Summer has arrived

Wednesday, we headed to a local funpark for some rides & waterslides - well, Christopher and I didn't do the waterslides (he's too small) but Cindy had a great time on them. :-)








See the green & blue slide on the left? That's a favourite - the kids call it "The Toilet Bowl", though I believe it's official name is "Cannon bowl", because of how you go around & around & around and then suddenly drop down through the hole...much like a toilet flushing. ;-)


A llama!



Inside the barn behind them there was a donkey with a baby, some goats, bunnies, and guinea pigs.


Christopher might have been too small for the waterslides, but the rest of us were too small for the car & boat rides...






Cindy insisted she wasn't too small to play on the pedal tractors with her brother and as there was nobody there to check her very-definitely-over-42-inches height... LOL







Across the "wobbly bridge" - Christopher was *very* proud of himself for walking most of it on his own..it shakes and wobbles all over the place...




There's lots of little paths through the wooded areas...they go to different climbing things (like a wooden train) and stuff...



Up top of the pirate ship thing that rocks back and forth (you leave it by way of a slide) - Christopher liked this, he said it was "just like the ferry boat" LOL




This is the "Swamp Shack" - it's basically a dark building with random bursts of noise & glowing skeletons...



We only walked through that once....somebody wasn't too keen on the pitch dark and sudden scary stuff. ;-)



We cheered her up again with a ride on the pedal boats - she's quite happy that she's now tall enough to pedal these around herself. :-)





Christopher rides with me - though I'll put him in my lap sometimes and let him pedal if he wants to...usually he just wants to chill and enjoy the ride. Can't say as I blame him - pedaling those is a lot of work! LOL






On the way home. Cindy and I shared a Beaver Tail - Christopher was out like a light within two minutes of getting in the car. ;-)






We got back into town and swung by Diane's to swap cars back - and she had treats for me! She'd been across over the weekend and brought me back some Twiglets from the only place (that I know of) in the maritimes where you can get them... I *love* Twiglets and haven't had any for about a year....



This is what they look like...



Cute AND delicious. :-)

Despite the bag proclaiming how good they are for sharing, nobody else will eat any...I'm the only one who likes them. Strange people. ;-)

Little update about Cola

Cola is still here with us - it's been over a month now and there's been no signs of his owners anywhere. I advertised him as a "found cat" on local websites, radio stations, both vet offices, the humane society, the pound, the papers, etc...and nope.

The photo above is from Tuesday - we took him in to the vet to get his first shots in preparation to have him neutered....he goes mid-July for that (he'll get his booster at the same time)....he's officially a member of the family. :-)

Oh - and Cindy wasn't half asleep, despite looking that way... my flash went off LOL

10th edition of the CHE carnival

The 10th edition of the Canadian Home Educator's Carnival is up - check it out!

Also, the 9th is here - just realised that I forgot to link that one on the 17th!

Meeting other homeschoolers

Monday, Cindy & I had the opportunity to meet a family of homeschoolers from Quebec! I'd spoken with the lady a few times on the WTM board (we're not classical - I just hang out there some) and she'd told me that they were coming to the island (camping) because of the 100 years celebration of Anne that's on this summer - so, we arranged to meet up on Monday for a bit and let the kids play together.....they had a great time - running all over the boardwalk, up and down the lighthouse, playing in hammocks, and all sorts of kid fun. The mom and I chattered about homeschooling regulations (here versus Quebec - boy am I glad we live here!), our 'stories' on how we came to this educational choice, the kids themselves, and all sorts of other stuff....we headed for subway to have lunch after that, then they had to take off as they were meeting someone across in Nova Scotia by a specific time that afternoon.

Unfortunately, I only have one picture of the kids together - My batteries were nearly toast & we (their mother and I) were so busy yapping...she might have gotten a couple that I didn't...I think she snapped a few near the playground... We'll see later!

Meanwhile, here's the kids together - these hammocks are for sale down at the boardwalk and are an instant kid attraction... I guess the way that they stand up to all the kids who play on them is a bit of advertising for the company - "Our hammocks are tough!" LOL



Her son is 10 and her daughter is 7 - both of them were very adorable kids and Cindy says that if they ever come back to the island, she wants to get together again...they traded Webkinz id's so they could add each other to their friends lists on there as well.


Miss Cinders is also quite happy these days because she has a new-to-her-bike.. last year's bike wasn't in very good shape (it had been second hand as well) and didn't fit right....this one is perfect. The seat and handlebars are all the way down (nearly), so she should be able to get a couple of summers out of it before it doesn't fit anymore.... Many thanks to our lovely friend Diane, who gave this to Cindy - we dug it out of their garage the other day and it hardly needed any TLC at all...just a little oil and spray and it was ready. :-)



Speaking of bikes...



Ain't she pretty? *grin* ....it's 44 years old...I rescued it from a shop a few years ago - it was just sitting there gathering dust - and every summer I bring it out to ride, much to the amusement of the neighbourhood kids. (Those purple streamers are ugly though - I stuck them on there the other year, but they're just cheezy dollar store ones...I'd be tickled if I could find an old set of the rainbow plastic strip ones, but no luck there yet.)

I *do* have another bike - a regular old boring grownup bike - that has Christopher's child seat on the back, but that's just "a bike" ...this.. this is My Bike. There's a difference. :-P

Bits of this and that....

