7 years later....

When my first daughter was born I thought I would have lots of time on my parental leave to fix my ex-British army  Series IIA 109 Landrover. Man was I delusional, mind you my wife wanted to cook Christmas dinner with a planned birth date of December 22 (My wise Mom said "Of course dear" and carried on planning the dinner, knowing that arguing logic to a woman on raging hormones was pointless, only took me another few years to learn this....)

Needless to say not much has happened to the old girl, but this summer finally a little progress, fenders are off and starting to WD-40 the manifold bolts and applying heat so they come off easy. the engine needs a rebuild, new starter is needed and new rad. the entire brake system will have to be replaced as well. debating what to do first, some job uncertainty makes me shy to spend to much on the engine right now. maybe fix the leaks in the steering box and arrest some of the rust starting to form. Still I feel better that I have done something finally!

Aspiring brain surgeons

Would have posted this earlier if I hadn't mislaid the cable for my camera and couldn't download the photo's. Here are my two daughters quite enthusiastically digging out the "brains" of a pumpkin in preparation for Halloween. Was a good Halloween, much candy was obtained, which we ration out till the candy stash is refilled by Christmas stuff and Easter.

Father daughter moment

Took my daughter shooting at the range this Saturday, she really did well! She was responsible and safe. She also hit the target 9 out of 10 times, very impressive for the 2nd time shooting. She was using a modified Ruger 10/22 with a short stock. After watching her shoot I have to make her a special rest, all of the ones there are to high. Also need to shorten the length of pull on the stock and smooth out the trigger so it's easier for her.

It's important when you are teaching kids to shoot, that you set them up for success, don't start them on a large calibre rifle with a target a 100 metres away! From the picture below you can see I set up a series of targets at 25 metres, making it easier for her to hit the target. In the beginning the focus needs to be on safety and learning how to hold the gun. Next time I will work a bit on trigger pull and breathing. Kids can only take in so much at a time, keep your learning plan for them simple and achievable. My daughter had a great time and didn't want to stop. I could see though that her attention was beginning to wander and her arms getting tired. After shooting I took her to Tim Horton's for a donut, which she also enjoyed of course! It was a great father- daughter day and daddy is very proud of his baby girl. Another lady at the range came up to me and said: "Watching you with her, reminds me of my dad teaching me to shoot. Lots of great memories"

Snow day

This Sunday it finally snowed enough here for the kids to toboggan at the local parks (No doubt readers from the east coast would be more than happy to share some of their snow with us!). The kids had a great time. My oldest is a daredevil, the younger is more like mom, cautious but likes the thrill. I would like to tell parents that the blue baby toboggan we used here are a pain because the underside fills up with snow, making it hard to pull.

Swedish honour guard

Via Castle Arrghhh!

Bravo to the guard who made the kid's day.
As a kid I went to Sweden in the 70’s via Finland and Russia (that’s another story) I remember being in awe of these soldiers from the Royal Guard and have a picture of me standing besides one somewhere in my closet. The rifle is the Swedish Mauser, a popular rifle here for hunting.

UpdateThank you to BC guy from CGN for reminding me of this video