More fun & games

Here's me, trying to cram in as much summer fun as possible in the tiny wee bit of time remaining. I think I'm "funning" them to death.

So... last week, after returning from camping & triathalon, we had a pleasant day (or was it 2??) at home, then on the road again. This time, it was Splash Island at Portage la Prairie, then visiting in the interlake, then to Winnipeg for Tinkertown. Tinkertown: what a great place! The kids had a blast!

We've been home a solid 2 days now, time to move on again. Tomorrow it's camping locally, to enjoy some fun in the sun, swimming, campfires with friends. Ahhh.

The Labour Day weekend is upon us ... then it's back to fall-time routine. *sigh* If only summer was six months long.

The House is Listed!!

I was beginning to think we would never be done - but finally, the house is listed, and we can now enjoy what's left of summer. Cross your fingers for a quick sale.

I am so thankful to our friends & family who shared so much of their time & effort to get these things done in the house - I can't imagine how long we'd have been toiling otherwise.

Activity-choosing time!

Yep, that's about it - magic wand & all. The kids have SO many interests, it poses some serious challenges as to which they can pursue.

This fall, E would "like" to do gymnastics, figure skating, karate/tae kwon do, guitar lessons, climbing, musical theatre, and dance. Gah!

M would "like" to do gymnastics, skating, musical theatre, swimming, and climbing.

Needless to say, neither one will be getting their entire wish list - they'll have to put some thought into which ones are most important to them. But just the figuring out of when/where these things are, how much they cost, etc - what a job! Some days I just wish they weren't such well-rounded kids! (j/k of course)

Bear-y Fun Camping trip!

Q: "Aren't they CUTE?"

A: "Not when they're just a few sites from your own."

Folkfest fun!

In July we took a weekend out from our house-fixing-up life to enjoy the local folkfest! (And to simultaneously run our garage sale, but that's another story).

It was SO appreciated & enjoyed ...

(hmmm ... don't know why one pic came out sideways ... but I'm sure you get the idea)

Renovations 101

Looks like homeschool's taking a hands-on approach these days: cleaning & renovating to move into a different home.

I can think of many academic applications being put to the test these days ... the mathematics of measurement, physics in the forces we use, biology unfortunately in some of the things we encounter while de-constructing, musicology in the careful selection of the right music to work by, when bridging the 30-some-year gap between laborers... communication skills are big on the worksite, where misunderstandings can set you back some time at best, or waste supplies or injure someone at worst ... health & safety of course are being learned at breakneck pace, pardon the pun.

Most important of all, probably, teamwork in a real-life setting is being learned. We teach our kids from the time they're toddling around about teamwork, setting up scenarios in which they can play in teamwork settings, and really, it's all for this day - the day that they're in a real-life situation that requires genuine team spirit to work toward a common goal.

I'm happy to say that E is coming through with shining colours in this challenge. A proud moment.

Science Success!

After last week's science scare (scaring the kids off of science, that is), I think I've won them back - whew! More lab work, this time with things that erupt. Eruption is always good!

I don't know if these pictures will be too small for you to see ... but our little scientists did a great job of making the experiments do exactly what they were supposed to do. You can see something erupting from the bottom of the blue glass ... blobs of "stuff" travelling both up and down in the green glass, and a gigantic eruption in the red glass.

What, you ask, is all that white sediment in the red glass? The experiment called for the scientist to shake some salt into the glass ... our ... um ... enthusiastic youngest scientist enjoyed shaking salt so much that she felt it necessary to shake the entire salt shaker into the mixture! But hey - looks like it had some interesting results! We would never have seen the gigantic geiser otherwise!