Snuggling with a grandson ?
He loves me and that cozzy blanket is pretty important too!
Category: Family
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Thankful
A while back I decided to make an effort to be more thankful. And to that end I started a list on the iPhone Reminders app and I get a daily prompt to put something on the “Thankful” list. Now not every day gets and entry but most do. Another facet of this initiative is to monthly review the list to remind me of all the things I’m thankful for.
As a part of this month’s review I thought that once in a while I’d share one of these “Thankful” items on the blog. First up is this one.
Easton is my Grandson and this phone call was quite out of the blue and I don’t normally get any phone calls for the Grandkids so this was kind of special. The tree fort is at the lake and for me this meant he was thinking of good times at the lake and planning for more good times in the future. ?
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Something Fishy
On the weekend, August 19-21, Parker and Dane had their friend Aryton down at the lake. It was a busy weekend with swimming, tubing, seadoo rides, kneeboarding and fishing!
This was Aryton’s first time fishing and he hit the trifecta, first fish, biggest fish and most fish! Over several outings on the weekend the boys collectively caught 18 bass.
Aryton’s 1st fish 
Dane has one on the line! 
Parker with one of his many fish Fun fact: Aryton’s grandfather was a big Formula One fan and he is named after Aryton Senna, in honour of his grandfather.
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Fishing with Grandkids & Friend
Two days of fishing just around the corner of our point yielded 15 bass in short order, lots of action! The three boys kept me busy getting fish off the hook and into a bucket.
/im
Day #1 08/20 in Red, Day #2 08/21 in Green 7.52 NMi or 13.9 km Parker Aryton Dane -
Brunch and a Walk
Brunch at one of our favourite spots, Stella’s on Provencher where we had the “usual” Mexican Breakfast followed by a walk in the park.
Sporting new boots! 
Train Track Graffiti -
Older Kids
You never stop worrying about your kids. How could you? They might be older but they’re still running around unsupervised!
Emoji -> ?
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High School Shop Projects
A coupe of shop project creations from the boys. Keeping the photos for posterity. Fate of the creations is uncertain. ☹️
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Toolbox Memories
My Grampa, my dad’s father, built this for me when I was a young boy, about 8 or 9 years old.
The toolbox came with a saw (original still in the box), a hammer, screw drivers, pliers and a number of small glass jars containing various sizes of nails. I still have some of those glass jars too! The box is very well constructed and has a lock which was quite magical as a young kid. Something I could lock up and keep secrets in. Sadly, the key has gone missing.
My earliest fond memory of using the tools was in Sudbury on a sunny Saturday afternoon out in the garage cutting up various bits of scrap wood and making my version of a toy boat. Something like this only less fancy. I thought it was a masterpiece! After all I did it all by myself!
Fancy Toy Wood Boat Over the years this toolbox has held lots of childhood treasures and good memories.
When we had Eric and Scott my dad decided to keep the tradition going and build our boys similar toolboxes.
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Snake Bite
A story from the Cottage Build.
So, one day after my dad and I had finished working for the day we were relaxing in the RV and participating in what was commonly known in our family circles as “the cocktail hour”.
Generally, the “hour” was quite loosely defined. All it really meant was pre-dinner drinking.
I had brought some Yukon Jack which my dad had never had and there is this recipe on the back called a “Snake Bite”. It’s pretty simple, some ice, a squeeze of lime juice and of course some Yukon Jack.
I find them pretty tasty and I think my dad did too as we imbibed quite liberally. I think dinner did get made but I’m not too sure and by the end of the evening “Jack” was no more.
We had some interesting and wide ranging conversations about some quite deep and personal stuff. It was quite a special time for me, just the two of us, man to man. I don’t remember much about the conversation details but the one thing that sticks out was I told my dad I loved him. Might of been the first time I’d said it out loud, just the two of us. A good memory.
The next morning was pretty rough but we didn’t talk about our hangovers we just had some breakfast, maybe just a coffee, and got to work.
