Great Fun

Cousin's camp in action. Above is a post animal show group shot. The backyard at Grammy and Grampy's is huge, tree filled, equiped with an arbor they love to climb and check up closely on the mourning doves, a playgym, and lots of magical places. Not only do my kids have a Grammy and Grampy who love to spend time with them, plan exciting things for them, hang out together- they got great goods!!!!















The kids loved painting together, trying out new techniques. The big hit was the polyfil mixed with tempera paint and manipulated with art spatulas and knives.

Cousin's Camp

It's early Sunday morning and the house is a buzz. Bags are being packed, activities planned, sleeping bags and pillows piled. My kids are getting ready for camp. Not just any camp, it is the 2nd annual Cousin's Camp. My parents invite the grandkids to come to their house for activities, a sleep over, fun and candy. Last year the kids put on a dog show with their stuffed animals, each receiving a unique ribbon for their contributions. There was sprinkler time and a sleepover. This year the kids are going to the Hamilton Art gallery, painting the fence at my parent's house after being inspired by the art. They are having Chinese food and time at a splash pad, throw in stories with Grampy, cuddle time with Grammy and sleeping all together and this camp couldn't get any better!!!
They are off (not even wanting to stop for a photo!)!!!

Pedal Power

Elias has a real passion for bike riding. On average he rides his bike 2 hours a day on his own in front of the house. He is constantly dragging the ramp out, trying new tricks, using different bikes, pushing his ability. He is thrilled to go out to the ramps; a formal bmx track near our house, with his dad and brother. Family bike rides are another delight. When I asked each of the kids what they wanted to do this coming year Elias' first comment was bike ride. He would love to start each day with a bike ride, which actually really works for the family. We often start with a dog walk, helping everyone get those jiggles out, so this would work for everyone- accept the dog of course. In sharing Elias' interests for next year a friend commented she had read about a bicycling curriculum in a homeschooling magazine. I mentioned this to Elias, wondering if he is only interested in the hands on part or if he would like to dive deeper. He is game! So I started looking up resources and came up with these web sites

GORBA Guelph Off Roading Bike Association
Bike Safety
Tour de France
Biking in Ontario trails, clubs
Bike maintenance
Bicycle History
Teachers Package

Together we came up with some ideas

-setting up a bike course and timing ourselves going through it
-setting up obstacles that will help us with skills ie. riding on a beam for balanace
-learning our hand signals (better)
-learning what you need to know to ride on the road
-have the knoweldge to fix our bike, maintain it
-visit the bike shops in town, set up a clinic for learning to fix your bike
-learn about different types of bike riding;bmx, racing, mountain biking, trick riding, long distance
-history- when bike was invented, different types of bikes over time
-what jobs involve bikes- couriers, messengers, etc.
-bike rally
-biking club
-mapping out different routes
-gears and the simple machine of a bike

We will keep adding as we explore the topic- love to hear ideas too!

We're all going to the ZOO ZOO ZOO!

Despite the intense heat, feeling sick and tired we decided to go to the zoo this afternoon. We were joined with my sister and niece which thrilled the kids. We agreed to move slowly and have no agenda which was really nice. Even though today children under 12 got in free (and we had free passes for adults) it wasn't busier than I remember any other day. We started our exploring in the kids Discovery Zone, which is a semi hands on area. Next was the splash pad and lunch. The kids loved getting wet, running from station to station. It looked as though the rain was heading our way, so packed up to ensure we saw at least one animal before leaving. It never rained, but the clouds were a welcome break from the intense heat.
The gorillas are always a huge hit with us. One of our favorite books is My friend Koko, about a gorilla who is taught sign language and demonstrates all the qualities they possess similar to humans. There was one male separated from the group, that deeply saddened the kids. This gorilla was huge, and because of his age was challenging the other male gorilla (who happened to be his father) for dominance over the group. The keepers are worried that one will but hurt in the process, so they are sending the son to another zoo. The kids are still talking about how sad that must be for all the gorillas, to see this one go.
The other big hit were the hippos. We watched two of them move around eating, swimming in the water, submerging themselves, making noises. The size of them was incredible. "I wouldn't want to canoe down the Nile and find one of them swimming under me!" I agree Ben!
It was a long, hot, fun day.

Like a Bee to Honey

The pedigree of honey
Does not concern the bee;
A clover anytime to him
is aristocracy.

