Lunch time snack

Been lazy with the postings. Here we are sitting at the table with the boys, camera and laptop all at once. Eric is hanging out this weekend rather then sitting on the sidelines watching Jakie play soccer.



Once the camera was out BigE wanted to have his picture taken. So lunch time shot number 2

The smile showed up about 3 seconds after the picture was taken. Oh well.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies!

So after having a little summer time fun we realized what we'd like more. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

Dada "Would you like to make some chocolate chip cookies?" [We don't bother with oatmeal because the subtly is lost]

BigE "Of course I would!"

Here's a little sample of why it's so much fun. Keep an eye on BigE's mouth. I'm not sure it doesn't stop chewing. Also that a cup in front of BigE is from the Big Apple in Colbourne, ON that was full of milk.



The first load of cookies is in the oven cooking. We're never really sure if the second batch will survive the 12-14 minutes of cooking time.

I have NO IDEA where he gets this from!

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Summer Time Fun

It's 23'c outside. Not too hot, not too cold. I'm sitting here drinking a nice cold honey brown beer. BigE's sporting a milk. BigE and I are taking turns dipping crackers into the over sized peanut butter container.

Does it get any better?

Quick update. I've been informed that the crackers are squares. Which is apparently an important point to make. And that they are delicious!

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Happy Birthday Auntie Karen

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Quote of the Day 19

Dada "Guess what? Tomorrow your staying home with Mama. Did you want to go to daycare instead?"

BigE "ummm ... I will stay home with Mama"

Dada "She'll be glad to hear that"

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Jumping Jacks

Celebrating the return of the camera, BigE wanted to share with you his new found jumping jack skills. He flat out refused to have a simple picture taken. Instead we bring you:



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Picture Pause

Update Tuesday: Computer reboot, pulled the batteries and memory card from the camera and things seem to be working.

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Just a word of warning. There may be a decided lack of photos and videos posted over the next few days.

When I went to download a picture of BigE taken today the computer saw the camera but for some reason was not able to transfer the pictures. Odd. The camera works fine. So until I can open a fresh can of patience tomorrow to see what is wrong, there will be a pause in pictures.

Now I was looking for an excuse to get a Nikon D40 (or D40X) or maybe a Canon SD1000 for portability. (Besides let's be honest, when I said 'or' I really meant 'and'.) But when it's not on my own terms it just doesn't feel the same.

Curious George

BigE has made a routine out of catching Lunar Jim in the mornings. (Look at that; CBC programming besides hockey being watched in our household!)

But what is really curious (ok no pun intended) is Curious George that comes on afterwards. BigE was given a reprieve from heading to daycare. He could snuggle Mama in the bed until the first commercial.

Sitting there I started thinking about the Man with the yellow hat. Check out this description from pbskids.org

He's Curious George's best friend and mentor, the reassuring parental presence who trusts George unconditionally, never expecting him to get into trouble. He's as well organized as one can be with a monkey in the house; well liked in the neighborhood; and a little goofy around the edges. In their spare moments, he and George can be found playing checkers or reading a book together.

Uhhh I feel soiled just copying that mountain of crap.

But on the drive in what struck me was that the Man in the Yellow Hat wears all Yellow. Except for his light brown boots. Then it dawned on me.

BigE will grow up to be the Man in the Yellow hat. Think about who loves yellow more then BigE?

Seriously. Think about it.

Jammie Day

Jammie Day is a wonderful noun. You hang out in your jammie's all day. No getting dressed. No daycare. No shopping. Just playing, snacks, shows and living room 'ventures.

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Making Ice Cream

Well we did it. We took Ice Cream in a bag and made ourselves an ice cream cone today. The ice cream froze in a couple of minutes. It thawed a little quicker then the commercial stuff. I guess that's what that seaweed compound is all about.

Anyways our secret ingredient was to add a teaspoon of Coco powder to make chocolate ice cream. Because as BigE put it

"Chocolate ice cream is the best!"

