Six!

This year for Buddy's Birthday we had a 'beach party' in the basement.

Being the good, timely, on the ball parents that we are, we sent invitations out.... five days ahead of time.  oops.

Since invites went out so late, I let the boy invite 14 of his closest friends... expecting to have only a few show up.  Of course, almost all of them came, and including Buddy & Cuppa, we had a full basement with 13 children.

Each child got a Hawaiian lei upon arrival

And I was very lucky to find a free beach printable pack online to decorate with:

(Buddy helped cut out some of the smaller circles)

We had games, like fishing:

Pin the flag on the castle:

And everyone's favourite, the limbo.... they limbo'd under, they jumped over, they just kept going around & around 

A pinata, because we just didn't learn last year:

(The pinata is fun, but the kids just can't break it.  And inside, it was slightly hazardous)

Food, of course:

Where, despite having 13 children on a mostly white carpet, there were no messes..... we had a 'picnic'

And floats:

And all of his friends brought him some great presents:

It was an exhausting two hours, but well worth it.  Despite having planned activities,the kids mostly kept drifting into the toyroom to play, which was fine.

The kids each took home a loot bucket with treats and beach toys:

Which served the secondary purpose as a place to put the pinata treats and any prizes won throughout the party.

It was a fun & exciting two hours for all of the kids!

Number Line in Action!

While I cleaned up the kitchen this morning, Buddy turned on the computer to the weather website, and then did this on the number line for a surprise for me!

 Also Buddy has been teaching his imaginary friends the alphabet. So far they are on letter G.

Cuppa was just there to help. The camera focused on his fingers instead of his face - I've gotta figure this stuff out.

I didn't even have to look at the computer. Today it is -6°C, but it feels like -12°C.

On Potty training.

As parents, I think we have done a pretty good job with our boys. They are engaged and interested, respectful and have good manners. They set the table and play nicely and can sit still if taped to the couch, but there is one area where, as parents, we have some learning to do.

It is not uncommon for our boys to not feel like peeing in the toilet. We'll be sitting at dinner, and that aroma starts to rise, and I know right away that someone is enjoying their meal more than they'd enjoy a trip to the loo (my darlin'). What is more mystifying is that between the two boys, the older one is the most likely to make an appearance with a circle of shame in his crotch. The younger one is more likely to yell "HAFTA PEEEEEE!!!!!!!!" as he goes charging down the hall. I can't figure out where we've gone wrong with the potty training.

I would expect that most people's five year olds would struggle with counting backwards, but have mastered going to the bathroom. At our house it is the inverse. We've got smart kids who just don't care about pee(r) pressure.

We have tried nearly everything on this front. Rewards, hugs, treats, privileges, negative reinforcement, shaming, etc. and we just can't get that breakthrough to our kids that this actually matters. Especially in the privacy of our own home where they are comfortable and unjudged. If you want to see wet pants, come watch TV with us for half an hour.

What has been successful was the most ridiculous reward of all. Points.

At some point, when Cuppa was on the toilet, I gave him a high five for peeing and shouted out "Ten Points for Cuppa!!" He beamed from ear to ear, jumped down and ran to tell Buddy that he had ten points. After that, the kids would come to me soliciting and negotiating how many points their pee or poo was worth. I don't know what the points are supposed to add up to. I don't think the boys know either. As long as they go pee in the toilet, I don't care. We negotiate a point value, have a high five, and everyone is happy.

At bedtime, whoever has had dry pants all day gets to snuggle in Dad's bed for a book and a treat. Most nights one boy snuggles with me. We are still working through the Halloween candy we collected back in October. It makes good treats. Advent and Christmas undermined this tradition since there were Christmas specials and stories and treats galore all through December, but I think things are starting to get back on track.

We've been reading Captain Underpants for our bedtime stories lately, and since they are chapter books (with much silliness) the boys are hooked on finding out what happens next every night. I think that missing a chapter is an issue to them. Last night Buddy said, "I better have dry pants tomorrow!" after a particularly suspenseful end to a chapter. I guess they know what's supposed to happen, but its just not clicking.