Emily Dickinson









































































We had a great trip to the University Apiary today. Beekeeping is something the kids and I have been talking about for a few months now, our interest is both fascination and practical. Today gave us both increased awareness and intrigue into the possibilities.
The morning began with a short talk about bees, their life cycle, different types and roles they have. We have been reading a few books about just this over the last few days. Before leaving the room the safety precautions were reviewed.
We then went to watch the process of honey being extracted from the comb. Each of the racks were placed on the machine, slowly moving past a hot metal bar which both scraped and melted off the wax caps that cover the combs. The wax and honey they came off dripped into a basin to be separated later. Once the tray was filled with about 20 racks they moved on a another shelf. Here the racks were spun in a closed container, shaking the honey out to drip out of the bottom into a pan. Each small rack contained enough honey for five jars, I would have guessed maybe a quarter of a jar (the amount was definitely deceiving!). We ended this portion sticking a finger into a honeycomb.....Yummy yummy!

Opening the Hive

Pleasant words are as honeycomb,
sweet to the soul.
Proverbs 16:24





































































This is a drone bee, which is always a male. Their job is to mate with the queen and immature queens. They do not have a stinger, making them easier to hold.(above)
The Beekeeper is pointing to one of the larva, which is the stage after the egg in the lifecycle of the bee. (below)












Below is a queen bee with some of her worker bees.












We headed outside to see the hives first hand. I was surprised that none of my kids were nervous or concerned about getting stung. They did an awesome job listening to the instructions on how to behave around the bees. In each one of the stacks of boxes there lives 50,000 bees, with one queen bee. Prior to opening the boxes (I am sure there is a proper name but I don't currently know it) they were smoked so that the bees lost their sense of smell disabling them to warn each other of danger. We were shown the combs of honey and the different types of bees at work. It really was incredible.

It's only 9 a.m.

On a 'normal' day the children are up before me (and usually Chris), with them rising between 7-7:30 and us about 8 am. While I was stumbling out of bed this morning the kids guided me to the backyard for a surprise. Actually they asked first if I had three dollars to go with them, or would I have to be a special guest-I went for the latter. The backyard and been arranged with a stage and seating for an audience (of 10, incase others came to join?!). The three of them performed as a band; ELias on sword guitar, Ben on playgym drums and Aria the dancing singer. It was truly a beautiful way to wake up. I just couldn't help but to follow it with a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes.
After breakfast Aria did a little after meal show as a pirate gymnast who also plays basketball. It isn't even 9 a.m. My day is never dull.

A day in the Backyard

We decided we were in a slow moving mood today, perhaps it was the heat. The backyard turned out to be a discovery zone for us. The kids took pictures of the insects they found. A dead praying mantis and this wolf spider carrying an egg sack were by far the two biggest hits. After eating an entire watermelon we decided to work on a project we have talked about but haven't followed up on. So, step one of the paper mache masks started. It was interesting considering one is texture sensitive and one wanted to paper mache their foot! Look for future posts to see the end result!

A new friend

It is definitely the season for grasshoppers. While at the pond and the park we found tons of different kinds of grasshoppers. In fact I have never really noticed before how many different types there are. We think the one we visited was a Carolina Grasshopper . After Elias held the grasshopper it left the little treat shown above, that he thinks grasshopper poop..I guess it could be.

Pond Exploring

Today we decided to take advantage of the cooler weather and do some biking. After a tour of the neighbourhood we went to a pond not to far away (we collected pond water here for our coop pond study in May). We we able to hear lots of frogs, spot a few but didn't catch any. The edges of the pond were quite dense with brush, creating a barrier to the edge where the frogs were hanging out. After admiring the wildflowers and feeling disgusted that the pond had so much garbage in it, we moved on to the park. The kids found a shovel and two buckets (what treasure!) to do some digging, then passed them on to some other kids to use. It was so nice to have a morning out, stress free, bicker free, no agenda or plan.

Pretty Pond oh Pretty Pond

We were all in awe at how much grow has happened over the last few weeks at 'our' pond. There were no bullrushes in June and now they are taller than Chris.

Favorite Places

Chris and I have always loved to walk and hike. When I think about our years in Fredericton one of the first things that comes to mind is the parks we took the dog to, the wild places we spent hours hiking through, the nights we explored new neighbourhoods. In Calgary we enjoyed walking along the Bow River close to our house, walking through the newly fallen snow with Elias snuggled in the sling at our favorite park. Guelph is no different. I have shared many of the place we love to hike at. I do however like one more than the others simply for the memories. Soon after we moved to Guelph we started hiking at the off leash dog area with Elias, it was a weekly ritual. Then Ben joined us and the tradition continued. It was the first place Aria went out of the house to, at just two days old. We love watching the finches, the snakes, frogs, turtles, herons, deer, rabbits, ducklings, crawfish....but mostly we love being there together, enjoying the kids while they explore these things which such awesome wonder. Its one of our special places.