Easter 2010

One of the traditions that have lasted year to year for the girls has been the Easter Egg Hunt at Aunt Carolyn's house. From great big egg's not seen until their toddler body's have been pointed right at it, to the attempts at outwitting a 5yr old mind by hiding brightly coloured egg's around one or two rooms, to this years 100 chocolate eggs spread around a large front yard. And to my surprise it was pretty much over in minutes... well ok... 97 of them were.

With my girls slowly climbing in age, we can start

to look forward to the next stage of our family --

Aislinn and Tara's cousins joining in on the fun.

Ryan soaked in some rays, and Maya

contemplated whether her feet should actually be

touching the rough, tickly stuff beneath them this

year, but it won't be long until they are running along side them!

Spring

Spring is here, with a very summer like entrance!
Shorts and tank tops have been the norm for the past few days. The trampoline is in full use, the swings in constant motion, our clothes carry the residual smell of campfire and our meals have been based around the bbq!
It's wonderful! I caught myself today actually weeding the front garden wondering what in the world I was doing being only the 5th of April.


Tara in full spin, and below, Tara's introduction to photography (along with the other 150ish pics of our back yard on my camera) :)

The massive huge bug we found basking near our sliding doors. We let him continue on his way after some heavy inspection -- pretty cool!

And Rory - loving her new freedom of coming and going from backyard to house whenever she wishes!

The ROM

Last Friday, we took another trip to the big city to visit the Royal Ontario Museum. Aunt Jenn and Uncle Jay bought tickets for the girls for Aislinn's 7th birthday, and we had an awesome trip.

We went with friends again which made the whole driving/ parking experience much better! :) and left us with 6 hours to explore the 5 story building.

We started in the Egypt wing, and the girls really got into what they were seeing since all our previous discussions and activities from Story of the World gave them a good perspective. Hmm, favorites? the animal mummies and the replica of a tomb. A lot of the artifacts from the ancient Egyptian life the girls could recognize as well.

Next we moved on to the minerals room. I think Aislinn could have spent all day in there. Surrounded by sparkly rocks and minerals and then to see the cut jewels as well -- pretty cool!

Our next stop was the biodiversity floor, and I was truly in awe. This museum has done an amazing job of setting up the exhibits to be interesting, hands on, and interactive. This floor by far made the visit phenomenal, and would be well worth exploring again. The kids area was on this floor as well, and the girls got to try on costumes, uncover dinosaur bones and touch all sorts of things. The staff were so great too, and happy to talk and explain things to the girls and draw them into the exhibits.

After finally pulling ourselves away, we did a quick tour of the Canadian display which was in all honesty extremely boring. It contained paintings and antique furniture and that was all. Needless to say it was deserted, and we spent just enough time there to walk through and out. Then we visited the First peoples displays, which had some interesting things, but not much interactive, so the girls focus was quickly lost.

The other display I need to mention, was the dinosaurs -- Wow! It had been a long time since I had visited the museum -- my childhood I think, and I had no idea they had such cool stuff! You could really get a feel for the size these creatures were, and the girls were happily pointing out the skulls and features of the dinosaurs they had "uncovered" earlier.

All in all a terrific day, and to me, it's amazing the amount of learning that can happen in a place like that compared to how many books you would have to read to get the same understanding. To pet a beaver and a raccoon, stand beside a white rhino, walk around, and check out the toes of a mummy, pick up a snake skin, an owl talon, a whale bone... stand beside a dinosaur...

can you tell I really get into this stuff?

Anyway... learning? check! (for this week anyway!) :)
Here are some of the pictures... the girls took most of them.

More ROM pictures

Imagination

When the girls are left to their own devices, an amazing world is unveiled. I love that they have so much time in their schedule for uninhibited play.

This particular world involved a tepee, elaborate gardens that needed tending, menus adjusted to the time period (lots of "homegrown" choices) and a couple of hours dedicated to the moment.


Notice also the cuisinaire rods and straws and connectors -- educational items right? being used as ingredients for the "cake"!

