On the weekend we were in Vancouver at Sox’s mum’s house. We were there to see some family off on their 8 month trip. Their son and ours always play well together and this weekend was no exception.

Something new for Elliot was the introduction of regular lego. For me it was a blast from the past. Gran had a large collection of lego that I think used to belong to one of Sox’s brothers.

I had a great time building things for the boys. I really had a great time. I forgot how much fun playing with lego was.

At one point I asked Elliot what he wanted me to build and he said monster truck. That then got changed to a monster tow truck. I obliged of course. I found some instructions from a set and based my truck on part of that. It turned out awesome. The boom raised, lowered, and swiveled. The doors opened. It had big wheels.

After showing it to the boys they were a little non-plussed. Elliot grabbed it right away and played with it, and soon they were taking parts off. Ahh, my hard work. I was a little disheartened to see the destruction. I guess I still need to grow up a little. 🙂

The pack is on. I was working on the garage tonight clearing some stuff out, packing, purging, tossing away.

I will admit it, I am a pack rat. I keep a lot of stuff I don’t need to, so I am making great strides in getting rid of things. It is hard though.

Example? Tonight while in the garage I came across my old fishing gear. I sat on the floor of the garage and poked through my tackle box and other gear. Looking at old lures, poking through old containers, and reminiscing. I thought back to when I used to go fishing a lot.

My friend Trevor and I would go a couple times a week in the summer after grade 12. Englishman River was a common destination. We would hike up the river stopping at all the fishing holes along the way. I remember a specific time where I stopped and sat on the sun warmed rocks and just listened to the babbling river.

I then remembered time I spent fishing with my father. We would often go out in his little aluminum boat and troll around various lakes. We would eat sunflower seeds while fishing.

I then thought about taking my kids fishing and introducing them to what was once a favorite past time of mine.

I think I held on to those things since they remind me of good and happy times in my childhood. Not everything in my childhood was bad, but I definitely like to keep the things that remind me of especially happy times.

So the question is what do I do? Do I keep the gear? Do I give it away? I haven’t gone fishing since 93. What if I want to take it up again? Ahhh, my pack rat tendencies are making me think twice.

I haven’t really posted about this here yet, but the move is on. We have been in the process of buying a house recently, and the deal was finalized yesterday.

This was an interesting process, and definitely not like what I would have thought it would be. Intense, stressful, protracted, and in the end, satisfying. We are very excited by our new place and in some ways can’t wait to be in it. We will still be in Esquimalt, which was something we were hoping for, and the house is perfect for us (save some obvious updates needed).

There is the rub. We take possession in one month exactly. Between now and then we need to decrapify, sell old stuff we no longer need, pack, clean, and move. Lots to do, and really not a lot of time.

I called our landlord tonight and gave notice to him. That did not go well. He knew we were looking for a place, but was unprepared that we would find something so soon. When I told him we were looking, he mentioned that he was going to put the house up for sale, so I am not entirely sure why he was so surprised we found Anyway. A new place to live is definitely cause for celebration. If only there was time for that 🙂

I am not the kind of person that likes clothes shopping. I do it out of necessity, and I am certainly not what you would call fashionable.

Shopping for jeans is the absolute worst. A Old Navy I tried on a 34×32 (for the first time in a long time I can fit a 34), but they were too big. The 33×32 were way too tight.

At Winners I tried on a 34×32, but they were too short. Another store I didn’t like the style of their jean selection. At the Bay I tried on a bunch of styles, but they all fit incorrectly.

I will just keep looking for something I like, and when I find it, I will buy two pairs!

Here is the strange sight of the day.

I was driving to work, noticing that fall is in full effect. Leaves are on the ground every where.

As I passed one store I noticed a strange light on near the ground. Then I noticed the shop clerk vacuuming. He was vacuuming the leaves off the sidewalk using a very old vacuum (the kind with the headlight on it). Nice!

Perhaps that is easier than sweeping?

Boys and their toys. Today was the annual Esquimalt Firehall Open House. The were lots of activities for kids to check out, information for parents, and some food to eat too. Sprout loved to see the big fire trucks and his friend L was pretty keen on them too. There was a mini obstacle course for kids, and at the end they got to don a firemans jacket and put out mock flames with a real hose.

Sprout an mum sitting in the back.

Looks almost like a real firefighter.

Sprout and L sharing the seat.

Contemplating where he should drive to.

Sox even got to try out firefighting.  Here she is wielding a chemical fire extinguisher putting out a stubborn propane fire 🙂

Our washing machine broke down this past week. Now we need to work with our Halifax based landlord to get a replacement. PITA.

2 young children and 2 adults can produce a mountain of laundry quite quickly. Sox was able to take it to a laundromat today and got everything washed. Now we are in the process of running our dryer. The coordination needed to make time to get the washing was a pain. I can’t imagine living in a place where I needed to use a laundromat on a regular basis. The laundry room in my old apartment was bad enough.