Homeschooling: A Way of Life

 Taking advantage of the beautiful warm fall weather led us to one of my all time favourite places.  I haven't taken Sid here since she was about 2.5 and it was a great adventure.  What surprised me most was Bella brought little notebooks and markers and without any encouragement the girls started "studying" the lake, documenting what they saw (with squiggles) and drawing pictures.  Strangers would walk by and comment on the two girls busy at work and Sid would pipe up.  "Sorry I can't talk to you, we are busy studying!"  What a hoot.  

 The girls explored, played and learned.  They climbed a large rock and found a bottle with a message in it.  That was pretty cool!

 In this shot they were off to find their next house when they stopped, looked at the cameras and yelled "Wild Girls!!!!".  Then took off running on their Unicorns again :)

 Of course we were indulged with some glimpses of nature.  This frog almost hopped right into me as it was escaping a garter snake on the side of the path.  And Magda spotted this large painted turtle sunning itself and posing beautifully for us!

 On the shadowy side of the lake I captured a few cool pics that caught a touch of the fall colours reflected in the water.

And as always, the day ended with the famous "Best Sisters!" Cheer!  Thank you my friends for joining us and making the day so relaxing and learny!  Homeschooling really is the BEST kept secret!

Mom's Getaway

It all started with "Hey, who wants to burn sh*t at Edja this weekend?" and it ended up with a bunch of the girls from one of my hockey teams up at a cottage wreaking havoc on nature and enduring a few drinky-poo's. The weather couldn't have been nicer. It was The last weekend of September and we were in shorts and t-shirts and a few of the girls even went for a dip in the lake. It was a short stay for such a beautiful place but very restorative and fun. We ate and ate and ate. Salads, bacon, eggs, dips, crackers, cheese, cookies. It was divine. I can't wait to go back in the spring and assist with clean up. Thanks to Lolo for opening up Edja and hosting again, it was a true get away. I didn't have to be "mom" for 24 hours. WOW!

Sheila and Ro BBQ'ing dinner.  The gang minus me sitting down for our delicious supper.

Little Rita the mini Coronita.  She was soooo sad.

The view from the dock early in the morning

 Everyone with coffee in hand waiting for the bacon to cook on the BBQ.  It was a good morning.



Eggs and hash browns at the ready



And then the work begins.  Lets cut and burn stuff!!!

The crew.

The easily distracted crew.

"Hey, this log would make nice coasters".  And the clean up switches to crafts and games!

 Then we practices our surfing skills on a log.  This is harder than it looks!

 Lolo in the paddle boat, Dana in the canoe (singing Land of the Silver Birch) playing chicken.

 Yup, September 25 and the gals were swimming (NOT ME!)

A little R & R in the hammock

Good bye Edja, Good bye friends.  Thanks for the awesome time!

Thank you Sunshine!

Don't tell Mother Nature that it is almost October!  While the leaves are still falling, we are getting glorious sunny weather and heat!  LOVE IT!  The sun has allowed us all kinds of nature discovery.  We tracked a red squirrel who had an underground burrow, we found a baby snapping turtle and studied a set of spider webs highlighted by the morning dew.  The kids played in a fort and basked in the sun for 3 hours.  Mom's enjoyed the peaceful easy pace of the day!  I wish nature walks were were always so successful!

Sid and Lilly are getting geared up for Halloween.  Sid has decided she wants to be a vampire and Lilly snarfed her teeth and started chewing on them.  I guess she is going out as a vamp too!

Lastly our crazy week of Karate!  Sid is going to her regular classes and twice a week is also taking part in the older kids class.  She had become a little demo kid for the club and loves to "preform" her spin kicks, splits and forms for the parents.  It is a perfect combo of athleticism, coordination and preformance art.  Here she demonstrates her full splits in the air while Sigung was joking about counting to 500.  I love the look on her face.  (of course he did only count to about 10!)

Here she is in the older kid class demonstrating her balance

Her and an older kid hold each other up and smile.  This picture is going to become the new poster for the club and will be used in advertising.  Sigung took me aside this week and told me how incredibly proud he was of Sid.  He is just amazed at her drive and determination.  We too are very proud of her and are thrilled she has found something she really loves.

While The House Sleeps....

When we added 18 month old Lilly to the pack in July, I knew it would change my routine around here.  A young dog is not interested in sleeping in.  Groovy and Maggie used to stay in bed until the last person was up, usually around 9:00.  Lilly is up around 6:00 so that means all dogs must get up and PLAY!  First things first, i make coffee while the dogs lounge on the deck waiting for the ball thrower to come outside.  Then I check the temperature.  Today was a nice 6 but yesterday was -0.6.... brrrrrr.  Wool sweater, down vest, gloves, insulated rubber boots, ball, tug and a nice large cup of coffee.  Off we go.

It is foggy, chilly, sunny and beautiful.  The freshly groomed dogs zip around trying to stay warm and burn off the extra energy they recaptured during sleep.

 Bitey Face

 Tag

 Running, running and more running!

 Maggie makes an unusual attempt to end the game by capturing the ball and running away with it.

Even Groovy is smiling.

 I would have laughed back in June if someone told me I would be out in the yard all alone with the dogs every morning for an hour, smiling, laughing and enjoying the still and quiet time.  It is a nice time for reflection and one on one time with the pups.

And then the bottom of my coffee cup. 

This means it is time to head in and make everyone breakfast.  If the wee one isn't up yet, she will be at any moment.

Transitions

Fall rolls in so quickly.  It has been an incredible summer and I am getting geared up for a beautiful fall.  First step is the closets, mostly Sidney's.  Time to tuck away all the frilly light summer dresses and time for jeans, cords, and tights.  Rubber boots, wools sweaters, light coats and rain gear are all in the front closet ready to go.  The mornings start with frost and four degrees while I run the dogs in the yard and the afternoons are still climbing to the high teens, low twenties.  It is tricky to dress for all the different temps during the day!

Even the animals are transitioning.  Squirrels dare to charge through our yard with Maggie on watch.  The caterpillars are everywhere munching and shedding their skin as they get closer to their chrysalis stage. 

Sid called me outside to show me she found a beautiful orange caterpillar.  These ones are tiger moth caterpillars.  We found two of them a mom and baby so we had races and set up obstacle courses for them.

On Friday we had our very last summer outdoor YHO group.  Next week will start our winter campaign indoors. 

I will miss the Friday's filled with flowers, sunshine, and hugs!

Oh, I will really miss the nature too.  We will have to rely on our Wednesday nature walks to see some nature at its best.

Blue Heron at the Arboretum on Friday while the kids play a short distance away.

An addition to our home has been our mailboxes.  A great incentive for early writers.  We are having fun leaving each other little notes and not only does it help boost Sid's reading and writing but it also cheers us up to get little slips of paper with things like I lov yoo.