Lego Creations!

You can usually tell what Austyn is interested in by what he makes with his lego. This is a bald eagle.

This is a humming bird.

Here he is taking the humming bird out of it's flower and attaching it by it's feet.

Homeschool Track and Field Day

We attended Track and Field day for the first time this year. This was the first year where two groups got together to do the event. 

The kids had so much fun. They got to compete, just for fun, in many physical activities.

The weather was cool and damp but the rain held off enough for us to get through all of the activities.

My hubby did a great job of helping out and taking pictures.

Austyn loved to be with his friends from both groups at the same time.

There was a javelin toss, foot ball toss, shoe toss, Frisbee toss, a soccer challenge, and much more.

It was great to see the kids running and doing all of the activities.

 Here is long jump...

 

... and here is running long jump.

 After all of the main activities the kids headed for the beach to make sand castles.

Zoe was playing around with the mud along the shore and her little container. 

Austyn started on the beach with a bunch of kids making a castle.

 

The water on the beach recedes in the fall so the kids could wade out onto little sand islands. They eventually made their way out there to make castles on islands.

It was a great day with many friends.

Canada's Wonderland

This past weekend was probably the most busy weekend we've had all year. On Friday we left home in the morning all packed for our weekend. We went to pick up our car trailer and headed to an old friend's house to visit and have supper. We were there until after dark. We headed to the track to drop the car off and some of our things. After that we headed to a motel on the way to Toronto to spend the night. We got up, went for breakfast and headed to Canada's Wonderland. We spent the day and long after supper we headed back to the track to unpack, set up beds and get sleep to race the next morning. Racing started late because they had so much rain the day before. We raced all day in two classes and headed home late. We went to bed that night at 2AM and got up early enough to go to our Homeschool Track and Field day. 

Here are some pictures from Canada's Wonderland. We went with family. Here is Kev on Drop Zone with our two nieces.

While the older kiddo's, their Papa included, went on the big kid rides we hit the kid section so that Zoe could go on something. She was too short to go on most of the faster rides. It was a bummer because she loves fast rides.

Zoe really loved the bumper cars.

This is the kids loving Woodstock from Snoopy.

Our kids were the goofy ones on the kiddie swings. They were making faces the whole time.

Here they are hugging a couple of the Peanut crew.

This is a picture my niece took. I was trying to hitch a ride with the kids. LOL!

We had a good time. Thanks to family for inviting us.

Science in a Bag

We have a book called Science in a bag but this isn't from that book. It just reminded me of it since Zoe put muddy water in a bag. She let it sit over night to see what it would do and after observing it settled she shook it all up again. What an interesting way to do science naturally.

Book Sharing Monday - It's a Hummingbird's Life

Earlier in the summer we studied hummingbirds, but I never knew this book existed. I remember thinking that it was hard to find a good book on hummingbirds. We just read this one and I have to say that it was a perfect book for introducing the life of a humming bird. Austyn and I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Read It's a Hummingbird's Life by Irene Kelly.

First Full Day of Fall

Our first full day of fall was HOT! The temperature was over 30 degrees Celsius. 

I decided to weed the lawn and prepare it for more grass seed and nematode spray. Our lawn is full of grubs again. I put out the pool and the kids played. They invited a friend over and helped me do my work a bit. Yes, that is Zoe with no top. LOL!

This picture was taken by this little boy's mother. I think this moment is so cute!

Strange Caterpillar and butterfly

I was weeding the lawn when I noticed a caterpillar on one of the weeds. 

For the life of me I can't identify this little guy. I wish I could make the image bigger so you can see it but Blogger changed their image import. It's black, spiky, with orange markings and metallic blue spots. If you can identify it let me know. 

This is the picture of it on the plant we found it on. The plant to the left is covered in caterpillar poop. So if you live in Ontario and have weeds like this on your lawn, look for the little droppings and you may find this little guy.

Ironically, later that day this little guy was landing on me and and flying all around me. He just wouldn't leave me alone. I identified him as the Silver Spotted Skipper Butterfly. He is a deep chocolate brown colour and the markings on him reminded me of looking at islands on a map. Again, I couldn't identify him. I'm going to have to get my hands on a more complete identification guide. 

If you can help me to identify either of these, please let me know.