The Eco Dad

We've all heard the saying that "it's better to give than to receive." For my birthday this weekend, that's exactly what I did. In lieu of some party, I gathered a handful of friends and their kids and organized a site for the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. While we didn't give financially, we gave our time and efforts to clean up a park/beach here in Mississauga. Others will benefit from our efforts. I figure if I'm going to gather people in an area, I may as well put them to use. Ha! An acceptable form of child labour.   I find this to be an extremely rewarding experience inasmuch as you do good on the day of the event, but you also teach your kids (and others, 'cause I don't have four kids as pictured above) to do good in the future. You can make it a bit of a game to see who can pick the most garbage, or who can find the biggest piece. It's all in how you sell it. Make it a friends and family event and it should sell itself to th...

I'm certainly glad I put 'irregularly updated' in this blog's description, 'cause it's been just over three weeks since I last wrote anything. I don't really have any excuses. It's just been a bit busy with a family vacation and a work-related trip to Amsterdam, Holland. Oh yeah, and my oldest starts school this week. He seems alright with it. I'm f*cking terrified! For our family vacation we went the cottage rental route. We've done the group cottage rental thing before and I have to say, with the right people, it's a good idea. Luckily, we go with the right people. At our busiest we had 10 adults and 6 children. We were spread around 5 cottages on one property, so we weren't on top of each other for 7 days, thankfully. That's how friendships are ruined. Nope, this was about a 3 hour drive outside the city limits and each family that went had their own cottage. The property was waterfront so the kids got plenty of beach time while ...

Happy Canada Day! It's Canada 150 up here and though the weather sucked for a good portion of the day, it didn't dampen our spirits.  The kids got dressed up. Mom wore a reconfigured Canada shirt and I wore my altered lobster shirt (I'll blog about that tomorrow). It was all very red and white today though. Check this dynamic duo out! My wife purchased these 'outfits' for the kids, so technically I still haven't purchased anything new. It should be noted it would be totally worth it though. I loved looking at my kids and loved how they greeted everyone they came across with "Happy Canada Day!" They didn't wear capes to the park this morning, but they still wore red and white and carried Canada flags. I hope they truly appreciate the country they live in and all it has to offer. They may not appreciate it now, and I don't expect them to at 4 and 2 years of age, but one day, I hope they do. I hope they look after it, care for it and make...