katie again yesterday. She said, "Hi Dad. I am near your building right now. I am on the bus with Mom." R was a parent-chaperone for a school outing to see the play "Legend Has It" at the Epcor Performing Arts Centre downtown, just a few blocks from my office. Katie told me that she had her lunch in a backpack and they were going to eat their lunch and then go watch the play.

When I got home for dinner I heard more details about the day. While waiting to leave on the theatre trip, R had seen Scott go past on his way to the library. Today Scott played the piano at school in a talent show of sorts. He had played the piano in this same event last year, but this time around he was a bit freaked out and kept saying he wanted out. In the end, R helped him figure out what he was most nervous about (standing and introducing his songs to the group) and made a plan to have the teacher introduce the songs for him. He played the Star Wars Theme and Rudolph. Everyone started singing along for Rudolph, which both surprised him and pleased him. Also, when the time came his teacher offered to introduce the songs for him but he was okay to do it himself. At home he told us that sometimes he doesn't want to do something but then he does it and he is glad that he did.

I learned more details about the theatre trip too. Katie said she made a new friend on the trip. A boy. Katie couldn't quite remember his name, but R said that they were walking and holding hands by the end. Katie told me that recently she'd had another new friend that was a boy for a few days, but not so much anymore.

The way things are going, this girl may need a chaperone to come with her to school every day.

Fancy Anniversary Dinner

We had already taken a trip to Mexico to celebrate our 15th anniversary a week early, so we didn't have big plans for the actual day. R started out thinking we might just spruce up the evening meal with some tropical drinks and a table cloth, but then Katie took over as event planner and took things up a notch. By the time I got home from work Katie had created a menu to go with her waitress apron, had clipped a pen to the strap, and had enlisted Scott as waiter #2 to help take our orders.



We had Corn Chowder, which is also known as "Katie's Favourite Soup", with choice of bread, bun or gluten free bun on the side. Available spreads were butter (margarine) or gluten-free butter (margarine from a smaller tub with no crumbs allowed in it). The waiters carefully carried the soup and the breads to the table without any spills. Drink options included Pinadas and water. Everyone selected the pinadas, served in fancy crystal goblets.



Afterwards, I told the kids to watch while I gave Mom a kiss. They said that was kind of gross. Katie asked why we would do that. I think she was asking why I would tell them to watch, but I told her "Because we are in love. Didn't you know that?" She said, "Of course. That's why you got MARRIED." She is right about that.

...but it's not gross. She's wrong about that part.

Katie doing something awesome

D: Why is this taking so long to get ready for bed? Scott, what do you still need to do?
S: Go to the bathroom.
D: Katie, you should be all finished. What are you still doing?
K: Something.
D: Like what?
K: Something awesome.

Katie Tells Us About Bunnies

June 28 2015

D: I heard that you said something about a bunny in primary today. What did they ask you?

R: They asked her if she had a pet. She said no.

K: Then they asked me what pet I would like and I said I would like a bunny.

R: Then they asked what you would name your bunny, and you didn't know.

K: Yeah.

D: It would be hard to pick a name for a bunny if you still never saw it before. Like, what if it was a black bunny, or a yellow one, or brown?

K: Or a GOLD bunny!

D: Right, a gold one.

K: Johnny has a white bunny. And it's pretty big.

D: Oh yeah? What is that bunny's name?

K: I don't know, but his favourite colour is green.

D: The bunny's favourite colour, or Johnny's favouite colour?

K: The bunny's

D: Did the bunny tell you that?

K: No. Johnny did. Bunnies can't talk at all.

Beaver Flat on a Wednesday

Last summer we had a great time camping at Fisher Creek campground on a Monday night, as we had the campsite essentially to ourselves (a great time besides Katie burning Scott's finger with a burning stick and us leaving in the middle of the night). I had researched a whole bunch of campsites near Calgary and decided that our first summer camping trip of 2015 would be to Beaver Flats, in the Elbow Valley in Kananaskis.

In preparation for this year's campaign, I got a new pop-up tent that would make any late-night evacuations simple, plus I got a new -5C sleeping bag for Scott, so we wouldn't have to wrap him in 3 layers of sleeping bags for those cool mountain nights. The kids were so excited for the trip that they started counting down the days and kept getting out their sleeping bags to slide down the stairs (until Katie finally toppled down the stairs upside down in her bag and we put an end to it). The day of the trip they spent the afternoon playing at the spray park with friends, which Katie said was the best day ever. We quickly changed them from their swim suits to some shorts and t-shirts and loaded them in the car.

