I started playing baseball with only a soft-toss experience and friendly game, no stealing bases. Also, I only played it only a few times a year. In the first few games I had a hard time hitting the ball and getting it into my glove on funny or normal hops. Now I still have some difficulties but I have improved. The soccer that Jeremiah plays is nothing like the World Cup. It might be a bit faster on the smaller field, but almost every person on the team cannot wait for the ball, they can only all pile up and try to get it. Jeremiah has already scored one goal though. And he likes it.
Thank you Jonathan! He wrote the above before he left for Austria. Now he will be getting ready to play more baseball at the Ten English Days camp at Schloss Klaus, which will begin next week. These past months of living in Canada have been all about having new experiences. When spring came we knew that the kids would want to get involved in some summer sports. Jonathan and Rebecca ended up in two different leagues for baseball, based on age, and Rebecca was the only girl on her team!
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| Rebecca's Team- the Diamondbacks |
Jonathan played on a team with one boy that he knows from the youth group, so that was a good start. They both had a big learning curve ahead of them, with all of the terminology, the Canadian-isms ("eat it!!", "good cut" and so on), as well as learning when you could safely come off base, steal, and when to and not to slide. They both had great coaches and nice kids on their teams. After I had seen some of the teams that Jonathan was playing against, I was even more grateful for that. Rebecca's games were all played within Brockville. There were 4 teams in her league and they ended up coming in second in the play-offs at the end of June. Jonthan's league was for 13-16 year olds and some of the away-teams (they played up to an hour's drive away) were a LOT bigger in size than their team. I mean in body size. On one team we were amazed because they were playing against a guy with a beard! Really? Some were nice, some were not nice. The same applies to the parents. It is amazing how crude and horrid some parents can be when feeling competitive. What an example to the kids! Well, we saw them acting accordingly. Some well, some not. All-in-all Jonathan loved it and was sad to know that he would be missing games when he flew to Austria.
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| Jonathan's Team- The Nationals |
Our soccer experience with Jeremiah has been a bit different. At his first game we showed up and the kids just went onto the field and ran around chasing the ball. No coaching. Now they at least say who is a forward and who is defense, but I'm not happy with their coaches. Besides that their only practice is 10 minutes before the game, they have said some things to the kids which have not been good. Such as last week. "Don't worry about that kid in goal. I coached him last year and he's afraid of the ball!". Great. So then I've had to sort that out. The coach and assistant are pretty rough. Jeremiah will probably be doing baseball next year. That's alright as he loves baseball too. But he does well with soccer and understands where he should be when. Alternatively we've heard that there are soccer clubs outside of Brockville which actually teach the kids more and have a real practice. To be fair to Brockville, I have seen better coaches on opposing teams. Oh yes, and all three kids ended up as a number 5!!! What are the odds?
Now, for a general update. Jeremiah and Rebeca both celebrated their birthdays in June. Jeremiah loves and uses his hockey net every day. Rebecca received a real spinning wheel! Dominik had to fix a part of it but it works and she has some wool to practice spinning with. I foresee that getting more use once winter comes again!
We spent a bit of time up on our land in the Lanark Highlands (Ontario, not Scotland! Actually, Lanark in Scotland is lowland, isn't it???) . As June progressed the bugs decreased in number and it became less difficult to be there. By the time that Dominik is back in August, and we move up there for the month, it should be easy with the mosquitoes. Josiah caught his first fish there- with his first cast from our little dock! He caught a nice sized pike. And we ate it! :-)
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| Beans and Chips away from the Mosquitoes |
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| Camo Man! |
I started trying pressure canning in order for us to have some nice food up on our land, instead of having to rely on bought canned food. We don't have any refridgeration there, as we're off-grid, and although things left in the ground stay cooler, we still couldn't keep meat for a long period of time. I canned some chili- raw pack! And also some chicken breasts. I will use those to make a nice creamy sauce for rice or pasta. I will try to do a bit more before we head up there in August.
Dominik and Jonathan flew to Austria on the 3rd of July and will return on August 6. That leaves me as a single parent of four children for just over a month. In order to keep everyone, myself included, entertained, I have planned a few road trips. :-) We went to the Waterloo area to see my former supervisor from when I was working up in Pangnirtung, Mary Bender. We had a great catch-up time and then went to the St. Jacob's market and for a tour of a Mennonite farm as well. After that we were off to the middle of Michigan to see the Pickett Family- on home for a short break from work in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq. Their kids are about the ages of ours and we had a lovely time, relaxing and catching up. The long drive home after wasn't too bad either. Although Toronto traffic is bad even on Sunday mornings.
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| Working together again! The dream team! |
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| With Mary at St. Jacob's market |
The next week we were involved in our church's Vacation Bible School, where I had been asked to organise the snacks- according to the program that they had purchased. So, although limited as to what we could do, we (my friend Heather and I) managed to make them at least slightly healthier. A fact that some kids didn't appreciate! There really are many levels of culture here in Canada. Those of us who want to eat organic and self-made food have totally different palates than those who are constantly eating processed and sugar-filled foods.
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| VBS Picnic |
This week the girls are at Circle Square Ranch in Arden, Ontario. They were so excited that they had been planning their packing and activity choices for weeks! Rebecca even sewed her own sleeping bag! What a project that was. Dominik helped her as she had no pattern. It is their first time at this camp but I'm confident that they will really enjoy it. Christian program with nice counsellors, a lake and horses!!! What more is there?! :-) I will pick them up on Saturday and then on Monday morning EARLY we will be off to visit friends north of Sault Ste. Marie. This will be another catching-up visit as I haven't seen my friend in four years! The winter isn't the time to drive up there, it will be about 12 hours with stops, so this is our first real chance. Baseball and soccer schedules kept up close to Brockville up until now.
Finally, we've caught some bees! Remember the bee traps that Elena built with Dominik? I've included some extra photos here. One of our traps has bees in it! We went over to see them yesterday and we're very excited about it! Now we will see if any of the other traps do the same. Two families who used to have bees, but the bees died, have found that bees have come back this year, but into the old hives and not into the trap. (Please understand that it's not really a 'trap' but alternative accommodation until the bees are moved into a hive. They do fly in and out as they would in a hive.). We're just pleased to hear that the bees are coming back a bit. I have really noticed a lack of bees on the clover in parks and so on. The amount of pesticides and sprays being used are really ruining our ecosystem.
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| Finished bee trap |
SO, that is our blog for today. Sorry for the inconsistency of it. I hope that this sports and catch-up one will be soon followed by another blog. Thanks for reading!
