Bugs Palace!

Schools back in session and back to the chaos which is the first 6 weeks of a new school year. Joe is firmly in grade 10 and making the most of it. Abby is in Grade 13/victory lap. Currently in the middle of a coop and getting ready for her final semester of high school. So far so good! Hopefully both keep putting in the effort and make us proud as always.

Few sports updates: Huskies are back in session! U16 is shaping up to be a fun, intense season! We lost a few regular players this season, and picked up one new one (so far). Coaches are determined to have these boys in the best shape of their lives. The practices have been many, intense, sweaty and productive. Can’t wait to see it all pay off in-season. As for baseball, things will look different next summer. Joe’s Haldimand Bulls team has decided not to field a u17 team this year. So that turned into a quick pivot and tryouts for a new squad. As of September, Joe is now a member of the Wilmot Thunder u17 Tier 1 team along with Reese and Harm from the Bulls. Should be a fun new crew to cheer on and some great ball to play. As for Abby, we keep nudging as many as we can to hopefully get another kick at the can for the U23 Womens leage this year!

Automotive updates: Looks like the R will get the break this winter. I picked up a 1998 Ford Ranger, regular cab, short box, v6 5 speed 2wd for a hackin around, moving stuff, and winter duty truck. Shes a fun little rig, although a bit quirky. So far I’m living with the quirks and trying to fix them as time passes. Long term, no clue. Short term – shes just what I needed.

Sadly Abbys auto update isn’t as good. The old TDI Golf decided to eat the timing belt and blow the engine. Certainly not in the plans for this year. The Golf was a great car and perfect first car for my kiddo. She’s now been replaced with a bright red Mk4 Beetle. Certainly a nice ending to a shitty story. Still miss the Golf, but the Bug is doing a good job helping her move on.

Delay in posts makes updates tricky when you have a short memory lol.

I believe the biggest news this year is Abby Graduated Grade 12! That’s correct. You read that right. My baby girl is a high school graduate. And she did so with honors in all 4 years! She’s decided to stick out one more year for a victory lap before moving onto something new. We are beyond proud of her. All the hard work, dedication, going outside of her comfort zone — beyond proud. I can’t wait to see what she does next.

While Abby was busy with her final year of high school, Joe was completing his first. Hard to believe how quickly these two are growing up. Good job bud! Keep up the hard work! While in gr9 Joe played for the HT Junior basketball team too! Not as much play time as he’s used to, but we’re hoping that’s just a gr9 thing.

Since my last update, sports have taken over our lives. Joe’s second year playing on the Haldimand Huskies has came and went. And I’m happy to say with same result. CHAMPS! Back to back Championships for the OBL Ontario Cup. Such a great organization, great group of dudes to play with and some great parents cheering along with Shannon and I. As the regular basketball season ended. summer leagues started. Abby’s back playing ball – this year for Hagersville U23. New group of girls this year to round out the team. Been fun so far! Hoping for a few more wins between now and end of season. As for Joe, he’s playing for his U15 Bulls, while also playing up on the U17 Bulls and the U16 Huskies. The team above Joes age decided they needed extra bodies over the summer. Joe tried out and made it. He’s putting in the work this summer! Exhausted, but doing well.

Auto update: I bought a 2007 VW Eos (hard top convertible) as a winter beater back in December. Spring came and I couldn’t part with it so I drove right into June., If it was in a bit better shape and manual transmission, I’d likely have kept it longer. Sadly I decided to move along and sold it recently. Jeep is pushing 68,000kms… Not bad for 2 years lol. Beetle still slumbers. This winter should finally see that change. And finally the R32 (still without stereo) has taken on full time daily duty and is still a hoot to drive. Pretty sure I’m going to skip the winter beater, lift the ride height and rock it this winter. Unless a cheap truck pops up. Subject to change lol.

No real vacations to speak of this year. Stayed a way for a couple ball tournaments, but otherwise, deferring to next year. Plans currently are a couple week trip with a cruise bookended by some days at Disney.