[In the lull between episodes of Paw Patrol on the tablet]
S: Where are we?
D: We are are about half-way there.
S: Are we still in Calgary?
D: No. We left Calgary. We are in Kananaskis.
K: Do the people speak English here?
D: Uh, yes. Yes they do.
K: Oh. Okay.
S: Are we still in Canada?
D: Yes. We aren't that far from home, kids. This isn't even as far as the Nakiska ski hill we go to.
S: Oh. Okay.
[Paw Patrol starts again]

We found a great walk-in campsite right along the river, where the sound of the water drowned out any vehicle noise. A deer was grazing in the woods nearby, and the night was perfectly still and clear. We roasted hotdogs for dinner and the kids kept themselves busy roasting sticks in the fire as I attempted to make campfire brownies baked inside an orange peel. I had learned this trick from my Mom when she was my Blazer Scout leader many years ago, I have tried to replicate it at least one other time since then -- always with disappointing results. Originally, we had used chocolate cake mix, and I found that expanded too much and blew out the orange and I overcooked it too. So this time I used brownies instead and I pulled them off perhaps sooner than I should have. Instead of an overcooked puffy cake mess, this time I had an undercooked gooey brownie mess. It was actually pretty delicious, but it was a literally a hot mess. The kids weren't too interested in it (Katie stated that she officially hates brownies), so I ended up eating most of it. They were happy just roasting marshmallows and sticks and generally having a grand time in their new surroundings -- especially Katie. She said, "This is the best day ever! I keep having the best days, all in the same day!"



I had found an old-school mesh hammock in the clearance bin at Canadian Tire, so I threw that in with the gear and we tried to set it up. Unfortunately, I had few ropes to work with and I am terrible with knots anyway, so it wasn't the perfect set-up. The kids could get in it, but my weight would send it crashing to the ground. Later on, when R saw the pictures from our trip she asked Scott if I had bought a hammock. He said yes. When she asked why, Scott said, "Don't ask me, I'm not a hammock master!"

Propst & Tuttle in Calgary

[Sep 13, 2014]

16 years ago I dropped Elders Propst and Tuttle off at the airport in Saratov at the conclusion of the trial where their kidnappers were convicted. I didn't see either of them again until this year, when they arrived at the airport in Calgary to speak to groups in connection to the "Saratov Approach" movie. Tuttle came out for opening weekend in January. Both Propst and Tuttle came out for our joint West/East Stake youth conference.



Apparently, no one had informed Propst that we had just had the freak summer snow storm of the century, because he arrived in sunglasses, shorts and flip-flops. The person next to him on the plane showed him pictures that people had sent him from the storm and Propst started to worry. Of course, most of the snow was already melting, but we there was still some left at the higher elevations -- like the Temple.



They flew just before noon, so we hit Tubby Dog for some lunch. Tubby Dog is a hole-in-the-wall spot on 17th Ave known for hot dogs with outlandish combinations of toppings. We all agreed that I probably got the best one, laden with chili, bacon, cheez-whiz and a fried egg -- elegantly entitled "Sherm's Ultimate Gripper".

We stopped in at the house for a few minutes en route to the youth conference, mainly so Propst could press a shirt and make himself beautiful. Scott was absolutely enthralled when Propst pulled out his iPad and logged into the Clash of Clans game, especially since Propst had all the fancy upgraded troops that Scott has been dreaming about. The whole kidnapping/movie thing might give Tuttle and Propst a certain amount of celebrity status, but it was Clash of Clans that really made Propst a star.



We arrived at the chapel near the end of the movie, which the youth were watching in the gym. We had the DJ who would run the evening dance handle the audio, and I had perched the projector at the top of a 10 foot ladder to hit the 40-foot screen on the stage. Waiting in the hallway, we bumped into a teary woman leaving the gym who has a son serving a mission overseas and just couldn't quite handle it, although she had seen the film before.



Once the credits rolled, the lights went up and I introduced our special guests, who opened it up to the youth for some Q&A with the comment that "there are no bad questions." That statement was immediately tested, as the first question was "Do you like waffles?" Strong start. Propst and Tuttle took it in stride and answered the question before moving on to perhaps a more pertinent question. Propst likes Belgian waffles and Tuttle is more of a pancake guy, for the record.



