Bear Wise

The Ministry of Natural Resources invited our homeschooling group to participate in a bear awareness program offered to school age children. The kids learned about bear behaviour through an interactive presentation. We heard stories about bears from our area, got to handle tracking collars, different skulls, furs, look at paw prints and teeth. Most importantly we learned about bear safety, how to keep them away from our homes and what to do if we encounter one.

A black bear can smell just over a kilometer away, which often means a barbecue can draw in a hungry bear. They also have incredible memories, if one year they find a bird feeder at some one's property it is highly likely they will try again the next year. This includes hummingbird feeders, providing a nice drink to wash whatever snack down. Black bears eat dead things....so don't play dead. Be clearly human sounding; talk instead of growl if you are scaring it away, you don't want to be confused for another animal (or meal). Make yourself big and back slowly (don't run...they like to play chase) away.
We have bears in our neighbourhood, so its an important reminder as to what we do.

Track and Field

A local private school invited our local homeschool group to participate in their track and field day. We didn't have enough time to do much preparation, so some of the events were being introduced for the first time. It was such a nurturing and encouraging environment the kids felt confident to give everything a try. There was long jump and the tricky triple jump, obstacle courses for younger ages and shot put for older kids, relay races, long and short distances, and free time for just a few. It was a full day.

There were lots of familiar faces and a chance to make new friends. Each event had ribbons, although the competitive feel didn't accompany it. Elias, who has been known to say running long distance isn't something he enjoys, lead the pack on the long distance run. Aria who has taken people out with crazy throws during family baseball got the red ribbon in long throw. Ben blew everyone away with his distance at standing long jump. Everyone walked away feeling accomplished.

JUMMMMMPPPPPP !

Awesome

For Mother's Day my Dad always gifts me with a new book, topics ranging from mothering to the history of women in India, to homeschooling, the topics couldn't be more varied, which is part of why I love the gift. A book catches his eye and he thinks of me. This year was 1000 Awesome Things ; which is a collection of day to day things that people consider awesome. These are the little things that rock your day.

Coming out of line at the school cafeteria, looking around for your group of friends to sit with. You don't see anyone you know, you shuffle around trying to by time until you find someone you know. Just as you are resigning to the fact that you are sitting by yourself this time you see a hand go up, waving and its your friends! That feeling just then, finding your friends, awesome. The smell of a bakery when you first walk in, finding out what you needed to by also happens to be on sale, etc. There are 1000. Not an earth shattering book, but a fun read to flip through when you have a few minutes here and there, reminding you of everyday great things.
I was sharing a few of these 'awesome' things at the dinner table the other day. A few of them the kids couldn't really relate to, or see the greatness in. Partly because of their age and partly because of their lifestyle. The conversation did lead to chatting about what they felt were awesome daily kind of things.

I loved what they came up with.
Digging in the Lego bucket, searching for one particular piece. Digging and digging among hundreds of pieces thinking you aren't ever going to find it, it is so tiny and then...! awesome there it is!

Finding a huge log at the beach, dragging it out to the water, and it floats! you and your friends ride it in the water!

Digging a hole, with no time restriction. Feeling free to dig as deep or as wide as you want, without being interrupted and knowing you won't get in trouble (they have a hole digging section and they can dig here without consequence).

When it's your turn on the computer. The egg timer is set for your 20 min. turn, and you are playing your favorite game and when its done you realise you got an extra 10 minutes because the timer stopped and didn't ding. Awesome!

Having your favorite food for dinner and then surprise! tonight there is dessert!

Around Us

These beautiful yellow butterflies are every where this year. When you walk along the shore of the lake they scatter in your path, dancing around. Our lilac bushes are full of them, often 7-10 at a time.

We have fields of wild strawberries, unfortunately they often get trampled by unknowing feet or bike tires. But we are working hard at keeping them safe. Ben found the first strawberry and in turn got to reap the benefit of eating it! the verdict? yummy!

The pond- I feel like I write about it as much as the kids lol- always provides us with wonders of nature. The kids brought this frog to show me, who was completely formed with four legs but still had a very long tail. Cool.

Fishing. A few catches (and of course releases) have been made; rock bass and sunfish.

Geronimo!!!

A Full Moon Visitor

This beautiful Luna Moth graced us with a visit on our window during the full moon. It's sheer size, brilliant green colour, thick fuzzy body and long feather like antenna had us all captivated. Luna hung out for the whole day, as they only fly at night. Interestingly, the Luna Moth does not eat as an adult because it does not have a mouth. We feel especially lucky to have seen this moth because they only live about a week.

Experimenting

We are all about being hands on. For lots of reasons, but a big one being it's fun! The kids wondered what would happen if a glass bottle was buried in the coals of the fire. So we tried it. That led to experimenting with putting the glass in the flames vs the coals, submerging it in cold water afterwards vs. slowly cooling it down. They created some cool pieces of sculptured glass and we have a new you tube topic.

Long Weekend

We enjoyed having my sister and her family over for a visit. They left Sunday night, leaving Monday open for us to do some catch up, gardening, yard work etc. Instead we slept in. Like 10 am. We woke to pancake breakfast! When was the last time we both slept in....till 10 am? If you guessed close to 12 years ago you would be right! and breakfast on top of that! what a start. Well it was an easy decision after that, we couldn't spoil that kind of day with work. So we packed up to go to the beach. Holiday Monday and it was empty; no campers, no day beach goers, quiet. Perfect.

A Good Thing

My sister and her family were visiting this long weekend. Everyone had a great time. The kids loved playing in the sand, splashing in the water, diving into fantasy games, adventuring, ATV riding, fireworks, sparklers and hanging out. My kids adore their cousins, and I think my sister is great. This is part of what makes sharing our upcoming holiday to Europe with them so fabulous. Sharing the time together for such an incredible experience, to have those memories to share will no doubt create an even stronger bond.

Frogging By Day and By Night

The only thing better than catching frogs during the day or at night is doing it with your cousins. Finding frogs isn't something our cousins get to do very often but they do it with heart! During the day the kids caught frogs and tadpoles of all sizes and kinds. Filling a bucket with about 30 or so to show us with great pride. It was quite the collection. That night before fire works, we followed the calls of the frogs to the pond. The kids are getting really good in distinguishing the different call and zoning in on their location; particularly the tree frogs.

At this time of year the tree frogs hang out on reeds in the water calling to each other. In a few weeks they will head out to the trees and then it isn't as easy to find them. The tree frog Elias caught enjoyed hopping from person to person, demonstrating its super cool grip.

A Moose....of our own!

But this time the moose came to see us! The black flies have been exceptionally bad this year (although we are finding that isn't the case thankfully on our property), driving animals out of the woods for refuge. A neighbour drove down to alert us of the moose in our woods, which is right in front of our house. We all got a little closer, except for Chris who I sent running for the camera. The moose went in the same direction as Chris and started stamping and huffing. That moose, a young female, a good 10feet tall at least was no match, we gave it lots of room. So the photos aren't great, but talk about exciting. A moose!