Makes me happy that Brandon knows how to start & safely maintain a fire outdoors.
That’s the fire kit he brings to camp, on the left is some dryer lint and it’s an excellent fire starter! He also has 4 ways to light the fire, from the most basic flint & steel to matches, a bic lighter and an electric lighter. Finally a bellows to help blow air where it’s most needed. It’s prepacked in his hiking backpack at the top so he’s always ready to go when needed. 🙂
Last night we took Brandon to the meeting point for his scout camp and found out that John the head Scout leader passed away. 🙁 I believe he was in his 80s but still it sucks very much and I will miss him. He was such a positive influence on countless children over the years so the group will definitely feel a huge loss. I don’t have any other details, camp was cancelled and I guess I’ll wait to hear about when his funeral will be. Sigh 2023 has not been a good year so far and I hope this is the end of people we know dying.
Saturday Brandon was feeling a lot better and in the afternoon I went with Darcy to take the Cub scouts (and a few Beavers) out for a hike at the Eldred King Woodlands. Haha one thing that’s cute about kids are, near the end when they’re super tired they stop asking how much longer and really drag their feet lol… The kids were lucky as path we took was fairly flat with gentle slopes and hills to walk on. It was about 1C which is great because you can get a good workout in and not sweat too much, that and it wasn’t super wet either.
Steve was not available so I was the only other leader there (though there were a few parents who came along) and I was at the rear hence most of my photos being from behind lol. Anyway I think we did about 7 or 8 km which isn’t too bad and I know I certainly enjoyed myself. 🙂
Sunday morning Maggie took Brandon to play badminton so I was home alone, did some cleaning and chilled with the cat. In the afternoon after Brandon’s swimming class we went to Estelle’s house for a family gathering, we didn’t do anything for Family day a couple of weeks back so this worked pretty well.
I just like to take pictures of the kids, they’re so funny and it was great to capture the moments where Georgia & my mom were playing. Hehe the last two photos are when Lily went to hide and poo, thankfully she won’t remember me disturbing her lol!
Overall a great weekend, makes me feel very lucky. 🙂
Yesterday the cub scouts had a Nerf battle at Archery Circuit and it took so much will power to not grab a gun and kill all the kids lol. Watching them play really brought back my airsoft memories, ahh good times, maybe when Brandon is a bit older we’ll play some of that. Anyway the facility was pretty cool and the kids had a great time which is what matters.
I also took some video and it turned out pretty well.
The first two videos are in 4K 120p slowed to 30 fps, the next video is part of a match shot in 4K 60p on my Canon EOS R5. The kids weren’t really aggressive which is natural, I was trying to tell each team in order to win, you have to advance farther forward but it’s nerve racking when someone is shooting at you (even if it’s just Nerf).
I should have let Brandon bring some of our Nerf guns, ahh well next time.
So Scouts Canada has put the kibosh on all outdoor activities which essentially stops scouting altogether. The Cubs had a bike ride planned for today and well we all happened to show up at the same place at same time. 😉
We biked for about 2 1/2 hours and covered 9km but man that dirt path really killed Brandon and I… I have a hybrid bike and it’s not the best thing to use off road, by the time we exited I was worried I might throw up lol. Riding on the road is not difficult but yeah riding in the dirt really sucks and I’ll know better for next time.
With all the walking at Camp Bison & this, I think I’m good for exercise for the rest of the week haha. I hope after 28 days the government loosens restrictions, I guess we’ll see but if not here’s another casualty to COVID19 & 2020.
With Brandon doing so many after school activities and things ramping up at work, I haven’t had much time to post on my blog so here’s a large update and a few random photos from the week. It was foggy earlier in the week in Toronto and I cross this bridge everyday, thought it looked pretty good so I took a photo and it turned out alright. Halloween was wet, stupid rain but we still had a bunch of kids come with us and Brandon had a great time. The pumpkin we carved last week looked great and we’ll do another one next year.
Saturday Brandon did piano, Kumon and badminton but didn’t have time for boxing or BJJ.
In the afternoon I dropped Brandon off at the Canadian Warplane Heritage Museum in Hamilton for a Cub scout sleep over and man that place was pretty cool. I picked him up this morning and walked around a bit now I wish I stayed over with the kids!
To see the planes up close, the fighters and bombers was awesome and it makes you think what it’s like to fly something like that.
Today was a pretty slow day, I swapped both the Toyota Prius & Maggie’s Lexus CT 200h all season tires for winters, my tires are a couple of years older than Maggie’s and probably needs replacing soon. Maggie will need a new set of summers next year but I’ll worry about that in the spring but more alarming is the wear pattern on her tires. I asked my mechanic and he thinks there’s a problem with the alignment, since her winters are brand new I’ll bring her car in so it doesn’t prematurely wear the winters out.
