Pool Party; Disney World 2013; Peanut Allergies; Oscar Everest Vamos Darwish;

Finally, my Walt Disney World Family Vacation 2013 blog is done. Click here to view: Disney.

Pool Party
Thank you Kim and Pascal for having us for a pool party. The kids had a great time, swam a lot and played a lot. I should have had my phone at the pool though ;)

Girl with peanut allergy dies after taking bite of treat at California summer camp
"A 13-year-old girl with a peanut allergy died at a popular family summer camp in Sacramento after taking a bite of a Rice Krispies treat.

Natalie Giorgi died Saturday at Camp Sacramento after eating the snack, which had peanuts, even after her parents administered multiple doses of medicine, the Sacramento Bee reported.

A family friend told the Bee that Giorgi was diligent about her allergy, and spit out the treat right away after tasting peanuts."

I think about this every single day. Sabrina's disease is no joke (though some have treated it as such) and has more chances then most kids I know of being alive a minute, and dead the other. Furthermore, the epipen may not work. Any food she eats may be tainted. My heart is with Natalie Giorgi's family.

Oscar Everest Vamos Darwish
My friend Stephanie and her wife Jo welcomed their first son in this world today. I only met Stephanie a few times but at the 48h Tremblant I liked her right away: very competitive and very nerdy (look at the cool name). Congrats to both.

Family Past
Here is a picture of my mom when she was 7 years old. "Tu vois ma mère ne s'est vraiment pas occupé de moi dans un sens, elle me donnait ce que je voulait et comme je lisais beaucoup et j'avais beaucoup d'idées j'ai commencé jeune à me débrouiller et à Mtl c'est tellement facile tu as tout a porté de ta main, ma mère a voulu faire de moi un petit chien savant pourquoi je sais pas (c.était l'époque Shirley Temple et elle me coiffait comme elle)  à trois ans je prenais des cours de diction, et elle m'amenait à la piscine,au cinéma, j'ai vu tous les fims au Lowes, apres les cours de dance elle travaillais fort pour mon côté artistique, mais le sport, je passait mes été à la piscine et au  tennis, et à 10 ans j'allais magasiner dans'' l'ouest'' (pour moi c'est la définition des quartiers). Morgan, Eaton, etc j'allais retrouver Gisele qui travaillait chez Birks."

My own sandwich

Mathieu thought I was too slow making dinner tonight so he made himself a sandwich. It's his first time, on his own initiative. I turned around and the sandwich was made. While it's not amazing in itself, what I find interesting is that he just did it, without asking, surprising me.

Family Past: Fêtes de Noël 1952 au Manor House, Williamstown, Ontario
When my mom was young she really liked horses. "Mon amoureux de l’époque André Boucher était le jockey des Devaux (il était aussi apprenti orfèvre chez Birks) et les courses terminées ils rejoignaient leur quartiers d’hiver, le Manor House à Williamstown en Ontario tout près de la frontière du Québec. J’ai passé plusieurs fin de semaine dont celle de Noël 1952, à ce moment là je voyageais par autobus et comme la photo le démontre, il y avait de la pluie verglaçante cette fin de semaine là aussi. J’ai assisté à la naissance de Cookie le fils de Goldylock; au marquage des agneaux (j’ai même fait de l’équitation sur une brebis, on a bien rit de moi) Je m’occupais des chevaux avec André, j’ai visité les fermes appartenant aux Devaux, gérées par des Amish ou Mennonites (je ne suis pas certaine). Au retour de nos expéditions (à l'heure du thé) Mme Devaux nous faisait toujours un chocolat chaud que nous prenions dans la bibliothèque ou il y avait toujours un feu de foyer, on jouait aux cartes avec elle, on lisait. Le soir de Noël on a diné dans la salle à manger et après pris le café dans l’aile est (qui est ouverte au public maintenant) un salon d’époque ou il y avait un piano à queue et de nombreux divans, plusieurs grandes fenêtres avec des rideaux de velours, assez impressionnant. Dommage mes souvenirs sont vagues c’est à peu près ce que je me rappelle. Cette partie de ma jeunesse fut des plus agréables, j'ai passé quelques étés à Blue Bonnet ou il y avait des courses de pures sang à ce moment là, mais c'est une époque très lointaine mais souvenirs sont flous (comme mes photos). Je voulais en savoir plus j’ai donc consulté Google et voilà ce que j’ai trouvé, je vais surement faire d’autres recherches; quand les écuries ont brulées , y avait-il encore des chevaux? J'espère que non sinon quel drame!"

Work and Snorkeling

I have been teaching Sabrina how to snorkel in the pool. It may be quite useful for our trip next Spring Break, though it's quite different to do it in the sea as opposed to do it in a pool. She's quite good, but she still has to practice her blow-out technique. It's coming. She did a lot of progress today.

I have been working on contracts and a personal project throughout the year, and the personal project is starting to take solid shape. I have a lot of projects coming up, one in progress, and I find that because of the tools I have these projects are long to build. There should be better tools and for the past 6-7 years I have been toying with the idea of building my own (I've also been doing a lot of testing for this particular project over the past five years). I've been waiting for something to come up the way I need it and some have, to a very lesser extent. In January I decided to go full steam and build the tool.

