Some of my posts recently have been sad story tear jerkers about how upsetting and sad it was to see our son off to school. But it wasn’t all doom and gloom. There was lots of fun and other normal vacation type of stuff too.

Check out the pictures of our recent family vacation in Newfoundland. In there are a bunch of pictures including the highlights from the Labour Day Christmas celebration in Witless Bay. I wrote about this before, but it is essentially a weekend of fun and games for kids and adults alike. In particular, members of the family who have not participated in the celebrations before are subject to a battery of initiation abuses, all of which involve ensuring the target stays wet for as long as possible. If you think you’d enjoy watching me be the target of the Witless Bay Bucket Brigade, then click on the photos and check out the whole pile.

This year we pushed our vacation out by a month so we could coincide our trip to Newfoundland with the start of classes at Memorial University. Our son, Garrett, started his first year at university. We were soooo excited that he chose to go to post-secondary school, and we are particularly pleased that he decided to go the university route. He’s determined to make something of himself and we are supporting that with our time, patience, money, blood, sweat and tears.

It was hectic getting him ready that first week, driving him around to buy supplies, snacks, bedding etc. and trying not to forget anything. His first couple of nights in the dorm were a little rough on him. He is a fairly quiet kid, not really getting into too much rowdiness growing up. The other kids in the dorm pretty much let loose that first week… all week… all hours. Between dealing with the noise, sleepless nights, broken heat in the rooms (it was on high and wouldn’t turn down), cafeteria food and a huge lifestyle change, our son was not having a great time. It was difficult to drop him off the night before we left Newfoundland. I got a lump in my throat and my heart was pounding, but I managed not to break down and cry. Later on while driving home, I DID hear a pretty sad song that managed to make me sob my eyes out. I mean why, WHY must that continue to achy break that poor man’s heart? Really sad song, but at least I didn’t wuss out while watching my son walk into adulthood.

Later that week, our son continued to struggle with the adjustment to dorm life. His buddy from down the street who traveled to Newfoundland to attend the same university and who happened to be my son’s dorm roommate decided that he wanted to quit and return to New Brunswick. Wow! I was so afraid this might give our son fuel for giving in to his misery and asking to do the same. However, I think it made him stronger. He pushed his friend to change his mind and put forth arguments that sounded a little like, well, me. Now, while he is still not really enjoying the whole dorm life thing, he has a stronger attitude about it. He is determined to make the most of it.

Am I missing him dearly? Yes. Am I worried about him? A little. Am I proud of him? Most certainly.

Good luck, Garrett my son. Good luck.

Imagine my surprise! I sit down to my breakfast and get ready to dig in. There, burnt into my pancakes is a mirror image of myself staring directly up at me! Not Jesus… not the Virgin Mary… just good ol’ Steve.

It was awesome… I could hardly believe what I was seeing.

Oh, and boy am I delicious! Especially with maple syrup.

The next step of our son’s journey to adulthood is done. He worked his last shift at his part time job yesterday.

He has spent the last two years with what I consider to be a very cool job for a kid his age. Two years ago he walked into Future Shop and dropped of an application. Within a couple of days he was their newest employee and also their youngest. He spent the next two years learning how to be responsible, prepared, and professional. He really had a hard time saying “so long” to his friends and colleagues down there, not to mention the employee discount!

This job helped pay his way through a European trip with his school, gave him spending money, gobs of gas money, Christmas money, helped him save for university, countless electronic gadgets and gizmos, and gave him an experience he’ll always remember.

In two days we hit the road to send him off to university. The adventure begins.

My wife and I had the opportunity to go see this show in Saint John, New Brunswick this past Thursday. I lucked in to a couple of free tickets and thought, what the heck, the worst I could do is get my money’s worth, right? Well… were we in for a surprise! What a freakin’ show! Watch the video for a sneak peek.

For those of you reading this from Newfoundland… there’s still time for you. The show will be at Mile One stadium in St. John’s from June 19 through June 28. Check it out… you won’t regret it!

Remember a few weeks ago I told y’all about my niece, Melissa, who applied to CMT’s Casting Call to be the face of Canadian country music for the summer? You do? Great. Well, thanks, I think, mostly to my wife’s obsessive voting every night for hours, Melissa made the cut and is among the final five.

You heard me.

She is in the final five candidates in a national competition to be a television music station host! As impressive as that is, it’s not good enough. We can’t rest until she is the winner. Same deal as before folks. Go to the CMT casting call website and vote for Melissa. And don’t vote just once… vote over and over again. Click that mouse until the fingernail on your index finger falls off. The voting window is from today, June 8, until June 29. There will be a finale show on June 29 at 8 pm Eastern Time Zone featuring all five finalists. The winner will be announced June 30 at 5 pm ET on CMT.

What are you waiting for? Go vote! My wife can’t do this one by herself!