There were some really good questions, and Propst & Tuttle shared additional details that really put a personal touch on the whole experience. One thing that stuck out to me was how they said that they prayed constantly during the whole experience, and Propst said that he promised God that if he made it out there alive, he would take every opportunity to share this story with people to strengthen their faith. In the 15 years since he came home he has averaged at least 1 speaking engagement per month, more at the beginning and more with the film's release. Another message was that a missionary experience changes you, whether you get kidnapped or not. If you decline the opportunity to serve, you miss that chance to learn and grow as a person, and it is unlikely that you would have another opportunity quite like that in your life. They both said that they would not trade their missionary experience away, regardless how it turned out, and that's one big reason why they chose not to cut their missions short when they were released. In the Sunday service that that we had the next day, several people commented on the film that we watched, and one girl said that she had never really considered serving a mission, but now she wanted to have that experience for herself. Pretty neat to hear.



After the film was over, we launched Tuttle off to the airport asap to catch a plane to Portland, while Propst stuck around to pose for some photos in our Russian-themed photo booth. Who doesn't love a good Russian photo booth?



When it was all over, and once Propst and I had downed some delicious poutine, we retired back to our place to chat and play some more Clash of Clans.



Scott was supposed to go to bed, but shortly afterwards we saw a small hand jut out through the upstairs railing with a note (written on the back of a sticker) that read:

"Wath clan ar you in?"

Scott ended up coming back downstairs to sit with Propst and examine his elite-level clan. It was the start of an alliance, as Propst recruited his son Sam to be in Scott's clan, and Propst showed up in our clan periodically in the weeks that followed to hand out level 6 balloons and other awesomeness.

While Scotty was downstairs, Katie was upstairs, saying her prayers as follows--
Thanks that Travis and Propst could come to our house. And that Propst could stay for one night. Even though it's not two nights.
The next day Katie said "I love Propst. I wish I could live with him."
D: Do you mean you want to leave and live at his house far away.?
K: No, I mean he could live at our house, silly.

Propst and Tuttle aren't planning on moving in, but they might come back to Calgary visit us or at least to take a crack at Sherm's Ultimate Gripper.

Dusk Run for Cinnamon Buns

Sometimes we go to the store for a snack if Mom is gone or busy for the evening. It is always an adventure.

Co-op is the closest store to us, but there is a big hill. Last time we were all on our bikes and it was hard to help Katie up the hills because I was a bit tied up with my bike. At one point, I took my feet off my pedals to slow down and help push her up the hill. I was still straddling my bike as I crouch-jogged beside her and I the edge of the pedal caught me on the ankles bone and took a massive gouge out of me. Katie was crying a bit, but when I pointed out that I was the one bleeding into my shoe and I wasn't crying, she stopped crying to think about that.

That was last time. This time, Scott suggested that Katie ride her bike while he and I run. He has taken to running quite a bit lately. After the success of the ward 2km run, he did the Terry Fox run at school, where they bring a $2 donation and run laps of the field for 30 minutes to see how far they can get. Scott did 13 laps (I think), which was about 1 lap short of 5km. That's a pretty good pace (6:30 min/km), and one mom who was there volunteering that day told R that Scott was noticeably fast, keeping up with the grade 4 kids.

Scott's suggestion turned out to be a good one for our trip to the store. Katie set the pace on her bike and Scott and I jogged along behind. Her pace was slower than is Terry Fox pace, so he kept racing out ahead and then waiting for us to catch up. Then he got a cramp and settled in behind the bike. After about 1.1km, we got to the top of the big hill and we ditched Katie's bike behind a fence -- just like last time -- and we all ran another 0.5km down the hill. Once again Katie was setting the pace (a little over 7 minutes / km), because Scott said his knee was bothering him from running so fast earlier. He has been complaining a lot about being sore lately. R wonders if it's growing pains. I told him to just slow down a bit and it would be okay.

After searching around and finally inquiring, we learned our bakery item of choice has been discontinued, so we had to find something other than a 6-pack of glazed donuts. We settled on a box of cinnamon buns -- plus a pumpkin pie that was so cheap I couldn't pass it up. Then we set out running back up the hill to retrieve the bike with darkness setting in fast.

