Mattias is a dirt magnet

Today we went to the Teahouse Restaurant in Stanley Park for a family brunch. We all got dressed in our Sunday whites. Mattias lasted maybe 5 minutes before he got soooo dirty.
Oh, brunch was good too.

Starting Young

Mattias is already making the moves... ;-)   He made a new friend at the park and she was really sweet.  They played together for quite a while.  Awwww.

There be Vikings in Burnaby

Today we went to a Scandinavian Festival in Burnaby. We met vikings and Mattias participated in some folk dancing. When they started the audience participation, he ran to the stage to be part of it. His cousin joined us and Mattias loved having him there. Grandma was there too and was disappointed there were no helmets with horns, we learned later that they never had horns, that is a myth.

665 shots

Today in our photo workshop we worked with models in the studio. I took 665 photos tonight!! One thing I realize is I take the pictures to quick, when I was on the strobe I was taking shots before the strobe was fully recharged. It was fun but tiring. I have to pick 6 to bring in next week. Here are a few so far I like.

Way to go Eva

Yesterday a friend won a trip to Tuscany for a culinary tour.  She had to do an iron-chef cook-off against 9 other cooks, the competition was sponsered by Kraft.  Her secret ingredient was prawns and they had to use a Signature Kraft dressing.  She told me she was surprised she won as the competition looked pretty tough and their plating was much more artistic than hers, I guess taste won out.  She was complimented on her use of mint and mango from one of the judges. 

 

Congratulations Eva!

 

To see an article on this win go here.

 

Stubby is back

For many years we have had the same crow spend its day at our house. We have nicknamed him 'stubby' because he has a short beak which looks like was cut short. Anyways, stubby is back, cawing away, harassing raccoons and eating any garbage he can get a hold off.

This photo was taken with my 70-200mm lens and to be honest it is not as sharp as I would like it. It was an inexpensive lens, so I guess I should be saving some money for a new lens, I can get a constant 2.8 aperture (80-200mm) for only $1200 on craigslist. (shhh, don't tell Justine) ;-)

Or, maybe I need to clean the bedroom window...

Father's Day

Today was a great day.  The weather was fabulous (Yay, summer is finally here) and I had a fun day with the family.  This morning Mattias and Justine made me waffles and we went out to Rice Lake for their BC Family Fishing event.  There Mattias met Salty Sam the Seagull, the Vancouver port mascot.  Why they need a mascot is beyond me.   There were a ton of people there fishing (free poll rentals) and we got to release a trout into the lake.  We had a HUGE trout and he was active.  We really got splashed bringing him to the dock for the release.

Of course Mommy made us wear our matching t-shirts, Dada and Dada's little helper. 

Cowboy Action Shooting

As I have previously mentioned I participate in Cowboy Action Shooting and I belong to the Red Mountain Renegades out of Mission. We recently had our big 2 day shoot in May. I have a web album here with pictures from the shoot.


Basically it is grown men playing cowboy but we use real guns, you require 2 revolvers, a shotgun and a rifle. I shoot in either the Traditional or Classic Cowboy category. My caliber is 44-40, most shooters use 38 Special or 45 Long Colt. Shooting can be expensive so I load my own ammunition (material for another post). I really enjoy this activity, I meet some great folks and it is a lot of fun. I was introduced to this by my friend Al (first picture shooting his pistols). Unfortunately, with Mattias around and the range being 1.5 hours away I do not get out as much as I would like.


If you are interested there are clubs all over the Canada and the US. The folks are really friendly and love to show new people what we do.

Bouncy Castle

Today Mattias experienced his first bouncy castle. Soon after he got in there he got knocked over pretty hard by a big kid (someone's father, grrrr) and got pretty upset. We got him back on the horse and later he was back there having fun. That's my boy!

What have we started...

Yesterday we gave Mattias his new Skuut and a bike helmet. He would not take the helmet off last night. This morning as I was getting ready to go out to work he was waiting at the door with his helmet in hand for me to take him riding. Awww.

Vancouver Photo Workshops

I am currently taking a photography course, Introduction to Digital Photography at Vancouver Photo Workshops. I am really enjoying the course and getting a lot out of it. Last night we went to Granville Island to work on night photography. Here are a few of my photos.

http://www.vancouverphotoworkshops.com/

Skuut

I have a 22 month old son, Mattias. Today we got him a Skuut bike. He loves it.

http://skuut.com/

Why BC Bear

I participate in a shooting sport called Cowboy Action Shooting. We follow SASS (Single Action Shooting Society) rules which require you to have an alias, my alias is BC Bear. I guess I picked this because my wife thinks I am a big teddy bear and I live in BC.