CaptainOrange

If you don’t mind spoilers (the photo stream is a day or two ahead of the blog posts), don’t forget that you can find better quality versions of all these photos elsewhere . Except for my awesome drawings, that is. They are one of a kind ;) 

Well... things have been crazy busy since we got back. Now that I can think again, let's do a quick recap of the end of the holiday. Teela, Peff, Merlin and Viola were very good to all of us. We ate wonderful food and endured extreme heat. One of the things that we all enjoyed was a trip to a local kids' discovery centre. We had all sorts of fun blowing bubbles, testing our vertical jumping ability and testing various laws of physics. My favourite was a series of controls that operated a small crane. Wendy and I had some trouble sharing with the other visitors and spent an enormous amount of time trying to create various structures out of the supplied material. In this picture, you can see me refusing to yield the controls to a 4 year old girl. Play Nice Anyhow, when it finally came time to leave Indiana, we decided to bee-line for home. We drove to Minneapolis the first day and stayed at an awesome hotel. Part way through the next day, we arrived at the border. Now...

My coffee woes continued this morning at the EconoLodge. The staff member in charge of the continental breakfast thought that recycling coffee grounds was an okay thing to do. I decided to make coffee in my room, but housekeeping hadn't removed the last used coffee sachet. I don't know how many days it had been there, but it appeared slightly mouldy. Sigh. The good news is that soon after the day began to heat up, we passed a lemonade stand. Leora and Anwyn have had many stands over the years and are always excited when someone from outside the family purchases their lemonade. We paid it forward by giving these cute kids some international customers. Traffic started to look a bit crazy, but never really got out of control and we got into Chicago without incident, aside from a couple of skipped toll booths. I wasn't really sure how they worked and I quickly ran out of change. They'll have to bill me, I guess. It took us a couple of times around the airport to find t...

An uneventful drive through Saskatchewan. The highlight was the discovery of a park in Weyburn that had basic parkour training stations scattered about. At the border, there was a heart stopping moment as the guard inspecting our vehicle threatened me with a $300 fine for the single orange I neglected to eat before getting there. Of course, it was a Florida orange, but who knows what pathogen it may have picked up in disease ridden Canada. As the orange flew into their garbage receptacle, I felt that the world was just a little safer. Job well done. Most of the day was spent driving. I was entertained by alternately listening to music and having Anwyn read to me from my favourite book of childhood,  The Hobbit. We arrived in Velva, ND near supper time. The owner of the campground was run off her feet and said if we didn't need electrical hook ups, we could pitch our tent anywhere we liked for free. I made sure to choose a great location. We set up our tent, ate and then...

A long time ago, Wendy and I came up with an axiom of our relationship. I'm sure it's been "discovered" countless times throughout history. The thing you most hate the most is the thing you love the most. Ben would probably add, "from a certain point of view." We have seen this countless times during the course of our marriage. Wait! Don't go. This actually isn't another boring post about my relationships ;) No, really, it's not. I was just thinking that the same can be said for the weather. We had a minor ice storm last night. It made driving frustrating and dangerous, it made shovelling snow difficult and it made cleaning my windshield this morning near impossible. If I had remembered the relationship axiom (and remembered that it applied to weather as well), I would have brought my camera with me as I drove my kids to school. Serves me right :) I had been on the road for all of 2 minutes when I sensed my error and whined to Leora ...

obligatory site photo We managed to sneak away to Waskesiu for a few days before our guests began arriving in earnest. We didn't really have enough time to go anywhere too remote, so we opted for the Narrows. It's a little busier than we'd like, but its the camp sites are pretty large and the people that camp there are relatively no nonsense. We didn't have to put up with anything more than a barking dog from our neighbours. Leo and Anwyn are both getting to be good campers. They set up their own tent, build fires (I still chop the wood), and cook some of the meals. We (by which I mean Wendy) are working on canoeing skills with them, but they still have a ways to go in terms of endurance. Moss Monster Now, if you are looking for performance and melodrama, Leora and Anwyn have endurance to spare. The weather on the first day was spectacular enough that I was able to forgive the ferocious mosquitoes that accompanied it. Good thing we got some canoeing an...

One of the big events that we had planned for our visit was a trip out to what we like to call the Gutoski land holdings. A number of years back, Gus' father, Tom, managed to get a sweet deal on a hundred acre wood of his very own. Greta just wouldn't shut up about how great it was. Wendy was so excited about it that I couldn't sleep the night before. That last bit is entirely fabricated and only and excuse to segue into my next story. I called my nephew, David, up and asked him to give me a midnight tour of the University of Waterloo campus. He was nervous that he couldn't live up to my expectations from some of our previous adventures. "Can Bri come, too?" he asked. Naturally I didn't mind if his girlfriend was there. I don't know Bri well, but she puts up with David's weirdness, so she gets a BIG benefit of the doubt. I went over to their apartment to pick them up. Bri gave me a hug. Strange. After a struggle to find parking near campus, we ha...

We had a mostly fun drive from Ottawa to Waterloo -- we did have to go through Toronto, after all. It was pretty uneventful, but we did stop to have a picnic lunch at a small resort village where we feed some gulls. The place we stopped was quaint and quiet. There was an entire beach made entirely of the best skipping rocks ever. Wendy was sick or I think I would have stayed until my arm was spaghetti. Don On The Job The other reason to move on was the facilities. The place we ate was equipped only with a port-a-potty. Let me tell you, I don't think "Don" was on the job -- despite the assurance. I think I might have been nervous if he was there anyway. We arrived without incident and commenced with the visiting. Anwyn was in the second day of being sick, but recovered with all speed when there was an infant to hold. Max Gutoski (2 1/2 mos) I was amazed at how great the girls were with their new cousin, Max. Gus and Greta's first son will soon be 3 month's old and...

Dad's 7D Dad loves his cars. I enjoy the spectacle, the in-your-face paint jobs, big car nostalgia, whatever. He invited everyone out to the Draggins spring car show at Prairieland Park. I think everybody had a good time. The adults tried not to drool on all the chrome. I took pictures and tried not to drool on Dad's new camera, and the children collected plenty of suckers, pre-Easter chocolates, pamphlets, hand sanitizer, yo-yos--the kind of junk kids seem to love collecting. Handwing gets roughed up by The Boss Oh, and James had a little altercation while trying to make off with one of the cars... At the bottom of this post is a link to the rest of the pictures . Most of them are not cars--they're family near  cars ;) I swear there would have been more/any shots of Matt if he didn't constantly throw his hand up AND scowl anytime a camera was pointed his way. Quick reflexes. Though, he did submit to one shot. Satisfied customers If you actually want  t...