We're going to Mars

Long ago, I was taking my three kids grocery shopping. It is never an exciting thing for the kids to do, especially when it is a large shopping trip. I do try and make trips to the grocery store as exciting as possible.. the kids get their own "list" or we choose a colour we are going to search for.. but no matter what, it is hard to keep still. So, on this particular trip I had promised the kids we would do something fun, afterwards. I floundered what we would do, I didn't have very much money and it was getting late, so not many places were open. I wanted to do something to burn their energy off.. so I took them to a park that is behind one of our rec centers. It has a lovely large grassed area with a lot of beautiful oak trees. There is a huge hill to roll down and a woodchip path you can follow through a forested area. The kids kept asking where we were going, and I told them, to mars.. more to shut them up than to be funny. There is a backyardigans show that is about that.. Anyway they were amused and ever since we have called that particular spot, Mars.
Today we went to Mars again.. they needed to run. And boy did they run.. up and down the big hill. As there were running there were sparrows swooping where ever they ran. It was interesting to watch how fast the flew along the ground. We figured it was probably because as they were playing, bugs would be stirred up from the grass. Sparrows of course eat bugs. They followed the kids all over and then the kids tried following them!
We went for a bit of a walk and I tried to get the kids to slow down and look around. We talked about camaflouge and how creatures hide.. Once they started looking, we found so many interesting things. A baby bunny, a beautiful big moth with amazing patterns and an "eye" on it's wings, a garter snake (much to their delight I yelped and dropped what I was carrying as it slithered almost under my foot!) We found a lot of different birds and interesting grasses, berries and moss.
Our little energy burning trip to Mars turned into a fun, much talked about.. experience. We came home and the girls drew some pictures to remember their day.

Festival of Trees

Today I was a Kindergarten field trip. We went to a local Hotel that hosts the "Festival of Tree's"

There was lots of great ideas.

The one below had ornaments made from nuts and there is some squash in there too. 

 I had to get in one macro shot... cause, well.. im me lol

I really likes this simple reindeer design. A very easy craft to do with young children.

We havent actually decorated our tree yet. Its in the house, in the stand... waiting. So today was very inspiring.

Sunday Etsy Exploring

Organic waldorf babies...  I love these, so cute and cuddly.

 These Acorns were in so many wonderful colours and the real acorn "hat" just adds so much to them. It would be incredibly hard to pick my fav of these!

These were found at SewnNatural, Link to their Home page on Etsy.

Handmade Wooden Toys

I am a sucker for handmade.. there is something about things that have been touched and worked on that truly makes them special. These wooden toys caught my eye while I was wandering around online. I really love the idea for crayon storage, they are cool enough kids might actually USE them!

Click here to visit the maker of these wonderful Toys.

Otters

The girls and I headed to the marina to feed the seals. Instead of seals we found, Otters! These two adorable ones were climbing over a covered boat when we got there. One is a baby. When I saw them I crouched down to take some pictures and they headed over .. which kind of made me a bit nervous. Baby was not nearly as worried about us as Mom was.. She intervened and wouldn't let the baby eat the fish we brought and herded it into the water. These are actually river otters, which are in more abundance than sea otters. They also have a longer tail and are a lot more adept on land than sea otters. All however, are so entertaining to watch! Look at the in water picture, the size of its front paws is amazing..and with that webbing you can see why they are such great swimmers.

Fun in the harbour

Recently a friend and I headed down to the inner harbour and checked out the buskers. This guy was juggling fire, while balanced on a metal pipe. There was some amazing artists selling their wares. I love looking at what people have created. It was fun to step away for a couple hours from it all... 

School is coming.... yes it is!

This year the return to school is a biggie for me. My twins will be heading to kindergarten. Full day kindergarten! I havet had full days to myself since before kids. My twins arrived just as my oldest was heading into kindergarten.... so while I am dreading not seeing the little gaffers all day, I am looking forward to getting life back to some kind of "normalcy".

