A busy couple of days

OK - outside of the obvious - work - we did have two big things that I thought I would quickly post on:

- Kris spent yesterday and today at University orientation at George Mason. She seemed a little bit nervous but also excited when I dropped her off yesterday AM. I will see how she is when I pick her up this afternoon :-)

- Sammy finished her in-car driving school today with her official driving test. SHE PASSED!!! Woo hoo! Oh wait - that means she gets to drive - YIKES! Just kidding. According to her instructor she did very well and we are very proud of her. There is a bit of a catch. Technically she cannot get her license until August 23rd so she still has a few weeks to wait. At that point she gets her 180 day temporary license and then, assuming no problems, come next February she gets the real McCoy.

Congrats to Sammy and Kris - we are very proud of you both

Not where you would expect ...

So this morning I was out paddling and glanced over to the shoreline to see a deer standing in amongst the vegetation growing just off the shore of the reservoir. I should not have been surprised because there are lots of deer around us but I had never seen one in the reservoir before. Well before I finished paddling I had seen 4 of them, along with a few turtles and an osprey.


Today was not the first day of being surprised by nature. Yesterday morning it was a baby bunny in my front garden.

Yesterday evening it was a surprise to see one of my sunflowers had flowered.

I guess nature is full of surprises.

If you want to see some more pics from kayaking we have an album up on Picasa.

A Bit of a Repreive

Going out the door this morning was a bit of a reprieve ... from the heat that is. This weekend was one where I actually skipped running - it was just too hot. This morning was a bit better - just around 70 but with high humidity still - ok technically it was light rain when I ran so I guess that means 100% humidity. It was nice though that for 30 minutes of running it was raining and that kept me cool for the last 25 minutes.

I did find time on Saturday to go kayaking. EMS runs demos every now and then and this weekend they were going to meet at Beaver Dam so I figured I should go and check out a couple of kayaks. It was great as it was a few degrees cooler than the 100+ at the house a couple of miles away and on the reservoir there was a breeze. You are not supposed to swim in the reservoir but if a kayak happens to tip is it technically swimming? It was a great way to spend a couple of hours on a hot summer day though. I am looking forward to getting out Saturday with Laura :-)

Adding another form of exercise

So last weekend myself Laura and Sammy took a course with LLBean. It was a intro to kayaking that was part of their discovery series. I have paddled quite a bit over the years so I knew I would love kayaking on the Occoquan. Sammy and Laura were a little more hesitant but it did not take them long to love it. Being the outdoor person I am that was great news since now it meant we had another outdoor activity that we could do with the kids - I think even Kris will give it a try.

So this week we got some kayaks. We got two bigger ones for myself and La and a smaller one for the girls. The girl's kayak we picked up at the store so the next day I was anxious to get out in it. Normally on the days when I do not run I would go to the gym and do some cardio but yesterday I decided to just take the kayak to a local reservoir and spend an hour kayaking.

What a great idea this was - the reservoir was calm and silent. No one else was on the water. The sun was out and the fish were jumping. It was very peaceful. I spend about an hour cruising the lower part of the reservoir, doing 5 minute sprints every now and then. It was a great workout. Now rather than going to the gym on my off days I will likely just grab a kayak and head to the reservoir for an hour of paddling. Then of course on the weekends I will be able to go out with La and maybe one of the girls.

It can hardly get better

Happy 4th!!!

We are looking forward to a nice relaxing 4th. It is nice that it falls mid-week - last Sunday being Canada Day and then only a couple of days til the weekend again ... woohoo!

We hope all our friends, family and followers have a wonderful holiday.

Gary & Laura

A Quick Pic

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

This is one of my favourite times of the year. It is a week or so after the beginning of summer - I get to celebrate my heritage today and in 3 days get to celebrate with the country that adopted me as a son :-)

The weekend has been interesting so far - the storms Friday that we slept through - a great midday kayak on the Occoquan with La and Sam followed by a great fireworks display in Brambleton. Now I am just relaxing over coffee after removing a large tree from the girls house and getting ready to celebrate the day.

There will be pictures :-)


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