Swimathon

Today, Jed participated in the swim club's swimathon. he managed to swim 25 laps and was very proud of his accomplishment !! Joshua unfortunately could not swim as he was sick.

I am seven !!

Jed was awake at 5 am this morning. He said he couldn't sleep because it is his birthday and he is too excited. He stayed awake and patiently waited for Joshua to wake up at 8am before opening his present. He was thrilled with  getting the Lego Ninjago set called "Lasha's bite cycle".

Lasha's Bite Cycle

 Jed and Josh spent most of the morning building the Lego set and had a lot of fun. Then they went to the store and Jed could pick out another Lego set because Joshua had kindly given him all his allowance to buy something else. Jed picked out the "Warrior Bike". The rest of the afternoon was spent building this.

Darryl baked a cake and decorated it for Jed. It was the black Ninja, Cole, from Ninjago.

Cake - Cole from Ninjago

The seven year old with his cake

The two brothers

A day at the ski hill

Another lovely winter's day at the ski hill. We left early morning and spent the whole day skiing and visiting with friends.

Josh getting ready for a chess game in the lodge

Lein and Josh

Jed coming in after skiing

Jed spent lots of the day with his friend on the ski hill. It seems that they chat all the way up the T-bar. His friend said to him, "You are cool and I am not." This made Jed upset because he said his friend was not being nice to himself.

Garfield movie

We watched the Garfield movie tonight. It produced many laughs from everyone.

The queen is the most powerful

The boys are learning to play chess. Joshua has been asking me for tips on how to play so that he can have good "strategies". I heard him say this morning to Jed that he has some secret strategies. Jed tried to get those strategies from him, but he just said; "The queen is the most powerful!"

Rescue wolfie

We went sliding down the hill at the duck pond today. It was beautiful weather and the snow was fast. The boys decided that they would practice their luge and bob-sleigh skills. They had some amazing rides and it seems that they are quite fearless.

Both Hootie and Wolfie came with us and they were treated to some rides too.

Tying Hootie and Wolfie onto the sleds

All ready to be pulled

Are you ready for your ride ?

The sledding soon turned into a rescue mission. Josh would slide down the hill and would release Wolfie. After that Jed was on a rescue mission to pick him up while he slid down the hill. It was a lot of fun.

That evening we had Awanas. The kids always love to play with the parachute.

Playing with the parachute at Awanas

Totally worth it

Jed was talking in his sleep this morning. He said: "That was so totally worth reading". He always loves to read and so this is quite typical from him.

Skiing

We went skiing today. Joshua was watching his 2 friends learning to ski and he said; "You know that my friend, is really an excellent skier, even though he falls a lot". I think that Joshua always sees the positive in people !!

Barefeet

It was a lot warmed today - about 0C. So the boys went outside and said that it felt like summer. They proved it by walking barefoot on the snow.

Bare feet in the snow

Morning routine

It seems that the boys have got into a morning routine of reading some Garfield books before they start the day.

Jed reading Garfield

Josh all tucked-in reading Garfield

Windstorm

Last night we had a massive windstorm. The winds were gusting up to 120km/h. When we woke up, we surveyed the damage that was caused. A tree in our front yard was blown over, but nothing else was apparently damaged. Other people were not as lucky, shingles were blown off roves, BBQs were blown away and hot tubs were wrecked.

Jed and Joshua surveying the damage

Darryl removing parts of the fallen tree

For most of the morning the power was out. The boys were so happy because they thought they could get out of doing school activities. They thought that because we cannot see in the basement without power then we don't have to work at all. They were amazed when we suggested that they just bring their books upstairs and use natural light to see. So we did some schoolwork after all.

Working upstairs

Josh working upstairs

Nunchucks

Ninja are very popular in our household at the moment. This interest in ninja, is spurred on by Ninjago. Jed and Josh have wanted nunchucks for quite a while. Today Jed said to Darryl: "I really am into nunchucks" and so today, Darryl made them each a pair. He made them with plumbing pex, insulation foam and string. 

Drilling holes as the boys and dog watch

Checking Youtube for ideas

The final product

Check out the headband and belt

All ready for action

 After supper, we asked Jed to vacuum the living room. I thought that he was doing a pretty good job as I was downstairs and I heard the vacuum going. Darryl notices that Jed is vacuuming but he is reading at the same time. Guess what book he is reading ... a Ninjago book.

Reading while vacuuming

Mom, "I can multi-task"

"This part sure is interesting"

I was born to ...

Today Joshua said "I was born to .... rock the boat."

I think that he has been reading too much Garfield.

Downhill skiing

darryl took the boys to Long lake to go skiing today. They had a great time, except for the fact that Jed got separated from Darryl and Joshua due to issues on the T-bar. So that meant that he was alone for about 20 minutes looking for his dad. Everytime, he went up the T-bar, they were coming down a run and they kept missing each other. Eventually, Jed just sat down at the end of a run and waited for them to find him. I think that next time, they will set a rendezvous point before heading out.

Just before they left the house

At the ski-hill, getting ready

Playing in the snow

Having fun !!

Cross-Country skiing

After doing schoolwork in the morning, we headed out to Churchill Island to do some cross-country skiing. We had a lot of fun and it seems as though both Jed and Josh remembered how to ski from last winter. We were on the look-out for a Pileated Woodpecker but only got to see and hear Chickadees.

Skiing on the trails

Jed and Josh wanted their "fall" photographed

Josh 

Jed

After skiing, the boys wanted to have a snowball fight.

Jed ready to throw an ice-ball at his brother

 During the snowball fight, Jed accidentally pushed Joshua into the snow. Joshua did not have his gloves on and his hands were full of snow. He was very upset an said that his hands were hurting. So I asked Jed to immerse his hands in the snow to see how cold it felt. In this way, he may realize that he should be more careful not to push others into the snow. Jed agreed to trying this and he was able to keep his hands completely under the snow for 60 seconds. When he took them out, he said that it really wasn't that cold. So then both Josh and I tried it. Neither of us could keep our hands in the snow for more than 10 seconds. Jed is really tough !!

The Island to closed to off-leash dogs !!

Unfortunately, the island is closed to off-leash dogs. So we had to leave Google at home !

Snow Play

Today, the weather was milder than what it has been for a long time. So that meant that we were outdoors today. Jed and Josh spent a long time working on their snow fort.

They were amazed that the Stop sign was so small !!

Lots of fun was had sliding down the hill.

After playing outside, we sat down to afternoon tea. The boys enjoyed their Rooibos tea and tea biscuits. But while enjoying it,  they were busy designing and planning their snow fort.

 Then it was off to swim club. They had fun, but looked tired afterwards.

 After supper, it was "movie Night" with dad. They enjoyed watching "Facing the Giants".