Surfergeeks

*With necessary apologies to Ice Cube

Today was filled with so much awesome that I’m really afraid that the rest of my summer is going to suck now. No, really. As most of you likely know, my annual BBQ is tomorrow. As such, I was finishing up the shopping for it by hitting up the Fresh Co. at Trafalgar & Highbury. As I pulled in I see a fire truck parked back in the parking lot. It seemed to be likely that the firefighters were getting some groceries for their meals. However, by this point it appeared that they had already bought their groceries and two firefighters were standing outside the truck with a man and his young son – about 5-6 years old. They were taking the time, in the hot sun (okay okay, they probably experience a LOT hotter temperatures other times) to give this boy a “tour” of the fire truck pointing out all the things that someone his age would find neat and exciting. They were still sitting there as I got into the line to pay but pulled away before I had a chance to pay and get outside. I wanted to walk over to them and just tell them thank-you. I can’t imagine being a firefighter is just a job. It MUST be a calling. The two firefighters today were demonstrating that dedication and devotion. I would *guess* that they were from the Florence St. station (my apologies to the London Fire Department but I don’t remember the official name and am somewhat too lazy to be bothered looking it up). I’ve sent short emails to both the email address on the FD website and the Firefighters’ Association website just letting them know that these particular firefighters deserved to be recognized for their community interaction.

But wait! There’s more! (I told you it was a good day!)

So, getting ready for a BBQ is a lot of work. A. Lot. Of. Work. Sometimes sweaty work. Work of the kind that results in you not wanting to cook supper. You see where I’m going here don’t you? I asked the kids if they wanted Fajitas (the planned evening meal) or KFC. As neither of them are HUGE chicken eaters I’m kinda shocked that the answer didn’t come back as McDonald’s (never mind that one of them would have wanted Chicken McNuggets). So they chose KFC. Had they picked fajitas, I would have cooked but I REALLY didn’t want to. (Mental note to self: Must win at poker tomorrow night to justify buying KFC tonight) So I pack the grubby l’il monsters in the van and off we go to KFC. The closest one to us is the one on Hamilton Rd. just East of Egerton. So in we go. As soon as I walk in the door the cashier apologizes and tells me that it will be about 10 minutes for any chicken. Hey! No problem. If I could cook chicken at home in 10 minutes I wouldn’t be there. So I place my order and the cashier (REALLY wish I could remember her name) offers a free salad. Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth I accept. We sit on the window ledge to wait and the cashier then offers each kid a juice box while waiting! THIS is what customer service is all about. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I was so easy going about having to wait, but I think it was just that this team of employees working knew exactly how to deliver awesome customer service. So, my hat is off to the staff that was working tonight at the KFC on Hamilton Rd. You turned a great meal into an awesome meal!

Oh, and the last bit of good news just came in not too long ago – it looks like Jen, Mike and her troop are going to make it for the BBQ tomorrow afterall! Yay!

As most of you who visit this page now, we went to African Lion Safari on Thursday with Laura, Carmon and Kamara. It was a great day. Ryan was actually old enough to appreciate it this time and Alex may remember it this time. Oddly enough he doesn’t remember the last trip which is very unlike him. When asked, Ryan’s favourite part was the choo choo ride. Alex’s was the “big kid’s splash pad” that he spent a good chunk of time in.

Unfortunately all was not great that day. Near the end of the day (literally on our way out of the park) Alex went through this little kids obstacle course type thing. The last part was to climb down a chain ladder with wood rungs. It’s about a 6′ climb down. The base has some thin padding. Sadly, Alex though that the padding was softer and thicker than it really was. He sat on the edge of the ledge and dropped down instead of using the ladder. If anyone is keeping track of such things, a 6′ drop is bad for a 5-year old’s feet. At first he couldn’t put much pressure on it but he was able to move it about so we knew it wasn’t broken. He slept on the way home but could walk into the house with a bit of a limp. The next day he started off the day saying it was sore but said it felt better shortly after getting up. There’s a bruise but other than that he’s okay.

Also, the pics are posted. Just hover over the “pics” button at the bottom (don’t click it!) and then when the menu pops up choose whatever album you want to look at.