The grade ranges from 5% up to almost 8% in places, but the kids managed a pretty steady pace of 8-9 min/km all the way up the hill. Katie started flagging with 1/4 still to go, but I pointed out how far she had come up such a big hill and that she was almost to the top and she tore off again faster than ever. By the top she was really running out of gas, but she never stopped running. We retrieved the cached bike and helmet and set off for the home stretch. Despite a minor uphill grade, Katie was even faster on the bike going home than she'd been going out, and she left Scott and me trailing far behind in the dark.

When we finally made the turn down the pathway to our house we couldn't see a thing. Scott started to get worried about Katie. I think he was more worried than I was, although I was a bit surprised that she was so willing to plunge through the darkness alone on her bike. Scott called out to her and she sang back a giddy reply that she was already waiting for us at the gate. I turned on my phone's flashlight feature and handed it to Scott while I navigated Katie's bike through gate to the back yard. Katie was ahead of Scott and was absolutely delighted at the size of her shadow, which started with tiny little legs on the grass and grew to an enormous body and head on the side of the house.

"I am so huge! Hahaha! Look Scott! I'm so huge!"

Total Distance: 3.4 km
Total Time: 28 minutes

Doing Chores

The kids recently made their debut in the duty roster. Each child gets one night a week to help cook dinner. They each get one evening to help do the dishes, which is easy to remember--
D: What day do you cook, Katie?
K: Tuesday.
D: What about you, Scott?
S: Thursday.
D: So, on days that start with 'T' we have kids that cook.
S: Tuesday... and... Tomorrow.

They have always enjoyed helping to cook in the kitchen (especially Katie) so they were more than happy to shoulder some of the workload. Currently, they require quite a bit of assistance to get the job done, but R is sticking with it, reminding herself that it will pay dividends in the future... for us and for them. Here are my notes from one recent evening:

Cooking: Scott got to use a sharp knife to cut tomatoes and lettuce. He thought that was pretty awesome.
Dishes: Katie liked using the scrub brush and generally playing in the water. In the end, she dumped a plate of water on herself.

Scott likes to use minimal water and maximal dish soap when cleaning. He uses 100% cold water to minimize the chance of getting scalded. He announced that he was finished washing a sauce pan, which had an inch of soapy water in the bottom and food caked everywhere else. I suggested that maybe there was still more for him to do, like rinsing and stuff. He said, "Mom told me that the most important thing is that I try my best." Then he left the pan in the sink and departed, pleased with his "best" efforts.

At least he didn't put it off until Tomorrow... or Tuesday.

Family Fun Run

Last year, the young women in our ward raised money for girls camp by organizing a fun run. I registered our whole family to participate, but it poured rain on the day, so I was the only one from our family who went.

This summer the kids surprised us with how much they enjoyed the triathlon, so I thought we'd give the fun run another try. I signed myself up for the 10 km run and signed up R and the kids for the 2 km kids race, thinking they would mostly walk, rather than run.



I had a good race and got a new personal best for 10 km (42 in 30 sec). I sprinted hard to the finish, and I think that is why I felt so sore later. R tried to get a picture of it but apparently I raced right out of the frame.



Karla ran the 5 km race and came first in the 18+ women category. Then we all lined up at the start line for the 2 km race. I planned to run with Scott and Katie had R and Karla backing her up. When the horn sounded, 58 people pounded down the pathway. Scott and Katie were carried along with the crowd at a pace that was more than I thought they could handle. Scott got out ahead of me and I had to strain my tightening muscles to catch him again.



After about 500 metres Scott complained of a cramp starting up. We slowed our pace but didn't stop running. We settled into a good pace that he could sustain and found ourselves slowly moving up through the pack as people fizzled a bit and had to walk. When we rounded the curve for the final stretch he broke into a sprint. I cheered him on from behind as he pulled away from me to cross in just under 12 minutes and collect an Oreo cookie medal. I found that I was sweatier than Scott was. His fauxhawk was hardly mussed. Scott was #5 in the race, bested only by kids several years older than him.



R was shocked with Katie's performance. She kept asking Katie if she was getting tired or needed to walk and she just ran faster each time. At the 1 km turnaround point Katie didn't even want a drink -- she just wanted to run. She finished in 14 min 30 sec, which was #9 overall for kids under 12 (out of nearly 40). R was expecting to walk most of the distance found herself running the whole time, not to be outpaced by her 4-year-old.

