And This One Time, At Coupon Camp…

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I have a confession to make. There was a time, back when we only had one child, where I may have been one of those crazy coupon binder people that you see on the show Extreme Couponing. Now, I don’t want to say that I am not proud of this fact, because let’s face it, there’s nothing wrong with trying to save a few dollars for your family. The problem is in the way I was running this elaborate couponing scheme.

I would visit all my favourite coupon sites, like Save.Ca, print out every coupon they had available, even if I didn’t need them, and then store them in my little black book until they expired. Sure, I used the good ones but I was wasting way more than I used and, in the end, my incompetence became way too much work to manage. Fast forward to today and I feel like I have come a long way from those days of sandwiching coupons for allergy medication (we have no allergies) with a coupon for $1.50 off a Lady Bic disposable razor.

These days I do almost all of my online deal searching at Save.Ca because they have a virtual one stop shop for everything from coupons to flyers and other great deals. They even let you create an online shopping list by clicking on items from the various flyers. Just because I didn’t make it a binder carrying couponer, doesn’t mean I can’t still save money on the things my family actually NEED. In fact, as I was typing this post, I popped in to see what was new and found these two amazing deals immediately:

Michaels CouponIndigo Books
 

If you are still reading this, I have to ask you why you haven’t already left to check out everything that Save.Ca has to offer?? Okay, okay, before you go I will leave you with the best advice I can give for new couponing families: Only collect and grab the coupons/deals you need! If you only use one type of laundry detergent, don’t print coupons for three different brands. Yes, they are shiny and remind you of money, but you will end up throwing them out and those detergents will never know what it’s like to feel the love of a shopper who is getting a deal.

I think I’ve rambled on enough, don’t you? Look a little bit lower, watch the video about how awesome Save.Ca is and then thank me after you’ve saved 40% on that new glue gun from Michaels, that you have absolutely no use for.

Disclosure: I received compensation for my work with Save.Ca. That said, I couldn’t have made this up if I tried and the whole thing is 100% true.

A Boy In Gymnastics? Say It Ain’t So?!

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Starr Gymnastics

Those of you who follow this blog know that I rarely get bent out of shape and write a post out of anger. The truth is that confrontation, especially online, gives me anxiety so bad that I almost always shut right down and cease to function. That said, a discussion I had earlier this week is still ringing around in my head and I need to get it out.

The discussion was about what activities were available for kids in our area. Included in my list of suggestions was gymnastics, which was immediately met with a scoff. When I asked why, they explained that they didn’t want their son to become, “you know?” to which I calmly answered, “No, I don’t know, please explain”. I then explained how my son was in gymnastics and how much fun he was having with it. They quickly back tracked and tried to explain how their son wasn’t very sporty and blah, blah, blah, the damage was done. Sadly, this isn’t the only case of this I’ve heard lately.

I’m not an expert on the gay community or what triggers the different emotions people feel, but I’m pretty sure that sports have nothing to do with it. When we signed my son up for gymnastics, it had never crossed my mind that it was a sport designated to a specific sex. He has a mix of boys and girls in his class and, more importantly, he loves it more than any of thing we have put him in. THAT is what I am looking for when choosing an activity for my young children, not whether or not they will be teased about it.

This brings me to the thing that bothers me the most about the whole situation. The kids who tease and bully others for doing something that is traditionally done by the opposite sex, don’t get that stereotype out of thin air. They get it from the so-called grownups around them who continue to comment and joke about how it’ll “turn them gay” if they take part. Forget, for a minute, the fact that it is an insult to the entire gay community, but you are also brainwashing your child to see differences as wrong and by doing so you are breeding a whole new generation of hateful behaviour.

Why not try this instead? The next time your child wants to try out a new activity, let them try it out. If they excel at it and love what they are doing, instead of mocking it, try fostering their love for it. There is enough ignorance and hate in the world already without teaching our children that something as simple as choice of sport is worthy of ridicule. Let’s give our children the power to choose without judgement.

My boy likes his gymnastics class, he loves his teacher, he’s doing physical activity and he smiles from ear to ear the whole time. And that’s more than enough for this Dad.

My Top 5 Summer Driving Songs & Your Chance At $500

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The good people at KANETIX asked me to write about my Top 5 Summer Driving songs and when I couldn’t think of a good reason not to, I immediately got to work. After 6 days of deliberation, my list was finally complete!