Next time we'll have to quickly premix the coco with some milk prior to adding to the little zip lock back. Next I'll have to figure out what to add to make other flavours.
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Lunch outside

After Sleeping Outside we had lunch outside today. We fired up the bucket BBQ with some charcoal and had some hot dogs. BigE cooked the hot dogs while Dada was allowed to cook the buns.

Then we took our hot dogs to the tent to have a snack on our new Diego Sleeping bag.


That's when we noticed the Chewdon, a great big dinosaur, at the back of our tent.

But then BigE informed me that he was our friend and wasn't going to eat us.

So after a few bites of hotdog we proceeded to have a nap in our sleeping bag for 5 minutes. Which apparently converted from little boy time means 5 seconds.



After going inside for a minute we came out to discover the Chewdon had eaten our hotdog right out of the ten. (And half a granola bar) Which wouldn't have been the last had BigE not given Arnie the last one off the grill on the way in.

Soccer Practice 8 - The Final Frontier

Today was the final soccer practice. After our usual Saturday morning breakfast with his buddy Monkey they headed back to our place to play with his new racetrack. After an hour of racing cards it was off to soccer.

Back in Soccer Practice 7 we noted BigE's reluctance to start practice. Well he did getting a little whiny and clingy early in the morning. But today there was no problems. He dove right into practice today.

It was a fairly light and relaxed soccer practice. Highlights include

• BigE finally is starting to get jumping jacks


• They had to all shout "I like soccer" through a pilon. Some did. Most wore it on their heads


• The soccer game was a mess as the kids were completely distract. (and some kid kept knocking down the pilon's used for the goals)

In the end somebody ended up with a "Way to Go" Certificate.

Hi Everyone

Greetings from the boy in the silly hat



Well not quite everyone. But the silly boy in the hat couldn't remember everyone.

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Sleeping outside

From the files of crap the kid can probably live without comes Diego Kid's Sleeping Bag. But who can resist a solid "But dada I really want to buy this".

Somebody really likes the idea of sleeping outside. I don't know how well this will go. Then again I need to find my sleeping bag and 16" inflatable goose down pillow top bed so we can rough it in the back yard. Right now the odds makers are running at 5:3 that we'll be lucky enough to get the sleeping bag actually into the tent.

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Ice Cream in a Bag

We're gonna have to try this on the weekend!

From a LifeHacker Weekend project comes a link to Ice Cream in a Bag.

After all everyone likes Ice cream. And who doesn't like a bag.

Quote of the Day 18

As BigE and Dada roll down the isle at Canadian tire

BigE "Hey rope. Dada I want to get some rope"

[Picks up some of that standard yellow nylon rope]

Dada "What do you want with rope?"

BigE "I want to climb something!"

Quote of the Day 17

One tired BigE to his big cousin baby sitter Jakie

BigE "I miss my mommy and daddy"

All Quiet on the Posting Front

It's been a rushed couple of days. We were out to Harry Connick Jr last night. Mama was very impressed.

All in all a good concert. Dada thought things were at their best when HC got off the Steinway grand concert piano and moved onto an old school upright piano. Funny thing. HC told the story of finding the old upright on the Steinway loading dock. It had been outside for years. They just gave it away.

Maybe if he travels through the home provience he can pick an old eight tonne relic at Nanny Dots!

Picasa Guide

From lifehacker.com comes a handy article Edit your digital photos with Picasa.

Yes Picasa is one of my favorite free apps. Used on every picture that gets uploaded theBusseyFamily.ca

Pictures from a cheap camera

After reviewing some of the pictures from BigE's camera this is about as good as it gets. And this one I worked really hard to keep from shaking the camera during the picture. Oh well it was only a $14 insurance policay anyways.

New Toys

BigE's got a couple of new toys he's pretty pumped about.

First, and least in size, is his mini camera. A Digital Camera keychain from Canadian Tire. One of those little piece's of c*** you would normally not buy. But it was on sale. So I spent money to save money(tm). Seriously, BigE was playing with the real digital camera just a little too much. We had a couple of incidents where the lens cover isn't closing properly due to little fingers. So we needed a decoy.

