Michael’s favorite subject is definitely not math — turns out it isn’t his math teachers either. Michael brought home his test today that he studied really hard and was disappointed with his B-.
Monique took a look at the test and noticed that the teacher miss counted by 10 points. What does this mean? Michael deserves an A+ instead of a B-. He was much happier when we told him that.
We put a note in with his school work so the teacher could see it tomorrow.
Last week was incredibly busy. It started off with my birthday and ended with a fun weekend with Michael and my father attending the Windsor exhibition. The exhibition had two things that I had never seen before: a truck pull and a demolition derby.
On September 19th I turned 38. I don’t feel that old — I still listen to heavy metal, I’m playing guitar more than ever, work is going well; in short, I feel younger than ever. Maybe I’m just kidding myself — to be sure I think I need to buy a Porsche.
Monique bought me a new Zakk Wylde Overdrive pedal for my guitar, which has made a big difference in the gain level playing my Les Paul. My parents got me a new strap for the guitar and there were other assorted items, as well.
Last weekend Michael, my father and I headed off to a truck pull. I’ve never been to a truck pull before, but it was a lot better than I expected. The amount of money spent of these rigs must be incredible. Many of them were running alcohol and when they powered up it almost blew your eardrums.
Better than the truck pull was the demolition derby. These guys are just insane. They pile in their cars and just go, smashing into anything in their way. Some of the drivers actually had a strategy, but most of them just crashed.
A busy week, but it was a lot of fun.
Yesterday was my father’s birthday and Monique’s mother’s birthday, too. Kind of strange isn’t it, having our parents with the same birthday. It certainly has presented some challenges for us over the years, planning and executing the day, but this year was pretty relaxed.
We didn’t leave the cottage for either birthday this year, which made the decision on what to do really easy. We sat out by the lake and enjoyed a relaxing day of doing nothing.
My parents drove up for the day, so we had a little celebration dinner at a restaurant down the road. Actually, it’s more like a truck stop, so the portions are really big. We were all stuffed by the time we left.
We gave Dad his presents and then we all went out on the wharf and sort of played Trivial Pursuit. Dad and I teamed up against the girls, Michael asked the questions and Nicole kept score. Dad and I won.
Sometimes no matter what you do, it’s just wrong. That’s what happened to Monique and I on Sunday when friends of ours and their kids came up to the cottage for the day.
Nicole and Michael were lobbying for their friends to stay overnight at the cottage even before we left for vacation. We said that we would think about it and let them know the day they came up.
Dave and Brenda showed up and we sat around talking and had a few drinks. Later in the day we had a few burgers on the grill. The whole time Nicole and Lindsey were hinting about the sleepover.
It didn’t matter to us if the kids stayed or not, but Dave and Brenda couldn’t come back on Monday and pick them up. They decided to just take the kids home and we could arrange for a sleepover some other time at home.
Michael and his friend Andrew were disappointed, but accepted the news. Nicole and Lindsey on the other hand started crying and wailing like two year olds.
It was so bad, it was actually funny at first, but then it got old really quick. They wouldn’t stop and it was one of those stupid crying fits that you knew was planned if the news didn’t go their way.
Monique and I have never allowed ourselves to fall victim to such antics, so Nicole should have known a temper tantrum was not the way to win us over. Instead, acting like that only strengthens our resolve.
To make matters worse for Nicole, she will be punished for her actions. I’m not sure what yet, but I believe that she has to learn that there are consequences for her actions, good or bad.
Well, that news didn’t go over well with her, but I’m her parent, which means I’m not always her friend. That also means that I do what I think is right. If she thinks she can get her way by pulling stunts like this now, she may pull stupid stuff like this again.
Not on my watch!
The first couple of days of vacation were pretty busy, but today we all laid around and relaxed. Michael went out in the paddleboat by himself and later with Monique, but nobody seems to be enjoying things as much as Twiggy.
Michael really enjoys the paddleboat that is at the cottage. He travels up and down the shore picking up rocks and other treasures he finds along the way. We stay out there and watch him, but he’s a good swimmer, so we don’t worry too much — he’s not far from shore anyway.
Monique and Michael went around the entire lake in the paddleboat today — believe me, that’s quite a distance. Monique was tired and sore when she got back, but I’m sure Michael could have gone again. Oh to have the energy of a kid again.
Twiggy is just insane about the water. She just runs of the end of the wharf and jumps into the water whether you throw the stick or not. She seems to be enjoying the water more than the kids at this point. You can certainly tell at night because she is beat.
We haven’t done a lot so far, but that’s okay, it is vacation. The kids are reading a lot of books and I’m playing guitar and putting together some tracks, so all is well.
I should have known it was going to happen. My first day of vacation was the busiest day of work I had all week — figures. At the last minute I did up a feature story on building a Widget to go along with the release of the Macworld Dashboard Widget.
By the time you read this, my vacation will be over; I’ll be back home again; and the Macworld Widget will already be available for download. That’s because I have no Internet access at the cottage we rented this week. I’m always fearful of not having Internet access, but I’m kind of looking forward to having the time off.
We managed to make it up here about mid-afternoon and get everything out of the truck. Then we had to go into town and pick up some groceries for the week, which included a good helping of Heineken for me.
Michael went in swimming for a bit with Twiggy while the rest of us just kind of laid around and rested. Twiggy has no fear at all of the water — she just dives in.
By 7:00 pm I was beat. I was yawning and looking for a quiet spot to lie down, but I didn’t want to go to bed too early. I don’t sleep that well most times — I’m often up until 3:00 am or later and get up several hours later — so I was happy to see I was so tired.
After the kids went to bed, Monique and I watched a couple episodes of Alias on DVD. We just started watching the show a few weeks ago and are on season 2 now.
Sadly, after being so tired for so long, I couldn’t get to sleep. I laid there for hours trying and finally dozed off. We have to go back into town tomorrow, so hopefully I’ll be rested enough.
Last night Nicole had a party to go to at her friends, so Monique, Michael and I decided to look for a little outing for us. We decided to take a trip in town and see the buskers that gather every year for the Halifax International Buskers Festival.
Buskers — or street performers — from around the world have been gathering in Halifax since 1987. It’s been 15 years since Monique and I went to the festival — that was before we had kids — so we didn’t know what to expect. Neither one of us remembers much about the last time we were there, but we figured it would make a nice outing for Michael.
Among many others, there were acts from Australia, Portugal, Vancouver and a really good act from Halifax called Squid. They were a group of five guys — four playing percussion and one playing bagpipes. It was kind of like Stomp, if you have ever seen that. They were really, really good.
We walked the one-kilometer stretch, watching jugglers with flaming torches, machetes and various other dangerous items. One guy had himself wrapped in Saran Wrap for about 10 minutes and then managed to escape. Silly, but still it was funny.
Overall it was a good night. We all had a lot of fun.
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