Got Brandon to help me with my car and he had a good time. I showed him how to inspect the brakes, where the car’s lift points are and how to use the torque wrench. He’s just strong enough to torque the tires to 90 foot pounds, Toyota calls for 82 but my mechanic told me to torque them slightly higher so I did.
A fun relaxing weekend, I was on call for some work stuff but nothing came of it woo. Tomorrow it’s back to work, just counting down the days till Dec as I’m off after the 6th. 😀
Things started Saturday morning so I got a Canon EOS R body a few weeks back and in the morning I picked up a Canon RF 24-105 F4L IS USM lens, it’s used but in great condition, I will eventually get the RF 24-70 F2.8L IS USM, it’s substantially more expensive than the 24-105 so that means maybe next month lol. 😉
In the afternoon we went to the annual Eco Spirit hike at the Blue Springs Scout Reserve, it’s an annual Beaver/Cub Scout event and of course the kids (and Brandon) had a great time.
Since I’m a reserve leader this year, I attended the event as a parent and took more photos of Brandon. They put on a good show and the walk at night is a lot of fun, of course I busted out the night vision so I could see everything. 😉
Today we were lazier, Maggie went to play badminton while Brandon and I hung around the house. In the evening we picked up a pumpkin from Metro, he drew an outline and we carved it together.
LOL he didn’t like to touch the insides of the pumpkin but it turned out well and he said it looks exactly what he pictured in his mind. 😀
So today Brandon did Apple day for Cub Scouts which is an annual tradition and it’s mainly how we fund our operations. I have to say the Beavers are much cuter but B is my son so that’s who I’m posting pictures of. 🙂
The Tim Hortons @ Vic Park & 401 have always let us canvass outside their store and it’s almost not fair and everyone was very nice about things. We called it a day around 10:30am, there were a lot of kids coming and Brandon had a play date with a friend.
Dennis came over, the kids had pizza and played most of the afternoon. I beat them in Nerf a bit, lol consider that training to get back into airsoft but it was a pretty relaxing day and too bad there’s work tomorrow.
So this weekend was the first Cub Scout camp of the year which means Maggie and I had the house to ourselves lol. We dropped Brandon off on Friday night and it was pretty chilly, at 7:30pm my car said the temperature was 3C but Brandon probably had the best equipment and he said he didn’t feel cold over the night. On Saturday Maggie and I didn’t do much, we went out for a long drive which was nice and ate dinner out by ourselves which was kind of fun but it was uneventful.
Today I picked Brandon up from camp after lunch and you could tell he was tired. The kids always are, they sleep late and do a lot of physical activities, that’s alright Maggie and I had some stuff to do around the house anyway so it worked out well.
Stephanie sent me the photos of Brandon, I was just mentioning on the drive to camp that I should show the boy how to start a fire, well looks like they beat me to it. Apparently he did a good job too which is good to hear, it’s a useful skill to have. I remember sleeping in the tabins and man they’re much nicer than when I was a kid! There’s a door with a screen net, the units are actually really clean and there are even mats to lay on, I always slept on a crappy foam pad lol.
Other than that it was a pretty relaxing weekend and one I was really looking forward to. Looks like there will be a support staff strike tomorrow, if there is I’ll bring Brandon to work with me as I have a lot of meetings to attend and even have to go further downtown to the other office ugh.
So this morning we went to Megan’s house to celebrate her birthday and it was fun. Though it was her special day, we spent most of the time with Lily and she’s really fattening up which is great. Unfortunately Estelle & Georgia couldn’t make it since they were sick and yeah if someone is sick, they better stay away!
Hehe photographing the baby is so much fun but her movements are so erratic and the stupid Canon 5D MKII has such a slow antiquated auto focusing system that I missed focus a lot. 🙁 Really missing the 6D MKII right now, I think after I get that thing back I’ll explore getting a more modern backup.
Right after lunch, I dropped Maggie off at home and took the boy to L’Amoreaux Park for our fall scout park cleanup. There were many more kids today and the weather was great though a bit on the hot side.
It’s such a great thing to make the kids do, to respect the environment and to know that picking up garbage is ok but my god people are so damn messy. It’s very depressing to see that people who go to the park can leave so much junk around, but we had a good showing and did a good job at cleaning things up. All my kids know better than to litter so I guess as long as the next generation is better that’s all that matters.
When we returned home, I went for a walk, only did 6km today as my feet were already a bit sore then we spent the rest of the afternoon/evening at home. Pretty tired, ready for bed soon and look forward to going back to work tomorrow. 🙂