The next day Scott found his legs were hurting--
S: "Ow. I touched my leg just lightly like this and it hurt so bad."
D: "That's because you made your muscles work so hard that they got stretched and now they will be sore as they get even stronger."
S: "It would get even more sore in the 5k race. Why didn't you sign me up for the 5k?"
D: "I didn't know you could do it."
S: "I could sprint the whole way."
D: "No you couldn't."
S: [Grin]

He took an aspirin to help dull the ache so he could get to sleep. You would think that all this pain would dissuade him from future efforts. On the contrary, all he could talk about when he was going to bed was how he wants to run 5 km. I think it's because his friend Noah ran in the 5 km race and got a chocolate bar just for completing it. I promised him a chocolate bar if he would go run 5 km with me. With that, he went to sleep.

Pray for Blankie

Katie's blankie went missing recently. At bedtime, I looked all over for it with no success. In the end, Katie settled for her Violet pony and went to sleep.

The next day, the search continued while I was away at work. R helped Katie check all the usual places without success. Katie suggested that they could "pray to Jesus" to help find her blankie. R was delighted that Katie immediately thought to pray. At the same time, she knew that she now needed to do her best to help find this blankie.

Finally, they found it in Katie's room, tucked between a toy baby cradle and the foot of Katie's bed. Whew! R suggested that we figure out a place on each floor of the house where Katie should try to put her blankie if she's not using it. Katie agreed, saying, "Then we wouldn't have to pray to Jesus so much."

Gold Medals on the Stairs

Practicing the piano was becoming a painful exercise, and seemed that Scott's piano career could not continue if things did not change somehow. We came up with a plan. We decided to begin awarding gold medals.

For FHE, we talked about the different roles and responsibilities we all have. Scott is a "piano student" so he has certain duties associated with that. We made a chart that he fills in when he completes one of his duties. He can earn a "Gold Medal" for completing all the requirements in one of four categories, including: 1) New Song One Hand; 2) New Song Two Hands; 3) Review Songs; 4) Study.



There are 7 weeks until the Winter Olympics are over, and we challenged him to work on earning medals every week to see if he can get more than any of the countries participating.

He rushed off to practice and got a gold medal that first night. Gold medals are awarded immediately. Bronze & silver medals are awarded Sunday evening, if those categories are not completed to the gold standard.



Katie wanted to have a duty chart and get medals too.

R made a chart for her (although she wasn't quite satisfied until she had a computer-printed one like Scott's). She is to practice going potty without being prompted. She also goes to her various classes (dance, music, sports, play group). There are only so many times that a person can go potty in one evening, so she earned a bronze medal.



She was very sad that she would have to wait until the next day to get a medal. She struggled with the concept of bronze, silver, gold. Eventually I relented and said that she could have a bronze medal tonight, and then we'll still give her a gold when she finishes that.

We started making the bronze medal out of paper and she was sad that Scott would get a nice medal made from melted beads and she would only get paper. So I started making her a little bead one. She wanted it to have purple and pink in it, as well as brown. Since Scott's gold medal had a #1 in the center of it, I started with a purple #3 for hers.

She said, "I don't want to have a THREE -- I am almost FOUR!" She did not want to listen to me when I pointed out that Scott is 6 but his medal only has a #1 on it.

"Fine," I said. "You can have a four on it. Whatever. But if you cry again, then I am not making you a medal at all, okay?"

"Okay. [sniff]"

A few moments later when it came time for the medal ceremony, Scott was sure to point out to Katie that she had to stand on the bottom stair, while he would get to be higher up on the third stair with his gold medal. The tears were still barely below the surface, but we avoided another outburst by pointing out that the bronze medalist gets her medal first. Whew.



We sang O Canada together, and then the kids went up to bed. Katie kept looking down and saying, "I love my brawn medal!"

Moonlight

A full moon was out while driving home from Grandma's. We only live a few blocks away and we can drive down a few residential streets or we can cut through the LDS temple parking lot.

S: Dad, can we drive by the temple on the way home?
D: Sure.
S: I love to see the temple. It makes me happy. If Mom drove by the temple 1000 times she would probably cry.

The moon followed us all the way home. We opened up the blinds on Scott's bedroom window so that the kids could see it. Katie loved to see her shadow on the dark floor, framed in the shape of the window. The moon shone brightly from behind a thin veil of clouds that drifted across the sky. Scott thought it looked like a storm, and he is very scared of tornadoes. He told R earlier in the week that he had been scared of tornadoes one night but he had prayed and then he felt better.

