Tag Archives: B

Broken vehicle adventures are coming to an end!! I Hope.

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A couple days after Boxing Day I went out to start my van and the weirdest thing happened.  I turned the key and it clicked and honked!  I tried it a few more times until it started acting Really strange.  Lights flashing and wipers going…. Even the wiper on the back window that hasn’t worked for over a year!

WHAT?!?

First stop was google.  No luck. 

Next I called the mechanic who fixed the leaky power steering and coolant fountain.  He said it sounded like maybe the cold snap had killed the battery and knocked out the security system computer. 

His suggestion was to try and get it to re-learn my key.  Apparently you get in and shut the door, then turn the key to start and let it fall back to accessory and just sit there for 8 to 10 minutes. 

Well all that accomplished was to Completely drain the battery!   

The next day I tried calling CAA.  It was right in the middle of the cold snap so it was almost an hour wait.  

And…

It didn’t help.

The guy got his battery booster all hooked up and we turned the key.

And it clicked and honked…. but would not start.

Sigh

Next day I went out and picked up a battery charger and hooked it up.  I left it on there for about 10 hours!  It charged! Yay!

But

I moved the van on to the lawn because someone actually came to buy Daynen’s spare trailer… and then we had another cold snap.

Poof! the battery is dead again…. Completely dead… The charger won’t even recognise it is attached to a battery at all.  Nothing!

After a couple weeks sharing the 2003 Cavalier mission car with B, my darling parents took pity on me and helped me purchase a new vehicle.

Lucky for me the Toronto Mission just happened to have the Mission President’s SUV for sale!

I’ll tell yo

 

B leaves for 2 weeks at Pacaya Samiria National Reserve

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Organized by Operation Wallacia, she will be living on a riverboat learning about the wild live on the area and how to conserve them.

In the car on the way to the airport.

B & D on their phones at the airport

B attempting to check in at the terminals

Her seat assignment

Only the seat assignment worked and she had to stand in the regular line anyway…

In the second line

There she goes…

High school Graduation!!

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My sweet daughter, B, has graduated!!! 

June 28, 2017!!


Two school years ago at age 16, she started her first day in public school part time at CCI.   4 semesters later she has graduated with a Specialist High Skills Major in the health and wellness area of study!  She worked very hard and was serious about her classes. 

We are so proud of her!!

Wilderness Camp. Family style: part 2

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This trip was truly about spending time together as a family.

K was the first one up each morning, naturally.   He gathered kindling and lit the fire with his tinder kit. To get it going for breakfast.

Burgers and Corn for dinner.

D and B planned the wilderness camp very well.  They chose the site and packed all the bedding and tent. They planned and organized all the meals.  They did a fabulous job!

Our home for four days

 

 

We quickly got into a daily rhythm;

We would have oatmeal and tea for breakfast.

Then we would all tend the fire and work at preparing meals.

Everything was cooked over the fire.

 

 

 

 

D spent the morning of the first day building a tripod to put over the fire so we could hang the kettle and the cook pot over the stove.

Then he worked on carving us a flipper for the burgers and a ladle for the soup out of nice hardwood.

 

The tripod has a really practical double hook affair that could be raised or lowered to control the amount of heat for cooking.

 

 

While we were cooking or carving or tending the fire B was reading to us from a Neil Gaiman novel.  It was quite nice. Even when she needed to pause for a few seconds to rework the story a bit to make it appropriate to read to her little brother.

            

Even the puppy lay down to listen,

Wilderness camping ⛺️ family style

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What an adventure 😀

Wednesday June 21 to Sunday June 25. 

Halliburton highlands water trails park 

By time we all met up at the parking lot next to the boat launch it was getting dark.  

And

VERY, VERY buggy. Tons of mosquitos. Yuck. 😜

K and I had stopped at the grocery store for snacks but B and D had planned all the meals.  First the canoe came off the van. Then we had to quickly go through everything while under attack from the swarms. 

So we all piled in the canoe and headed towards the campsite. 

Out on the water was very beautiful.  The water was completely smooth.  All along the lake the shore was reflected in the water perfectly.  I wish I could’ve taken pictures to share with you how absolutely stunning it was. 

It looked very much like this;

http://www.eastshorervpark.com/home

https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/ocala/recarea/?recid=40233


I think we learned going to a campsite we had never been to before in the dark was not the best plan… 

Maybe it was the stunningly beautiful scenery or maybe we were just tired, but We took a couple detours before we found our site. 

Once we found the right area D landed us at the right campsite the first time.  Because he is just that good. 👍🏻

B and I were left at the campsite with the tent, two chairs, K’s survival kit and the dog. While the boys went back to the car for another load of gear. 

In the dark. Oh yeah. We did have a couple hand flashlights to get the tent set up. 

Next we had to scrounge around in the dark looking for kindling and wood to light a fire.  At ’tis point we realized we had no matches or lighters.  Just K’s tinder kit….

It took a bit but we eventually got it going. 

Our signal fire.


We had to keep getting dried pine needles and small twigs to keep it going until 1:30 when the boys finally got back to us with the bedding and the rest of the camping gear.  

Apparently finding the boat launch went as well as finding the campsite. They paddled along the shoreline until they found it. 🛶🗺

D found some more wood and we had some oatmeal and went to bed. 

So tired.