Having my Mother inlaw, who has alzhiemers, to help requires quite a bit of time too. So I will hardly be rolling in the free hours. But I am SO looking forward to organizing my house.

We live in a small house... a very small house. I could say its cozy.. but most of the time its too cozy for comfort. Five of us in a two bedroom home.. plus a dog.... yeah you get the picture! While I clean one area, the rest of the house is being "uncleaned" quickly.

I am also hoping to get some challenges for myself going... I was reading a blog today on organization.. decluttering, and I saw a discussion on taking on a challenge a month of stopping something. Quite a few were trying to not swear for a month.. I need to give it some thought but I like the idea. Challenging yourself feels good. Here is the link to the blog, incase you want to read it for yourself. http://unclutterer.com/discuss/topic/give-it-up

Award Ceremony

Today was my oldest's school award ceremony. I am so incredibly proud of her. Last year she missed a lot of school, she got sick a lot.. including a bout when she was very sick with swine flu. So this year she did a year long review of last years math, along with completing this years. She will never be a mathematicians, but she is doing well and holding her own. It wasn't easy to come home every day and do math homework either! Her report card was wonderful. Now for a summer full of fun.... AND no math homework! :)

Can't pick your family

When I met my husbands family for the first time.. and got to know them. I never thought I would end up being one of the primary caretakers of my Mother Inlaw.
My Father inlaw passed away and I started noticing things about my Mother Inlaws behaviour that bothered me, worried me. I mentioned it to other family members who said she was "fine". Well she wasnt, isn't. She now lives in an assisted living condo. I do her shopping for her and am her rock. She calls me when she is worried, mad, confused and bored. I do my best to be all that she needs. I certainly dont begrudge her this at all. She is a wonderful woman and I love her. But I do get angry that her own family are so quick to pass it to me. She deserves to have them WANT to be there for her.

Its Spring.. almost Summer

Wow we have had the most crazy weather here on the west coast.. everything is behind. But slowly its starting to feel like mother nature is catching up..

The bird house in our backyard is a hive of activity and the bugs are starting to show up.. even the dreaded wasps that my 4 yr old is terrified of because of her first sting last year.

Blast from the past.... errr not soooo past.

This past late spring I had the opportunity to spend a while wandering the grounds of Hatley Castle, also known as Royal Roads University. The grounds are beautiful. Being late spring the gardens were bursting with new growth...and the green that IS spring.

Life is good!

The kids and I spent a wonderful day at the beach. The wind was blowing and the birds were loving flying in it. You could see their enjoyment in the way they caught it just right and would dip down, skimming along the water. Were spent three hours there and dug in the sand, played and just enjoyed lazing in the sunshine. Summer is winding down but this was one day that we slowed down and savoured it completely.

Some green

March is the month of green. We are very fortunate here to have a lot of green all year round. I know I would miss it if it was covered in snow for months. Even so, the soft green that comes in the spring along with the darker more "mature" green is so serene. I love how it makes you feel.

DO geese have teeth?

I always thought that geese did not have teeth. Perhaps they dont, but there is something in there! I was feeding some by hand, trying to coax the right pose for a picture and got bit everytime they took the bread. There is something in those mouths, because it really hurt, lol.

Distractions

Sometimes we need a distraction. Some things can't be changed and you just have to deal with them. This past week, was a case of that, for me. Being sick, with sick kids and a sick husband..... I just had to suck it up and let it run its course. I felt like going to bed and sleeping for a week....While others slept, I went to the beach and then picked Kristin up from school. We went to an old Artillery Fort that was built in the 1890's, and explored a bit. Sometimes distractions are fun :)
These pictures are all better viewed in full size! Click on them to see them full and then click your back button to come back.

A promise

It is far to early to be thinking of spring. These buds that I found in our yard hold out the promise though that it will be coming. How nice that we can always count on certain things.

The wild life

This adorable little guy was looking for something to eat. I threw him a few cashews and he let me take his picture :)
These squirrels are not native to here and are slowly taking over. Our native squirrel is a very dark color. Still, they are super cute! :)