First Day of School

Today was the day that we shared the joy with parents across the world; the day the kids go back to school! YEAH!!!! YEAH!!!! YEAH!!!

Nothing was wrong with Blair in this photo, the sun was just in his eyes, he's not used to seeing it this early in the morning! They were all up and ready to go way before they had to be, I guess they were almost as excited as us.

One of the neighbour's girls is going to the same school as Blair & Erinn this year, so her and her happy parents met us at the bus stop behind our house.

Erinn now has someone to ride with on the bus.

Look how happy they are! YEAH!!!

Last Week of Summer Holidays!

FINALLY, the kids are going back to school!!!
Their last week was spent with dad at home, Carolyn was busy working while I took my two weeks of vacation.

There's quite the story behind this picture; originally I took a similar one of these two playing on their laptops, my intent was a picture of them getting along, which doesn't happen all that often. After taking the photo I noticed neither one had their glasses on, mom is always harping on them to 'put your glasses on!', so I told them I had a blackmail photo of them without their glasses on and that I was going to show it to mom.
Well... after taking the photo and going back outside Blair took the camera, deleted the photo I took and took this one in its place; notice they both have their glasses on? What a kid!

Blair & I took Father John fishing again, this time we tried some different hot spots that proved not to be so hot! My theory is that Father John is bad luck because it seems every time we take him along we get skunked.
Next time I told him we are pre-fishing it without him to prove my point.

Blair & I lounging in the pool, the only thing missing is a Pilsner in my hands.

Carolyn & the girls hanging out by the pool. The weather has been most summer-like, in fact this has been the most summer we've had all summer!

On Saturday we did a flying trip to Calgary for school clothes for the kids, according to Carolyn it was a worthwhile trip. Can you tell from this photo who was shopped out and who wasn't? Blair & I only were allotted one hour at Bass Pro Shops :-(

Carolyn spent the better part of today getting the kids all squared away for the start of school tomorrow; from washing their new clothes to putting their names on their school supplies.

Blair with a few of his purchases from Bass Pro Shops; a new camo backpack and a bi-pod for his rifle.

The mighty hunter! He had to pack his new backpack with everything including 3 knives (takes after his dad I guess) and a full water bladder which resulted in a full Blair bladder.

We tried to call in a coyote but only managed to glass some deer.

Dying days of summer!

Summer, once again, has seemed to fly by! With me working in Pincher Creek and commuting back and forth its slipped by even faster than it was supposed to!

Carolyn's been keeping up on the yard work while I've been gone; religiously cutting the grass once a week!

Erinn learned to play the guitar.

Thanks to her brother's guitar prowess!

Even Father John has taken up the gauntlet.

Mom & Dad came to visit me for my birthday.

Blair's been sleeping in his tent where ever we go, even in the basement.

When I'm not working on my "honey-do list" I've taken time to enjoy a Pil in the cool basement.

The kids took me bowling on my birthday.

The kids riding the wet banana with their cousins at the farm.

And yet another breath taking prairie sunset as seen from our back deck!

The Family Gathering

On the August long weekend we gathered with my family at Pike Lake Provincial Park just outside of Saskatoon.

These were the Astolos cousins, the second generation.

The third generation.

The first and orginal generation!

Carolyn & my cousin Lynn.

My cousin Cory introducing me to "the Penguin".

Joey & Cory; "Its not so bad!"

Another Milestone

Need I say more?

Little Biker

This summer, with the help of Papa & big brother Blair, Erinn finally shed the training wheels off her bike and is now riding a two-wheeler.

The next Marla Streb?

Next year a new bike will be in order; mountain or road or maybe cyclo-cross?

Endangered Species Rescue

Last month when I was home Carolyn asked me what was swimming in the puddle in our back ditch.

When I went to have a look this is what we found.

Tadpoles! Thousands of them!

Our ditch fills up with water whenever we get a good rain, this year its had water in it all summer almost!

I made a phone call to one of the Species at Risk Biologists in Medicine Hat and told him about our find, his thoughts were that they may be Prairie Spade-Foot Toads, he said the females burrow into the ground and only come out after a good thunderstorm to lay their eggs; this may only occur every 2-3 years!

Since we figured it would eventually dry up and the tadpoles would die we decided to relocate them to Bullshead Creek, which flows just below us in the valley. I hauled two and a half of these pails down there and dumped them in. We left a few in our ditch which Carolyn kept water in when it wasn't raining.

Last week when I was home we discovered a few of these guys jumping around, survivors that we left behind in the ditch. Its a Northern Leopard Frog, another endangered species! The weird thing is they normally lay their eggs in the spring.

The kids had a hoot trying to catch these fast little frogs, we only had 3 that stayed behind but when we went down to the creek there was hundreds of them hopping around. According to some literature I read only 10% survive from tadpoles to frogs, I think we upped that percentage considerably by moving them when we did!

I checked yesterday and it appears Bob, Tad and Tannis have since moved on!

Thanks to the rain!

Thanks to all the rain we've been getting the yard is looking nice and green.

And thanks to all of Carolyn's hard work watering, when it isn't raining and cutting the grass once a week, which takes 3-4 hours, its looking wonderful.

Hard to believe that all the green is 90% weeds!

Wined & Dined!

A few weekends ago Carolyn & I found ourselves without any kids and nothing to do (we got all our chores done) so we headed out to the Cypress Hills Vineyard & Winery.

It was a beautiful place and a wonderful day.

I was disappointed that the pond only had gold fish in it!

Mmmm, the wine & the company were excellent!

This is how we wish our backyard looked!

The meal was nothing special but it tasted good.