Field Trips...

This year is becoming the year for field trips for us! Recieving a membership at the Science Center in a neighbouring large city as a Christmas gift from my parents, has really given us the chance to enjoy our time there with no feelings of being rushed.
Our second visit was shared with friends and we got the unique opportunity to enjoy a special display titled Body worlds. No cameras allowed of course, but it was truly fascinating. The display was set up using cadavers preserved through plastination and positioned in active poses, as well as displays showing both healthy and unhealthy body organs and systems. Some of our favourite aspects were the smoker's lung, the bear, and the room dedicated to the in-utero stages. Even though at first, it was a lot for the girls to take in, I am so glad they had the chance to experience the human body in such a visual way! We even got to hold a liver, heart and kidney!

The rest of our day was spent enjoying the kid's area, exploring the tornado, bat cave and the soundproof room and much much more.

And even though our day ended with a stressful 4 hour drive home through a snowstorm with a break at Ikea for dinner after a 2 hour (normally 15 min) intense 6 blocks, we had a wonderful day!

(Pictures from the link above)

















Pictures from the rest of our day.

a good week

Well, we have had a really good week this week. The reason it has been good, I think is that it has been relaxed.
Starting the week off with family day sure helped. We opted to spend family day at home as, with the girls being home mid-week, we often have the chance to do trips to local attractions when they are far less busy then they would be on a day like family day! So, instead we spent the day at home, the girls playing for the majority of it, followed by an evening of family games. (Zooreka and Uno being the hands down choices!)

Then, Tues and Wed, the girls got to spend their days with friends as those are my regular work days, but we did seem to have a lot of time in the morning for reading in bed and working on math workbooks.
Thursday morning is my house cleaning day followed by friends at our house for the afternoon. I found myself with a clean house by 11 am as the girls played fervently and without interruption until just a few minutes before their friends arrived. Then other then keeping them fed, and reading some books with them, I was left to my own devices.

Today we cozied up on the couch, and finished watching the opening ceremonies of the winter games, followed by the girls pulling out play dough and playing at the table for a while. Then we listened to the entire audio reading of the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2.5 hrs!!) --was supposed to be while we ate lunch, but the girls didn't want to stop! Then they rounded out the last hour before Jeff got home with drawing pictures. This evening, Tara helped me make muffins and Aislinn worked on a typing program (has all her letters going on the keyboard except zxc,./ ) They then played horse for a while, cleaned up, we read a story and they made their way to bed. Oh yeah, and somewhere in there Tara practised reading Bob books to me and again to Jeff when he got home.

A nice well rounded week, the only thing lacking was much in the way of physical exercise as we missed our Monday morning skate, and what snow there is in the yard has sort of crusted over.

and then, to finish this picture free post (I am feeling too lazy to download the pics off the camera --may edit to add pics later :) a few wandering thoughts!


I am often grateful for the schedule we have chosen for our family... the amount of time I have with the girls, the number of days we spend chatting or reading in bed before making our way to the kitchen for breakfast. The sheer number of hours my girls get to spend in their fantasy world of play, both together and with their friends. And, as usual, the ease at which they learn new skills without any apparent pushing or negative effort.
Every time my inner clock tells me to push, I am always rewarded with jumps in their abilities -without any conflict- after waiting just a few weeks more.

Another Book recommendation...

I was walking through a local discount book store in search of a gift for Aislinn's upcoming birthday (starting early), and this book caught my eye. Now I am not at all lacking in books or kits relating to science, but a brief flip through had me hooked. (and the 5 dollar price tag didn't hurt either.)

When I got home, I found myself even more pleased, as a closer examination showed me just how versatile and full of info it is. I am picturing us working through they different experiments together, but that it will also be perfect in future years for the girls to tackle many of the sections independently! ( You learn best by repetition right? :) Anyway, I snapped a few pictures so you could have a look.

(K -- seems to have some good topics on being environmentally aware with some different activities etc. -- you can have a peek some time if you would like... unless it is already in your extensive library ;)