Let's just say that this camera makes you appreciate anything called image stabilization on any real camera. I'll have an expose of BigE's pictures in a little bit.

Second, and largest, is his new dinky race track. This he picked up with Mama on Friday. Somebody really enjoys it. Line up four cards, push the middle orange lever to release them and watch who wins.

Now in usual fashion each car has it's own lane and the lineup stays the same. Dada got the first two lanes (on the right in the picture). My cars were a 66 Chevy Nova, beige and black, and a white Renault hatchback police car. BigE has Ferrari GTC and a yellow Datsun 240Z (I guess the dinky company never heard of Nissan)

There is a little plastic tab at the end that flicks up as each car passes by. It records the finish of the cars for you. (Although I'm still disputing some finishes. I think lane 4's tab is spring loaded)

As you can imagine this gets the cars moving pretty fast. They usually can sail completely across the floor. Usually under a chair. If not they sail out into the hallway where the Ferrari, who started slow, usually catches my Nova and cuts it off.

Bas****! As BigE would say "Crazy Driver!"

Dog Days of Summer

It's tough being a winter dog in the summer. In a twist Arnie was actually out for a drink. But I guess Arnie saw the potential for double refreshment.

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Going for a ride

Gotta get all your gear just right for a trip in the bike stroller.



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Soccer Practice 7

As mentioned in Soccer Practice 6 last week was a week off. So I was curious to see how everything went. BigE and I were a little slow getting up today. Somebody was not very anxious to go. Things didn't look very promising.

However once we kicked the ball a couple of times BigE warmed up quickly. We knocked down some cones with the soccer ball while the other kids ran to the other side of the field. That gave us enough time to get warmed up. After that he was running full stride with the rest of the kids.

BigE was covering quite some distance during keep away. He got in there several times to steal the ball and take off. There wasn't any quitting going on.

During the final five minutes the usual scrimmage took place. And as usual BigE played goalie. We might have to teach him the name of another position. But he did help his team to about a 5-0 victory. Although I think he only had to make 2 saves.

Father's Day

Father's Day; What does dad really want? (wisebread.com)

He wants 1) to get you completely off his payroll and onto to some else’s and 2) to have you become financially savvy, able to made good decisions and recover quickly from the bad ones, and never, ever need another dollar from him (though he may take pleasure in giving you some cash).

And to point 2 I add "so you can support your dear old dad in his old age"

Seriously, I got my Father's Day gift a little early since Mama is working the weekend. I specifically asked for something small. Here's a little picture. It's timing was perfect as my work cup has disappeared.

Thursday Night Sky

Red sky at night ...


It's amazing what you can sometimes see out our meager little back door.

When you get mad get even ... unless your mad at yourself!

We're out in the backyard. BigE is playing in the new pool. I am mowing the lawn. With a few minutes of mowing left BigE heads in to change out of his wet clothes. A minute later I look to the backyard door and I see BigE crying.

Dada "What is wrong?"

BigE "I BIT MYSELF"

Dada "You bit yourself? What happend?"

BigE "I bit my arm right here" [pointing]

Dada [Seeing one arm out of BigE's shirt] "Did you get frustrated trying to take off your wet shirt?"

BigE "YESSSSSSSSSS"

All roads lead to daycare

Or at least any that follow our usual path across the bridge in the morning.

Yesterday BigE spotted a motorcycle across the intersection. He was making a turn on to the same road as we were.

BigE "Look, a motorcycle!"

Dada "Yeah, he's going in the same direction as us"

BigE "He's going to daycare too?!?"

FuturePhoto Deal

Head on over to FuturePhoto where a new user can get a deal on their first order.

Use promo code FREECAL for a free twelve month calendar using 12 of your photos (regular $12) or 10FREE for 10 free 4x6 prints. These codes must be used on the new user's first order!

More details on the calendar deal here.

Last daycare day this week

BigE made it through the final day of daycare for a while. It was a tough run for him. Seven of eight workdays at daycare. Which is a lot for him. Sure he was tired and dirty when I picked him up. But he did have fun.

