Just a typical weekend

Last weekend we dropped Adam off at cadet camp to begin his week of training and evaluation. All the staff enter at the arbitrary rank of Sgt. until decisions are made as to where these staff cadets will perform their duties for the summer. We received a text from Adam yesterday that indicated that he had been promoted to the rank of Flt. Sgt. (at the camp only - his rank is normally Warrant Officer Second Class). He is now in command of Training and Service Support for the summer. He will also be running the zipline for the thousands of cadets that come through the camp over the whole summer. Below is the last we saw of Adam as he headed away from the car to walk over to the intake area at CSTC Blackdown (Borden).

Adam leaving for camp

Wendy and I did a few hikes this weekend in the heat. We tried a few new locations and took some photos. The waterfall below was one we had visited previously, although we did find a nice side trail that took us a different direction and connected us to the Heritage trail (not far from the main loop where we usually hike).

Sherman Falls

An interesting pile of tree trunks on the Heritage trail

Although the trails were not great, today's hike seemed to be filled with wildlife.We came across a family of 4 deer on the Princess Point trail (near Cootes Paradise). The deer let us get reasonably close to them - they seemed very curious about us and not at all afraid. Maddy didn't notice them for several minutes - well, at least until one of them crossed the path right in front of her.

Curious deer

Not two minutes after the deer encounter, the trail we were following took us across the middle of an expansive and rather empty soccer field. The only sign of life was this medium-sized turtle. Seemed that it was heading for a very tiny depression in the field (it had a purposeful walk) where it could settle down and start digging in the dirt. Pretty unconcerned about us even with me taking photos. Wendy thinks it was preparing to lay eggs. Maddy wasn't sure what to think.

Soccer turtle

We did see a number of different wildflowers on our hike, but I will only bore you with this photo of a green teasel plant (Dipsacus fullonum).

Young Teasel plant

We've been trying to keep Parker busy to reduce the chance he will miss his favourite brother Adam over the summer (yeah, right!). Yesterday, he had a friend stay over to play video games and eat junk food - a typical teenager thing to do in July. We convinced them to go out and do something, then drove them up to the mountain in Hamilton to get some fresh air and to race go-karts for a while.

Parker taking the corner

They did 10 laps each in the very strong sun and brisk wind. Wendy and I were able to sit in the shade and watch their race.

Parker with the "Yeah, I'm cool" look.

Not so cool once the helmet comes off...