Part two of our day

We all enjoyed the first part of our day. After we left the CBC studios, we headed off for some lunch and a bit of shopping before my Dr.'s appt. We had planned our day well, everything was spaced nicely so we wouldn't be too rushed.

Usually, when the kids and I head out (which isn't that often) we take the van. Today was different though, as Tyler wanted to drive. The fact he has never driven the van and we were going into some heavier traffic areas, we opted to take the car and let Larry take the van to work.

Everything went well, until we got on the road heading for the appt. Just after we went through an intersection, the car started to slow down. I thought Tyler was slowing the vehicle down but when asked, he said the car was stopping. I suggested he pull over as close to the curb as he could get (there were no shoulders...just the sidewalk), which he did....just before the car died completely. As this was only the second time he's been out since getting his licence, I was really proud of the way he handled the situation. He did not panic (gets that from me...wink wink)...and immediately put the hazard lights on.

Things just went down hill from there.

We tried and tried but to no avail...the car was not going to re start. Of course, we are out on a busy four lane road to boot.

Great.

That's ok....we have CAA for such emergencies, I'll just call them. After digging through my wallet to find the number (we hardly ever call), phoning directory assistance at $1.50 plus airtime, calling them and giving her my info, she advised me Larry must be there to sign for the tow truck. (Grrrr...we're entitled to 5 calls per year.....we're lucky if we put in one per year....and now she is telling me I will have to pay outright for a tow truck unless Larry is there to sign.)

Meanwhile....we are *still* sitting in the middle of busy traffic, blocking a lane.

What to do. I did not have enough cash to pay for a tow truck ('cuz...we have CAA....and that's what it's for....right?)

It's almost 1:00, Larry is working until 2:30, we're *still* blocking traffic with a dead car (my fear was another car would not see us/get stopped in time and smash into the back of us), I have a Dr.'s appt at 1:00, Jake is in the back upset and crying.....sooo...I had no choice but to call Larry, get him out of class and eventually out of school. Thankfully, they let him leave (now they will need a substitute for the substitute). Had we been sitting on a side street or a parking lot....we would have just waited until his classes were done for the day....but being in the middle of a busy road....I felt we had no choice.

I was surprised at how quickly Larry was able to get there, but very glad to see him. He called CAA and they dispatched a tow truck. We waited for what seemed liked forever and after about 30 minutes....he called back again to see where said tow truck was....after all.....we're *still* blocking traffic.

Her response? "Well....you're in Newfoundland.....waiting time is one hour there." Ummmm....excuse me???? You're in Newfoundland???? I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean (well .... actually, I do know....grrr...she was located in some other area of Canada...has no idea what it's like here...yet talks away as if she does.....probably thought the tow truck driver would need that much time to get through those year-round 15 feet deep snow banks we have ...lol)

Within five minutes though the tow truck arrived, hitched us up and towed the car to the service centre.

It ended up being the fuel pump and the battery...both needed to be replaced. It turned into a rather costly day for us, but at least we were not hurt. A couple of positive things though about this.....I am thankful it was a beautiful day (rain and or fog would have made it worse). Also, because the car died on the other side of the intersection, meant others had to either slow down or stop for the lights. They were not up to speed by the time they got up to us, which aided us in not being hit from behind.

I did feel bad about pulling Larry out of school. The vice principal of that school called Larry the other night...she wanted to book him for another day. Before she asked about that though, she asked him how we all made out and if we were all ok. After Larry made arrangements with her, I asked to speak to her. I also apologized for calling...to which she told me not to give it a second thought...she totally understood and would have done the same thing. She went on to say... she knew we had no family or anyone else here to call and was just glad we were all ok....our safety was her first priority. How nice was that?

CBC tour

Our homeschooling group toured the local CBC station today. It was awesome! We all learned a lot and saw so many neat things. One of the highlights was being in the studio and meeting some of the tv personalities (ok...that was two...but there were a lot and it's difficult to narrow it down to just one.)

Here are some pics of our tour. Click on them to enlarge:

We were in the Here and Now production studio Our tour guide was on air tv personality Jonathan Crowe . He was a great tour guide and very patient with us...sometimes explaining the same thing three times (there were so many of us....we all didn't fit into a room at the same time...so he did it in groups)




Here is the weatherman... Ryan Snoddon...who graciously agreed to pose for a picture with Tyler, Brittney and Jake. He was a great guide too...answering all of our questions. One interesting note, he comes from the same area of Ontario where we are from.....small world or what?




Tyler and Brittney on the Here and Now set.