Highlights of the day:

• They don't have any Backyardigans videos
• He picked a Diego episode for the Wakers because that is what Stella wanted to watch
• They had to stomp their feet to scare away the "chew" dons (some kind of dinosaur)
• There was a paper bag full of what looked to be scrap pieces of paper. Turns out BigE was cutting pieces of paper with scissors and this was art.
• The Wiggles dance by making circles with their arms

Quote of the Day 16

Dada picking BigE up at daycare goes

Dada "Do you want to go see Jakie?"

BigE "Yeah"

BigE shouting at the top of his lungs to Jenifer "I'm going to go see JAKIE!!"

Jenifer "Who's Jakie"

...

...

BigE "He's Auntie Bevie's"

Dada "He's your cousin sweetie"

BigE "JAKIES MY COUSIN!!"

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Morning Daycare avoidance

BigE has started to develop a technique for deal with daycare mornings. Since he's been at daycare a bit recently he's starting to adapt. Now in the mornings when BigE wakes up there is a call to Mama. If Mama is home then there is no daycare. If there is no reply BigE won't repeat.

This morning I gave him 5 minutes before heading in to his bedroom to break the news. As soon as he saw me he rolled over and said he was still sleeping. Which if you know BigE in the morning you know how ludicrous this is. I said fine but if you'd like to sleep in my bed and watch a few minutes of Rollie Pollie Ollie you can. There was about a second there where he was questioning me. I think he was looking for a trick or trap.

That got a quick leap out of bed. He was a happy camper for 15 minutes until I started getting him dressed. What are you going to do?

Quote of the Day 15

BigE "I want get high"

Shame on you. He meant I want to get the spray higher on his new water slide..

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New water slide

Mama comes back from the grocery store with surpise for BigE. It's an inflatable pool. The slide is a whale with an attachment for the hose to shoot a sprinkler. Well that was a pretty big deal! Somebody was running excited circles around the pool waiting to use it.

Here BigE is using his hands to block the built in sprinkler.



Now would be a good time to point out that Dada blew that sucker up by himself. No pump. Just my lungs. It's a great and quick way to feel light header.

Here's a quick action shot:



Now about 30 minutes later after I had gone in to grab something I come out and BigE has the camera over by the pool. Now the problem is the sprinkler is on and he's dangerously close to getting the camera wet. Now I would like a new camera but not just right now. Anyways after the usual "Ahh, becareful BigE".

He goes "I was just showing the whale his picture"

Hmmm. Hard to argue that. Here's the picture he took.



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Soccer Practice 6

Just a quick note that there was no soccer practice this weekend. So no update Soccer Practice 5. We'll have to see how the extra week layoff affects BigE's confidence.

This week the community center was the location of a charity drive. We brought down some old clothes that ended up going to a Women's shelter, some plush toys to a police drive, and an old mirror to Habitat for Humanity.

There was a fire truck, a pumper truck, on site for the kids. However BigE wasn't feeling very good. So he stayed up in my arms the whole time. Almost made up for forgetting the camera.

Quote of the Day 14

Dada "Where's your ice cream? Is it in your belly already?"

BigE "Yup, it's hiding"

Stupid pet videos

It's a warm and you've been couped up inside all day. Now your outside and excited. But then it's hot. In fact as you run it keeps getting hotter.

You know what lying down does seem like a good idea.

Dada's Guide to Weeding a Young Vegetable Garden

It's a weed if:

• It's growing faster then everything else


• Is growing between the planted rows


• Doesn't look like anything else in that row


• It has a pretty yellow flower despite BigE's thinking "they're beautiful"

Show and Tell Pictures Two of Two

2007APR 062, originally uploaded by pbussey.

Picture one is our fun picture. This is our true show and tell picture. While getting old it is one of those things that stands out in BigE's mind about trips to see the nanny's and poppy's. No that isn't the aged form of some hippie band.

Nothing emphasizes your impression of being the center of the world as having hundreds of ducks converge upon your arrival.

Maybe that's why when we go there but the ducks were recently feed it's not nearly as fun.

