My daughter

LoveBug

Now come on... you tell me. Is he the best looking kid you have seen today- or what? You should all know that he climbs stairs now, he chats non-stop, he eats everything and he is un-officially known as DESTRUCTOR. He grabs onto things and doesn't let go... this is not so bad except for the fact that we often don't realize he has grabbed something until we hear the crash. For example, yesterday he grabbed the Ficus plant as we were walking by and all the sudden BOOM! the plant and pot and dirt were all over the ground.... the boy has strength and a hellofa grib.

But look at that mug. love him.

Autumn bowling

Autumn went bowling. Part of me can't beleive that she went bowling before she went curling, but I'll live.

Anyway, here's the link to all the shots.

Next winter, curling.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

We're designed to run

If you've ever seen my wife run, you could have guessed this.

Missing in Curling

I was once sparing in a club game, and yes, I recall it this vividly. They accidentally threw their first through, so we called a corner guard. It slipped in the rings, and they thoughtfully flashed it. So, we’re sitting one on the wing, and throwing. The skip called to split the rings.

I let it be, it was after all, a club game, but this is an example of getting silly because of misses. A better call in this situation is to throw a guard on your own rock. Some people will play that. Most though, will split the rings and play the rest of the end for a deuce.

I bring all of this up because it occurred to me that if Peter Smith makes either one of his draws in the tenth end of the World Curling Final, Kevin Martin might win.

Peter missed just enough though. He chapped off on his first, and tickled a guard on his second. One might score both shots a 3, maybe even a two on his first. But in hindsight, I would give them both a 5. They took the double peel out of Marc Kennedy’s hands. Marc Kennedy, the guy throwing 93%, who makes double peels leaving the driveway in the morning just because he can, throws two hack weight hit and rolls in the tenth end of the World Championship with the score tied.

If that’s not the perfect example of a miss making you lost your mind, I’m not sure what is.

This is how you play the tenth end. They throw a center guard. You try the tick (or go top eight). They throw another center guard, you try the tick, or go top eight depending on what happened on leads first (ie, make the tick, and you tick again. Miss it, and you go top eight).

Regardless, they come around. And you double peel, since your second happens to be Marc Kennedy, a decent thrower of the rock who rarely if ever misses.

That’s how it’s drawn up. It changes because Peter Smith misses tantalizingly enough. He doesn’t miss so bad that peeling the guards is the only shot. And he doesn’t make it well enough so that peeling the guards is the only shot. Think about it: if he locks the rock on his first one, the double peel is the only call.

He missed just enough to get KMart thinking about, what? About going for the win on second’s rocks? No, he misses just enough to throw the script out the window. To generate a new, entirely baffling script that sees Martin toss a rock away, lest he lost the game right there, on his first rock.

Funny how a miss turns an end.

Dear Gavin

We don't talk about you nearly enough.

Your smile, your laugh, the way you look away when mom is holding you, and I walk up and say hello, the way you stand up, the way you dance to Meri Mac, and other songs...

I'm still a little bemused by the way you have to grab your kibbles and bit every time I change your diaper, but you've only peed on me once, and I had the over under pegged at 5.

I admit it, there's still a chance for the over, but at ten months, I think you're getting some control over your Willie, and that bodes well for the under.

And a dry dad.

Here's the thing Gavin. Adding you was literally doubling the amount of kids, but it more than doubles the amount of work. Ask other parents. 1 + 1 doesn't equal 2. It might be 5, but we're not sure. The point is, there's no time.

And your dad (me) has another blog these days, and that takes time.

It's not like there isn't things to talk about. Like how you have yet to spit anything out that we've fed. Scratch that, you spit out an onion badji, but that was far too spicy. You've eaten everything that we've put in front of you. This is a big deal. At this point in Autumn's life, we knew her favorite foods.

With you, your favorite food is food. And we thank you for that.

We're also starting to tell that you love your big sister. Outside of your mum, she's the greatest person in the world. When she comes in the room, you watch. If you can't see her from your high chair, you'll crane your neck until you can see her.

Even though we don't blog a lot about you, we love you. We'll do better.

Love, Mom and Dad.

Autumn on the new couch

IMG_5724
Originally uploaded by rdcaden

no, she really does know where she's supposed to sit. But she likes to prove that she's a big girl by sitting on the top.

What we did this weekend

A lot of dancing.