KANETIX, an online comparison site for insurance, mortgages and credit cards, recently commissioned a study to find out how music impacts your driving. The results weren’t terribly surprising, but they were certainly interesting! Turns out Talk Radio listeners like to put the pedal to the metal and Hip Hop listeners are more likely to be charged with stunt driving.

This is where I come in! KANETIX wanted to know what songs get me and a few other bloggers fired up in the Summer time and I was happy to share. Here are my Top 5 Summer Driving Tunes:

1. I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor – Arctic Monkeys – I perform this song in my band and it is the most electrifying thing I have heard in a while. If you haven’t heard it, I highly recommend it.

2. Rockin’ In The Free World – Neil Young – Neil is my musical idol and my top 5 list could have easily been Neil Young songs. His music is graceful and never fails to calm my stress.

3. Wheat Kings – The Tragically Hip – It’s the Hip, need I say more? For my American friends who have no idea who the Tragically Hip are, please start at the album “Up To Here” and continue on from there.

4. MoneyGrabber – Fitz and the Tantrums – I have no idea what it is about these guys but every time I put this song on, I find myself drumming and singing at the top of my lungs. That means they are doing something right!

5. Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town – Pearl Jam – Last but certainly not least, this song has been a staple in my top 5 songs since the day I heard it. The first time you belt out the line “Me you wouldn’t recall, for I’m not my former”, you will be hooked like I was.

That’s it for my summer play list, I hope you enjoyed my selections. You are also invited to head over to the KANETIX blog to vote for your favourite playlist. If you vote before August 23rd, you’ll be entered to WIN $500!

I’m also curious to know, What are YOUR Top 5 Summer Driving Songs?

Life Is Short; Do All Of The Scary Things!

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The photo above is a shot of me reading an emotional post about the death of my father for about 150 people at the Dad 2.0 Summit in Houston last year. It took all of my strength not to cry while doing it and I’m proud that I not only got through it, but that I even got up there and did it in the first place. Doing the things that scare me has kind of become the motto of my life these days and the rewards for doing that have been endless.

Throughout my school years, and I’m talking ALL of them, I was the shy kid who didn’t do anything that would draw attention to himself. I would purposefully take a failing grade on assignments where we had to present in front of the class, because my anxiety was so high that I would get sick just thinking about standing up there in front of everybody. In my Grade 11 music recital, I pretended to play my trumpet because I was afraid that I would be the one to blow it for everybody. I played fastball and hockey, I had my small group of friends and that was it. I thought I was happy.

When my father passed away, I went through a terrible bout of anxiety that basically robbed me of a year of my life. Towards the end of that time, I took a long hard look at my life and decided that I wasn’t living it to the fullest. My unhappiness had nothing to do with my wife or newborn child, though, it was all about me and the lack of effort I was putting into this one, short opportunity we get to spend on this earth. I made a decision to stop feeling sorry for myself and to make the most of the time I had left on this earth.

I’m no doctor but I can tell you that since the day I made that decision, my anxiety has ‘almost’ disappeared and I have never been happier. Instead of shying away from the things that would normally scare me into submission, I am tackling everything head on and worrying about the results after I have finished. Because of this, I have had so many amazing and life changing opportunities that have helped me become a better person, husband and father to my family. Here are just a few of the cool things I have been able to do in my short time as a Fear Hunter:

* Interviewing and Skating with the cast of Disney on Ice
* Speaking at the Dad 2.0 Summit
* Interviewing and making a crazy video with Buckets Blakes of the Harlem Globetrotters
* Ziplining for the first time
* Regular appearances on the CTV Morning Live TV Show (Scariest of the scary)
* Monthly parenting segment on CJAD 800 Montreal radio
* Will act as Community Leader at the upcoming Blissdom Canada conference in October

Every single one of these things is something that scared the crap out of me and every one of them is something that I am proud I accomplished. There are many more as well and each has been as rewarding as the last. My point is, life is short, so if you want to make the most of it, you have to start going after the things that scare you. Now look, I’m not ready to go jumping out of a plane or anything…yet. I’m saying that even small victories are still victories that will lead you to something bigger. Transformation doesn’t happen overnight but it most certainly doesn’t happen if you don’t go after it.

