Fern

We went to Fern last week, and as expected, we had a great time. The weather co-operated, for the most part; we only had rain on one day, and only for a couple of hours. We went to the indoor pool during that time, so we had fun anyway. The guys went golfing (9 holes) on Tuesday morning. I got one par, and missed chipping in for birdie (would have been my first one) by a fraction of an inch. I got to try my new driver out for the first time — the ball went left a lot, but it went a lot further than with my old driver. Obviously going further into the trees is less than ideal, but once I figure out how to hit it properly, it'll be very cool. I'm hopefully going to the driving range tomorrow evening with my neighbour (the guy who made the driver), so he can give me some tips on how to straighten out my swing.

Back to Fern; a summary of things we did:

• pedal carts and bikes — Nicholas was big enough this year to get the carts going
• Gail and I each tried archery (Gail did it two or three times; I think she's getting addicted)
• I played 4-way volleyball twice (I think I'm getting addicted)
• I had casino (blackjack, roulette) and Texas Hold-'em lessons
• Gail went for a walk (2.5 to 3 km) every morning at 6:30 (I was very impressed)
• Ryan and I played golf — Ryan did really well, for his second time ever on a (non-mini) golf course (his first time was last year), and I got two pars in five holes!
• I made it to the top of the "vertical playground", which is a sort of obstacle course that you climb, consisting of rope ladders, poles with wooden spikes that you climb, and some tires as well.
• Ryan went fishing and caught a minnow and a catfish

The vertical playground was actually easier than the rock climbing wall that I climbed last year. Next year, maybe I'll try the teeter-totter, which is just your basic see-saw, except that it's mounted at the top of a 40-foot telephone pole.

I didn't manage to get a ride on Jeff's jet-ski; whenever he had it out, I was busy doing other stuff. I also wanted to play tennis but never got a chance, and we didn't get the lacrosse sticks out either.

We then dropped Nicholas off at Gail's dad's place and Ryan off at my parents' place on Saturday, and drove home, stopping to see Pirates of the Carribbean in Barrie on the way. We also stopped at the Colisseum at the 400 and 407 to see Superman Returns, but the timing didn't work out, so we went home. Sunday we saw Superman Returns at the Imax theatre in Mississauga, and Monday we tried to go and see X-Men: The Final Stand, but the theatre had technical difficulties and had cancelled the movie, so we went to see that tonight. Since Saturday, we've also rented a bunch of movies, painted the bathroom and replaced the light fixture, installed a new cover on the bathroom vent (to keep birds from making nests in there like they did this past spring), and we're going to order a new garage door this week as well.

I'll post mini-reviews of all the movies we've seen this week a little later.