It should be noted that these photos were printed by Mama after downloading them from flickr. Yeah that picture storage thingy I keep harping on. Both pictures are tagged and in NL Visit sets.

Show and tell pictures One of Two

IMG_0002, originally uploaded by pbussey.

Today's show and tell at daycare is a picture of you (BigE) from a vacation. Here's the link to our real show & tell picture. This is the extra we through in because we thought it added more fun and insight into the world of our only child.

Me spoiled? Pfuhhh never.

More Efficient Google Searches

Normally I try to avoid much linking to other sites. But here is a good article with tips on search. And that is a skill that opens up much of the infromation on the internet. For our complete beginner to newbie audience: Go read this.

From a site Zen Habits.net (a Getting things done, personal producitivity site) comes 20 Tips for More Efficient Google Searches

Some good highlights:

2 Quotes. If you want to search for an exact phrase, use quotes. ["dumb little man"] will only find that exact phrase. [dumb "little man"] will find pages that contain the word dumb and the exact phrase "little man".

4 Similar terms. Use the "~" symbol to return similar terms. [~dumb little man -dumb] will get you pages that contain "funny little man" and "stupid little man" but not "dumb little man".

Update: This can be confusing taken out of context since they've mixed item 3 with 4.

[~dumb little man] will tell google to go look up things that it thinks similar to dumb (stupid, slow, etc.) and to use those in the results as well. That mean's stupid little man would also be returned.

13 Movies. Use the "movie:" operator to search for a movie title along with either a zip code or U.S. city and state to get a list of movie theaters in the area and show times.

You can enter postal codes (no spaces) in place of zip codes. Canadian cities seem to work (e.g. movies:toronto) from google.ca

15 Unit converter. Use Google for a quick conversion, from yards to meters for example, or different currency: [12 meters in yards]

This conversion seems endless.

• For those computer types you can convert between hexidecimal, octal, binary and decimal.


• It will even convert currencies. "88 usd to cad"

Chocolate Milk

Such a simple topic. Hardly anything to spend any time on. Except when you decide to bribe BigE into a trip to the grocery store. What will work? Cookie? Nope he's not in the mood. Odd but ok. How about chocolate Milk? Oh Yeah!

But we have to get the kind in the back. "The kind in the back?" Yup the kind in a cup and not a container. Seems as if we have a little connoisseur on our hands here. No old fashioned milk container for me thank you very much. BigE goes "I don't like the container of chocolate milk. I like the cup of chocolate milk"

Well there you have it.

PS Not till later does daddy notice that that kind of milk is about 50% more expense. And personally doesn't taste as good. But that hardly matters.


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Stanley Cup Game 5

As we wait for the start of Game 5 I want to go on record.

So only one team in 28, and only 20 in 210 any playoff series has ever come back from a 3-1 deficit in the Stanley Cup playoffs. So the sens have lost their first series at every level.

I see this as an opportunity. The knock against the sens is that they fold in the face of adversity. Here comes a chance to show what they are made of.

Update 10:15: Now that Vermette has fanned on the penalty shot she's all done. So what were they made of? Well Alfie finished strong after a weak final. After that? Hmmmmm

Doesn't want daddy in the mornings

Given a BigE's recent few days at daycare daddy is unwelcome in the morning. Finding daddy greeting you when you wake up means your going to daycare today. Or at least that's BigE's impression. Talk about persona non grata.

This morning we hear an early sound from BigE. Often it's not a specific call or request. Just a sound to let us know he's up. This morning he lingered in bed despite calls by me to come out. After getting up and going over I get the unwelcome greeting.

After some coaxing and convincing BigE comes out of his room. He's in a much happier state when I find him 40 minutes later after a run. He's bringing his juice box and snack downstairs. Which he's happy to give to me to do.
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Sounds from the Mouth

It's hard to describe the sounds BigE enjoy's making these days. Typical kid stuff but something best seen for yourself. Sadly this video does not show his repitiour of sounds.



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Quote of the Day 13

Snuggling before bed time BigE breaks into a song (I think)

"Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day. Garbage day."

