Summer is here!

We've finally had some nice weather this weekend in Calgary. We took the fam to Heritage Park for the morning:
Sam and Rogan went for their first ride on the ferris wheel and pretty much enjoyed the whole ride:

Lily in the shade:

Nice Jeep, Rogan!

Matt and Ali finally broke out the Jeep from Christmas and assembled it last night. We brought it out while Sam was sleeping. Rogan liked to sit in it and fix the engine, but he sure didn't want to press down the 'gas' pedal. Here is Rogan sitting in the Jeep:

Here is Darcy trying to encourage Rogan by showing him how much fun it is:
After Sam woke up, and we waited for Rogan to show Sam how to drive it for about half an hour, Sam finally got his chance. Here he is showing Rogan how to drive it. Rogan looks a little worried.

Here is Sam driving his brother around. While Rogan is happy to fight for the shotgun position, Max and Sam may have a battle on their hands once Max gets a little older :)

Question of the day

Why is it so hard to walk up an escalator that isn't moving? It is like your brain just can't accept that the escalator has stopped.

Fun in the yard

While everyone took it easy today, the kids had fun. Lily and Max sharing the digger:
Sam watering the tree:
Maureen and Max before she left to return to Victoria:
Sam pretty much slept through dinner, even though he was standing. He stood there with his head in my lap until we took him up to bed. Max had a 3 hour nap this afternoon, and crashed at 7, but Sam was out pretty much from 6pm on...

My boys are home!

Those cute boys came home yesterday! Sam was super sweet and Max was asleep by the time we hit the airport road. They didn't sleep much on the plane, so they both went to bed pretty well. With a few minor exceptions, they pretty much sleep 8-10 hours each.

Sam playing in the tub:

Sam showing me Puffing Billy!
It was awesome to see Darcy and Mom too!

Trip to see Sherrie and John

This week I had to go down to Portland for a work trip. I elected to stay over the weekend and visit Sherrie and John. Dad also had a trip planned to work in Washington so he went the extra distance to hook up with us in Portland as well. It gave us a chance to celebrate Trev's birthday together! On Sunday we left John to work and went down to the Silver Creek Falls. What a wonderful place to visit! Here are some of the photos from the 4 or 5 mile hike. It took us about 2 hours to stoll along.

Only one more day on my own before Darcy and the boys return to Calgary!!!

Almost done shed

With Matt's help I managed to get about 80% of the roof done. Basically there is just a couple more rows and the peak to do. All on a Monday night...

Happy Father's Day

Congratulations Eric and Molly on raising over $6,000 in the Edmonton Father's Day run for Prostate Cancer!

Well, given that my kids weren't in the country, I had a pretty good Father's Day. It was nice to be out in Victoria with my Dad. We got up this morning and got a very early start to the fundraiser for Prostate Cancer. Dad had the time as 8am, which was the earliest you could arrive for packet pickup, but the 8km run didn't actually start until 10am! We had our share of coffee and roamed around Royal Roads for a while until the run finally started. After around 1 hour and 15 minutes we were enjoying burgers back at the finish line.

Darcy, Mom and the boys called at various times during the day. It was great to hear from them. Yesterday they visited the Australia Zoo that the 'crocodile hunter' made famous down under.

I did some travelling of my own. After Dad and I put on a dinner for Trudy, Harold, and 3 of the Paterson's I headed back to Calgary. Sadly, my suitcase decided to stay overnight in Vancouver :(

Here are the boys present today... It seemed a little weird to be a dad and not have any kids around this year. I miss those guys and their Mom! And my Mom too! Hopefully I'll get a chance to see Sherrie and John next week, as I may be going down to Portland for work :)

Hike at East Sooke Park

Dad and I drove out to Sooke today and walked South from the North end of the East Sooke Park hike. It was a beautiful day - much improved over the first few days of rain while I've been in Victoria. Here is an eagle:

Pre fishing for tomorrow's derby:
Maple tree canopy:

Fire! Fire!

I went over to Lee-Ann and Scott's tonight for dinner. Stu, Jen and Dom, and Kim and Roberta and their kids were all over as well. We went over to the view Royal fire hall and went on the guided tour. It was pretty cool. The kids got helmets, got to sit in the truck, and run the jaws of life! Here is William crushing a can. When I say 'kids' I'm including Stu - who also took a turn on the jaws of life :) It went pretty late for the kids, but they sure loved it. I liked the way the kids got the attention of our guide - "Hey fireman!"

Lee-Ann is ready to pop

She still has a few weeks left, but Lee-Ann is getting pretty big in the belly! Dad and I stopped by last night for dinner to see Lee-Ann and the boys. William was pretty excited to see us and sort of bounced off the walls for a while. Here he is literally bouncing in his room:

Taking a photo of Mom:
Balancing on the belly!
Brushing his teeth:

Pictures from Aussie

Paola has updated her blog with some stories and photos of the kids, Darcy and Maureen. Check it out:

Unger Down Under

Things were hectic in Calgary today. I made waffles for the neighbours and just as we were finishing up we got a call for a showing at our house. I rushed home and zipped around, making sure things were right. Allison made some cookies and we cooked them in my oven (to create a nice smell). About 12 minutes before I had to be out Allison got a call that THEY had an hour to get ready for a showing at their house! We managed to get through it, and hung out for an hour getting groceries, etc. As we got back into our car, I stepped on the gas to go in reverse and...nothing happened. I glanced down and the engine light was on so I assumed it had stalled and tried to start it. The familiar grind of the starter told me it was still running. I tried again. Nothing. I pushed the pedal all the way down - and up it revved to about 3000rpm. So - we crawled home at about 30km/h.

I waited a while, then went out to check before I called Mazda and it seemed fine - except the engine light is still on. Perhaps it is just low on gas? Anyways, I'll fill it up and see how it goes. I've got an appointment in a week if the light doesn't go away after a fill.

Update: Filling up with gas didn't help. I guess I'll deal with it in a week...

Happy Birthday Ryan!

OK, it was a few days ago, but tonight was the celebratory dinner. I went over with Ali, Matt, Lily and Rogan and partook in a nice dinner and dessert. We followed up with a neighbourhood walk with the kids.

Here is a shot of Ryan and Andrew blowing out the candles:

And Lily giving Ryan a high five:

Darcy would be happy to know I'm taking care of myself. I rode my bike in to work today for the first time since moving out to Calgary. It took all of 11 minutes and makes me wonder what took me so long. Oh yeah - the weather! I just missed getting hailed on and struck by lightning by about 2 minutes!

They made it!

Darcy called last night from the hotel in Melbourne. They arrived after about 30 hours of travel. Sam was apparently running around, excited as ever. He got about 14 hours of sleep during the 18h flight from LA. Max was tougher, as they kept making Darcy pick him up out of the bassinet whenever some turbulence came along. Paola met them and good times were had by all. They're on their way to Brisbane today on Quantas, so one more flight!

We'll stay tuned for how the boys adapt to the time change... Ali and Matt are keeping me fed, and we're going for family walks every night with the dogs. Glad we moved next door so Darcy would have someone around when I'm away on work trips!

Cool dudes

The boys were a bit of a handful tonight: ending in a tub full of toys, the phone and a towel. Sam's bedroom was a mess with the mattress flipped and all the trains dumped on the floor. Just in time for Mom to arrive home! They sure are cute in shades, though!

Try This Triathlon

Way to go Ali! Matt, Rogan, Lily, Sam, Max and I arrived a few minutes after Ali finished the Try This Triathlon today :( Sorry to miss the finish, Ali - don't go so fast next time!

Ali finished the 500m swim, 16km bike and 3km run in under 70 minutes...