Play Safe!

Back to day camps!
Kieran had a junior chef camp this week.
Looks like he had plugged his fork in a socket, but it's really just he needs a bath.

We send him down to take a shower but he doesn't always use shampoo and conditioner in his hair, so he's probably got a few layers of soap scum in his hair. Plus chlorine and whatever food he was cooking up.


It was also our neighbour Raoul's birthday on Friday July 15th. July is full of great birthdays!
So I got him some carb drinks since he goes cycling a lot.
So did everyone else too.

This was just one of 3 coolers.
This one was Quebec beers. 9.5%!
Makes the Corona I got him seem like light beer.

I went back to working on the basement rec room. I decided to just take down more of the wall so I could fish the wires through more easily.
I'm thinking that I will probably need to take down the wall where the TV is going to be as well.
When I took down the wall where the media cabinet will be, I found crumpled up newspaper instead of insulation. Check the date. 1957.


Since I spent my birthday driving 1000 miles, Kieran and Tresa made me a special dinner with cup cakes.




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Happy birthday Smiley Face

The day before we had just driven 1000kms from Hilton Head.
For my birthday we decided that I would drive 700 kms home.
And we made a special stop at Eat 'n Park for a like home cooked meal.

Man...The USA's gift to the world. Fast Food chains.
Eat 'n Park is short for 'Eat and park that big fat behind of yours while we pump it full of sodium and nitrates and other preservatives and fat'.

We were hoping for something nutritious, but we wanted to get back on the road quickly.


So we decided on Eat 'n Park.
It was open, and they had a salad bar.
But when we looked at the salad bar it was the brunch version and there was lots of bacon.


We weren't sure what was worse, the brunch or the menu, but fast food is fast food. Health is not a priority nor is it on the menu.

Wow, how'd they know it was my birthday?
They sure went all out for me.

And they gave Kieran a loot bag with a wrist band and tattoos and a cookie that we still have not eaten.

I actually got my birthday dinner the evening before at Outback in Clarksville, and even got a surprise. But I didn't capture the moment. I wasn't expecting it. I was just hoping to eat and hit the sack to get some rest. We had been going along well until we got into West VA, and there were no accidents but there was lots of volume, and Ninie's GPS was taking us somewhere else for while. Which was very annoying.

The day before we were hoping to eat at this place that was on Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. But it was closed for the Independence Week Holiday!

Next I will remember to bring my TomTom.

Independence Week

It was time for a road trip. We broke out the Motorola talkabouts and headed out at 4am ET to the McD's in Oakville to meet up with my brother and sister's families.

We were the first ones there. And McD's was closed still, but Tim's was open. So we headed there for some breakfast. It was going to be a long drive. I google mapped it and it was 1600 kms to Hilton Head island.

It took us 2 days of driving. We stopped over in Stateville just north of Charlotte, NC. The Marriott Courtyard are pretty nice, I've never stayed at one before but it was worth the step up from the Hampton Inn. Plus the only remaining rooms were smoking rooms in the Hampton Inn. And lucky for us, there was a convoy that arrived just after us. Otherwise we would've had to hit the road again for another hour to find a hotel.

It was going to be a week of golf and beach. That's pretty much it. I wasn't sure about my game, but I brought my clubs anyways. And it turned out ok. By the end of the week I had figured out what was happening and fared better on the last day out.
And I did get to see an 8 or 10ft gator on one of the courses. It was amazing. Massive head, wide body and a large tail. All you can see in the water were two eyes and nostrils and a very quiet 'v' in the water where the gator was swimming efficiently along. I wish I had my camera with me. Dang it! But my brothers brought their's and there is a few photos. But I wanted to capture it when it went under the bridge and was basically 2 feet below me. It was eerily quiet on that hole. I think I got a par.

As for the beach. At least I didn't get burned. However my farmers tan is much more pronounced.
It was hot and humid all week. The ocean was like bath water. And the waves were rolling.

It was also my brother's birthday in the middle of the week we were there. So for him this was his independence day too.

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