Sorry I have no idea what that one was all about. It's not even garbage day

Dinner at Lone Star

Lone Star Texas Grill is one of Mama's favorite restaurants. If you come early, before 5:30, you can be in and out pretty quick. Fresh salsa and nacho chips, fajitas are made on site in the machine BigE calls the "Maker".

As a plus there is one not too far from daycare. After a few trips there on the way home BigE started spotting it on the drive home.

Today was a nice event. BigE made and rolled his own fajita. Mama described it as Vegetarian minus the veggies. Rice and cheese were the contents. Quickly and determined BigE rolled up his fajita shell and started munching away. We were doubly shocked when he ate the whole thing. BigE can be a picky eater.

Wonder where he got that from ....

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Quote of the Day 12

30 minutes past bedtime I hear a knocking from the little boy's room. I enter.

BigE: "Dada I can't go to sleep without doggie and raffe"

Beer Fridge

Here I thought no commercial would bug me more then those god dam David Suzuki beer fridge commercials, which I pay for, but then came mastercard.

New Priceless Ads Capture the NHL Dream with a Splash of Canadian Humour. No. No it doesn't

That reminds me it's time for another beer.

Quiet Day

After the fun of yesterday, plus no nappy, today was a quiet day. Somebody was ready to cry pretty quickly today. It didn't take much. We did take a trip over the local public school to check out the play ground. Encouraging a lot of "You did it yourself"s.

Along the way BigE told me he wanted to be a teacher.

Game 3 of the Stanley Cup

Thanks to a neighbour, who works in the A/V business, the neighbourhood had quite a way to watch last night's game.



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Must be a first: Straight to bed

Tonight we went to Scott's for a BBQ and a little time in the pool. While the pool was 20'c that still felt pretty cool. That didn't stop BigE. He had a blast in the pool. Even when he was shivering he didn't want to leave the pool. "IIIIII WWWWaaannnntttt tooooo sttaaaaaayyyyyy innnnnn thhheee poooolll"

That was enough to make Scott his new buddy.

Of course we were out late. Somebody feel asleep on the way home. And in a miraculous first actually stayed asleep as he was brought upstairs and put in bed. No need for a show or another snuggle. BigE was bagged and just wanted to go to sleep.

I'm pretty sure we've never been able to do that.

Soccer Practice 5

Well we had another soccer practice, building on BigE's confidence from
Soccer Practice #4. Now when the red headed hooligan kicked BigE he still had to come over to Mommy and Daddy for a quick hug before rejoining the play.

BigE was out and running with the practice the whole way. He's starting to get the concept of only using your feet. BigE was very pleased when the coach commented on how good a passer BigE was.

There was a lot of running around our little park. By the end BigE's face was pink. And was he ever tired. One thing they did this week was running trying to kick the dandelion weeds. I guess it was to practice running with the ball. Fortunately the city does no maintenance with the fields so there are plenty of dandelions. BigE had another good week with the knock the pylon over by kicking the soccer ball.

We finished up with a couple minute two on one as BigE and Mommy tried to score on Daddy. He had fun and didn't need any bribery. Plus the looming rain held off for the practice.

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How smart are you

Play three little games and test out your LumosIQ. No I'm not really sure what it measured but it was fun. From their homepage:

Benefits of Brain Fitness

Did you know that the human brain starts slowing down as early as age 30?

Warning for Dialup users these games could take 10 minutes to load.

A trip to the Water Park

It was a warm day. High 20's with the humidex in the low 30's. So when BigE got home from daycare we headed to the water park. Talk about a fish to water.

First things first. It's straight to the water gun. This was where we spent about half of our time. As time wore on he really started to get the whole spraying people thing. One poor girl got a full blast in the face when she wasn't expecting it. A little three foot devil had lowered the gun to catch her as she ran by.

The trick of it of course it to not get hit yourself

BigE's confidence grew and soon we were running around the outside dipping ourselves in the water.

Yes, I meant we. See Dada's patented straight arm.


Nothing like a blast of cold water to shock, invigorate you, or get you into a power pose

Then after a hard day at daycare and the water park it's time to chill in front of a little bedtime Diego.


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