Lest we forget

Guest post from Clark this week -- I have finally managed to fix the computer issue that was preventing Tara from downloading and managing photos (basically, we take so many damn photos that the hard drive got filled up), and in the meantime I took the kids for a Remembrance Day family weekend to the farm (sans Tara) so they were mostly my photos anyway.

There were two big reasons to go to the farm last weekend. First, Remembrance Day was on the Saturday, and I wanted the kids to be able to go to participate in a ceremony in which two of their great-great uncles (Charles Richards and William Pickett) were remembered. They were quite keen participants, and helped dad (grandpa) lay a wreath for William. The second was that it was my Dad's 65th birthday, and there was a surprise party planned.

Remembrance Day

Charles (left) and William (right). Charles was killed during the liberation of Belgium, and William was killed aboard the HMCS Athabascan.

The purple-coordinated crew heading up to lay the wreath.

Quietly entertaining themselves after the wreath-laying, while many other wreaths were laid and names remembered. It's hard to see from the photo but Linden is drawing a picture with crosses and poppies. Sniff.

After the ceremony we brought the wreaths to the cemetery. 

Farm birthday (and cousins!)

The remainder of the weekend was spent hanging out at the farm -- including the aforementioned surprise party (on the sunday), and lots of cousin hangout time due to the fact that my cousin Eddy and his two kids (Merrick and Elsie) were also visiting that weekend.

A late afternoon hike. We started out by the river and went all through the woods and the fields.  

Cousins and buddies! Linden and Merrick are very close in age, and very similarly disposed -- they had a great time being silly together. Juniper is twice Elsie's age, but she just loves hanging out with and "taking care of" little kids. I'd have to remind her frequently that Elsie was perfectly capable of walking and didn't need to be carried ...

The birthday cake at the surprise drop-in party. Note the photo to Dad's right which is of him approximately 63 years ago. The house was packed with friends and family who stopped in for a visit.

Cousins scheming. I can't help but think that Linden had them up to no good of some kind.

The next day I took Linden out for a woods adventure (to burn off some excess energy). At one point I suggested we should head back to the house, and he exclaimed: "No dad, I want to keep exploring!". Win!

Two (silly) peas in a pod.

Besties!

Even Scott's dog Sam found a buddy in Woody.

The requisite final shot under the linden tree 

 Miscellany 

Our garden pumpkins didn't produce like we hoped, but the little one that did come out of it I decided was worth carving. For scale, it's sitting in an aloe plant

A good day at the Discovery Centre -- we arrived to find that they had set up a big area with "build your own roller coaster" parts (note the orange ball flying over the jump). It's amazing how quickly grumbles about how hungry they are turn to "later dad" when they find activities like this :)