Category: Uncategorized

A little backstory on this one.  I was listening to Rebel Force Radio (best podcast ever) and Jason (host) at one point said something that really struck me: “Are the adult collectors the reason why kids don’t play with toys anymore?  They see us Dads keeping our toys inside boxes and glass cabinets and so they don’t feel that they can play with toys?  Are we the problem?”

This really stayed with me.  I was always wondering why my kids never cared to play with toys as much as I did when I was younger.  I was all about the action figures and Legos.

I sometimes wondered if it was because they have TOO many toys and it’s just overwhelming.  That’s not entirely our fault as parents, it’s just part of the ‘hand me down’ generation we live in where other parents pawn off their toys onto other parents.  It’s a good problem to have!

Anyhow, Sunday morning arrives and I’m editing some home movies and the kids come running into the office arguing about something.  It was something that I figured was not worth arguing about but instead of getting into the details I deflected completely and said “Hey, you know those Thundercats up on the shelf?  Do you want to open a couple?”

Their eyes opened wide and they were ecstatic!  I swear this was bigger than Christmas.

Out came a few Thundercats…I helped open them for them as I’ve seen how much they tear open boxes and I can’t handle it as a collector.  But there they were, having the time of their life with these figures…throwing them against the wall, figuring out which figure should be a villain and which should be a hero, grabbing a He-Man figure and throwing it into the mix…it doesn’t matter when you’re playing with action figures…it’s all about the action!

After an hour, the typical things happened.  Somehow we lost the head of one of the action figures (still can’t figure out how that happened), there are accessories all over the place, the figures have hit the wall and ceiling a few times…but it was the best Sunday morning I could ask for as a Dad.  I feel my love of collecting is winding down, or at least shifting to the point where I don’t really care about the condition of my stuff…I want my kids to develop their own love for things and if it happens to be the same thing I love in life, bonus for me.

It was a nice day outside so the kids went out and had some fun in the snow after horsing around inside for most of the day.  They had a lot of fun trying to recreate La Guerre Des Toques in the front yard.

Sierra thought that Saturday’s lunch looked like Oscar the Grouch.

I’ve been working in Hull for 24 years now and I still can’t believe how I stumbled upon the greatest sandwich ever and I never knew about it before.

There’s this Portuguese bakery called Lusa in Hull and I knew about it because Etienne always raved out it’s chorizo sausage.  I had peered into it once or twice but I just assumed it was a bakery with nothing to eat at lunch.

But I was completely wrong about that!  Mihai showed me the way to a great sandwich.  I walked into that place and there were tons of tables to sit at and they offered hot and cold sandwiches.

This chorizo sandwich was the chef’s kiss and I will definitely return.

On Sunday it was looking like it was going to be a beautiful day so we all headed to Mont Rigaud to do some skiing.  Sierra and Maman had already had a lesson earlier in the winter and now Ezra wanted to try it out for the FIRST time in his life!

Here is a little video montage of the day.  For future reference, his instructor’s name was Lucie B.

Best part of the day was when the lesson was over.

Me: “Alright Ezra, it’s already been an hour,”

Ezra: “AN HOUR!  It felt like ten minutes!  I want it to be two hours!”

It’s been -20 for the past couple of weeks so when the weather creeps up to -5, everyone wants to play outside!

We snowshoed over to the neighbours to spend some time around the campfire.  Much appreciated good neighbours!

Then we finished off the afternoon in the hot tub.  I have become a wimp over the years and if it’s -20 out, I’m not venturing into the hot tub!  Luckily when I opened it, it was still in good shape and not a block of ice.  That happened once and I wasn’t happy!

I am the polar opposite of my dad when it comes to home repairs.  If something is wrong, I determine how urgent it is and then figure out how long I have to repair it.

Case in point, I was noticing for the past couple of months that when the shower was running there was water near the top of the drain….as in, it wasn’t draining properly.

Saturday morning I finally got around to unscrewing the cover and seeing what is up.  I think sometimes I just don’t want to bother with something because I’ve had bad times where you think a job will take five minutes and then it takes five days.

Luckily, this job only took five minutes and produced some great “Ewwwwwww” sounds from the kids and Vero!  That’s quite the hairball that was hanging from the drain cover.  Three feet long.

A month ago I picked up the Cats Lair playset but it’s way too big for the house (OR IS IT?!  Maybe I should just get rid of other stuff!) so I am planning on selling it.  I took it out of the box to take some photos and there’s the dent in the box.  Bummer!  Hopefully I can still make a sale with the box in this kind of shape.

I pulled together a boxful of comics for Max this past weekend.  Supposedly it’s his new passion in life and he wants to make a business of making comics.  Can’t deny a kid wanting to read some comic books.  Nothing wrong with a boxful of inspiration!  I took photos of every comic I was parting with so I can adjust my huge spreadsheet.