RAINWATER RAMBLING

I'm headed down to the Atlantic Provinces this week for some service and operator training. You can see what's up on the work blog, From Here To There.

Pulled out some of the birthday pictures from the past. Here is Angela on her 4th birthday.

Her 5th birthday.

Her 6th Birthday.

Angela on her 7th birthday.

Couldn't find a picture from last year and years 1-3 would have been on film.

Happy Birthday to Angela, she turned 9 today.

She opened her presents early Saturday morning.

It rained most of the day and it was killing Angela because she couldn't get outside and try her skateboard. Eventually she got to go out, but she was saying the steering on it didn't work very well.

Since she is having a friend's party next weekend, she had a brownie cake.

Claudia and Angela hanging out, Gillian was at Guide Camp this weekend.

Last night Gillian and some of the other girls from her Guide group were suppose to go to a nursing home in Streetsville to help with the weekly bingo. According to the sheet it was to start at 6:45 pm and go for an hour. I drove Gillian and Lyndsey there with Angela and when we got there, there were no other guides around. We went down to the dining room and still no one. I called Lyndsey's Mom and had her double check the date on the sheet, it turns out the front sheet said Mar 20th, but the actual permission form slip said Mar 27th. Since we were there we decided to stay and help out, so they donated their prizes. The girls help some people with their cards and pushing the prize cart around. Angela even helped an old lady named Peggy with her bingo card.

The girls only had a half day of school today. There was a water main break near the school and they had to turn the water off, so they sent all of the kids home early.

Dad got his first try at the Wii, six weeks after knee surgery he was bowling and playing golf.

Dad using a little body english to knock the pins down.

Grandpa's Mii character.

Time for some cake.

An early celebration for Angela.

Grandpa's turn.

Grandma opening Gillian's card.

Gillian got a book out from the library that shows how to make pop up cards. She made a frog sticking it's tongue out.

A new turtle to hang out in their backyard.

Claudia pulled her loose tooth out this morning. Now she looks like this.

Claudia had a project to complete over March Break. She has to make a musical instrument, of course she came home and said she wanted to make a tuba??? This her painting the tuba frame.

Then she painted the bell.

Next we put it all together and it looks like this.

And watch the video clip to hear what it sounds like.

Today we put down our wii-motes and picked up a real bowling ball. We went to Streetsville Bowl for an hour of 5-pin. Claudia using her body to help knock down the pins.

Almost worked.

Gillian making the most of the bumpers.

Angela happy with 2 pins on her first ball.

Hanging out at the bowling alley.

The final score.

Today the girls and I went to Reptilia, it is a reptile and amphibian store up in Vaughn. They also have a reptile zoo but we didn't go in, we almost got to see them feed some of the snakes. The only problem was most of the mice were still frozen or cold and the snakes like their meals warm. We then went to the Vaughn Mills mall for some lunch.

Close-up of the big bass.

Not sure which category we fall into.

Posing with the moose out front.

Posing with a big bear inside.

One way to keep the girls occupied on the trip there and back is to give them the camera. Here are some of their backseat photos.

Claudia showing off her dangling tooth.

Photo of Gillian by Claudia.

Pass the camera back to Angela.

Self portrait by Gillian.

Claudia's self portrait.

And finally Angela's.

I filled up the tank in Vaughn today at a Petro-Canada station, they still had a gas rationing sign on the pumps. I was 3 litres short of the maximum 75L.

Today was our Wii Tournament. We were battling it out for gold medals in single and doubles tennis, bowling and boxing. Here are Angela and Claudia facing off in singles tennis.

Our final scoreboard for the bowling tournament.

Angela and Claudia were the doubles tennis champions.

I won the bowling and singles tennis.

Gillian the Consolation Boxing Champion.

Claudia the surprise Boxing Champion.

Here is a video clip of the gold medal boxing match between Angela and Claudia (Warning 16MB).

There is a video of Uncle Tak reflecting on his work over the years. It is on the McMichael Canadian Art Collection website.

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The girls March Break starts today. They are going to Dundas next Thursday for a couple of days, but we haven't planned anything else yet. We'll keep you posted.

The storm brought two days of canceled school buses, but the girls made it to school. They were out there after school playing in the snow. Angela was trying to make a huge snowman.

Trying to avoid being squished by her creation.

Better get some help.

Here is a video clip of the Angela and Claudia moving the snowball.