Night training is a complete and utter loss right now. the other night poor cuppa soaked his 'bedtime underpants" (pull-ups) and his sheets and comforter. I heard him whimpering in the night, and when I reached his room , he was shivering away on a corner of his bed, curled up in a ball, trying to stay warm. We changed him and his bed, Momma snuggled him for a while, and in the morning he oblivious to the whole thing. So much for the school of hard knocks.

I have no idea how to get into night training when we can't get decent traction through the day. We've tried sleep-pees and timers. We've tried with and without pull-ups. They just sleep right through the event(s) every night.

This is frustrating to me. When Chuck was toilet trained, she was 3. We sent her to Grandma's house for the weekend, and she came home wearing big girl panties and proudly peeing in the toilet. In a weekend, dammit! No night time issues, nothing. The only time she wet herself after that was on camping trips when she couldn't get out of her sleeping bag. And she was embarrassed and woeful then, not ambivalent - even proud, like the boys. Maybe I suck as a parent. Grandma tells me she just told Chuck to pee in the toilet and that was that.

I worry for the boys. Cuppa is starting to show signs of skin problems like rashes and eczema, and sleeping in urine can't help that. Buddy is hiding wet underwear and finding ways to sneak away when he pees himself, both at home and school, and I don't want sneaky kids. Momma is up to 5 baskets of laundry a week. The 2 boys make up 4 of those baskets.

So I'm looking for input. After 2 years of trying, how do you move your kids to a fresh start, or get them to understand the need for decent bathroom habits? What worked for you and what were your challenges? What strategies are there to get kid with a chronic bedwetting problem to move into the world of the dry? Please share - I'm getting desperate!

Our 14 for 2014

Since my friend Gretchen over at Boxy Colonial posted a goals for 2014 list, I though, what the heck, lets follow suit. My list of stuff I really really hope gets done in the next 12 months. I am confident about 3 of these will actually be completed. OK, maybe 2...

1. Open up a doorway between the hallway and Dining room.

When we bought FrostHaus, the previous owners had just installed a new kitchen (Yay!) in order to maximize counter space, they deleted the doorway to the dining room. This seriously limits flow through the house and creates a dead pocket in the dining room. In order to open up the dining room, I need to cut a door in the hallway and relocate a cold air return. Its doable, but its likely more than  weekend's work.

2. Family Escapes

In the past we have enjoyed family getaways to things like Winterlude in Ottawa, or camping in Algonquin Park. This year I really want to plan an escape every month. Not necessarily big stuff, but just getaways to enjoy. We've got stuff booked up to March already, but April is a bit of a stumper. Maybe a trip to Sudbury for Science North? Its been a few years since we visited there. Maybe Great Wolf Lodge? I am losing sleep over this, and I shouldn't be.

<EDIT>The Destinations Planned...

1. January - Cobourg DONE!
2. February - Buffalo Outlet Shopping 
3. March - Algonquin Park Yurting
4. April - Letchworth State Park Cabin
5. May -Darlington Prov. Park Camping
6. June - A cousin's wedding at the Royal Botanical Gardens!!
7. July - Mississagi Provincial Park - Camping
8. August - Montreal - Boston - Atlanta Road Trip (???)
9. September - Niagara Falls (???)
10. October - TBD
11. November - TBD
12. December - TBD
    
    </EDIT>

3. Build stuff

Now that I have a decent assembly of tools and equipment in the garage, I need to dedicate some time to creativity and production. Once a month I'd like to turn out a project to be proud of. I have a couple things underway already... Which brings me to goal #4.

<EDIT>
The building list as stolen from another blog post...