I’ve fallen a few times while chasing down fear but I’m not going to let it beat me anymore. My father always went after his dreams and while it took me a little while to catch on, this is definitely something I want my kids to remember about me. So let’s hear it. What are the scary things that are holding you back?

Always A Humbling Experience At ‘The Gil’

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Pictured above are the Lake Simcoe Lightning fastball team, who also happen to be the champions of the 6th Annual Gil Read Memorial Fastball Tournament held this past weekend. This year’s edition of the tournament was by far the best we’ve ever had and I couldn’t be happier with the direction it is trending in.

I’m always left humbled by the end of tournament weekend by all of the hard work that people put into making it a success. Not only is it a testament to the memory of my father but in a world where social media magnifies all the bad, it’s nice to see so many people who are coming together to do something good for the kids. From volunteers pulling 8 hour shifts and off duty doctors tending to injured athletes, to bartender volunteers staying until 1am and locals lending us their BBQ when ours breaks down, I am always left amazed at the amazing community of people this tournament has supporting it.

Our corporate sponsors give year after year without so much as a follow up email, with some of them even offering money before we ask for it. We are endlessly appreciative to companies like Rebel Tents, Play It Again Sports, Logs End, Cabotto’s Dining Lounge and Broker 4 Tickets, who give up their hard earned money so that we can continue to put on this event and provide funding for the kids. These companies understand what we are trying to do and it creates a family atmosphere instead of a business one, which is truly amazing. There are so many more and they will get their love in due time.

We started this thing 6 years ago with no idea what it was going to look like and now we not only have a flourishing tournament, that hit it’s 12 team goal for the first time, but we’ve also been able to raise enough money to help a lot of kids who otherwise would not have been able to compete in organized sport. I am proud of the work we are doing, humbled by the amount of help we are offered and I know my Dad would have loved every second of this tournament and initiative.

Thank you to everyone who showed up, helped out, sponsored, played, spent your hard earned money, tweeted, shared, laughed and cried (okay, that was just me) at the Gil Read Memorial Tournament this year. Without you, none of this would be possible and we wouldn’t be able to provide for these kids who just want to have the same opportunity that their friends have.

Cheers!

My Favourite Part Is When Our Kids Give Out The Trophy!

My Favourite Part Is When Our Kids Give Out The Trophy!

Disney Planes Screening Giveaway

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I don’t rock too many giveaways anymore but seeing as how I am as excited as my kids are for Disney’s new movie Planes, I am dusting off the old giveaway machine. I am going to be giving away a Family 4 Pack of tickets to the screening of Planes, for August 7th at 7pm, at the Silvercity Theater in Gloucester. Now you can see the movie before anyone else does! Cool, right?

HOW TO ENTER

The main character’s name in the film is Dusty, and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment below, letting me know what your call sign would be if you were a Plane in this movie. I would choose “Guster”, after one of my favourite bands! Good Luck! Contest closes Friday, August 2nd at Noon.

FILM INFORMATION

From above the world of “Cars” comes Disney’s “Planes,” an action-packed 3D animated comedy adventure featuring Dusty, a small-town plane with dreams of competing as a high-flying air racer. But Dusty’s not exactly built for racing—and he happens to be afraid of heights. So he turns to naval aviator Skipper, who helps Dusty qualify to take on Ripslinger, the defending champ of the race circuit. Dusty’s courage is put to the ultimate test as he aims to reach heights he never dreamed possible, giving a spellbound world the inspiration to soar. “Planes” takes off in theatres in 3D on Aug. 9, 2013, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theatres.

Our African Lion Safari Adventure!

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We recently went on our first family vacation of the year and part of that trip included a visit to African Lion Safari in Cambridge. While I’m sure I had been there as a child, I was excited to share the adventure with my own family and the experience did not disappoint.

We started the day off with the Safari Tour Bus ride through the game reserves. I had thought about driving my own car through the reserve but the 6 and a half hour driver there, combined with the thought of monkeys climbing all over my car made the decision an easy one. I got a little worried about 5 minutes into our visit when my son turned to me and said, “I don’t like animals”, but he changed his mind once the zebras came into view. Overall, I really enjoyed the tour bus ride and especially enjoyed this unimpressed looking giraffe.

