Another Epic Project

This past weekend, a new project had been assigned to papa. The back yard was now taking shape, our original idea of a nice space for the whole family has of course been completely reworked to make the back yard a nice space for Liam and his demands.

To fit in with this vision, a sandbox was needed. We drove over to "Holzmarkt Tuebnigen" and purchased a nice wooden sandbox with a lid. Then we stopped by another place to pick up a liner and some gravel for the surrounding zones. I lugged everything downstairs and we were ready to get started.

Here are the materials, neatly stacked and ready to get started.
The spot to place this new fun land had already been carefully selected and we had not had grass or patio placed there for just this reason. However, it has been a month since the great dirt clear out and there was plant-growth a plenty to be cleared out.
This was a job for the mighty Claudia. She pulled out all the greenery while I got to work on the sandbox building and heavy lifting. 250kg of sand and gravel is an awful lot to lug around. Luckily I am mighty.

To get on top of this phase of the job, Claudia used her gardening implements:
In the meantime, I was to attack the sandbox assembly. This looked like a job for my old buddy Steve the Screwdriver. Note my new summer haircut, it was only hours old at this point.
I assembled the sandbox without too much trouble, and Steve served me well as usual. Here is the sandbox frame as it developed.
By this time, Claudia had finished with the defoliation of the spot and was ready to hand the shovel over to me.
Next I had the surprisingly challenging step of digging out enough dirt to hold the sandbox and gravel, making sure to get all the big lumpy rocks out. Little people will not have fun if they dig down and get a lumpy rock. That shovel and bucket were not the ideal tools for the job, but it worked OK.

I put the frame of the sandbox in the deposit.Next, I put the liner in the bottom. I was surprised that the sandbox liner seemed to be made of a sort of felt-like material and not something like plastic. I suppose if it was plastic then the sandbox would collect water and be a bit of a mudpit. I guess you learn new things with every new project. For example, our shovel is named Trevor.
With all this in place, the next step was to put the sand and gravel in the correct holes and then give Liam a shout for a test run. I did not have to shout too loud, he was actually underfoot the whole time "helping." His toy drill was instrumental in the assembly process, and the tiny blue shovel you see in the sandbox was used to help take away some of the earth.
The final verdict... success. Here is an image of how the "Family space" has become very much a "Liam's outdoor domain," You can also see the final phase of the picnic table here, which I stained last weekend.

The swing hanging from the balcony was put up by Claudia while I was digging in the pit. She was also put to work creating leisure space for our tiny overlord.

Liam's Laufrad

We just bought a "Laufrad" for Liam, which is essentially a bike with no pedals. It lets the wee folk get used to the feeling of a bike, but they just coast around with their feet. Liam had seen some little friends with one and seemed pretty interested.

Of course, it was a job for papa to put it together.

Here is the box...
As always, my first step was to unpack everything and make sure all the parts were there.
The first assembly step was to attach the front fender to the fork, no problem.
Then the front wheel was attached.
Next I added the seat, which I had to crank way down to the lowest possible setting.
and finally the whole thing was together and Liam could sit on it. Of course, being the big chicken he always is, he has not really managed to figure out the mechanics of riding just yet. Still he is happy to look at it and ask to sit on it.

Old Photos

When I was in Canada, I came across these old school pictures and thought it was nice to look at all the old faces and see how we have changed. I also really like looking at how insanely bad our taste was as far as clothes, hair, etc goes.

You can go through them and pick out any one you know, but since most of the readers here would just know me from my Toronto days onwards.... Maybe some O'ville folks are having a peek. I know Shelley should see some faces in here.

First up is me in Grade 3. Sweet sweet velour shirts are all through this crowd.
Followed of course by Grade 4
Grade 5 was missing, as I recall I had Miss Handbidge, who I did not like so much at the time. Perhaps I destroyed that one...

Then Grade 6 came along...
Grade 7
I am sure I will find some more over time, but these were fun to look at.

Liam's First Donut

I have been a little slack on the posts the last week or so, but I am honestly just too swamped with work to get to the blog these days. Also, I am starting to run out of photos and will need to take my camera down off the shelf and find something to talk about.

Lucky that our lawn should be finished one day soon... once it stops raining long enough for the gardener to do it...

so, here is Liam's first ever donut. On our way out of Canada, we had exactly enough Canadian money left for a snack from Tim Hortons in the airport. Seemed like a good moment to introduce Liam to the world of donuts.
He too a nice long look at the donut first, he was not too sure what to make of it, but there was chocolate on there, so he was willing to give it a chance. Liam is what is known as a very very very picky eater. He pretty much lives off toast, cereal, and noodles with nothing on them.
Clearly he figured that donuts were ok by him and dove right in there. Good boy.

