Things that make you shake your head

Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Enough said...

Leap of faith

This happened last weekend, but I wanted to post the photos as soon as I had the chance but on its own blog post. I think you'll agree that this one shouldn't be mixed with flowers and Maddy pictures.

Stanley

Adam

Yes, they did it!!!! 

They jumped out of a plane over Dundas this weekend and had a blast. The rest of us froze our butts off in the cool wind at ground level.

So here is the sequence. 

Stanley went first and headed up with the instructor and videographer in the Cessna 182 (you don't think I would forget to check on that little detail, would you?). He jumped at ~11,000 feet after a quick check to see if he was ready to head out the door. Mel, Murray, Wendy, Adam, and I watched from the moment he left the plane. By the way, before he went up, Stanley mentioned that he had told his parents he would be doing this... sort of.  ;-) 

Trained and ready to go

Are you ready?

"Face first" into the void

View from the ground (Eric's camera, 200 mm lens, handheld lying on ground)

Even his pant legs were shortened by the force of the parachute!

Happy to be done, now he can explain it to his parents!

Adam went next and was strapped to the same instructor that his Auntie Mel had last August. The weather was a little more hazy, so it was harder to see the plane from the ground.

The first step is always the hardest

View from below - more haze this time

Adam and Chris did a somersault before the drogue chute came out

Umphhhh!

Legs up!

Even his hair is standing on end

Certificate of achievement 

Those who have jumped.

Wasn't that worth its own post?

More random happenings

Here are a few more things I wanted to post but haven't had the time to deal with.

Marion took us on a trip to Stratford to see the Sound of Music. We go every year, but this year Ron wasn't up to the drive or a musical. If you will notice in the selfie below, Parker actually agreed to come along! Without wi-fi!

He secretly enjoyed it. 

Stopping at Tim Hortons didn't hurt either.

Maddy got her hair cut for summer. Below are her before and after pictures. The bandana lasted until a minute after the photo was taken. She hates those things.

 

We took a few more pictures of Maddy while in the back yard a few days later. Here is her 'official' portrait, and she is smiling.

On the original, you can see how deep the engraving is in the phone number...

We also wanted a picture of Adam in his uniform in his final cadet rank, so he begrudgingly put it back on for us to take this picture. This is about a month after he aged out. He is now working as a civilian volunteer for his squadron.

Warrant Officer First Class Seidlitz

As we moved into June (and things didn't slow down) we also did hike #3 of the Bruce Trail. Hre's the obligatory start of the hike selfie. 

Bruce Trail gang selfie #3

This hike's highlight was going over the Welland Canal. Little did we know that an earlier highlight would be going over the old Welland Canal! Can't imaging many large ships would go through here - thankfully the newer canal seems much larger.

I was a little surprised that there were no signs warning of the danger of falling to our deaths. We stayed away from the edge anyway...

This was another interesting trail marker. Maybe this concrete structure would last longer than the trees.

Here is another trail marker, albeit a non-standard one. Glad we were prepared for unusual "white blazes", or we might have tried to go through that tick infested bush behind Maddy.

Just as we arrived to cross the main canal, the lift bridge went up. Thinking we would see a fantastic and large ocean-going ship, we were a little disappointed to see a tiny (by our standards) pleasure craft go by. Not exciting, but at least we got to rest and eat a snack.

After the bridge came back down, I took this picture through the railing and thought the water colour was interesting.

We also went by a few man-made waterfalls. This one caught my eye, so I took a shot with a longer shutter speed to blur the moving water.The next picture is with the shutter speed the camera wanted to use.

Longer shutter speed

Normal shutter speed

Which one do you prefer?

A little late, but still noteworthy

I haven't posted for a while - somehow the less busy time that is supposed to happen after the university school year is over never seemed to materialize.

The end of May saw Adam get possession of his car from his grandfather (he had virtual possession of it, more or less, for a few weeks while Ron was not able to drive).

New plate went on in a flash

Ron got his new car a few weeks later and it certainly has more gizmo's than the old one.

As expected, now that Adam can connect to the sound system with Bluetooth in his own car, we always can hear when he comes home, long before the door opens...

Parker has continued to periodically caddie, but I don't think he has actually gone out on the course since his first day (mostly just sat there and waited... collecting $11 for sitting and waiting). It is very difficult to get him to look at the camera, but I took a picture of his badge and hat. It will have to do.

Also in the end of May we did our second Bruce trail hike but it was unfortunate that two team members had a schedule change that made it difficult for them to go on our hikes. Below are a few shots from that hike. The selfie to start it off is the group just as we are starting where we left off from hike #1.

The Bruce Trail gang selfie #2

There were certainly more birds and bugs on this hike, but the weather was nice and the terrain was not too difficult. We did walk along a few roads and crossed a few more with purpose built pedestrian bridges. Thanks go to the driver who honked as they went under us on the bridge - it certainly woke us up!

A few bridges to cross

Not certain what this shoe tree was all about, but it was interesting enough to stop for a picture. I think this qualifies as being "random".

There were also many more spring flowers than last time, but I liked how this one turned out. I think the dandelion can be very nice to look at (in an artistic way) if you can repress the homeowner's urge to rip it out and kill it at all costs.

I noticed that some of the trail markers were becoming more "imaginative" and we did get confused/lost a few times. Well, at least when I was leading the way. The tree below looks just as confused as I was looking at it, so I don't think it was all my fault for going off the beaten path. Just saying...

To finish off this post, here's another random find, close to the end of the hike at the Woodend Environmental area we came across the area's administration building. 

Great name for a company

I wonder if their head office is next door to a Taco Bell... that would be even better, right?

May flowers

Happy Mother's Day!

As usual, a very busy week. Summer seemed to steam roll over top of spring, and it was approaching 30C many days this week and weekend. 

Last weekend, Wendy went with her friend Mel to Niagara Falls so Mel could give a talk at a conference. Her husband wasn't feeling great, so Wendy went in his place. Wendy had some time to wander around and they visited the Niagara Casino. Wendy even took her very first selfie!

Wendy's first ever selfie!

We were able to arrange a hike in on Saturday (yesterday) but it was very hot. Maddy thought it was so hot she went into a creek and laid down. She was dry by the time we reached the car.

Too hot to hike without a little cooling break.

As we arrived home it looked like our crab apple tree was at its peak - I took this photo in case we received the predicted thunderstorms and lost all the flowers.

Crab apple tree on our front lawn

Stanley is getting ready for his graduation next month - he came down to ask about dress clothes for the event. Below is a picture of Adam teaching him how to tie a double Windsor knot. I think it is going to take some practice.

Learning to tie a tie

Parker and Adam didn't get Wendy any flowers today, but Stanley did. This is how it is done, boys!

Stanley gave Wendy flowers for Mother's Day

For my Mother's Day gift to my mom, below is a video that shows flowers that have popped up in our yard (and on the hiking trail) over the last 10 days or so.

Enjoy!