1. Bathroom Mirror and cupholder - I know this is on the 'finish stuff' list, but it really shouldn't be since it isn't even started.
2. Bathroom storage crates - SWMBO has wanted some simple Milk-crate looking storage shelves in the bathroom for a while. I should probably get busy making them.
3. Basement storage shelves DONE! and screw holder thinggy - the opportunity has come up to build a couple shelf units to store our paint and my fasteners a little better down there.
4. Toy room storage unit - while we were talking about he shelves in the utility room, SWMBO pointed out to me that big toys like firetrucks and Octopods need homes in the toy room.
5. Master bedroom reading wall. I mentioned this briefly to SWMBO about a year ago, but never made any progress. I'd like to find a way to integrate the headboard into it. 
6. Garage workbench - another item that I found plans for a while ago, but never got close to building.
7. Wooden toys for the boys. My grandfather gave me some wooden toys when I was small, and I loved them, it would be nice to pass this forward to my kids. Maybe a train or some cars. I dunno. Definitely not another crossbow. Its fun, but I have welts, and the dog is getting fat.

</EDIT>

4. Finish Stuff.

Over the past year we have started a bunch of projects that have never reached fruition. I am much better at starting than I am at finishing. I have about 3 garage/woodworking projects that I need to complete, as well as a couple house projects. I am counting these towards goal #3, and need to finish them before I start new stuff.

 For Completion:
- Ironing Board
- Kitchen hardware  DONE!
- Towel Bars  DONE!
- Marshmallow shooter DONE!
- Closet doors - Boys room DONE!
- Fence for Pool
- Mirror & cupholder in Master bathroom
- Play Kitchen Sink, stove, & countertop

5. Re-Knob-inate the kitchen. DONE!

This is one of those little things that ought to have been done long ago. I hate the knobs on our kitchen cabinets. About 2 months ago, I picked up an assortment of about 30 knobs at Lee Valley and chose the knobs of our dreams. Now I have one cabinet with nice knobs on it. I need to knob-inate the rest of the cabinets with those knobs. Lee Valley is an hour away. I have about 28 knobs to return before I buy the new knobs. Also Lee Valley is a dangerous store to walk into. It can get real expensive, real fast.

New Knobs!!

6. Clean out the garage, and create a working floor plan.

Right now a trip to the garage includes an obstacle course of garbage and recycling cans, toboggans, bikes, hoses and extension cords snaking around my ankles, and sawdust everywhere. I need to revisit my arrangement of tools, build a shop bench (see item 3) and do some wiring out there (already underway - see item 4) DONE!. I need to build outdoor garbage can holders and hose reels, and an outdoor water hookup. With that all done, I should be able to fit a car in the 'other side of the garage' (see item 7) and still have functional shop space.

7. Get the old (new?) car functional.

This winter we picked up a old 1981 Mercedes 240D as fun beater car. With Chuck learning to drive, I wanted a tank with a stick-shift in it for her to learn on. Just one problem with this particular tank - it has rust issues that need patching before we can license it. It also needs the speedometer rebuilt and a few other small fixes. I am hoping Chuck learns a little auto repair from this, but with the current cold snap and no space in the garage, the car is just sitting. (I am excited to get driving this thing. It's as slow as a S-L-U-G, but its a pile of fun too)

8. Add a gas stove hookup in the kitchen and heat in the garage.

I like our current electric stove, but I love the gas stove I've lugged around to every house I've owned in the past 10 years. Since we already have gas to the corner of the house where a gas stove ought to be, it would be nice to hook up the stove. While I had a gas fitter around, it would also be nice to install a garage heater so that i can work out there in the cold months. Not sure if SWMBO would be on board for this, and its really low priority. But it would be nice.

9. Re-roof the House.

Our roof is showing early signs of needing a redo. I don't know how old it is, but the cracking shingles and loose aggregate up there makes me nervous. I am told it could last another season or two, but why risk it? I'm not sure if this is a project I could tackle on my own or not, but the more I look at it, the more I think its doable. Biggest problem for me is settling on a shingle design. I think our place would look awesome with Cedar or another natural product, but my budget screams out asphalt or fiberglass. What do you think?

