Camping

As has now become an annual tradition, Ray and Nick started off the summer with a camping trip, this year to Bon Echo Provincial Park.  They had an active week, one day cycling  six hilly kilometres to get to the trail, hiking 10 kilometres and then cycling another six hilly kilometres back afterwards. Then they napped.

Canadian camping is a bit more ‘wild’ than camping in England, with a greater chance of wildlife encounters.  Ray awoke in the middle of their first night to the sound of a raccoon rifling through their stuff in the screened-in area of the tent, and they heard that one of the other campers had been chased by a bear while doing some off-trail hiking.

On their second evening, Ray and Nick roasted marshmallows over the bonfire. Ray hadn’t packed graham wafers and chocolate to make S’mores, so Nick invented his own version of that tasty treat by heating two chocolate chip cookies on the grill and then putting a gooey, roasted marshmallow in between. In typical fashion, the guys started putting together a business plan for marketing this new invention (called S’nores, with an N for Nick). They both swear this is exactly what happened next:  They were talking about how the tv advert for their new product would go and Ray suggested that it should have a twist ending. Inspired by the intruder from the night before, they decided that it would be funny if a raccoon ran off with the marshmallows at the end of the commercial.  Minutes later, they became aware of movement behind them and turned just in time to see the resident raccoon disappearing into the woods…carrying their bag of marshmallows. Nick took off like a shot after it, causing the raccoon to drop some of the marshmallows along the way, which he was able to salvage for his S’nores.

They also did a bit of canoe fishing.  From Nick’s journal:  “I catch a two-foot long perch. Dad catches NOTHING!”  And later, “I caught a massive small-mouthed bass while dad only caught a puny sunfish.”  Ray, of course, contested Nick’s version of events.  Given that there are no photos of either of them posing with their trophy fish or any mention of a trout fry-up around the bonfire, I strongly suspect that Ray has been teaching Nick how to tell “fish stories”.

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School’s out, summer’s in

Tonight was Ray’s tennis night so Nick and I had exciting plans to clean up his room, which is currently carpeted in nine months of notebooks, tests, assignments, binders, pens, pencils and who knows what else is under there.  Just as we were set to get started, Ray called to say they were short a player and could Nick hop on his bike and come over to the tennis courts. Saved by the bell. I’m sure he’s deeply disappointed.

He can get away with more than usual this week though as he’s still riding the wave of a successful close to the school year, having aced his exams and received two awards at his school’s closing ceremonies – one for Academic Excellence in Self & Society (a.k.a. history/geography) and the second for receiving the fifth highest marks in his grade.  We were, of course, very proud of him, and he’s been milking that pride as much as possible.  That’s okay. He’s worked hard for his moment in the sun…but tomorrow the room is getting cleaned.

Nick and Ray were all set to go camping this week, but with temperatures forecast to be in the ‘feels like’ 40s most of the week, they decided to postpone.  The 11-week summer vacation feels like an eternity compared to the 6-weeks they got in England.  It will probably still fly by though.  They sure did when I was a kid.

Top 5 Scholars – he seems to be checking out the competition.

He was pretty surprised to receive the S&S Achievement award.

I can order ANYTHING I want for lunch?

Boo, visits, exams, burgers, summer…

It’s been a rough week for Marabou. She’d been having breathing issues for quite a while but it got progressively worse with the hot humid weather.  The vet confirmed our suspicions that she has laryngeal paralysis.  Our options were surgery or wait for her to suffocate and turn blue.  We went with surgery.  She’s still restricted to soft food so she’s not too pleased about the fact that we’re not tossing her dog treats when we leave the house any more, but otherwise she seems to be recovering well.  All the positive energy she puts out into the world may have brought us some good karma because the day before we went to see the vet I received a tax refund cheque for $3,000 more than I’d  been expecting.  Then – *poof* – it was gone. Easy come, easy go.

My dad and Ray’s sister both came for separate visits this past week. My dad drove up to attend a Silent Auction / Talent Show fundraising event at Nick’s school.  The event was organized by one of the Grade 8 French classes with all auction items and performances done by the senior students. Nick donated two paintings for the auction and performed with the Pop Band in the talent show.  Some very talented young musicians, dancers and singers – much braver than I was at that age (or now, for that matter).  My dad got into a bidding war with a grade 8 student for Nick’s tiger painting (and, not surprisingly, won), while Nick’s other painting of an Orangutan and her baby went to a student.  Ray’s sister was only here for a quick visit as she had a couple of appointments in Ottawa, but we should get to see a bit more of her on her next visit in July.

One thing that we’re really enjoying about being back in Canada is the hot weather.  After four years with only a handful of days that could reasonably be classified as ‘hot’, we love living in shorts & sandals – and it’s not even officially summer yet!  Today we all went to Westfest, a Westboro street party with lots of free entertainment.  We’re on the hunt for the best veggie burger in Ottawa so we had lunch at “The Works” which has a huge selection of toppings, ranging from gourmet to…well, a little strange – peanut butter and banana, Kraft Dinner.  Nick rated the burgers the best so far, knocking out Lone Star and the Britannia Beach Baha Burger Bar, but I still prefer the Baha bean burger.

Nick finished his classes this week and has three out of five exams completed, with Math and French still to go, so tomorrow will be a study day.  I think we’ll all be relieved when the final projects and exams are completed and handed in and we can spend our evenings and weekends just relaxing and enjoying the summer holidays!