Fright night, Brandon was at a friend’s house so I took Maggie to the local park in the area to try walking around at night with NV and she enjoyed herself. 🙂  Haha now I have to buy a 3rd device so we can go as a family, I think I’ll try and borrow Mario’s PVS-14 for next weekend and get out before it’s too cold. Last night it was Brandon’s turn but this time we went to Durham Forest.  That was fun because we’ve camped over there a few times as a Beaver & Cubs so it was nice to see the old campground.  We walked the perimeter, I don’t think there were any campers but even if they were they wouldn’t be able to see us.

LOL I need to put the camera higher so there’s less neck fat when taking pictures…  Ahh well I’m getting older I guess but in any case yeah the family had fun and maybe next week we can do it altogether if the weather permits.

I’m happy to report that Brandon no longer tests positive for COVID19 woo!  Of course that doesn’t mean he’s clear, the rapid tests are not that accurate and it’s just possible that viral loads are too low for the test to detect.  With that said he’s been completely symptom free for the last two days and looks like we dodged the worst of it with both Maggie and Brandon. 🙂

Still with that said, it’s recommended to stay home so that’s what we did and in the afternoon we carved some pumpkins or at least we tried to but the bases on both were completely ruined.  I guess pumpkins are not suppose to sit on just one spot so while cleaning the inside Brandon went through the bottom unfortunately.  That’s ok I decided I’ll get some new pumpkins and toss the old ones but still got a few pictures.

hehe he hates touching the guts and it’s always funny to see his reaction.  All in all a relaxing slow weekend which is exactly what I like, I guess we’re getting prepared for winter weekends where there’s not much to do. 🙂

So this week has been interesting, I’ve been mainly quarantining in the basement and whenever I go upstairs, I put my half face respirator with P100 filters on just to be safe and so far I’m still testing negative with the rapid tests.  Maggie was pretty much ok by Monday and working though she still had a sore throat.  By Wednesday everything cleared up and today the rapid tests are saying she’s not infected anymore woo!  Brandon has been a bit slower to recover, Monday & Tuesday he was still lethargic and tired but today he’s pretty good.  Still testing positive but much more alert and feeling better.

We’re lucky there’s a DDSB holiday on Monday so he has an extra day to recover and according to Ontario’s COVID guidelines, once you’re no longer symptomatic the boy can go to school.  He’ll have to wear a mask for another 10 days but can return to class.

I’m glad that COVID hasn’t been that serious for us and we’re definitely lucky here!

Over the weekend, Maggie mentioned she had a sore throat and was tired.  I didn’t think much of the latter because she says she’s tired often and takes naps in the afternoon but then yesterday Brandon came down with a bad headache and slept most of the day.  He still felt lousy this morning so I got him to do a COVID19 test and it came up positive, when I saw that Maggie and I both did one as well.

Looks like I’m the “lucky” one that’s not infected yet but imagine it’s only a matter of time.  We’ll quarantine and stay home, good thing we have everything we need here but Brandon’s still pretty sad today and it breaks my heart.  Haha wearing my half face respirator now and have two HEPA air fans running in the basement just to clean the air, hopefully that’ll help keep the germs away from me.

Brandon’s at a Scout camp this weekend so Maggie and I decided to go North to look at the leaf colours in Algonquin and it was great.  We hiked the Centennial Ridge trail because it’s very scenic and not too difficult for beginners.

While up top I also busted out the DJI Mini 2, yeah you’re not suppose to but other people were using theirs and I just happen to have mine with me… 😉

I am not very good at shooting video with my drone yet but it’s still fun.  I should have started recording earlier and finish with the drone on the ground but oh well.  A really nice relaxing day, I miss Brandon but sometimes it’s nice to get out without him around.

Saturday night Brandon and I went for a walk in the local conservatory around our house and it was great!  Clear skies but no moon (or at least none when we were out) and we were both using NODs lol.  He’s using my old PVS-14 while I run the BNVDs and we had a blast.  We saw a whole bunch of rabbits and toads, neat seeing the latter all around.

I ordered a repro FMA Ops-Core helmet for him to use, it looks ok and I put the Wilcox lanyard in place in case the mount breaks but I mean we’re just walking around so it’s nothing too strenuous.  That and now he can sweat in his own helmet instead of mine lol…  I do have 2 helmets an Ops-Core bump and ballistic but the ballistic is pretty heavy and not something I want to wear on a regular basis.

So yeah I haven’t posted in a while, August was really busy for us and I was very lazy but some updates coming about a trip we took at the end of the month. Anyway Brandon starts in a new school in Durham tomorrow and I think I’m more nervous about it than he is.  He seems really cool about it and knows he’ll make new friends quickly, man I wish I had that level of confidence when I was 12!  Anyway we’ll see how things go, he is a lot of fun so I suspect it’ll be a breeze but yeah settling into a new school always sucks.

Haha a day late, not because I forgot but I came back from a conference yesterday late afternoon and spent time with Brandon.  Man I can’t believe my little baby is turning 12 already, where does the time go…  To say I’m proud of him is an understatement, he’s more than I could ever ask for in a child and I can’t wait to see what the future has in store for him.

Daddy loves you always!

So yesterday my mom and sisters (and their families) came over to celebrate the August birthdays and it was a lot of fun!  Got to show them the new house, lol first thing everyone said was how far it was, yeah I’m on the North East end of Oshawa so that’s definitely a fair.  Next both Megan and Estelle love the space and that’s the nice thing about suburbia, you get a lot more space for your money.

Hehe they all liked the pool and the kids certainly played for a long time.  We had Japanese for dinner, the BBQ is pretty dirty and I haven’t cleaned it yet, next time.  After dinner some cake then presents for B lol…  It was great to have everyone here and I am looking forward to having them over again in the near future.

Oh Megan had a mask on because she’s the last of her family to have hand, foot and mouth disease, both Frank & Lily are fine.  Didn’t want to exclude her so we took the chance lol.