THEY BE THREE

My beautiful boys are three today.  My oh my times does fly - especially when you don't get to spend a lot of time with them.  The time you have together is so precious.  You try to drink it all in in the short period of time that they are with you.
They are typical three year olds but so special to me.
They love to run and climb and jump - they love dinosaurs and anything new.  They were fascinated by bugs and snakes and fish and showed no fear of worms.
They called me Grandma and I got a few special hugs and kisses.  I got to hold them when they were watching their Thomas The Train movies and fell asleep in my arms.
The smiles you get are heartwarming.
And I can tell who is who (except from the side and back).

I look so forward to the future and all the new adventures we get to share with them.

Happy Birthday Charlie and Monty!!  I love you with all my heart!

ALL DAY ADVENTURE

9 hours and 118 clicks total a fun day on the trails - albeit a long one not without it's adventures.
Ron and Mary were our guides for the day - it was the same route he had guided the "farmers" on a few years ago.  I knew this to be a fun ride.  There were 10 of us.  Ron and Mary, Joanne and Mitch, Barry and Sandy, Brent and Nate and Rejean and I.  We met at the gravel pit at 9:30 and hit the trails. We kept our eyes open for some black berries but only got a few as we didn't want to loose our guides.  There was lots of puddles to go thru as we have had quite a bit of rain.  They are fun to go  fast thru.  Mudding is fun.
We stopped for lunch at a "camp" with old cars and building - the bugs were pretty bad so we didn't stick around.  There was a few "bridges" and I use that term very loosely.  The first one pictured wasn't too bad and everyone made it across safely.  The one rickety bridge I remembered was not in any shape for people to be riding over and the ministry had put a sign on the trail that usage of the bridge was prohibited.  We checked it out and decided they were right.
Joanne found a huge pudding stone but Mitch wouldn't let her keep it.
Then there was the last bridge.
Even a shower couldn't get the grit out of my eyes and it still feels gritty on my teeth but it was so worth the ride.  But maybe not as long in the future.
I say that now...

IT'S A TRADITION

First picture is of Joanne and Mitch's new addition to the living room.  Very comfy.
And the next is my very first attempt at a "Bumble Berry Crumble".  I had picked some blackberries and raspberries and had some blue berries in the freezer so I combined them to make my crumble.  Next time I will add more crumble as some people didn't think there was enough and I agreed.  But it was good nevertheless.
Then the next few pictures are of Paella Nite at Joanne and Mitch's place.  Every year Joanne makes her Paella and this year she used her fire pit to cook on.  It was perfect.  Brent and Nat joined us and everyone enjoyed the delicious meal.  (Brent is allergic to shrimp which worked to everyone else's advantage)  teehee

READY - THE OLD SCHOOL WAY

I hear there is going to be a Total Eclipse of the Sun on Monday - depending on where you live.  And there has been a run on glasses that you can wear to safely watch it.  People are paying stupid amounts of money to purchase them because there is a shortage and time is running out.

Well, I have solved that problem by making my own Eclipse Viewing Contraption.  Back when I was a child and there was another eclipse, we made these EVCs in school or at home out of empty cereal boxes.  There is a video on Facebook that shows you how to make them.  All you need is an empty cereal box (or Old El Paso Taco Kit box), scissors, a piece of white paper, tape and tin foil.  And viola - you eyes are protected.  No you won't see the actual sun and moon thing, but you will see a pretty good sequence of the eclipse at the bottom of the cereal box on the white paper.  You will see the moon shape slowly cover a bright round dot at the bottom of the box.  You must stand with your back to the sun which is another safety feature of my EVC.

I made one for us and one for Joanne and Mitch.

I will be outside on Monday afternoon with my Frosted Flakes  EVC in one hand and a cocktail in the other waiting for the moon to come around.

  Cheers to a cloud free day!!

A HOUSE IN THE TREE TOPS

Our good friends Doug and Diane made us a bird house that looks exactly like our house last year.  And today, we finally put it up.  We placed it on the part of a tree that we had to take down because it wasn't doing so well.  It is up about 10 to 12 feet off the ground - up in the tree tops.  Steve was doing the dangerous work and Rick and Rejean were directing him.  The girls were sitting on chairs watching - and making suggestions.

It looks great and I can't wait to see who uses it next spring.  There is room for a lot of bird families.

Thanks Doug and Diane for the great gift.  It is appreciated.

CHARLIE AND MONTY

...in one of their rare displays of getting along.  Not really.  There was a lot of times they did get along and shared things with each other but usually they were acting just like normal siblings.

I wanted to accomplish two things during their visit.  I wanted to be able to tell them apart easily without looking for Charlie's birthmark and I wanted them to call me Grandma.  I succeeded in both of my endeavours.  The first time they called me Grandma I choked up.  The sweetest words in the world to me.  It touched my heart.  AND I can now tell them apart and now they look like totally different kids.  Altho I occasionally did mix them up, but then again, I blame it on having "baby brain" for the past six weeks.

Slowly getting back to normal...

HAZARDS OF TRAP ROCK

Joanne and Mitch's daughter and grandsons have been up for the past two weeks and we had them over for dinner last nite.  Top photo is Raiden and middle photo is Bishop and the last photo is the result of a fall on the trap rock we have in front of our house.  Raider was a trouper tho, and didn't want a band aid on it.
We were treated to a display of "Judo" by Bishop who is enrolled in Judo classes at home and has a Yellow belt.  And Raiden is just getting started but you can tell he wants to be just like his brother when they both went thru some moves.

I am just getting back to normal after our six weeks of company.  The stories and pictures are coming - soon - a little bit at a time.