It's a big project for it involves creating a computer language that's out of the norms and spans over different base languages but hey, I'm a computer scientist ( the guy who creates the stuff the engineers use ) and since I've only been doing engineering work for the past 23 years it's kinda good to get back into the real fun and complicated stuff.

To build my tool I had to build an editor that would be able to build the tool. That editor took a good month and half to put up. With it I was able to quickly build itself but using the language I created.

The trick is that the one in the middle, created with my language, can do the same thing the hardwired one (on the right) can do. The difference? The one in the middle can be built in a day. The one to the right took me almost two months. I haven't used the hard-wired one (on the right) for the past couple of weeks even if the newer one was not fully functional yet. The new one, written in my new language, now looks like:

The reason I'm talking about it today is because as of today, the one created in my new computer language can actually create or load apps, and it can add objects. Soon it will be able to change the properties of the objects that make up an app (application, or program). Previous tests have seen the program easily access databases. Very soon I hope to use One Happy Kid as the first application written with it. Today is a small but relatively important milestone that's been achieved. I am a few days away from erasing the hardwired editor that got me here. Cool and fun stuff for me.

Family Past
A picture of my father when he merely was a year and a half old. Thx mom.

BBQ at Donna's and Sylvain's

Today was spent outside and in the pool, even if it was not as nice as yesterday. In the evening we went to have a BBQ at Donna's and Sylvain's who live a few houses down the road. The kids play so well together. Lea and Daphnee often come get Sabrina and Mathieu to play with them during the day. It's like when I was young and all the neighbourhood kids would get together during Summer time.

We had an excellent time.

Family Past:
My mom, when she was five. Doesn't she make you think of someone?

La Ronde and Fireworks

Today we went to La Ronde right after dinner (we had excellent burritos). The idea was to go have fun and then watch the fireworks. We had an excellent time! Mathieu got to try the Super Manège, Sabrina conquered her fear of a water ride and while the ride back home was tedious because of traffic, the fireworks were beautiful and we were really well seated.

On site, after dinner

On the Ferris Wheel (again!!! 

Sabrina is a Ferris Wheel kinda girl

Waiting to do the "Pizza Pizza" while Mathieu and Sue are waiting for the Super Manege

A Zen kinda moment

The Super Manège. Mathieu's first time on a roller coaster that goes upside down

Daughter with mommy's purse while waiting

Getting ready to go

Do you think they liked it ???

Fun ride for Saby, low impact ride for Mathieu, who did lose his shoes  

Waiting for the fireworks

The stage is on a barge that moves before the show

A ride I went on with Max when he was about Sabrina's age

Some fireworks...

And more...

Their effect on the girls

Mathieu passed out :)

Max and Laurie

Tonight Max and Laurie came home for dinner. Suzanne had to work late so we didn't get to see her, but it was a real nice family supper. The kids really miss Max and they really like Laurie. She's a great person. And yes, Superman did look like Max :)

Today we spent some time at the park. Mathieu is a daredevil monkey who was at the top of the spider web before I had time to sit down. Don't I have enough grey hair???

Man of Steel

We went to see "Man of Steel" at the theatre. Though the reviews were bad, I enjoyed it. We were presented with a more "human" Superman, though his alien heritage is front and centre in this movie. The kids really liked it. But what came out of it the most?

"Hey Superman looks like Max"

Foe down and LaRonde

Today we went to LaRonde after lunch. As we left, we discovered the groundhog that's been eating our fruits and vegetables dead in the middle of the street facing our driveway. Death is sad, but at least we'll get to finally eat what we've planted.

We're going to LaRonde. Here's a list of pictures showing us having fun. Mathieu got to go on rides that were more thrilling as Saby and I waited for him.

On site

In the "Spirale" or known by the kids as the "Pizza, Pizza"

Ferris Wheel

Mathieu goes by himself on the "Tour de Ville"

While waiting for Mathieu on "Splash"

And now a Zen moment

In line for Splash

Splashing... (can you find Mathieu?)

Splashed

And of course he had to find a dime. Since the penny's been gone, he's getting richer.

Tooth vs Corn

Tooth Lost.

I love it in the morning when the kids join us in bed before getting up.

Suzanne's Home

Suzanne got home at 8:45am this morning and we were there (ok almost) to pick her up. She had an appointment at her hair salon in NDG so we took the opportunity to go have breakfast. Unfortunately, I didn't have Sabrina's Epipen so our choice was limited. We went to a bakery on Monkland named Cho'cola which is renowned to be nut free.

While Suzanne was at her appointment, the kids and I drove around NDG and Westmount. We stopped at a viewpoint to look at the city.

We then went to get Suzanne at her salon. The rest of the day was spent in the pool, relaxing.

Of storms and cancelled flights

Storm clouds filled the horizon as we were swimming. The wind was very strong, filling the pool with leafs and pine needles. Planes in the sky seem to be struggling.

Something wicked this way comes

A plane I wouldn't like to be in

After the storm had to get out to put gas in the car. There were tree branches down everywhere. 

We will rebuild...

Suzanne's flight got cancelled, unfortunately, so we got to spend another day without her.