Lion Safari Giraffe

Our next stops were a cruise aboard the “African Queen”, which was very cool, and my favourite part of the day, the Elephant Swim. It was amazing to watch the elephants marching down to the water, trunks holding the tails in front of them. Their playfulness in the water was very cool to see and they got so close that I was glad we scored front row seats.

Lion Safari Elephant Swim

After the swim, we hit the cafeteria for some lunch and then we were off to the splash pad! This was easily the kids’ favourite part of the day and who could blame them? The splash pad was fully equipped for children of all ages, with water slides, play structures and water towers. The only thing I would have suggested would be changing rooms for the guys as opposed to the one big open room, but it certainly did not detract from our time there.

Lion Safari Splash Pad

We finished off the day with a ride on the “Nature Boy” scenic railway, which capped off a great day for the whole family. After a quick pit stop in the gift shop and trying to explain to my kids the difference between $70 and $7, we were out the gates and on our way back to the hotel. We thoroughly enjoyed our time at African Lion Safari and will definitely be back again.

An Argument Against Bribing Your Children

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It’s not like I do it often. Frankly, the only reason I have ever done it is because, well, it works. As a parent, you know when your kids have that look in their eyes that says, “I am having a bad day and you are going to pay for that multiple times over!” For the most part, my policy is to just deal with it as it happens, but, every now and then you have a special occasion that commands precision behaviour. In these instances, I have been known to pull out the bribery card.

Recently, I can think of two such occasions. The first being Great, Great Nanny’s 100th birthday party. My logic for bribing them with a trip to the Dollar Store the next day was that you will rarely get a chance to attend a 100th birthday party and Nanny deserved the best behaved children in the land. Plus, at $1.15 each, it was a win-win! They were angels and did exactly as they were told the whole time. More on that later.

The next was my son’s first appearance on television. We were going to have a PlasmaCar race, which he as excited for, but first we had to talk to the morning show hosts and I was worried he would flee. I brought the Beyblade in the car with us that morning and he did a great job on TV and proudly held his new toy all the way home.

You’re probably thinking that everything worked out perfectly, so what’s the problem? Here’s a little story about how this strategy backfired on me. I came home from work the other day and was met by my 3 year old daughter, who was running towards me, arms extended, as she does every day. The conversation, however, was slightly different..

Daughter: “Daddy, I need you to buy me a new Rapunzel Barbie set”
Me: “Why? Did you break another Barbie?”
Daughter: *In her saddest face, nods head yes*
My Wife: “No she didn’t. Ask your son about it”
Me: “Son, why does your sister need a new Rapunzel Barbie?”
Son: *Smiles slyly*
My Wife: “I let her play on my iPhone while I was doing laundry, but when I came back, he had the phone. When I asked her why he had it, she answered that he promised to buy her a new Rapunzel Barbie set if she gave it up…”
Me: “Oh boy”

While my first reaction was to half be proud at his negotiation skills and hide a laugh, I quickly connected the dots and realized that I had created this monster with my recent bribery. I thought I was being clever by offering cheap toys in exchange for good behaviour, but missed the bigger picture issue.

The moral of this story is that KIDS NOTICE EVERYTHING! I will definitely think twice before I go to the bribery method again and I hope this story has helped newer parents in some way.

An Acceptable Moment To Swear In Front Of Your Mother…Sort Of

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My Momma raised me right. We were taught as children that swearing is wrong, especially in front of family. That said, I’m going to explain to you how, on a rare night out with my Mom, I managed to say to someone, “Sit the f*ck down and shut up!”

Due to someone else’s misfortune, I was fortunate enough to score a ticket to the Eagles concert at the Canadian Tire Centre here in Ottawa. My Mom had offered us both tickets but I thought it would be fun to spend some time together, so off we went. I’m going to stop the story early to let you know how incredible the concert was. Joe Walsh was the rock god he always has been and the harmonies that these guys put together are beyond rival. It was one of the best concerts I’ve ever been to and I’m grateful for the opportunity.

Now, onto the incident…

We were enjoying the first song of the night, when the two women sitting behind us took their seats. That’s when the high pitched, sounds like a cat dying, screams started. It was annoying, for sure, but it was a concert and their $175.00 tickets entitled them to some screaming, whether my mother agreed or not.

Then things got really fun.