10. Sell the Boat.

I love Iris and she has been a great boat, but its time to move on. Sailing has become my thing and the family needs me around the house more than the boat needs me out on the lake. I'm hoping to sell the boat early in the season and then crew occasionally with other folks. Maybe with the boat gone I'll use the pool more. I dunno.

11. Make some (any) progress on the basement.

The day we first viewed FrostHaus my comment was that the place needed a bathroom in the basement. It still needs a bathroom in the basement. In order to make that bathroom a reality, we may end up doing some pretty extensive reno work on the rec-room. We could end up pulling down the ceiling, rewiring the whole basement, redoing the bar, and then putting in the bathroom. It's the job that keeps on growing. I should start by pulling out everything in the bathroom corner and at least getting wiring, plumbing, and framing up on that end of the room. I could conceivably put up a tarp and create a workzone that is somewhat insulated from the rec-room and do this with minimal disruption to the rest of the basement. Maybe.

12. Paint the master bedroom.

We have been talking about painting the master bedroom since day one as well. Right now it is something between purple and brown, with a floral border at the ceiling. While neither SWMBO nor I particularly care for this design, we can't settle on a colour/theme that we both like. The biggest challenge is that the border won't come off without a fight. That combined with the disparate design ideas we each have has stalled this room out entirely. We need shelving in there of some sort (as evidenced by piles of boxes) and possibly a more functional furniture layout. I'm not sure where we'll end up though.

13. Fence the pool

Last spring I did a piece on installing our fence posts along the edge of the pool deck. Then I got sidetracked with pool repairs, concrete work, landscaping, etc. and never returned to the fence (see item 4). Those posts are still standing, but they are doing a whole lot of not much at all. In the fall I mentioned to SWMBO that it might be cool to establish another espalier along that side of the pool to act as the fence between the yard and pool. I think she's on board.  If that's the case, I'll get out there this spring with more wire and turnbuckles to install another 50 feet of trees. likely pears or cherries along this side though - we need some variety!

14. Involve the kids.

Through many of the project we have done, we have worked around the kids where we could have pulled them into the work. I have had buddy run the drill press, and he liked helping shovel gravel when we did the retaining wall. Now that Cuppa is getting to be pint-sized he could help a little too. Sure the work will suffer, and technical or strength based tasks will be beyond them, but there is no reason that they can't help slap a base coat of primer on a wall, or help demo drywall. We do pretty well with involving our boys, but i think we can do it a little more, and a little better.

Halloween Lights

For Halloween this year the boys & I made 'mummy lanterns.'

They were very easy to set up, make and clean up, and the boys and I are happy with our results.

we started out with a 500ml wide mouth mason jar, they each had a small tub of modge podge, and a paint brush.

Paint the modge podge onto the jar.

wrap the jar in gauze (we had old first aid gauze that we used, but if you used self-sticking gauze, you could probably skip the modge podge).

Add a pair of googly eyes, and put a tealight inside!

Walking to School

Did you know that October 9th is International Walk/Bike to school day??

WARNING... This is gonna end in a challenge...

Our 2 boys (age 2 and 5) walk to school every morning. Do yours? Every morning we put on our coats and hats, grab our backpacks, and trot off to school. At the same time we leave, we watch our neighbours drive past in their cars.

We arrive at the daycare at the same time as Cuppa's friends. After he's checked in, we continue our walk to Buddy's school. It takes us about 15 minutes to get there, and 10 minutes for me to get back to the house sans kids.

The folks who drive, get into the schoolyard at the same we do. By the time parents deal with the parking at the school, and then get the kid out and off to the playground, they have saved no time at all. So why drive?

As autumn sets in we are enjoying fresh air and comfortable temperatures, leafs are changing, and friends are talking and sharing. There are crossing guards at all the busy intersections, and we get to repeat the ages old chant "Step on a crack, break your mother's back."

