Forestry Pictures

During May we also made a trip to the BC Forestry Museum in Duncan. We thought Sprout would love the train ride. He didn’t love it as much as we thought, but he certainly did enjoy it. As usual, put me in a place with old stuff, and I could spend hours there. I managed to shoot off a few pictures in between chasing the boy, riding the train, eating popcorn, and exploring trails.

This little lady bug tried to hitch a ride with me. It might have worked if it wasn’t so tickly for me.

Paddle Exception

I think these next two pictures from from another Yoshi walk, perhaps at Thetis Lake.

I took Sprout to the Kinsmen Gorge playground for some play time. We had a blast, and I think the highlight for Sprout was watching the kayakers launch and paddle away. We also had some snacks while resting.

You can’t see Beet in these pictures, but I assure you she was around. The last few pics here are from some visiting relatives. Sprout loves the beach, and this trip was no exception. We hadn’t brought the most appropriate clothes, but that didn’t stop him.

Mmmm, family lunch at Pluto’s. Yummy!

May Snacks

I walked Yoshi many times during May, and this walk was at Colquitz Park. I am beginning to like that park more and more. Perhaps because it is still new compared to Macaulay.

We planted a Clematis late last year and this year it bloomed some gorgeous flowers.

We met with some friends at a playground in Langford. It was so, so cold that morning. None of the adults really dressed properly. It seemed warm at our house when we left, but the temp dropped a couple degrees by the time we got there. We went to a coffee shop afterwards to warm up and get some snacks in the boys.

Dark Plot

Sox and I got out to see the Dark Knight. We enjoyed it, but both felt it was too long. I thought there was a great place to end the movie, before Harvey Dent became Two Face. The effects were good, but some of the gadgets a little too over the top.

One of the reasons I liked the Batman Begins was that the gadgets weren’t too over the top, and they were generally introduced well. This time they were glitzy gadgets made to fit the plot.

Heath Ledger was an amazing Joker. He made the movie. Without that character he created it would have been pretty dull.

This was also a fun time out for Sox and I, and it would have been better if the family behind us hadn’t brought their kids (ages approx 4 and 6). The 8pm showing of this movie is not for kids. They were tired and at one point the daughter said “I want to go home”. They stayed and the parents seemed mad at the kids. This made me angry. The kids were taken out to the lobby and the parents took turns watching the movie. Not the right move if you ask me.

Destruction Drivers

I was out at Western Speedway’s Eve of Destruction this past Saturday night. The event writeup read like this:

DEMO CARS “EVE OF DESTRUCTION”, CRAZY CANUCK CAR JUMP, DEMO TRUCKS, MINI FIGURE 8’s, MINI VANS, BUS JUMP, TOTAL DESTRUCTION DERBY and FIREWORKS

Basically a hit to pass night on steroids. Man was it a hoot! The demo cars and trucks were awesome and loud! Lots of tight racing action and lots of good spinouts. The mini figure 8 drivers are still crazy, but intensely entertaining. The minivan class is just getting going and they really need more vans out there. The small group they had were good though. Hit to pass, with a ridiculously bad turning radius meant the drivers were trying everything to get their vehicles sideways around the corner. So many times the vans were up on three wheels.

They played a trick on the crowd and made us believe this van was owned by someone. They picked it up, drove it down the front stretch, lifted it up high in the air and dropped it!

The Crazy Canuck did his car jump, and I was too busy watching to get a good movie. I forgot to start recording! Doh! I got something though.

Then it was time for the bus jump. They drove a bus off a jump into the cars. The first attempt (got a good movie this time), was hilariously unimpressive. He tried to drive it away and got it really stuck. They brought in the big loader, pulled him off, and he drove the bus back for another shot. The second jump was much more impressive and had the crowd on their feet cheering for a long time. Same problem where I forgot to start recording.

The final race of the night was the boat race. All the cars, trucks and vans had a boat chained to their vehicle. When the light went green they took off. At the end of a predetermined time, the driver with the most boat left attached won. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time. There was so much chaos and destruction. Before the first turn several boats had been ripped from their chains. Next time around they gunned for the boats.

One driver ended up with his chain wrapped around his wheel. As he drove the chain shortened until he stripped his own boat off. McFly 33 below was the winner by a long shot. He dragged the shell around for a long time and kept slowing down so people could hit the boat. One car got lodged in the boat and dragged a little ways. Another truck took a good run at the boat and ended up launching into the air.

The fireworks show ended the night. I was prepared for something a little lame, but they put on an excellent show that was quite impressive.

All in all a most entertaining evening, and all for $18. Can’t beat that.

Header Crisp

The first double header is over and I survived pretty well I think.

The first game was a lot of fun. The other team played very well and there were a lot of very long points. I was handling very well. Throws were crisp and precise and very few didn’t end up at their intended location. My energy level felt awesome and I kept up a very good activity level. There was only 1 sub so I didn’t sit off very many points. In the end we lost 13-2. 🙁 Still, I really enjoyed playing with the other team.

Since the game was over quickly we had a big break.

A big break that allowed us to cool down.

And we lost our sub due to an injury.

Second game started and the other team was immediately over powering us. We seemed lethargic and couldn’t get our act together. Throws were nowhere near their mark, and they zoned us pretty effectively. It was frustrating, and not at all enjoyable. Eventually they stopped zoning us, perhaps out of pity. It didn’t help and our playing never got better. We lost that game 13-0 🙁

It was pointed out after the game that just have a big problem finishing points. We can march the disk up the field no problem, but we just can’t get it caught in the end zone.

Next week is another double header. We’ll see how we do. After that is the playoffs.

Throwing Position

I was really dragging my butt this morning. I was feeling tired and groggy and my plan to ride to work was on my mind. Sox asked me if I was going to ride and I really was about to bail on riding, but then during my shower I decided to go for it anyway.

My ride this morning was actually quite nice. I was feeling tired, but my legs felt strong and overall I felt quick.

My ride to the field tonight was short and steep: I went straight up Foul Bay hill. Again I felt strong and was really looking forward to the game.

Warmup went really well. I got my throwing in and was feeling pretty good. We only had 2 subs tonight, so I knew there was going to be a lot of running. When the game began the other team took advantage of the wind and did a pretty consistent zone.

The Green team may have had a similar record as us, but I felt they played a lot better. Our team wasn’t doing very good cuts. This made advancing on the zone difficult. Lots of swing passes to keep the cup moving lead to a slow march up the field. Once close to the endzone inevitably we threw away the disc. I was at fault a couple times too which made me feel crappy since we had worked so hard to get to that position.

Halfway through the game we lost our two subs. No more cooling off on the sidelines. Hard cuts, lots of running and hard playing were in order. I actually had a great time this game. I wanted to run and I got to run.

There was this one check though. When he was checking me he kept telling me what to do and where to position myself. I had to just tune him out. I know he was trying to help, but I really didn’t want his input. Just to prove that I knew what I was doing, several times I ran and cut extra hard and made sure I beat him to get the disk. Petty, but it made me feel better.

Nearing the end of the game I could feel myself running out of gas. I couldn’t run as fast as I could, so I backed off a little to try and avoid hurting myself.

Game over I jumped back on my bike and rode hard on the way home. Great exercise day overall.