Took Brandon to Silverdale this morning to do some shooting and it was great!
Brandon got to shoot his GSG-16 rifle, he enjoys it quite a bit and even though he didn’t initially like the recoil from 9mm pistols, he enjoyed shooting the Glock 19 on the steel plates. 😉 The ting from striking steel is very satisfying and I’m glad I can share this wonderful hobby with him.
We went on vacation to Myrtle Beach (yes again) the last week and while it’s not cold here in Toronto, it was much warmer and nicer down south. My mom accompanied us down so she and Brandon shared a room. It was a very laid back vacation, we’ve been there many times so we mainly enjoyed nature and the beach.
One of the days, Brandon and I did break off and go for a nature walk and to do some birding (more on that later), for the short hike it was interesting that it felt like walking around nature at home but I didn’t recognize the trees or leaves on the ground. We visited WonderWorks, it’s kind of like the Ontario Science Center but a bit more fun oriented.
For birding, Brandon and I mainly walked along the Myrtle Beach and saw a bunch of brown pelicans and seagulls fishing (and fighting over food). We also visited Huntington Beach state park where we saw the some egrets and a pink spoonbill fishing in the marsh.
I haven’t taken many photos recently and this trip really revitalized my love of photography which was great. I also spent some really amazing quality time with Brandon, some of the best moments I’ve had in the last little while… On another note, Brandon really liked using the Canon EOS R6, let’s see over the years he went from the Canon T4i to M50 to RP to the R to now the R6, lol what a lucky kid huh. He did mention how he wished he could get closer to the animals and yeah his EF 70-300mm lens is a bit short, debating if I should get the new RF 100-400 as that thing looks to be a great value.
We came back yesterday afternoon and you could tell Slinky really missed us. A great way to end 2023, today we’ll just be relaxing at home as I’m tired from all the driving and enjoying the last long weekend of the year.
This morning Brandon and I went for a walk at Lynde Shores and man I absolutely love that place.
Hearing the wind whistle through the leaves in the trees and the smells of nature it all makes me very happy. 🙂
Maggie’s dad had surgery to relieve the clot in his brain last week and has been recovering well, well enough that she’ll be coming home for Saturday. I told her that if she wanted to spend more time with her folks that’s fine but she wanted to come home. Can’t wait for her to get back!
Since Brandon’s birthday was last Thursday we had a weekend bonanza of birthday events… Friday we went to African Lion Safari with my mom, Estelle & Georgia.
For Brandon and I, it was seeing the elephants that was special. They were removed from the Toronto Zoo many years ago and seeing (and smelling) these majestic animals in person is really something else. It was a great trip and I’m glad that everyone had a great time.
Saturday we had Brandon’s party at home, a much smaller event compared to previous years and since we have a pool it’s easy to entertain lol.
It was a mix of kids from Brandon’s BJJ classes & kids from his current school and the nice thing about kids are they all play together easily. Oh on a side note, all the kids and one of the parents that stayed loved Sinky lol… Kept remarking what a great friendly cat he was and yeah he’s a very awesome cat for sure. 🙂
Finally yesterday we had our traditional family gathering to celebrate my mom, Estelle, Brandon, Imran & Frank (not there, had to work) birthdays in August.
It was a lunch thing and we returned home mid afternoon. In the evening, Brandon and I went for a nice night walk, I love doing that and am glad the boy will join me on those adventures.
A pretty good weekend (especially for Brandon) and it’s back to the salt mines today lol.
Picked Brandon up from camp last night and it was great to see him. He said he had a decent week, though was frustrated at the younger kids for not listening and messing around when instructions were given lol yeah that happens. Next year he wants to attend but as a leader in training instead, he saw a few of the older scouts doing that and thought it’d be fun.
Before I picked Brandon up though I went for a walk with Mike, he wanted to explore the trails at Edward Gardens so I arrived an hour early to take a picture of the bugs and they did not disappoint!
I was using the Canon RF 100-500mm lens and it’s macro capabilities aren’t bad at all at 0.33x magnification (though I’m not selling my Canon RF 100mm macro lol). As for the park, when Mike arrived, we walked down the main path down to Sunnybrook park. He wasn’t feeling super hot though so we turned back soon but it was really nice to get out and walk around at least.