House stuff has been fairly quiet. Had a flood in the basement which took out the furnace, drywall and a bunch of other stuff. Frustrating but thankfully only lost “stuff” and nothing that couldn’t be replaced. Garage is nearly completion. Trim work done, paint work nearly done. Hoping to be 100% this summer with the exception of coating floors and heat. This final upgrades are a couple years out.

I keep saying I need to do this more often, but apparently my ability to do updates on the regular is not so super. And boy or boy do I have a bunch of updates! This will be rapid fire and frankly kept quite brief as there is so much to cover.

First up: DISNEYLAND! After a few years of rescheduling due to pandemics and moves etc, we finally were able to do Joe’s 10th birthday trip with Jeff and Cathy. We packed up and flew out west for a week of Disney and California marathon fun! We packed in so much over the week I am still dizzy! In no particular order we went to a Dodgers game; and Angels game, 2 days at Disneyland, 2 days at Disney’s California Adventure and 1 day at Universal Studios. Add to that some site seeing and a trip to the beach and we’ve pretty much covered one amazing trip. DL is so much like WDW but different at same time. I could go to either and be just as happy. Both have perks and draw backs. One this is for sure, it will not be out last trip to the west coast. Thanks again Jeff and Cathy!

Next up: HUSKIES! Joe’s first year as a rep baller couldn’t have been better. The team of rookie misfits somehow surprised everyone and took the gold medal for league play as well as the season ending championship tournament in Ottawa. Not to mention finishing several levels higher than they started out. Each week these boys just kept getting better and surprising everyone. Season 2 has just started to get going and we’re stoked! Lets go DoGGS!

Rugby: Abby’s rugby team (yes! Abby plays rugby) had a great season as well! They finished second in COSSA and went on to compete in OFFSA. Sadly it didn’t go as well, but she got to go away over night with the team and made some fun memories.

Baseball!: Much like the previous summers, if you wanted us — you had to look no further than the ballpark. Between Joe’s house and rep team, Abby’s house league team and Joe’s time lining diamonds and umpiring, we spent a LOT of time at the diamonds this summer. Just the way we like it! Joe’s team won the ORSA championship and also the league championship. Abby’s came in 3rd. Proud of both the kiddos and their teams this year. We have a great time coaching and we hope you all enjoyed playing just as much!

House Updates: Not a great deal to report. Garage is nearly finished. Alex spent some time finishing drywall followed by Shannon beast mode painting has it looking pretty great! Still some trimming out to finish and work benches to build, but it’s nearly done! Only other big project was rebuilding of the pool fence and adding onto the deck. This was started last summer, but ankle injury kept me from finishing. Quite happy with the outcome so far. Still a bit of work to be done, but it looks a million times better than before and so much more functional.

Cars: Nothing much. Shannon’s Jeep is still doing the family truckster duties while I’ve been rocking the R32 full time for a few months now. The R32 has a bunch of maintenance items I’d like to clean up this winter to freshen it up. Suspension bushings, ride height tweaks and maybe a new exhaust. That and I should probably put my stereo in at some point. The Beetle hasn’t moved in a while. Hoping to resurrect her this winter. Finally Abby’s TDI has been busy playing the part of the school bus since September. Shes and old girl but she’s running like a champ.

School: In the blink of an eye, both of the kiddos are now in high school! Joe started grade 9 while Abby has entered grade 12! I’m beyond proud of these two goofs. Smart, compassionate, funny as hell and driven to succeed when they want something. On the topic of succeeding at school, Abby now has received honors in Grade 9, 10, AND 11. And she tacked on the Cosmo and Art awards for good measure. Great job baby!

Though the kids started the year on the bus, that only lasted 2-3 days! Abby officially passed her G2 test! Her and Joe take her Golf every morning and head to Simcoe for school. Not gonna lie, it’s a bit nerve racking at first, but shes gotten to be a very good driver. Alert, cautious and even patient. Keep being safe and going slow! You and your brother are precious cargo!

I know there are a million other little updates I could add, but I think I’ll wrap it up here.