D: Do you want me to leave your blinds open so you can see the moon?
S: No, I would be scared for the storms.
D: Should I just close it then?
S: Yes, but then I might be scared of the dark. But then I could just say a prayer like I did with Hayden at the soccer game when we couldn't find Luke.
D: You guys said a prayer together?
S: Yes. We looked for Luke and couldn't find him. That was for 3 minutes. Then Hayden said a prayer. That was for 2 minutes.
D: And then when did you find Luke? Was it right after the prayer?
S: It was 5 minutes later. So he looked for us for 10 minutes.

Explosive Writing

We went to teacher interviews at Scott's school after his first week in grade one. His teacher noticed that he was very good at reading, but he didn't like to write very much. She asked him why and he shrugged a bit.

We explained to her how he had avoided singing for a long time, thinking that he couldn't really do it. And then one day in the car he suddenly sang along with one of his songs and said, "Mom! Did you just hear me?! I just did singing!" After that big breakthrough, he sang along with every song for weeks afterwards.

Reading was similar. Scott did lots of reading practice with R and knew how to identify all sorts of words, but once it was time to read a book he always took the passenger seat. Sometimes I would ask him to just read such and such a word and he would be adamant that he didnt' want to.

And then in August R worked with him a bit to brush up on his reading for school and he blasted through one book with hardly a mistake. He was elated. Suddenly he wanted to read everything in sight. He would go to bed with a stack of books and his nightlight. One morning I saw light coming from his room and peeked through the crack to see him in bed reading a book aloud to himself. I described this to the teacher and said that reading just "exploded" for him, and we thought writing would do the same once he tried it.


"Scott Bunny Trouble
The story was about Ralph kicking a soccer ball. And he was wrecking everything. The farmer thought Ralph was trying to eat his cauliflour. And he was sad and the other bunnies were worried and the mama was sad. My favourite part was when Ralph got free. The farmer letted Ralph free because he was the Easter Bunny."

Scott did up a book report between sessions of conference and then addressed and mailed the envelope himself that afternoon. He was very motivated because he has his eye on a Lego toy and was only 8 dollars short. I had suggested that he just read his book and write the report -- just write the whole thing fast without worrying about details. The whole process took him less than an hour and required no prodding from me. When he was writing it, he asked for some help to figure out what to write. I just asked him questions about the book and then told him to write down whatever answer he had just given me.

Afterwards he said, "I think writing exploded for me."

First-Ever Family Photo Shoot

We have never done a "professional" family photo shoot before. I didn't realize what a process it can be. But in the end, we got some really great photos, so it was totally worth it.

There is so much planning involved. Location is a big thing. Fortunately, our photographer had a spot in mind on the ridge above the Bow River on the way to Cochrane. It's funny, I had noticed this spot recently and pulled off the road to check it out one time when we were coming home from Cochrane in September, because it looked like a really nice spot. When I heard that she wanted to shoot photos there, I was excited.

The real headache was deciding what to wear. It was getting late in the season, so the possibility of being cold was a concern, on top of everything else. I think I brought home two massive bags from the mall with anything and everything that seemed like a remote possibility. In the end I think we used 2 or 3 of these new items, sending everything else back. One of the big problems is that everyone has different ideas about clothes and colours. While trying on clothes. I give Scott a blue shirt with white dots on it to try.

S: I'm not wearing that shirt! That shirt is for girls! My friends don't wear shirts like that!
D: Check out these pants. They are bright orange.
S: Are those jeans?
D: Yes.
S: I like those. Let me try those on. My friend Noah has red jeans. He wears them sometimes.



He wears those bright orange pants all the time now, but he didn't wear them in the photo. I got a new sweater out of the deal, so that was a big plus.

On the big day when we were supposed to shoot, the weather was poor and there didn't seem to be much sun. That was going to be a problem because we wanted to get silhouettes at sunset. It's kind of funny to think that we were worried about what colours we were wearing, since we were hoping to just be black silhouettes in the final product. After considerable hand-wringing, we canceled the session... and then the sun came out.

The next day we saw a gap in the weather and we decided to try again. The temperature started to drop when the sun was going down, but the kids were real troopers and they did really well. We got so many great photos, and I am glad that we did it. We are especially happy to have the hand-in-hand silhouette picture hanging in our stairwell at home, where it can last for years and years to come.

Quotes About Life, Death & Luck

Katie: When girls die, their hair turns to rainbows.
Karla: What? Really?
Scott: That's not true.
Katie: That's what my mom told me.
R: I said that you have to DYE your hair to make it rainbow-coloured.