We're gonna mail Cindy out to visit her father & Norm - we just haven't found a box of the right size quite yet. *grin*


Yesterday, the kids and I decided to poke our noses into the "family expo" - this was a thing held at the rink, sort of a 'fun day' mixed with 'what can we sell you'...things for the kids to do and lots of booths advertising this that and everything else to parents, y'know?

They had a good time though - and even came home with some free water bottles and colouring books. Free stuff is always useful. ;-)

Miss - wait... *Princess* Cinders....



Hanging with a Big Turtle...he's a mascot from a waterpark on the island..and kinda scary looking if you ask me. Turtles should not be that big.




Bouncing away inside the ....bouncing thing. Yes I'm full of descriptive words today.




Mr.Christopher being very serious about his job of running me over...



Playing the marble track game thing with his sis...



And hiding out in a teepee....




Yesterday was also make-Christopher-a-car ....as part of his year end stuff at his school, the kids were asked to bring in a homemade car for a ramp race. The note that was sent home said to use whatever materials one could find around the house - and that's exactly what we did.

Meet Scruffy and his Bulldog Express.











Christopher had left on his bus and Cindy and I were taking it in to the school for him (because it was too awkward for him to carry on the bus) when she had the idea to attach a leash - perfect for pulling it along and ever so fitting with the theme.

I tried getting a picture of him with it today when he got home but he wasn't in the mood & wouldn't sit with it - he was quite proud of himself though, because his car won for "longest distance" .. they put the cars on a ramp and measured how far they went and his rolled and rolled and rolled....

Of course it rolled - can you tell what's hidden underneath the felt covered box? ;-)

Last day of grade six

Today was Miss Cinder's "official" last day of grade six. :-) Man, where did the time go? How'd I end up with a junior high'er on my hands? Yikes! LOL

She's going to be working over the summer a bit - she sees it as a 'headstart' to grade seven...I see it as a way to encourage the 'year round' format that some use and I like. ;-) ...Not all day and not every day (it *is* summer!) - we're working out the schedule of sorts between us...

She's having a 'graduation dinner' next weekend here - not a party with a zoo of girls or anything, just a dinner and sleepover with a neighbour's daughter ...she *wanted* to have a little party and I'd agreed, on the condition that the party would be her 'grad present' (it's pretty traditional here for kids to get a gift for grading/passing/etc each year) because I'd have to spend money on treats and meals and taking everyone to the beach, etc (that's how the plans were), but she changed her mind because there's something that she *really* *really* wants. (Isn't there always? LOL) .... so, a dinner it is, with our friend Diane invited up and the neighbour's daughter, then the sleepover. She'll get her official certificate of promotion and report card then as well.

Today, being the 'last official day', we went out for ice cream after swinging by Christopher's school to deliver his CD player -- the cd player was purchased with funds awarded to him through APSEA and I'd had it home here putting braille labels on it and making some cds for him of his fave tunes - which he was quite excited to get!



^^ There he is checking it out with his itinerant, Vicki. :-)


Afterwards, we dropped into the Eptek center (a small museum-ish type of place here - they have different displays and such throughout the year) to check out the "Cross Currents: 500 Generations of Aboriginal Fishing in Atlantic Canada" exhibit they had set up....



Dark pic, but the lighting was low and I wasn't sure if I'd get growled at for taking photos in there or not so I wasn't messing with my camera settings. ;-)


Then off for some ice cream at Cows - we don't go there often because their ice cream, while being delicious, it quite expensive. I'm talkin' 9 bucks for two cones expensive. Ouch. But, it was a special treat for the 'last day' and all....And I must admit, the Moo York Cheesecake ice cream that I had was YUM. (Cindy chose the oreo)



Now, Cows wouldn't be cows without...well, without a cow!

You can sit on the cow and wave your arm like a cowgirl....






....You can hide behind the cow while your child snags your camera...





Or, you can be eleven and think that it's the funniest thing in the world to do this to the cow...





Mooooooo.



Oh yes... I mentioned that Cindy wants a graduation present....




Think she can talk her Dad into it?

haaahahahahahahaha.



Umm, no. ;-)

She's getting a digital camera.

Eighth edition of the CHEC

I'm a white rabbit again - the eighth edition of the Canadian Home Educator's Carnival went up this past Tuesday..go check it out! :-)

Funny Farm

Yesterday afternoon, Miss Cinders and I joined along with part of a day out that Christopher's APSEA itinerant and EA had planned with him and two other kids that they work with - they'd been bowling and on a picnic; we met them after that and tagged along to the "Funny Farm" (his EA's house - she calls it that LOL)




There's the kids with Debi - and an ADORABLE rabbit (I got to hold him later and wow, was he *ever* soft! He's a "Lionhead", I think she said) that lives there...



That's Gavin, the 15 month old donkey - Cindy was a little nervous of him, but she thought he was quite cute.



She wasn't nervous of the little baby chicks though! I held one too - so small!!




Goat! :-)






Christopher isn't really all that keen on most animals - it depends on his mood. Yesterday, he preferred to play with his sweater and chat with Vicki & Debi LOL...


After visiting with the animals (there were chickens and roosters and horses and a cute little shitzu named "Oreo" as well), the kids all enjoyed their cookies and juice in the house... Now cookies, Christopher hasn't any problem with. *grin*