Camping -2007

The picture to the left is the reason I go camping!

I love the feel of closeness that spending a few days roughing it brings. The girls had a great time this year, and Aislinn was truly sad to leave. What could be better to kids than wind, sand, and sun - late nights, campfires and smores - friends, family and fun!

The monarch butterfly caterpillar Aislinn found. What a find while you are squatting to pee!

The stick bug that decided to spend the afternoon on the hood of the Burns' car. Not the best camouflage fortunately for us!

Enjoying the beach, and above, the Dunes. Even Rory got her share of fresh lake breezes.



More beach experiences. Jeff flying the kids kite - alone. Isn't that what Dad's are for. You get to look up occasionally to see your kite flying high in the sky, but none of the work!

Someone was leaving a great display of sand art in their wake. One of the many sand sculptures that enhanced the beach scenery.

So, overall another great vacation spent with family and friends. What I didn't take pics of was the downpours of rain and the intense thunderclaps that entertained us throughout the week. At least the girls weren't down heartened. "What storm?" would be their response!

And I forgot...Harry Potter!

If you can believe it, we have started reading the Harry Potter series. Jeff and I being avid fantasy genre readers have yet to read the series and as the hype grew, we decided to wait until the last book was released. We have started it as a family read aloud-the first novel we are all reading for the first time.

The girls are trying hard to stay focused, and as we are only on chapter 2, we hope the story itself will enrapture them as it seems to have had such an effect on so many others.

It will be joining us camping for the quiet afternoon hours where everyone seems to need a breather and a re energizing lie down.

Inspiration

There is a way that nature speaks, that land speaks. Most of the time we are simply not patient enough, quiet enough, to pay attention to the story. - Linda Hogan -

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know of wonder and humility. - Rachel Carson -

Long week!

So, as life seems to, tomorrow became the next and the next and the next. After a long week of recuperating from birthday excitement to planning for Aunt Jenn's bridal shower, we seem to have made it through the whirlwind.

We leave tomorrow for a camping trip with our good friends who also have two similar aged kids. This is our first long (Jeff has whole week off) trip of the summer and the girls and I are very excited. We plan to spend long hours playing in the sand, and traipsing through the waves. The memory of campfire smells and tastes already seeping into our minds.
The only plan I have is to pack our toques in case the chill night air threatens our peaceful slumber!
To top it all off we even get to document it with a new camera - long overdo from our 2MP from 6 yrs ago - the top edge of the technology wave at the time, now long forgotten.

Jeff's parents garden became my test ground. The new camera is still a point and click, but I am excited about the new level of quality the 9MP should provide!
Hope to return refreshed and with a load of new pics in tow!

Tara turns three!

And I am too tired to blog about it.

We visited the Twin Valley Zoo with a group of 18 (8 adults, 10 kids) for a fun day exploring the sites and sounds, eating cupcakes and goodies in the log cabin, enjoying pony rides, and touching and feeling the animals during the creature showcase.


Here is a selection of photos from our busy, busy weekend. I will fill in the details tomorrow!

I can't believe it!

The girls have suddenly taken to house cleaning!


Over the past three days, Aislinn has offered to do the vacuuming, cleaned the bathroom (including scrubbing the toilet), and has initiated cleaning her room and making her bed after getting dressed in the morning.

Tara has happily washed the table, wiped down the t.v. and dusted the entire main floor (including the dog-which involved a lengthy giggle break) and has followed Aislinn's lead in the bed making/room tidying department.


I probably should have video taped it for future play back purposes as the photo won't relay the unfettered http://www.thefreedictionary.com/unfettered attitude she took on the "chore" with.
(For those of you who need a thesaurus as often as I do.)


Now, how to make it last...

Butterflies...

We took advantage of a tip on our home school e-group to visit a local butterfly naturium where butterfly expert John Powers offers a free tour and talk on Wednesdays and Sundays. The amount of information John knows is tremendous, and even though the talk out lasted the girls attention spans a bit, it was very enjoyable. The girls got a first hand look at some of the different local butterflies and the caterpillars they originate from.

We also learned that butterflies emerge only from a chrysalis, while moths emerge from cocoons, a fact that when we got home we checked in one of our picture books, we found the author had used the wrong wording.

The kids were intrigued by this species (above), where when disturbed, would push horns out of its head in an attempt to scare its attacker.
This butterfly has brilliant blue wings, but its under body decorated with eyes, gives it its camouflage.

These moth caterpillars and cocoons were on display along with a large portion of John's collection . A good way for the girls to see the difference as we have only really seen a chrysalis up close before.

This butterfly (above) must be special when the resident butterfly expert goes running to get his camera. It is the largest swallowtail butterfly in SW Ontario, and is becoming more rare as its habitat is slowly being diminished. They thrive in the hedgerows between farmland which farmers are slowly ripping out in exchange for fencing.

And this is Aunt Pam who spent the day exploring with us. We managed to get a great smile from her, but the girls were so engrossed in the pamphlets and magnifying glasses that were given to them, I couldn't get them to look up.

Highland Dancing at the Mimosa Cup

Aislinn has been taking highland dancing lessons since March and gets very excited about doing "shows".
Today we went up to the Mimosa Cup - a Fox Hunting/Eventing show where the dancers were to display the different dances that make up Highland dancing.
The girls were excited to see the hounds running with the horses as they displayed an enactment of a fox hunt.

The Governor General's Horse Guard (shown above) was also in attendance to show off their skills in "tent pegging" - the method soldiers used to use when charging through an enemies camp to drop their tents and create confusion through their troops. They also did jousting charges past a pole holding rings as small as 1" in diameter to show their skill in hitting minute targets in cavalry charges against their opponents.

The Jack Russel races were also fun to watch, and we were tempted to let Rory have a go, but thought maybe next year instead.







Aislinn performed the 16 Pas de Bas and Pas de Bas / Hi-cuts dances while the other girls showed their skill at the Sword Dance, Highland Fling, The Village Maid, and the Scottish Lilt. (We are still learning what all of these actually are!)

Aislinn being the youngest by a few years definitely got her share of the attention!















Aislinn in full costume - left.




The whole group posing for multiple pics -right.

Saving Ella the Egg!

Members of our home school group put on a "Saving Humpty Dumpty" evening which we decided to participate in after enjoying a make your own catapult night earlier in the spring. As usual, the girls took to the challenge in full decorative flair, and were more worried about the look of "Ella", then the actual contraption she would take flight in. With a little help from Dad, they put together an air worthy craft for Ella to make her decent. Luckily she landed happily with no harm done.

The evening was a success with only 3 eggs falling to their doom. The excitement of the kids was contagious and the number different ideas was fabulous. One of our favorites (shown on left) floated happily to the landing pad. Another favorite, a chocolate milk carton with the egg suspended in salt water, also made a surprisingly safe landing after splitting the carton and spilling water across the tarp.

The evening ended with snacks and lots of happy, full kids running around the ruined mill where the event took place. A donation was also taken to offset the environmental impact of our use of materials.