The Mother/Daughter duo decided to stand up to dance, which is also acceptable by concert standards. That is, until the mother’s hand came crashing down on the top of my head. You know that smartie thing on the top of baseball caps? Yeah, that. Still, I kept my cool, counting the strikes in my head, secretly knowing there would be a third.

And then it happened!

After her third, double fisted trip from the beer trolley, Happy-Go Drunkie decided to dance with her beer in hand and spilled it all over me. I’m not talking a little droplet here either. I’m a man, and my experience at the Highland Games, dictates that I can handle a few drops of beer in my face from time to time. This was about a quarter bottle of light beer (not even the good stuff) dumped down my back. Having had enough, I immediately stood up and confronted her, to which she answered slurred, “That’s impossible, my Mom doesn’t even drink!” Stunned by her drunkeness, I told her to take it easy (get it, the Eagles), to which she replied that she paid good money and she would do what she wants.

This brings us full circle to me telling her to “Sit the f*ck down and shut up!”, among a couple other things, which prompted my Mother to reply, “Good for you, Honey”. They didn’t make a peep the rest of the show and I even got a “thanks” from a seatmate. And that, my friends, is one of the few acceptable moments to swear in front of your Mother.

Do you have a funny story of swearing in front of your parents? Share it in the comments below!

Fun Summertime Ideas For Dad!

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My latest appearance on the CTV Ottawa Morning Show was all about things for Dad to do with the kids this summer. While most things can be combined as a family activity, these are just a few of the things I do with the kids while Mommy does her thing.

* Build Forts, Spaceships, Lightsabers, etc… – Everything you need is available online, and it doesn’t matter if it ends up perfect, as long as you do it together. For some awesome craft ideas, you should also check out Mike Adamick’s book, ‘Dad’s Book of Awesome Projects‘.

* Go on Adventures Together – We go to the dollar store, buy some $1 foam swords and other hunting gear, then hit the forest and hunt for bears and dragons. (Note: If you see a real bear, RUN!)

* Set Up A PlasmaCar Race Track! – Back to the Dollar Store, you can get some really cool racing banners, along with some small orange cones and you can set up your very own PlasmaCar (or other riding toy) race track. It’s all fun and games until Daddy breaks the car…

* Splash Pads, Water Gun Battles or Water Parks – This is pretty self explanatory; Water = Awesome! We like to visit the splash pad down the street and bring our buckets to chase each other with. We’ve also been known to have some pretty epic street-wide water gun fights. This is one of my favourites!

I also polled a few other Dad Bloggers about their favourite summertime activities and here is what they had to say:

Chris Nichols from Rated4AndUp ~ “I took my 4 yr old son camping for the first time over the 4th of July holiday. Just me and him. It was a great time. We also go mini golfing and go cart riding just the two of us.”

Carter Gaddis from DadScribe ~ “Yard work with the 7-year-old for the first time. He picks up shrub trimmings and puts them into a trash bag. He discovered a beautiful, full spider web in our front yard one morning while we worked.”

Jeff Bogle from Out With The Kids ~ “My girls are I just had a baking morning on Thurs. played great kindie rock and made cinnamon swirl muffins with icing from scratch. Then ate some, of course!”

James Hudyma from Dads Round Table ~ “We live at Waskesiu Lake in Prince Albert National Park for the summer. I take the kids fishing and hiking as much as possible.”

Michael Moebes from The Muskrat ~ “We like to geocache. Today, we found ourselves in a graveyard looking for hidden treasures.”

Creed Anthony from The Captain’s Log ~ “We visited different parks, water parks, the zoo, jumped matchbox cars, colored, watched movies, made pancakes, got donuts, made our own sprinkler system (2 xs because the first one sucked), free events around the city, chased the ice cream truck, Disney, zoo, museum, chuck e cheese, movie theater and we still have 5 weeks left. And I went to my first dad meet up. This is the part of teaching I like the most.”

Lee Bodenmiller from Souvenirs of Fatherhood ~ “Skipping rocks. Camping in the backyard. Build a shelter in the woods. Wash the car. Water balloons. Build a birdhouse.”

A big thanks to all the guys for contributing their ideas. For those of you who are interested, here is the clip from my CTV Morning Show appearance, which also happens to be my son’s TV debut! Have a Great Summer!!