Before taking down the girls play tower in the backyard, I decided to do a time lapse as I dismantled it. After it came down it was to be transported to our friends backyard. They have three girls in grade 3, 1 and JK, they would give the tower many more years of use in their backyard.
Canada Day
We held our 3rd annual Rainwater Canada Day BBQ with the Skjold-Pettersen’s. Once again there was no shortage of food, specifically meat.
Maddy in her Canada Day red.
The girls lined up for food.
The girls and Marcus chowing down.
Madyson modelling her coat.
Angela and Claudia wearing the coat.
Lily
We headed out to Lori and Dale’s for a swim and dinner. Sara and Lily were there as well. Lily was enjoying playing in the water.
Lily watching Chloe taking a drink from her pool.
Almost asleep.
Gillian’s Graduation
Gillian had her Grade 12 Graduation on Thursday June 27th.
They picked up their gowns a few days earlier.
Gillian from her first day of school back in 1999.
The girls.
Gillian and Marcus.
G-pa and G-ma with Gee.
Grandma and Papa with Gillian.
Mom, Dad and Gillian.
Susan and Gillian in September 1999.
Gillian and I.
The Tanabe’s.
Before the ceremony Gillian and her friends met out front for some photos.
Gillian and Sarah. They started in JK together.
Gillian and her friends trying to jump at the same time.
The Cob’s Crew, Gillian, Amanda and Hailey all work at Cob’s.
Brittany and Gillian.
Gillian with Veronica. Veronica is headed to McMaster in September with Gillian continuing their 14 years of education together.
The ceremony was held at the Hersey Centre in Mississauga. They used about three quarters of the ice rink/seating.
In total there were over 400 Grade 12 graduates.
Angela was playing in the band. The band played during the procession, recession and O’Canada.
The graduates.
Just after the introductions, the Mayor showed up, it was the first time in 26 years that she has come to the ceremony for Mount Carmel.
She gave a good speech to the grads.
Gillian waiting to receive her diploma.
There were a lot of kids to go through.
Congratulations to Gillian, she also received the Ontario Scholar award. Good job, you made Mom and Dad proud.
Busy Time of Year
It was a busy couple of weeks leading up to the end of the school year. The girls went to the Taylor Swift concert at the Rogers Centre with Melissa on the Friday. The next day we dropped Angela and Claudia off at their Pathfinder Camp for a couple of days. I was in Stephenville, Newfoundland for work for a few days. Only in small towns do you find this many signs on a single storefront. The bookkeeping is the door on the left, but rest is the pub, laundromat, tattoo and denture clinic.
Angela and Gillian were into exam week and Claudia was coasting to the end of the year. Angela and Claudia both finished the year with honours, congratulations to the girls.
Family Friendship
The girls play tower in the backyard is almost down (actually it is at the time of posting, but I’m backdating to the date of the photo). They have spent more time on it in the last couple of weeks then they have in the last few years. Working on a time lapse of the dismantling.
Out to Saskatchewan
I spent four days this week driving around the province. Between Monday and Wednesday afternoon I put 1868 km on a brand new Jeep Cherokee that only had 23 km when I picked it up. The final destination was Pinehouse.
I was also out at Flat Valley on the Monday, looking for a location to setup a solar powered collector down the road.
The rental after one day.
The last time I was here I had to cut a trail through the forest to mark out a clearing, here is the result.
Despite all the clear cutting, there were still some flowers in the clearing.
Saw a squirrel on one of the wood piles.
One time I was walking back to the car and when I looked up I spotted a moose down the road.
It kind of watched me for awhile before crossing the road and heading into the forest.
The next morning I saw a couple of more moose at the side of the highway heading into Beauval. There was a small calf with the mother. It is behind the mother’s head.
The moose were going through their annual molt.
I was finished sooner than I thought I would be, so I changed my flight from Friday to Thursday and headed back to Saskatoon Wednesday afternoon. Saw lots of deer, a few wolves, moose, a rabbit and had I duck fly up from the side of the road and almost hit my windshield.
Soccer Season
Both Claudia and Angela are well into their soccer seasons. Claudia has scored two goals, but have yet to win a game. Angela’s team is faring better but the coach is a little intense, he is trying to do two practices a week for house league.
Some crazy parents out there, one of the opposing parents at one of Angela’s game was warned by the ref that they would be ejected if they kept up their comments from the sidelines.
10 years ago…
I started dis-mantling the tower/ship in the backyard today, but not before some final photos with the girls. There is a website called Dear Photograph, essentially you take a picture of a picture, from the past, in the present. Here are my attempts.
These photos are from 10 years ago.
Here are the girls today recreating the shot from 10 years ago…
Even down to the same colour combination of their clothes.
The girls are good sports to humour their parents and recreate the photos.
The girls on the ship…
and 10 years later.
Gillian’s Pre-Prom
Today was Gillian’s Grade 12 Prom and her and Susan had a hectic day. Gillian looked great.
She had her hair done in the morning by their regular hairdresser.
Gillian and Marcus.
We did their photos at home before the Pre-prom.
There was a risk of thundershowers for the afternoon, but in the end they held long enough for the photos and getting them on the bus. It was a hot day.
Gillian and Sarah.
Susan and Gillian.
A bunch of her friends had rented a limo party bus and it was picking them up at her friend Amanda’s house. So her parents had everyone over before the bus to take photos and have drinks and snacks. Here are Emily, Amanda, Sarah and Gillian.
Gillian, Emily and Amanda are also in the same Ranger group.
Emily’s mom is the Ranger leader, so she wanted a picture of her girls, Allie and Brittany were also in her group this year.
The girls clowning around for the cameras.
A scene of the backyard .
This wasn’t even all of the kids going on the bus, as a few of them were late getting there and missed all the photos in the backyard. Tip: Clicking on the photos will enlarge them to view better.
Simon Says put your hand on your hips.
Simon Says turn around.
Simon Says Hold up your leg.
The boys out in front of the bus. Not sure why the guy in the middle is doing the face-palm.
The girls with the bus driver. He said it was his first time being asked to pose with clients.
More hamming in front of the bus.
We think this was everyone that was suppose to be there. It was too crowded to get in front for the picture so I held it above my head and snapped away.
Gillian, Veronica and Amanda.
Gillian, Sarah and Veronica, all St Richard students from JK up. Amanda photo bombing the shot.