With Brandon returning home, I slept much better last night. He has a lot of experience outdoors so I was not worried something would happen but still I feel better when he’s around. I’ll sleep the best after Maggie returns from China, right now that looks to be around middle of August but we’ll see.
Before I get to Brandon being away, let me make a post about what Brandon did 2 weeks ago. He did equestrian camp at Wake Robin Farms and he quite enjoyed it. The boy loves animals and while he was the oldest (and only boy) attending he said he had a great time.
At the end of the week long camp, the kids put a show on for the parents and that’s what I took pictures of. Brandon mainly rode a horse name Texico but he was unavailable for the last day event so the horse pictured is named JJ. If he wants to do it again in the future I’m definitely game, I think it’s a wonderful thing to learn and I’d love to do horse back riding as well.
Today I dropped Brandon off at Scout camp, it’s Pokemon themed and he’ll be gone the whole week so it’s just Slinky and I. I’m sure he’ll have fun and he’s very familiar with Woodland trails and I have the week off lol. Frankly I’d prefer everyone to be home, this week I’m sure I’ll just be an introvert and stay in.
The Canada day long weekend has been going well, I’m still recovering from shingles, the rash has gotten much smaller but the pain has remained and sometimes there’s a sharp stabbing pain from the right side of my toros which is pretty annoying. Hopefully when the disease subsides completely I’ll be back to normal. Friday & Saturday Brandon had some friends over, end of the school year and he did well academically so it was hard to say no.
Yesterday we didn’t do much, went out for lunch then relaxed at home. Since I’m not sleeping well, I’ve been taking naps but not being a nap person, I sleep too long and am groggy afterwards. 🙁 Today Maggie went to play badminton and we all met up to have some dim sum which was great. I guess I’m the biggest reason we didn’t do anything, driving is difficult due to the abrupt bumps in the road, when I hit one there’s quite a bit of pain so I’m trying not to go anywhere really.
In other news, I picked up a Classic Army MP5A3 for Brandon.
He’s turning 13 in August and I wouldn’t mind playing airsoft with him, he seems interested so why not. There’s a local field in Clarington that’s around a 30 minute drive and they have newbie days, when I’m fully recovered we’ll give that place a shot and see how it goes. The MP5 was one of my first guns (albeit I had a TM) and I really love that platform so it’s quite nice to hold one again. We’ll see what the future brings but I stopped playing because of my fatherhood duties, perhaps now that he’s older I can get back into the hobby. 🙂
My mom is on a cruise on the other side of the world so we did a quick mother’s day thing for Maggie this morning. Brandon made this really pretty paper flower and then we went for a bike ride in the morning.
Enjoying some of the trails out here in the Durham region, it’s been a while and I was pretty tired at the end but didn’t want to show it lol. In the afternoon I went to take a few photos of the flowers that Maggie planted in our garden. I don’t like that stuff but it’s certainly pretty!
Relaxed the rest of the day and I got to reflect on what a great wife and mother Maggie is, life is pretty damn good.
Today was certainly a busy day as Brandon had two important activities, his BJJ grading and a scouting event later in the afternoon.
Since we had the scouting thing, I asked Kevin the main coach if Brandon could do the grading with the 9-11 year olds so we’d have enough time and he took it easy on the small kids. Brandon is pretty good with not taking advantage of less experienced or younger kids so the coach was totally cool with it.
My boy earned his solid grey belt, he’s worked hard in the sport and definitely deserves it! I’m very proud of him and it’s great to see his progress.
About 45 minutes later, he joined the Scouts joined the Cubs & Beavers at iFly and while Brandon was scared, he went through with it and had a good time.
Little Georgia went too but she was so frightened, she didn’t participate. Ahh well I think she’s like 6 and that’s how it goes sometimes with the younger kids. iFly looks like a lot of fun and maybe I’ll take the family there in the future, it’s pretty close to our house so why not right.
It was a pretty busy day, all for Brandon but that’s my job as his dad and I am thankful for it. 🙂
