Sam in the sand.....

Sam loved playing on Astotin beach last night...and also loved the swing!!!

My beautiful Daughter.....

Susannah.......

Lake scenes from Elk........

swing time

Abigail loves to swing........I remember when she taught herself to swing at the old house...a year or two ago...she was sooooo determined to learn to swing by herself that she spent days doing just that! Now she is a fab swinger.......

She was just the same when it came to skipping....she would practice and practice with her skipping rope until she could do it well.....

Abigail is so determined...if there is something she wants to learn she will keep trying until she gets it! She's the perfect unschooler lol! Very self motivated and determined :)

My beauty

I love this natural pose of Abigail...she was on the swing at Elk island and the wind is blowing her hair as she swings...It's slightly blurry because she was swinging so fast and was talking constantly but I'm happy with it :) Abigail is growing up so fast.......

Sprinkler fun......

The girls have been using the big pool as a slip and slide to cool off in the heat...we have the sprinkler going too and thye have been having a lot of fun out there......Rosie our puppy has found that diving into the pond a few times a day is a great way to cool off......unfortunately she then likes to get on the slip and slide too....which isn't a problem when she is clean lol......good job we have the hose to hose down the slip and slide afterwards...we keep hosing down the dogs with nice cold water to keep them cool.......Amber isn't keen but Rosie loves it.

Silhouette by the lake........

Saturdays Sunset

This seems to be coming a regular blog......my daily sunset pictures!!! Last night I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time...we left Astotin Lake too early...would've got some fab pictures there...but we drove home and on the way I kept snapping pictures of the sunset through my window......as Lloyd was driving...so most are not good.......blurry........bad focus...I did persuade him to stop by a lake though so I could snap a few of the water........

Elk Island Shoot

So to escape the heat we took the younger three out for an early dinner last night.....air conditioned restaurants....wonderful! Then we picked up Iced Capps and drove out to Elk Island Park.......being in the car is lovely and cool and I took my camera (of course lol) and got some great snaps! We drove up to Astotin Lake and walked along the beach and the boardwalk before heading to the playground at dusk.......as we drove out of the park all of the animals were coming out...it's a great time to go as they have all been hiding in the cool of the trees from the heat but at dusk they come out to drink and walk around......the bison trail was VERY busy with bison taking dustbaths and practicing their rutting......the beaver seemed to just be enjoying a leisurely swim.......gophers were dashing here and there.......

I thought it was quite funny that the car in front of us at Tim Hortons (Baseline/ Broadmoor by Joey T's) was the car in front of us as we drove into Elk Island Park...how funny we had the same idea of Iced Capps and driving out to the park! They had their kayak with them.......

Elk Island was quiet as usual...I'm surprised how few people go there...especially on a lovely evening like last night....the breeze off of the lake was nice and there weren't any mosquito's.....and the trails are cool and shady from the trees......it was a lovely evening!

Here are the wildlife pictures....i'll post the scenic pictures later!

My place on the porch

Many evenings this is where I can be found.....sitting on the porch, drinking tea (or wine lol), reading, watching Lloyd throwing the ball for Rosie, cuddling Amber, watching the sun set, chatting.........my place on the porch!

Sunset in stages.....

I started taking pictures as the sun set last night and then took another every few minutes...it's amazing how quickly the sunset changes...minute by minute...and the colours are incredible!