The Duke

In Canada we have the award called the Duke of Edinburgh's Award. It is a program that was founded by H.R.H Prince Philip - the Duke of Edinburgh in England, but it is now in Canada and 126 countries around the world.

The aim of the award is to promote good citizens and to encourage physical activity, adventure, skills and service. The award is designed for 14-25 year olds, with Bronze, Silver and Gold awards - the time requirements for each of the categories increasing with each award.

Mark started his Gold award the summer before Grade 12 with his Expedition (with his Scout troupe he made his own sea kayak and went on a 4 day journey around the Broken Island Chain near Vancouver BC). His Residential project was completed on his mission - a requirement of at least 3 nights away from home in another culture. While on his mission he also worked on his Skill and Service requirements.

After documenting all his requirements and handing in his Expedition report, Mark was awarded his Duke of Edinburgh Award with about 100 other receipients by Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex on June 7, 2009 at the Palliser Hotel in Calgary AB.

P.S. The main portion of the award is a gold pin with the Duke of Edinburgh symbol on it. Mark was upset that he did all that work only to receive a dinky pin!

Green Thumb

The prophet said to plant a garden, so that's what we'll do!

As the snow melted we were able to see our backyard come to life! We had no idea what to expect - the surprize of buying a home in the winter! We knew we wanted to plant a garden, but WHERE was the question. Behind the garage would be ideal, but a large fir tree blocked any of the sun's rays from hitting the perfect garden spot. Mark was totally rearing to cut it down - so the adventure began!

The tree BEFORE

We cut off most of the branches of the tree before we CHOPPED IT DOWN!

Mark and his tree...CUT CUT TIMBER!

The garden spot had a massive hole in the middle, where the previous tenant wanted to make a fish pond or something, but that never happened...and the hole remained. Mark and his dad weeded the area and Mark filled in the hole with sand from our "sand pit" (AKA ice rink spot, but just like the fish pond, it never happened..sand anyone?). We covered the garden with more sand and roto-tilled it then covered it with 72 wheelbarrows full (we counted) of topsoil.

The garden pre topsoil

Once we added the topsoil and had help from a garden expert, we finished planting our garden! We cannot wait for the "vegetables" of our labors!