Tuesday, June 30, 2009

U can't see us!


The boys had a great time playing in the back yard at Grandpa's house, they have a hay field. The boys went sneaking into the field and dissapered, I eventulally found them hiding in the bush. They really did a great job I could bearely see them, I thought these cool pictures would be great for us to look back on and show the boys getting along and having fun.



Monday, June 29, 2009

Transformers 2: Movie Day


With the kids on summer vacation and me on a weeks holiday from work we are filling the day up with some fun activities. It is supposed to be rainy and miserable tommorrow so we will be taking in a movie at the theatre for the afternoon. The kids have been very excited about getting to Transformers 2 so that will be our plan for tommorrow. We have been watching the previews for weeks and are very excited to see what Optimus and Bumblebee will be getting themselves into this time around.The kids really love going to the movies, and I really like to take them.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Loose Cannons

Boys will be Boys now won't they, the boys were using Grandpa's truck for some entertainment and were pretending to be army men. They would bunch up with their toy guns and imagine themselves in a battle. They even did a big leap out of the back of the truck, Kohl did a cool roll when he landed and jumped up like nothing ever happend and went back to the hay field on the side on the side of the house for some hidden camo action.

Taking names, they are getting ready for the battle

Kohl in mid leap off the back, you should have seen him tuck and roll.


Jay with the combat pose, off he goes, he's probably lucky that Grandpa wasn't watching when he was leaping over the side.

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Camera Critter : Enjoying the sun!



We finally had some warm days and that meant it was time to start enjoying the pool, the kids wanted the pup to get cooled off with them the other day so she took a dip with them.
Here she is getting her swimming legs under her, what a graceful swimmer, she looked like she was drowning for a few minutes.














She found one of the kids floats and decided to take a break, you have to love the pose including sticking out the tongue at us.















After a good swim a girl has to dry off and warm up, Breigh does both by wrapping herself in her blanket and spazzing out.














Finally just to be sure she could have a bath, she decided to roll around on the lawn for a while and get covered in dirt and grass, she is smart one. The kids had a great day in the pool with Breigh and are looking forward to many more great days.

Friday, June 26, 2009

Time for a Water Fight!

With one nice day while we were away on the weekend we couldn't fight the urge to break out the water hose and water guns. The kids had a blast soaking each other down and occasionally hitting a parent/adult that wandered into the line of fire.

Jay, Kohl, Blake and cousins Connor and Lannie getting soaked,

notice Trin is no where to be seen, she was hiding inside.

Kohl taking aim on his next target


Blake taking matters into his own hands with the hose and sprayer, watch out guys

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Down on the Farm


We visited Grandpa's farm this weekend and had a great time. While the cousins were visiting Blake wondered off with Cousin Brooklyn to check out the sheep in the field. They were like 2 little peas in the pod and had a great little conversation as the watched the sheep grazing away. It was one of those moments that you just had to snap a few shots of.

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Glow Bowling with Grandma

We decided to go Glow bowling with the kids Saturday night with their grandparents. Glow bowling is basicly the same as normal bowling but under a black light so everything glows. The kids had a blast with the cool music and disco ball. They enjoyed some coaching moments from Grandma and in the end the kids beat the parents and won a slushie from the treat bar before we left.



Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Happy Birthday!


My puppy recently turned one and she is always willing to pose for the camera. We got some great pictures of her on the weekend while she was visiting with her mother and meeting her new siblings. She is growing into such a great dog and I think with the new addition of one of her little brothers she will be even better.

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Here's Mr. Pig



I took a field trip with my daughters class to a historic settlement here in the Cape Breton Highlands. It was a fantastic day where we got to travel through time to the evolution of homes in this area. On the tour we got to meet some of the animals, this little Pig was very interested in what we were doing and came over snorting at the fence. I missed a great shot of a mini flock of 6 sheep that took off on the run and jumped over their rock wall fence. It was comical to see them follow the leader over the fence but it happened so fast I couldn't get the camera out of the bag in time. Check out the post below for more of the great trip!


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Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Daughter Daddy Day


Today I got to accompany Trinity's class on their trip to a historic Gaelic settlement in Iona. She was very excited I was able to take the day off work to spend time with her one on one.


This was our first stop along the trip, this was the housing in Scotland called a (Black House circa 1790) that the first Scottish settlers lived in before coming to Cape Breton. Notice the Sod Roof and stone walls. I can only imagine the cramped feeling a family would have in this home, you would certainly have to get along.




This is the inside, notice the wooden structure on the back wall, those are called the sleeping boxes, you would crawl in them and close up the door to keep the smoke smell out. The black chain hanging down was a fire pit that would basically burn all day, they would heat and cook their home off this. Behind us was what I would call a animal pen that would have been used to keep your animals if the weather was extream or you were fighting with your neighbors. Circa 1780




This was the 2nd stop on our journey, this was the log cabin(circa 1810) built by the first settlers. I can only imagine the feeling they would have after weeks on a boat arriving on the coast to a full forest and no shelter.

This was the inside, as you can see they have learned to build a more advanced heating system with a flu to evacuate the smoke. We got to see all kinds of neat things in here from the wheat grinding wheel and the loom to make material out of wool.


This was our next house and I missed the outside shot, but this was an original house from approximately 1829. The house was called a "Center Chimney Home" as the fireplace was directly in the middle of the home. In the winter they would shut up areas of the house and centralize in the kitchen and bedroom that was directly above it. There were holes in the floor to allow heat to rise up to the bedroom above.