New Tractor

For Liam's third birthday, he received a lovely gift from of a new Tractor from Aunt Doris and Uncle Ryan. Liam is a big big fan of tractors and this was an immediate hit. It has a shovel in the front and a wagon in the back. It also has a digger arm that can go on the back should the need for digging arise.

Here is Proud Liam sitting on the new tractor.

Liam's big use of the tractor so far is driving out, getting a load of grass or flowers, then driving them back home. For the first days after getting this device, all the ladies in the area were getting a constant stream of fresh picked daisies from the field down the road. Mummy, Doris, the neighbour's girls... all received many many daisies.

Here is the correct grass collection technique.
This was just in front of the house, there was a wealth of grass to move thanks to the field across the street being mowed.

For the daisy gathering, it is too far for the tiny man to venture on his own, so in this case Uncle Ryan was recruited to be the helper.

Beer Chips - More Opinions...

As you may remember, I recently purchased and reviewed Beer Flavoured Chips. I recently had the opportunity to share this exciting new product with some more test subjects.

Here, Ryan is posing as if he is about to become the spokesmodel for beer flavoured chips. As convincing as his smile may be, I think that he does not have the physique that the beer-chips product user would most relate too. I think that Ryan would need to work on an enormous beer-gut in order to really convince the target audience that this is a product combining all the best features of chips and beer. He is just too healthy looking...
Anyway, Ryan had been dying to try these since I first told him about them and he was very much up to beer-chip challenge. As you can see by this particularly unflattering photo, he attacked the bag with the enthusiasm needed...
His impressions were pretty much like mine. The first taste just seemed to be regular salted chips flavour, but as you ate a few more, the beer was more and more detectable. Ryan agreed that it was most noticeable when eating a few chips at the same time. All in all, his reaction was positive. Beer Chips gained one more customer.

Next up was The Doris. I don't think Doris is the biggest Chip eater in the world, nor is she a beer-fan. However, she certainly was willing to give the chips a try. I think the look on her face here is showing the level of caution she had when approaching the chip. She looks to be tentatively studying the chip before embarking on a new taste sensation.
Ultimately this chip was consumed. She did say they were "OK" and continued to eat some more from the bag, but I got the impression that she did not like them quite as much as Ryan or I did. Perhaps these chips were split along gender lines? Should Crunchips develop a wine-spritzer flavoured chip for the ladies? I will be happy to pass on this research and offer test subjects to the good folks at Crunchips for a price....

Claudia had already tried the chips the first time I brought them into the house and given them her mark of approval, but I had not captured that moment on "film." Here she is partaking of another chip.
Claudia also gave a generally favourable reaction to this flavour and said she would eat them again no problem (evidence, this WAS the second time she had them,) however this was not her favorite flavour and would probably prefer plain salted or salt and vinegar.

All in all, I did not find anyone who tried these chips and did not like them. Granted, all the people that tasted them at least felt generally good about beer, so there could have been some bias there. I suppose a proper test would have to include people who actively disliked beer to see what they thought of them. Liam did enjoy the chips and he has never tasted beer, but I think he is not the best case, since he will eat any flavour of chip that you let him.

I think Crunchips can be proud of this bold experiment and if I see the beer chips return in future I will certainly pick them up again. I will also go out of my way to try any other exciting new chip flavours that I stumble accross....

Most awesome toddler ever...

Last weekend, there was an open house summer fun day at Liam's daycare and the kindergarten next door. We all went over to take part in the snacks and fun as well as have a look around Liam's soon to be new school.

There were lots of kids running about, partying it up, which I will cover in future posts... However, one kid redefined awesome for me.

Look at this guy!
So, this little fellow is all decked out in some sort of black pirate head-cloth, and then wearing a kiddie sized MANOWAR shirt.

In case you do not know who Manowar are, they are a hair-metal band formed in 1980, who hold the Guiness record for "Loudest Performance" Not really the sort of Music you would imagine a 3 year old listening to... They are not exactly The Wiggles. I had two friends back in the mighty Orangeville who were big Manowar fans, Dave and Adam, if you guys are reading. perhaps you could tell me if your kids have this look nailed yet?

Here is what Manowar look like

Amazing!!!! I was really hoping to spot this kid's parents... I wanted to see two 30-40 something aging metal heads with hair and tattoos all over drinking beer out of a plastic bottle with a straw. I am sure that is not what all Manowar fans are like, but it is the image that jumped into my head.

What goes through parents minds when dressing their kids?