There are some nice pauses along the way too. Every morning we check the water under the bridge where the Chocolate River runs. I don't know why the boys decided its called the Chocolate River. They tell me it source is a chocolate lake. Who am I to question that.

Often I hear about how unsafe traffic is around the schools. I hear about near misses with kids running across the road and parents distracted by backseat shenanigans as they get close. I hear about obese kids and lazy kids and kids with no sense of direction. So here are some resources to help you get your kids out and walking to school. 10 minutes each way should be a good kickstart to get their blood moving (and yours) and should help get some of those cars off the road and make things safer around the schoolyard...



SAFEWALK - War Amps of Canada - http://www.waramps.ca/playsafe/walk.html

The War Amps is all about safety for children. If you are worried about the dangers that come on your walk to school, consider their walksafe program to identify the sorts of hazards that your child could come in contact with. Things like wires and fences and snowbanks are all on their inventory for kids to beware of.


Safe Routes to School - http://www.saferoutestoschool.ca/

Safe Routes to School is an organization dedicated to safe walks for kids from an urban planning and transportation perspective. They are linked in to public health, but focus on the environment and congestion prevention. They offer some great community tools to get cars off the road. Things like walking schoolbus (our Daycare has one!) toolkits, School Administrator toolkits, idle free school zones, and school walking clubs are all covered by Safe Routes to School.



Participaction Ontario - http://www.participaction.com/how-will-your-kids-get-to-school-this-year/

I am surprised that Ontario's "healthy living" group didn't have more of a walking to school program, but here is their article on walking and the benefits it offers. I stole their pic for the top of this blog post - at least until I get one of our boys...



Walk-bike to School Day - http://www.walkbiketoschool.org/

Ok, this is a USA - based program, but October 9th has been declared international Walk-Bike to school day. In order to encourage more kids to walk to school, everyone is challeneged to leave their cars at home,. and either join a walking group, ride their bike, or form an initiative to get as many kids as possible to walk or bike to school.

With all these tools at your disposal, lets see what you can do! On October 9th, I challenge everyone to get out there and walk to school with their kids.

Homeschoolers - take a walking adventure as part of your curriculum, or do the safety walk above.

Bloggers - I challenge you to get the word out about walk/bike to school day, and post some photos of your success! Lets see how many kids we can get out of the car and onto their feet!

Life with Au Pairs

Childcare can be a tough choice. First of all there is the concern with quality of care, and the hassles of morning drop-offs and afternoon pickups, and dovetailing that into the already busy schedule of family life. We have a live-in au pair.

When we tell our friends we have a live-in, 2 things seem to get blurted out – “OMG – you have a stranger living in your house!” or “OMG – you must be rich!”

Neither is true.

An au pair is a young person willing to care for your children in return for lodging and meals and a reasonable stipend. The amount you pay is determined between you and the au pair. Our au pairs have all been happy to be paid around $150 a week to care for the 2 boys, with weekends and free time to themselves. Most have come from France, but our current au pair is from Ontario, about 4 hours down the highway.

Most reading you do on au pairs says to treat them like an older sibling to your children and to think of them as a babysitter rather than as a nanny. Have low expectations and be prepared to be surprised. In our experience, this is a good approach. We treat our au pairs like young adults, and expect that they will party on weekends and travel and explore. We hope they will join us on family outings and share their joys and experiences with us.

Most of our au pairs have been a great success. We have had one that we had to let go quickly (one week after arriving we sent him packing) but that experience was a lesson in itself and no one got hurt. The au pairs are excited to live in a different country with a local family. They want to learn the language and cooking and daily routine. In return our children have been enriched with stories of faraway places and learned a little French.

