Park Day

 After much thought I have decided that instead of doing a weekly wrap-up, I will just do posts on the things we are doing. It seems to work better for us and makes more sense right now. 

I may have already mentioned that I took over the secular group. I think that it is very important for all areas of Canada to have public homeschool groups that are accessible for anyone moving to the area or just starting to homeschool. So, the moms who were in charge passed the group off to me so that I could get it going again. There has been no activity for a very long time. The first thing I started was Park Day. Our family and one other family seem to be the regular attendants so far and we have met two other families at park days. 

This week Austyn drew some pictures inspired by Dragon books and this book by Emily Gravett called The Rabbit Problem. He made a little booklet called the Dragon Problem and a picture to give to a friend at park day on the same subject.

 I didn't get as many pictures this week but we did find something interesting at the base of this tree. We couldn't determine if it was a type of fungus or if this was something a person put here. It was kind of hard but reminded me of spray foam. It was much more metallic looking than this image shows.

Zoe brought her camera to take pictures. They played around this tree and on the ball diamond a good deal this week. It is nice to feel like we have a bit of a schedule even though I have booked more activities than normal right now. We want to get out and meet other homeschool families in this area and then we expect to slow down by December. For this reason we haven't done as much academic (at home) this week. Next week we will have two less activity and the week after that one more less. So, we will be home a little bit more. It's important to get out and meet some regular friends.

Park Day with Friends

 Due to the long weekend only our homeschool friends showed up for park day with us. This was their first week there. Austyn showed them the fort that the kids were working on the week before. They added a seat into it.

 They played in the stream again and saw another leech in the water. We talked about leeches.

 I hope you can see it well enough in the picture. There was a strange looking (bee-like) insect that was near me. It was hovering over spots on the ground and another flying (ant-like) insect that was staying just below and behind it as it flew. It followed this little guy around everywhere.It was interesting to watch their behaiour.

 At the play area they dug a deep hole to find the bottom of the sand. Austyn kept some of the clay from the bottom and brought it home in a container. 

 This little beetle was found on the slide.

Having a friend who likes to swing and has a swing of his own in his backyard has proven to he helpful for Austyn to learn to swing higher. He is less afraid of going high and can get himself going very well.

Homeschool Park Day

 We attended a homeschool park day in the area where we moved to. This is actually the first homeschool park day that we have attended here in Alberta. Only three homeschool families showed up, but it was still fun. The kids were building shelters in the forest. 

 I got a picture of this guy who we could not miss because he was so loud.

 There is a stream behind the forest that the kids could explore without getting too wet. 

 It was the first time in a long time that I got such great pictures. This is why I was able to change the header of our blog, finally from winter to spring. 

 The kids got along well and seemed to really have fun together.

 I got some great shots of my kids.

 Here they posed for me. 

 Another pose. 

 Some fungus growing on a dead tree.

 Zoe posing for the camera in the forest. 

 The trees seem to look so different from the trees we know back in Ontario and I noticed that they even smell different. 

 A pose from on top of the play equipment.

 Austyn leaving the forest.

 Zoe sitting in the sand a the playground.

 She always insists on making angels. 

 The older kids really took to both of them quickly even without knowing them previously.

 Looking into the distance.

Snails.

 A Water Slider.

 Picking up the snails.

Looking at them closely on the rock before returning them back to the water. 

It was a great time and we will definitely be returning.

A New Park

 A new house means a new park. We invited another homeschool family to meet us at the library and at the park. The kids really enjoyed exploring the new park. 

 They seemed to like the zip-line the best.

 Austyn wanted to play on it the most.

 Zoe explored on her own for part of the time.

 She liked this spinning seat.

Zoe and her friend helped each other to use the zip line since they are a bit small on it still. It's great that they can reach it on their own. Most of the parks that we've been to, I need to lift Zoe to reach the zip line.

Park Days - Not busy is sometimes good!

As you can see, we made a new friend at the beach of our local park. This is a Blue Heron. The lake was full of fish that he was catching, let wiggle in his beak for a minute or two and swallowing whole! Zoe and one of her friends were so close a couple of times. This bird didn't mind a couple of kids and he'd just jump up and fly out a bit, making his way back in to catch more fish. If it was more busy he wouldn't have been there at all. The water was surprisingly warm for the last day of May.

An Egret flew in to fish near the heron. 

So much fun was had with friends at the park and especially on the beach. 

Up under the trees I couldn't see the storm coming. I moved onto the beach to watch the sky.

A fishing boat made it's way toward shore as the storm approached. 

My kids seem unaffected by the storm approaching.