Here, Ryan Snodden is explaining the technology to us. This green wall is all he has to work with and the camera imposes the weather map onto the monitors at the side(well...it's something like that.....it was too technological for me....but it was really cool!)





Here's where it got even cooler....they brought out some green capes and if the kids held the green capes over them...the camera would impose the weather map onto the green part. Because Jake was wearing a green shirt......the camera imposed the map over his body...so it looks as if only his head is on the map. (If you look closely you'll see his arm holding his yellow jacket). How cool is that?



More of the same....click on the pic...Can you see Jake?



And again..





Tyler is in the middle at the back. Brittney at the far right. They were standing against the green wall, but this is the picture on the monitor.




What a great morning...many thanks CBC, Jonathan Crowe, Ryan Snoddon and all the folks at CBC!!.

Picnic by the ocean

Jake thought it would be nice if him and I went for a picnic. He assured me he'd look after everything for our afternoon out together..... and ...... look after everything he did.

He finished his school work on Friday for the day and then made each of us a sandwich. He had two choices available....bologna or peanut butter. He opted for bologna and I chose peanut butter which he took great care in making (mine on brown, his on white) and packaging them up. After some more deep thought, he decided chips would be a nice addition. This entailed a fairly long bike ride to the local corner store, where he bought (out of his own money) each of us a bag. These were added to the bag, as well as a bottle of water for each of us.

He wondered if the cooler and an ice pack would also be a good idea...but as we were only going 2 minutes away, I convinced him the bag would work just fine.

It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, the air clear and clean and the ocean rolling and gently crashing against the rocky shore. Although it was a bit windy.....it was a perfect afternoon for a picnic.

The small park was empty, which meant we had our choice of tables. We enjoyed our lunch together followed by a few games of eye spy. He seemed quite impressed with my ability to figure out things his little eye spied. (I am enjoying this phase of being able to impress him....I know that won't last much longer. ;) )

Before leaving the park, he made sure all our garbage was put in the garbage can provided. I'm so glad these types of containers are still provided here.

He thought the afternoon would be capped of nicely, if he could treat me to some ice cream. I feel guilty at how he spends all of his money .... all of the time .... on others (but usually he gets upset if I don't allow him to).....but I was able to convince him he'd spent enough on me for one day. He was ok with this and decided a drive around Pouch Cove would be just as nice ......so that's what we did. On the way back though, he asked to stop at the store and of course emerged from there with a .50 candy bag for me.....he really loves to share.

What a great afternoon we had and I can hardly wait until our next one!

Watchout Newfoundland and Labrador...part 2

Tyler is now a licenced driver! The above picture was taken just over eight months ago ..... he'd just received his beginner's permit.

Yesterday....he took the road test and passed with flying colours (made only one small mistake).

No more road tests (Only one road test required in this province) and he's thankful for that. The only restrictions on him.....he can't drive alone between midnight and 5:00 a.m. (unless it's for work....then a note from his employer would be all he'd need to get around this).

The extra insurance cost was a bit of a concern for us (we'd heard many horror stories of outrageous costs when sons are added)....so the $500.00 was a little easier to swallow. He's agreed to pay half of that....so all in all...it's not too bad.

Congratulations, Tyler!!!

It worked!

Jake was finally able to test out his new cookie stand.

He's been strategizing and plotting his latest invention for some time now. He's tried chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip cookies....but thought he'd like to add a new flavour to his menu line. Seeing as it's blueberry season here in Newfoundland and....we have mega blueberries growing in our back area, he decided on Blueberry Chocolate Chip (and Blueberry spelled "Bluebarry" according to the sign he made).

Before he could introduce it to his customers though, he decided to should test market it first. His family were the willing participants...and it received two thumbs up from everyone.

He hand-selected the blueberries. He washed them and dried them. Still a little concerned his customers would not like the new flavour and may want their money back, he decided to go with half and half. So, the batch of cookie dough he made was half chocolate chip the other half bluebarry chocolate chip.

He baked them last night...complete with packaging them himself and cleaning up the kitchen (well most of it ;)). He wrote out some business cards and also made his lunch (after all a hard working man needs to keep his strength up).

This morning he helped Larry load the cookie stand into the van. Off we went to downtown Pouch Cove (*grin*....downtown Pouch Cove consists of the town hall/fire hall, park and general store).

Wow!

He sold out in 45 minutes! And....with the tips people gave him....he came home with almost double what he was asking!


A few pics of his day: (click pics to enlarge)


Set up, ready and waiting for the first customer:




A customer arrives by car!




Yahoo! Sold out!