Here are some examples of our au pair experiences:

AP 1 – Marjolaine came to us from downtown Paris where she worked as a booking agent to a hotel on the Champs Elysees. She loved perfume and beautiful clothes. Every morning she would come upstairs and set the table before we were even out of bed, then sneak back to her room for the boys to 'wake' her. Marjo absolutely doted on Cuppa. Both boys still sing the song she taught them, “Pomme D’Annette et Pomme D’Api” although she has been gone for months. Marjo was precise, timely, and accountable. She was fantastic from a systems management and scheduling perspective. Her old boss in Paris called her with an offer for her old job back, with an increase in pay, and she couldn’t turn down the opportunity. We lost her too soon. She was only with us for a couple months.

AP 2 – Agathe had big shoes to fill when she arrived from a smaller city in the North of France. She was very young (only 18) but had spent a previous summer with friends in America, and was determined to continue to improve her English, and enjoy our culture. While here she took weekend trips to Quebec City, Algonquin Park, New York, Toronto, and about every other place nearby. She worked hard, but struggled a little with James. She did a good job of keeping the house clean, and she was very dedicated to the boys. Agathe was studying for her entry exams into a culinary school in France. She wanted to be a chef, and often cooked delicious dinners for us. When she returned home to write her entry exams, the cost to travel back to Canada was too much for her to bear, and so she too cut her stay short, opting to find a job in France rather than come back to Canada. The winter weather may have helped with her decision. Agathe stayed with us for about months.

AP3 was our nightmare. He also came from France, and was on his way to Canada already when we contacted him. Since we were in a bind with losing Agathe, we accepted this young man as an interim placement for a couple months while we searched for a long term person. Since he had a flexible start date as an au pair with a farm family in Quebec, it was mutually agreeable that he come to Canada early to work for us, then head off to the other family when we had our next au pair arranged. Sortof an early start for him, and a bridge for us. When we discovered that he was closing the boys into the playroom, then going spending the day in another room altogether, we decided his idea of childcare and ours were so completely different that we couldn’t have him. He smoked (thankfully not in the house), he was rude, couldn’t cook, didn’t clean up, and was just a really bad choice. A week after he arrived, I told him we were through with him, packed his bags into the car, and drove him to Union Station.

Our current au pair is fantastic. We were pretty desperate to get someone quickly to replace AP3, but didn’t want to make the same mistakes. We briefly discussed switching to a home daycare or other arrangement, but in the end decided to give one more kick at the au pair can. We found AP4 with a family in France, looking to return to the familiarity of Canada. Since her contract with that family had ended, she needed to get home quickly, and so things were mutually agreeable. We told her to get on the next plane, and she was here within a week or two. AP4 loves the boys, cooks with them in the afternoon (she makes great cookies!) and helps Chuck with homework and studying – Chuck’s grades have gone up by about 10% with AP4 in the house! AP4 focuses on keeping the children happy – which is what her key role is meant to be, but she also takes time to prepare lunches and tidy up. She spends loads of time with the family going to community events and festivals with us, but also finds time to visit friends and even do charity work in the community. Every day she calls her parents and shares their stories with us as well. I have never met someone who is so chronically happy.

This fall when Buddy heads off to Senior Kindergarten we will see the end of our au pair adventure. Cuppa will go to a preschool then, and we will be back on a more ‘normal’ path. Overall though, I think having these young people in our home, and the things our children have learned from them has been very positive, and it’s an experience I would encourage anyone to try.

TPOH - A Giving Project

Ms. Parish teaches computers in the Bronx, in a newer inner-city school, in an impoverished area.

I don't really know who Ms. Parish is. I have never been to the Bronx, or any other American inner city for that matter. Well, I did spend some time in De Kalb County in Georgia, but I don't know if that really counts. I went to pretty good schools up here in Canada, and I managed to find my way into college and then on to the career field with only a few minor hiccoughs.

I imagine the kids in Ms Parish's class are mostly the same as I was back in grade 10. Mostly interested in girls (or boys) and sports, sitting through class because they have to, but with a few 'cool' teachers who hold their interest in a subject or two. Maybe there are a few keeners who really excel, and likely a few slow ones who struggle. I think Ms Parish might see some differences though.

