Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre Video

My amazing wife, Kate, has put together a three minute video highlighting the Ottawa-Carleton Wildlife Centre where she's worked for the past 15 years. The OCWC is giving thanks to the Community Foundation of Ottawa on their 25 years of service in the community. Give the video a watch if for no other reason than to see pictures of cute baby animals and if you can hit the like button on YouTube it would be greatly appreciated.

Locks of Love

This is a picture of my daughter with approximately 10 inches of hair that she is donating via Beautiful Lengths to people who are suffering from cancer and would like wigs to be made for them. Anna orginally came up with the idea on her own while seeing an ad on TV that explained the process. She wouldn't let anyone cut her hair for the past two years so it would get long enough to donate.

The entire family, parents and grandparents included could not be more proud of her. I know I'm her Dad but I'm incredibly impressed with compassion for others. Obviously, her mother is doing something right :)

Friday Book Review: Street Gang

Did you watch Sesame Street as a kid? I sure did! So much so to this very day I still pronounce Z as zee instead of zed. Much to the chagrin of my Canadian brethren. Apparently, I found the Muppets to be more influential on my growing mind than my grade school teachers.

Also, did you ever get upset that no one believed Big Bird that there really was a Snuffleupagus? I always thought it was one of the greatest injustice of our time. Luckily they rectified this situation in 1985 with and episode where the adults met Mr. Aloysius Snuffleupagus.

If you ever wondered how such a show got off the ground then you need to read Street Gang which bills itself as the complete history of Sesame Street. I can believe it as the book works its way through all of the beginnings and bios of the writers, producers, actors and Muppets that made up the show over the years. It truly is an engaging read and it won't dampen your enthusiasm for the show.

I leave you with this link to 10 amazing performances from Sesame Street including James Taylor, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, Paul Simon and more.

Summer Photos

The nicest thing about being moved into the new house is we can update all of our photos which we haven't done since January. Here are three new galleries:

Camping in New York

Summer 2009

Anna's First Day of School

Friday Book Review: The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck

As Ryan reminded me about a month ago Donald Ducks 75th birthday came and went. For those of you who didn't know me as a kid I was and still remain a huge fan of the duck in the sailor's costume. So much so I even learned how to talk in Donald's voice.

That love of Donald transferred to the rest of the Duck clan including, of course, the irascible Scrooge McDuck. I spent a lot of time as a kid reading the various Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comic books by the amazing Carl Barks. Barks is the man who invented the character of Scrooge McDuck. I owe him a great deal as my love of things like mythology, geography and different cultures owes a lot to what my young mind was exposed to in Barks' stories.

Recently I was saddened to hear that Gemstone had lost the license to publish Disney comics. Only to be overjoyed that Boom Studios has picked up the license. Which is great news as we should now see some new Duck stories.

Which in a very round about way brings us to our book review of The Life And Times Of Scrooge McDuck by Don Rosa. In this volume Rosa, a Barks enthusiast, carefully pieces together the life and times of Scrooge in 12 chapters. Rosa lovingly recreates the continuity of Barks' original stories into a consistent narrative that does not contradict the past. Basically, Rosa is a Scrooge McDuck fanboys dream come true.

Each chapter shows us a different stage in Scooge's life. From his early days in Glasgow, Scotland where he earns his number one dime to the development of Scrooge's giant money bin. The close of each chapter includes two or more pages from Rosa on how he teased the story to life from older Barks' stories, links back to how he created panels hearkening back to the older comics and trivia only hard core duck lovers could answer.

I really enjoyed this trip down memory lane and I'm very happy to have a book I can read to my daughter.

Mmmm...Cake

Just a couple of video's of Anna enjoying cake:

A ScotiaBank Place Filled Week

ScotiaBank Skate

On Sunday we headed to ScotiaBank Place to see the sens skills competition. The coolest thing to happen that afternoon was 11 year old Ethan MacLean hitting all four targets in the accurate shooting contest. He beat all the pros.

Then on Monday I played hockey with my Friday night group from Ottawa Rec Hockey. The game ended in a 7-7 draw with Luis, our goalie, making a game saving stop with seconds to go.

We were back once more on Thursday night for the IBM Family skate. Here are some pictures and a short video. Phew...maybe I'll get to see a hockey game there sometime.

Anna at Her Gymnastics Class

Here are a couple of videos of Anna at her gymnastics class:

Halloween 2008

Here are some pictures of Anna and friends in their Halloween costumes.

Halloween 2008

P.S. Still working on getting more pictures up. Expect the ones from France and Switzerland next.

Anna with Santa

Here are a few pictures of Anna with Santa. We all went out for dinner at Theo's Greek Taverna or as Dad calls it, the Thai place, then walked through the Carlingwood Mall. Lucky for us Santa was there and we got some good pictures of him and Anna.

Santa Pics

P.S. I working on getting more pictures up for everyone to see. I expect them to be in reverse chronological order. Probably see the ones from Halloween up next.

Anna's Fourth Birthday

A collection of photos from Anna's 4th birthday party.



We had a small party for her attended by the Stuchberry-Pottle clan. Thanks to everyone who called to wish and sing Anna a happy birthday.

IBM Summer Picnic 2008

Here are some shots of the IBM Summer Picnic held at Saunder's Farms. This is the first year we've attended and we lucked out as Gerri was able to come with us since she was visiting us from Toronto over the weekend. Actually, we were very lucky since I forgot to bring our camera.

Anna's New Bike

Here's Anna on her sweet new ride. A purple bike with 14 inch wheels. Check out videos of her in action: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Victoria Day Weekend in Boston

Over the Victoria Day weekend we headed down to Boston. We had a great time there visiting the New England Aquarium, follow the Freedom Trail to the Boston Commons and the Boston Children's Museum. The children's museum was particularly awesome. They did a great job of putting it together and the 3 story jungle jim was amazing.

We even lucked out and got to see my Dad, Sue, Chad and Allie while we were there if only for one day.

More pictures can be found here.

Tulip Festival 2008

We took a run down to the Tulip Festival at Dows Lake on Saturday while Grand Dad was in town. There sure were some pretty looking flowers. My favourite were The Mounties which share the same red colour as our RCMP. You can check out all the pictures here.

Short Half Fat Decaf Milkiato

It's not only McDonald's who likes to hook their customers early as these pictures of Anna suggest.

Oh and for the un-initiated a Short Half Fat Decaf Milkiato is how you order a kid's milk at Starbucks.

Easter Morning

Here are a couple of videos of Anna on Easter morning:



You can find out more about the cake in question in my previous post.

Anna and the Easter Bunny House

Here is a short video of Anna and Peyton decorating the Easter Bunny House. Please see the links after the video for parts 2, 3 and 4.



Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4.

Anna the Botanist

Here are a couple of videos of Anna describing the flowers she received for Valentine's Day!

Part 1


Part 2

Chef Anna!

For everyone who wants to see what Anna is up to you can see a few photos of her cooking and swimming.