Playing catch with a football, Karla is catching more balls than Scott-
S: Karla, you are doing pretty well at catching the ball. (Surprised tone)
Karla: Well, I have had a bit more practice than you. So that probably helps.
S: No. It's probably just luck.


Katie: I am growing bigger.
Karla: You are going to grow more and more until you are really tall.
Katie: As tall as Dad?
Karla: No. Probably as tall as your mom.
Katie: Right. Because I am going to grow up to be a mom with kids. And Scotty will be a dad with kids.
Scott: No I'm not. I'm going to live here until I die.

Labour Day

For the last three years Scott and I have gone to the Labour Day Classic football game to see the Stampeders play the Eskimos. We have had the benefit of free tickets each time (including the year that I won a free pair by dancing with pom poms). When Labour Day came around this year, we didn't have any free tickets. I thought about buying some, but instead, we figured out a free version to enjoy our favourite part of the game:



We parked near the stadium and walked to the south end to watch the CF-18s buzz the stadium right after the national athem. They circled over Glenmore Reservoir and then came roaring back for a second pass (which is the one I got on video). It was awesome.

Afterwards, we listened to the game on the radio as we drove to Peter's and got milkshakes with Oreo & butterscotch. Total cost was $9.50, and this time Katie got to take part in the action.

We spent much of the rest of the day sorting through the basement to make more space for some of the new play equipment we've acquired.

Here are some quotes:
S: What are you doing with those shirts?
R: Getting rid of them because they're too small for Dad.
D: Actually, they're too big. I got them when I was a little bit fatter.
S: So are you going to throw them away?
D: No, we'll take them to the Goodwill store.
S: Oh yeah. They have lots of fat shirts at Goodwill. All of them fat.

S: What do we do next?
D: We need to have family night.
S: Oh yeah. And we need to have a treat. And it needs to be sugary.
R: It needs to be sugary?
S: If it's not sugary, then it's not family night.

Family night was memorable. We did blessings for going back to school, which was very sweet. Afterwards, we played hide-and-seek. We added in a stuffed gorilla as someone who could hide, since we don't have that many people to play.

When it was time for bed Scott struggled to get to sleep. I went in and sat in his room, which often is enough to help him relax. When the lights were off and we were sitting in the darkness he said, "Dad, I can't wait for tomorrow... to go to my school, and to have recess, and the new playground."

Summer 2013: Backyard Archery Party

Our second day at the Buckskin Lodge (aka Grandma & Grandpa's house) was packed with action. In the morninge went to the most amazing park in the history of the world.



Brooklyn's Playground was recently built to be accessible to children with wheelchairs or other special needs. It is huge and it is fabulous, and my parents donated to the cause -- they have their names on a cobblestone out front.



The playground has all the stuff you would normally expect at a playground, but it is centered around a series of decks and ramps that are much more accessible than normal. There are a few little areas for younger ages in the back, and in the front there are special swings that allow children with upper-body challenges to have fun swinging.



We left the playground to eat at the Pizza Pie Cafe (formerly known as Craigo's), which is becoming a big family favourite. For a reasonable price (ie: a fistful of dollars) you can eat from their pizza & salad buffet, and they can provide you a gluten-free pizza to order for only a few dollars more.



Grandma joined us for a movie (Crood's) and then we went back to the house to eat dinner and shoot arrows. Once again, Scott was SUPER EXCITED to shoot arrows. He used to have a plastic bow with suction-cup arrows, so he figured he was already a bit of a modern-day Robin Hood. If he was a medieval prince of theives, then Katie was a princess. She didn't have a princess dress to wear, but one of Grandma's sparkly shirts worked quite well.



It took some coaching to help him get things right, but Scott made quick progress with the arrows. Plenty of the first arrows ended up in the dirt, but pretty soon he was putting nearly half of them into the foam antelope.



Grandpa pays out at a rate of one quarter for every arrow in the target. Scott cleared about 2 bucks on the evening, at which point he bumped up against the house limit (Grandpa ran out of quarters).



Every day of this vacation we try something new, and every time we finish Scott immediately asks to go back and repeat that activity the next day. This day was no different: another great day. A high-five sort of day.



Here's a quote from our conversation after the shooting was over--
S: Why did you give me the heaviest bow?
D: Because I thought you were the strongest one
S: I'm not as strong as you.
D: But aren't you the strongest and best and smartest for everything?
S: No, just smartest.