I bet that teaching kids in the Bronx is a lot more challenging. I am betting that poverty and 'life experiences' make it a struggle to just stay in school in Ms Parish's class. I bet that more kids end up pregnant, or stoned, or beat up, or hungry in a given semester, and I bet the school itself has some pretty big crises to handle beyond funding Ms Parish's class with spare computers.

Yeah, that was the 'funding' word. Ms Parish can't get it from the board, and yet she needs supplies. Actually she needs computers so she can teach computer ed. In the Bronx. In America. Home of Apple and Microsoft and Google.

No this isn't the third world we're talking about here. This could as easily be up north in Nunavut where homeless native families are going without heat and bread, or in Toronto where recent immigrants are confronted with a language and culture barrier making them eligible for only the most infantile positions. The difference is that Ms Parish doesn't have a family that will suffer because of poverty in her neighbourhood, she has a class of 30 kids. And she has another one next year, and the next year, and the next year.

www.donorschoose.org allows individuals and corporations to consider different classroom needs across the USA and choose one to help out. Maybe soon they will include Canadian institutions as well, but for now, this charity is calling out to help with classroom poverty close to home, in the States. I like that.

For one thing, if we give the kids tools to succeed, it means we might lift them out of the cycle they are trapped in. For another, a classroom gift will circulate through years of use, potentially touching hundreds of kids. A teacher who enters in to a program like this isn't in it for money or gain, they are in it because they actually care and are trying to improve the student's experience. Finally, we all see payback if these kids are enabled to go on to careers, breaking generational poverty, and brining innovation and new ideas to the workforce.

Unlike other charities that take a hidden percent of your giving, this organisation is very upfront about how much of the money received actually goes to the school, and dictates what supplies a donation will purchase. You could choose to help a kindergarten teacher get markers or a middle school class buy a microscope. You know exactly what is being bought, by whom, and for how much. In Ms Parish's case, about 81% of the money raised goes directly to buying computers, with the remainder to fees (creditcard and paypal fees eat up 2%), a donation back to Donors Choose (at the teacher's discretion), and $30 in administrative costs (ie. mailing thankyou notes and cards).

Lets help Mrs Parish out. Her Grade 10 class is staring down life and career choices, and without computers to use at home, its kind of hard to build skills, research careers, or even look into what life has to offer beyond the streets of their neighbourhood. When I was in school Bill Gates donated computers to our library. Here's a chance to pay it forward. Mrs Parish wants to buy her computers before the end of the summer. Lets aim to get them there.

Link to Mrs. Parish's Project here

If enough of us hit the donate button and send $10 her way, Mrs Parish should see those computers in a heartbeat - don'tcha think? If Ms Parish's project doesn't appeal to you, browse the site, there are literally thousands of other teachers calling out for help on their projects. Choose one. Send them a few dollars. I'd love to hear your stories here if you do. Just hit the comment button below.

Toronto Tall Ships Festival

Summer is finally here, and it came with sweltering heat. I spent most of my spare time last week finishing the last details on the retaining wall and we finally made an escape this weekend - but instead of escaping the city we headed for the thick of it. Queen's Quay in Toronto.

Our adventures began with a visit to Redpath Sugar's Toronto refinery where they have the sugar museum. I've always wondered what was in there, but never went. Since admission was free today, in we went.

I hope you like this pose, you may see it a few more times...

This is everyone in front of a giant vacuum pump (this machine sucks!) its the same pose, mirrored - and Cuppa is eating his hat.

In the museum there was this sculpture of a tall ship made entirely of sugar and sugar products. Cool beans.

Wait, whats that out side, through the trees I see masts! It must be the Tall Ships festival! I've been looking forward to this for a while, so I was glad to finally see it.

I think this shot would make a great desktop background.

At the War of 1812 booth by Parks Canada:

Snack time!

The festival was part of the War of 1812 commemoration. It included a war of 1812 stage production - the war where everyone lost, and then we all said 'Sorry' and went home. It was a fun day!