Here was the animal area, there was one pig, a pen of chickens and a flock of 8 sheep, the sheep must have been camera shy because when I got up to take a picture of them they took off and jumped over their stone wall fence and took off down the walking path.

This is the class, it was broken into 3 groups, my group is on the end 3 girls and 2 boys.


Here we were into the home from 1865 this was becoming more advanced and had a stove instead of a fireplace. This type of home was called a "Centre Hallway House" , it was originally built in Troy, near Port Hastings and was brought to the Museum and restored. It also started to have some fancy dishes and other more modern things.



The outside of the Centre Hallway House


This school house, opened in 1917 and closed in 1966 the Portage School House was used to hold all the students from a local area in one classroom with one teacher.



The kids fit right in for their lesson of the day, we were taught about the teachers that worked these early school. They were all young women that were not allowed to date or be married. They had to live with their parents and were not allowed to be out at night after 8pm. They had to arrive at the school house around 5 in the morning to be sure the fire was started and wood was available for the day. We also learned that neither the students nor teacher could speak any Galic in the School and had to speak only in English.



This Huge Church (Mhalagawatch Church circa 1874) was actually moved from the Bras d'Or Lakes in 2003, they had a photo album inside that showed the process they took to move the church in, it was really cool to see the move.

This next building was the hit of the trip, the General Store. This is the store that the kids would go to for things that mom needed to make meals. It was also the beginning of trade as the communities began importing items from other areas. There was also an area that had catalogues that people could order from. The store had treats, traditional "Rock Candy" which many kids were buying, I don't think they were priced to time as $1 a stick might be a bit rich for the 1920's. It was really good and we bought a stick for everyone back home.



Here the kids are enjoying their rock candy sticks while watching the blacksmith at work.


It was incredible watching the Blacksmith work, here he was making nails, think about it each nail they used the Blacksmith would have to take the time to make one at a time. It took him a couple of minutes to make 1 nail. He also showed us how to twist metal to make a decorative rod.

The girls were starting to get a little tired, good thing it was almost time to head out.





On the way home we remembered although we had a great time we didn't get any pictures of us together. We smiled pretty for this one as Trinity talked about me going to her field trip next year too.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Mr. Resurgence


One of the things I am most enjoying with the current Nascar season is the resurgence of Mark Martin. After a couple of years driving part time for Gin/DEI he has returned to full time status with Hendrick Motorsport. After his win this weekend at Michigan he now has the lead in wins with 3. If not for some bad luck to start the season he would be very close to leading the points, although that really doesn't matter because of the current points system with the most wins he could be leading the points when we get to the all important chase for the championship. It would be a great Cinderella story for Nascar to see Martin finally earn the championship that has eluded him for so many years.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Sunset Beauty



I was recently organizing the pictures off our computer and came across this shot I took of my wife last summer on a trip to the beach with the kids. I totally love this picture of her with the sun setting in the background. I remember the day, it was a very relaxing trip to the beach and everyone was just kind of winding down at the end of the day. Carrie was wondering around the beach and she seemed so peaceful and relaxed. You would have to appreciate our lifestyle it seems as though you never get to relax and just be together and the times you actually do you are normally too tired to enjoy the moment. This was one of those nights when all was just right.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Cookie Time


A couple of weeks ago the kids had a fair day at the school and one of the kids favorite things is the yard sale in the gym, they always find all kinds of (*treasures*). This year Kohl's favorite find was an easy bake microwave oven, it came in the original box with a couple of pizza mixes and he wanted to bake bad. We checked it out that night while Carrie was at work and to his disapointment and my relief there was no pan in the oven to bake with. I thought maybe he would forget about it but everyday he would ask when we would by him a new pan for his oven. I finally thought up a new idea today after going around shopping at some stores, and we made a date to bake tonight. I took some tin foil and quadruple folded it and made a small square pan with sides, I even impressed myself with this one. He took off upstairs for his baking set we were ready to bake Pizza, he came down very disappointed, his mixes have gone missing. We looked around a bit but couldn't find them anywhere, seeing the puffy eyes coming I went into back up mode. I knew I had a 1/2 bag of cookie mix in the cupboard so why not try to make cookies instead that would be tastier than the (God only knows how old) Pizza Mixes anyway. With homemade pan, batter and toy microwave oven in hand we got down to business!


Here are my two super helpers giving the batter the final mix up and it appears taste test.

These would be the faces that made it all worth the effort to pull this off!




Trying their hardest to be patient


The final product, I was also baking a batch in the oven to make it go a little faster, we were right at bed time and didn't want to be too late.





The glimmer tells me that it tasted pretty good, the battery died right after this picture but Blake had just about the same expressions as Kohl just a little goofier as you'd expect from him!




Saturday, June 13, 2009

Camera Critter Birthday Kisses

We celebrated our oldest son's birthday last weekend and as normal with tradition his mother takes icing off the cake and smears it all over his face. It usually is good for a laugh to see how she is going to outsmart him year after year but as normal she got the job done. I faked him out from behind and when he turned to defend himself she attacked. A new tradition he decided to add this year was the dog wash, he likes to share with his dog and decided she should get all the icing off his face. I'm not too sure that I would like the dog wash but they seemed to love it.







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