Its been a summer....and now here comes the rain!!! (Plus the best/worst photo I have taken in a while)

It's a year this week since I found out I had Pneumonia last September. I can remember just how fucked I felt back then and now I feel pretty good. Yeah, my arms, shoulders, knees and back all ache and hurt most of the time, but I did my longest run in about 7 or 8 years last week  - 10km - which was pretty good. I have actually already surpassed my number of workouts from last year - up to today I have been out 161 times this year, but the combined time is 3790 minutes, which averages out at about only 23 1/2 minutes per workout. I think I will start to decrease the frequency and increase the average time a little. My body needs the rest days now - I am not 23 any more! It's crazy to think I started running regularly when I signed up for the army in early 1987, so I have been a regular runner for over 36 years - and the longest time I have gone without really running was last year when I didn't do much more than a slow stroll for about 6 weeks because of pneumonia. Crazy shit man! 

Well, this time of year is great but also shit in different ways - The weather and atmosphere outside is great - warm sunny days and great sunsets (it's actually pissing down as I type this but whatever) - the leaves falling, pretty colours everywhere and my birthday too - But it's all a precursor to the winter that is just around the corner. I think winter will be a good one this year though -  it will be cold as fuck, but the kids are big enough to play out in it a bit more and at least know and tell us when their little fingers and toes are frozen and about to fall off! We also have a new gadget to help blow away the snow - not an actual snow blower, but a leaf blower, that should be enough to ease my backache by blowing the light fluffy snow away.  We have actually been using it as it was intended - as a leaf blower -  this past week - by 'we' I mean me and the kids - they have enjoyed messing about with it, blowing the leaves I have already tidied, back around the garden and generally having a good time playing outside in the cool weather. Sometimes they even let me sit by and watch! They both take turns blowing shit everywhere and finding Ladybugs too! 

Things are feeling good at the moment - Hannah is enjoying being back in school so sees her friends most days and had a couple of them over for lunch the other day before spending most of the afternoon playing at their house two days later. Ollie is a little maverick - doing pretty much what he wants and enjoying almost all of it. He is eating like a horse at the moment and if he continues I suspect he will have a growth spurt and start to catch Hannah up in height and weight.

They both got me some cool stuff for my birthday a couple of week back - Some Ollipops (Lollies) from Ollie along with a softie rhino toy, some cheesies, a new 'toilet' car (Ollie loves his cars) and one of those ball things that get bigger when you pull it (Oooer missus) - I have hardly seen any of my presents because they have been playing with them all and taking them to bed! At least I get to read the newspaper that Buffy bought me (and a subscription for a weekend paper every weekend that I can read with a morning coffee- if I ever get a chance!) Thanks, everyone.  

I also got to go out for beer and a pizza with the kids and Buffy on my birthday, plus the kids got to climb all over the cool grass balls at the forks, before coming home in time for Ollie to help me blow out the candles on the awesome cake that Buffy baked

In other news, we have also started the kids in a weekend music class - on Saturday mornings for 45 minutes each. We are trying to give them a chance to try lots of things while they are little so that when they are old enough they can choose what they want to actually do for a real hobby or sport or whatever - Hannah has done dance class and soccer so far along with swimming lessons, which will continue for her and start for Ollie in the new year. We are also getting them into gymnastics in the new year which should be fun - Ollie is doing headstands all over the place and they both swing like crazy on the little indoor trampoline as well as climbing and hanging on all kinds of stuff, so we think they will love Gymnastics when it starts in January.

Back at home, we had noticed a lot of movement again in our back porch as the ground settled under it, so we got our builder friend back in to jack it up a little. The ground in Winnipeg moves a lot with the mud and weather, so it's not unusual, but it was fun to watch the porch rise up on a car jack! This is what it looks like under there!

I was lucky enough to get some really good photos of the kids this past week too. It's not often they sit still long enough or don't pull a stupid face. The light outside and inside was so good and the kids were in a good enough mood to actually smile. 

One of the photos, though, the first one here, is the clearest photo I have ever got of Hannah's scar. It is unbelievable that it has cleared up so much since the bite. We see it every day and are used to it, but this photo really brought it back to me how much she will have to deal with in the future - her friends now aren't really at the age to pick on people who are different, but when it looks this clear, I can see that she may well have to deal with a lot more as she gets older. 

It really makes me mad and very sad to think about what she will probably have to go through because of it. I hope she is stronger than me when she has to deal with this The picture is so clear you can actually see the marks made by the sutures that were put in. She is still so beautiful though!

The other photos I took of the kids this week make me feel a little more happy with Hannh being crazy and Ollie getting his hair cut!

The kids have been playing out a lot as have we - I got to clean all the leaves out of the gutters and we have had so many trips to different parks so that the kids can get as much outside time a possible. 

We also took advantage of free entry to the Manitoba Museum over the weekend - The kids had never been to a real museum so we wondered how they would like it. It turned out they liked it a lot! 

From the big dinosaur fossils and skeletons, s to the small indigenous model villages and especially the full-sized ship -  'The NonSuch'. We stayed at the Nonsuch exhibit for almost an hour - clambering all over the ship and waiting for the sound effects of the days to change to 'Thunder and lightning'. It was really fun. Then when the kids were tired out we sat in the front row seats of the old-style 1920s cinema watching a couple of Buster Keaton silent movies, which had both kids laughing out loud. They were tired out by the end of the day, but as we only managed to see half of the museum, we think we will go back again soon!

Buffy also took the kids out to celebrate the Day of Truth and Reconciliation on Saturday, while I was on call for work. They went to Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata Centre - an indigenous centre whose name translates as 'We all work together to help one another'. 

The kids had fun learning about indigenous beliefs and traditions and why 'Orange Shirt Day' happens - they even got to do a smudge and drink moon water! (Plus they got free Oreos) Apparently, they had a really good morning and would definitely go again!

I started this post by saying about summer being nearly over - well one thing that is really cool about this time of year is the rain. We don't get as much rain as the UK, and I miss it a bit. But this morning was just amazing. I went out for a run at about 7 a.m. and was enjoying the drizzle and distant lightning from a faraway thunderstorm - but as I ran it got closer and the rain got heavier and before I knew it I was soaked to the skin and running through flooded streets with thunder and lightning and winds and just the best rain falling. I felt so alive it was fantastic. I can't describe how that kind of thing makes me feel, but I have been in a great mood all day because of it.. Here's a quick look at what it was like - sorry for the short videos - my phone kept getting hit by the rain and would go crazy!

my feet in a puddle!

Well, it's now October and over here at least that means - Halloween. 

The kids love love love love love love love love love love love love Halloween and we have a little family tradition whereby we go out at least one evening a week in October and look for cool Halloween setups - last night was our first ride out for this year and it didn't disappoint. We found a couple of good displays and can't wait to get out again really soon - especially when it starts to get dark and all the lights and displays are lit up properly!

I will leave it there for now I think. Ill be back again in a week or 3. There's not much planned between now and the end of the month really. It will probably be just a quiet couple of weeks - vegging out. Just the usual.........See ya then.