A Saturday Stroll Right into a Book!

On Saturday, we invited the Dad's (and their spouses) in our family to come and watch our kids play soccer in the POURING rain, and then back to our place to dry out and eat soup and buns.  

After dinner, when it had finally stopped raining, we loaded the kids  and bikes and drove to the foot of 1 Road, and walked/biked east. I had never walked here before and was taken on a new adventure. There were some beautiful apartment complexes, then a pond with a bridge, and then some old heritage canning buildings. My favourite part though, was the wooden walkway along the river bank where we spotted:

a mommy Mute Swan sitting on her eggs. Not only was it beautiful to see the swan, but it was serendipitous for Theo and I, as we have just started reading the Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. We had just read the chapter about how the female swan carefully built her nest- so to be able to see one in real life, so large, and so beautiful, and practically in our own back yard was very exciting. This image is exactly what I had envisioned while reading E.B. White's written words. Amazing!

We met a couple walking by, with a fancy camera in hand, they also stopped to photograph the water bird. They clearly knew that she was here. They had been keeping track of her. They told us that there were four eggs (even showed us a picture of them on his camera) in her nest and that she had now been sitting on them for a little over 4 weeks. The fear with the locals, is that it is too late. That they won't hatch. We will have to visit again soon just in case.

A little further down the path, we came across a chicken coop. It had one rooster and a few hens. We enjoyed calling to them, and copying their walk, complete with head pecking! The last stop on our little after dinner journey was the ship.

Sports Day 2012

I remember clearly, the feeling that I had last year when I showed up nervous for our first homeschool sports day. I had only been homeschooling for about 5 months, and had just started to really make some connections with other local homeschoolers; one of whom recommended that we attend South Delta Home Learners sports day event. I was taken aback immediately upon arrival by the sheer number of people there. I had no idea that there were so many homeschoolers! I was so encouraged. It only got better from there. The event was so well organized, from AWESOME stations, to pizza, ribbons, and of course what is sports day with out the "orange drink" from McDonald's! I think the part that touched me the most, were the teens who volunteered to run all the stations. They had had several meetings ahead of time to plan a theme for the day, and carefully created different stations with the theme in mind. The enthusiastically ran each station, with nothing but patience, smiles and encouragement for the children who came. It seriously almost brought tears to my eyes. They do this because they want to do it- not because they have to; and they were all really good at it!!!

This year was no different. I blown away again. I was not nervous at all, just excited! Here are some photos from the day. Enjoy.

Ice Blocking

Kezia playing keep away from Bea.

Obstacle Course

Classic Tug -a- War

The Ribbons they earned

A Hat Trick

Once you have kids, and the Canucks are out of the playoffs- this becomes the meaning of a Hat Trick!!!