Maybe I am the one who have it all wrong, I can not confess to knowing the music of Manowar, so I am basing my opinion on unfair stereotypes and media imagery of Metal fans. It could well be that beneath the pounding drums, roaring guitars and screeching vocals are songs that are very child friendly.

The songs may be be about ponies and cuddly toys, sharing and playing with pals.

A selection of Manowar song titles I looked up from their vast (18 album) collection confirms this.

-The Power of Thy Sword
-The Demon's Whip
-Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts (including "The Desecration of Hector's Body")
-Pleasure Slave
-Blood of the Kings
-Fight Until We Die
-Violence and Bloodshed
-Kill With Power
-Blood of my Enemies
-March for Revenge (By the Soldiers of Death)

If that is not for kids, I don't know what is.

I feel a little bad, that Liam's shirts have Thomas the Tank Engine and some bears and dogs on them. I think I will go get him a Slayer shirt on the way home.

So very sleepy

I am feeling pretty sleepy today for no real reason. It reminded me of a recent photo I took of Liam in blissful slumber:

I have no idea how that position is comfortable or how he managed to get the blankets and cushions in that arrangement so skillfully. Liam is not a guy who likes going to bed, so he was probably fooling around and then eventually grew tired once everything was rearranged, and passed out getting back on the bed. Who knows.

I thought it looked amusing though...

Bath time

I think it is the duty of every parent to ensure they have embarrassing bath photos of the kids to hold over their heads in the future. I have taken some in the past, but I think these ones are extra nice since it blackmails 2 kids at once.

When we were in Canada, we plonked the two little ones in the tub together for some splashing fun. This is a good group of pictures to show off the hugeness of Claire. She is one year younger than Liam and already taller and heavier. Not that Liam is small, but Claire is in the 99th percentile of height and weight for her age. She is like a little powerhouse.
About midway through the bath, it seems that Claire got a call. I thought she knew that it was good manners to turn your phone off before bathing.
What with all the phoning being finished Claire saw that it was time to eat a facecloth.
It is nice to have some photos where Liam appears to be acting like the calm rational one next to another wild little person. Normally I expect every group photo to be a bunch of smiling, well mannered children standing around while Liam has a bucket on his head and is yelling at birds.

Another Exciting New Product! Coke with Green Tea!

Ahh, thank the gods of consumerism for feeling the need to shove new and often repulsive products down our throats.

I love coke. I drink coke often, when I have a cold beverage, I would say it is almost always coke. mmmm coke. I have tried many flavours of coke.

Coke
New Coke
Coke Classic
Coke light
Coke light with Lemon
Vanilla Coke
Cherry Coke
Coke Zero
C2

and now......

Coke with Green Tea. That is right. I saw this baby on the shelf of the grocery and it took about 0.5 seconds to make my purchase decision. Click the image for a larger look at this beast.
It seems like an unholy combination, but I like coke... I like green tea... lets give them a chance.

The first step was to pour myself a cool refreshing glass.
It looks just like normal coke of course, but I was not really expecting much in the way of colour change. I think that the coke formulation has so much in the way of colouring additives that it would have been a much much bigger surprise if it did look any different to me. I am reasonably sure I could line up glasses of all the coke products through history and not be able to tell any apart based on appearance.

Next was the sniff test.
Not much to say here either, it just smelled like coke. I really could not detect any hint of tea yet.

So nothing left to do but jump right in and give it a try.
I have to say, on the first sip, all I tasted was coke (light,) no tea taste whatsoever. I thought there may have been a slightly bitter odd aftertaste, but I think that is just the normal coke light taste to me.

I gave it another sip, and this time, I definitely tasted the green tea. In fact, with each sip afterward, the tea taste became more noticeable and intense. It is like the first taste was just acting like some sort of primer, getting me ready for the tea taste to come. Anyway, the tea mixed in was not at all unpleasant. I would more say that it just seemed sort of odd at first. In a way it was almost like drinking coke with a bit of iced tea mixed in. Or if you had been drinking iced tea from a glass, then switched to coke in the same glass without washing it (yes, I am a repulsive human who does that.)

All in all, I found it to be refreshing and not at all nasty. Thumbs up.

As luck would have it, we had some guests at the time of this experiment, so I forced Ryan to give it a try as well...

He had the identical first reaction that I did, no tea taste at all. Then on subsequent sips, the tea taste grew and grew. He drank the whole glass with a smile, so it was also a winner with him.
Claudia also tried it and thought it was pretty good. I did not get any photos of her enjoying the coke though. She finished off the bottle the next day, so I will say it was a winner with her too.

So all in all, three thumbs up from the taste test of Coke Light with Green Tea. The only disappointment is that it was a little milder than I was expecting. I wanted to take a sip and then be able to see through time.