Porcupine butt......................

On the way out of Elk Island on Monday we saw 6, yes SIX porcupines walking along the roadside..........but they are temperamental little sods who didn't like having their picture taken, so every time I got the camera ready and the window down they were GONE into the long grass......................this is the best picture I could get......of a porcupine butt as it disappears into the grass :)

Boating at sunset................

These pictures are of Mondays sunset at Astotin Lake.......I am so mixed up with my posts and getting my pictures onto my blog........so they are all out of order.........apologies!!!!

Wednesdays sunset for you............

Here is tonights sunset for you....over Half Moon Lake

Water skier at sunset..............

Tonight Lloyd and I had date night..........we went into town and grabbed a fast supper at Tims and then drove out to the the North end of Half Moon Lake.....we took some pictures of the sunset and watched the people out on the water enjoying the summer evening...............

I took this picture of someone water skiing by the sunset...............

Rendez-vous.................

We passed this field on Monday evening and noticed it was full of geese........then tonight we passed it again and there were even MORE geese there.......it's like a meeting point for geese on their journey south....no water nearby just a baled field..............the geese were so noisy...until I got out of the car and then they went silent.......for a while until a new group of geese flew in! They circle round before landing!

It was lovely to see but yet another sad sign that they will soon be gone and summer is on its way out...........................Bye bye geese.....see you next Spring!

Can you see the Man in the Moon???????

I just set up the tripod outside and took this picture of the moon :) I love the detail you can see in it :)

Sunset through grasses.............

Astotin Lake, Monday evening........

Sunset over Astotin Lake...........

Swinging about...............

So on Monday evening we drove out to Elk Island Park for a barbecue and to take some pictures of the sunset over Astotin Island and Lake.............it was lovely and quiet there.....and soon after we arrived everyone left anyway as it was the night before 'back to school day' so most families didn't have the luxury of a relaxing evening............

We set up our picnic by the playground and the children had the whole place to themselves to play and run about.................Lloyd built the fire while I went for a wlak to photograph the sunset..............by the time I got back the fire was roaring and the burgers were well on their way to being cooked :)

We had Smores after the burgers and it was just a really nice evening.......after the sun went down we enjoyed listening to all the animal noises in the park and watching more and more stars appear in the sky................

As you can see, Sam loves the swing!

How do Bison talk?..............

This is the same bison continuing his stroll....he was walking aorund by the parking lot too minding his own business..............I wonder what he would have thought had he known our cool bag was filled with bison burgers lol!

We are well used to the bison in Elk Island.......they don't bother us unless its rutting season.........a few more weeks yet..............

We often make jokes about the bison.....about what it would be like if they could fly......I wouldn't want to get pooped on........thats for sure!!!! And we also wonder how they would sound if they could talk...they always look so grumpy and mean and moody....but wouldn't it be funny if they had really high pitched squeaky voices??????

Bison at sunset

This bison was taking a stroll along Astotin Beach on Monday evening...enjoying the sunset....but he's a little difficult to make out against the dark ground.......

Signs of Fall from our woods............

A few pictures taken in our woods on Monday that show that Fall is almost here.............I love Fall....the smells, the colours, the festivals............the coziness of wearing a fleece......lighting the fire in the evenings................

Quack Quack.............................

This little one was on our pond on Monday........just swimming about eating the duck weed.........a resting place maybe to fuel up for another trip south.................she didn't seem to mind me taking her picture......................

A new school year...............

And so a new school year begins................most schools reopened here yesterday............our school board (Education Unlimited) called yesterday.....we're registered yay.......and say my package is in the mail......

Our Math U See curriculum arrived yesterday......and everything else was ready to go for today!

Yesterday we dropped Chris at work and then went to the homeschool group.......I've signed up to run next weeks activity.............polymers/ gels.......ie SLIME!!!!

After the homeschool group we went to Broadmoor Lake for a picnic, then headed to the mall, booked Susie a hair appt for next week and then grabbed a few groceries....the children chose a magazine each and then we headed home..............

Today is our first day of 'school'. The children were excited to try out their math-u-see packages....they each watched their dvd's for the lessons and then did a few sheets from their students manual.....Sam played with the blocks and did some colouring at the table............

They also all did some of their 'Write Now' books, Abby did some of the worksheets that the school board had given us for kindergarten (hard to believe that Abigail could have started kindergarten yesterday!) and she also did some rubber stamping and her math u see dvd.

Chris has decided to learn to speak Japanese and to study Japan in detail.....he found a website that teaches you the language so he has been sat at the laptop with his headphones on learning Japanese.......I think I will get him together with my friend Horomi and she can teach him a little more :)

Its lunchtime now and then Christie is coming over for a few hours.......I think maybe we will go for a walk and collect mail and hang out outside for a while...............

Oh, I finally booked the children into their classes at MP.......and I'm trying to get some teen homeschoolers together for Chris...maybe we'll have something here for them all for Halloween or something..............

I think we have a general pattern to our weeks now for this semester............flexible as always but generally a regular pattern :) They also have their interests they seem to be following......Chris has Japan and World War 2 history..............Laurence has The Mary Rose and Medieval Times and his quad, Susannah has her animal projects, her story writing.....Abigail has her birds.......they all have their math and their penpals............they all have their activities like dance and fit for kids....Chris has his voluntary work..............his teen group thing..............and yet we still have three full days at home :)

Lloyd stayed late this morning and had coffee with me which is always a nicer start to the day than waking up with him gone and just a coffee by my bed....................

Tonight.....I don't know whats happening tonight..............its normally date night but because it was a long weekend it feels weird having datenight already...............

What else have I done? Oh yesterday I booked the dogs into the kennel for our trip.......yikes...not sure I can take them as I have never left them like that before.....our breeder normally has them to stay with her (and all their family as she has their Mom and cousins and Aunts etc etc) but now we live the opposite end of the city that we figured it isn't worth the drive just for a few days........maybe for our big trip...actually definitely for our big trip because I can't bear the thought of leaving my girls with strangers for so long.....I hope they will be ok....I hope they will keept hem together.............

So I got a few things done the last couple of days that I have been procrastinating over...............

Last night Lloyd and I went quadding at dusk again......we've made our trail so much longer now......through all three fields, through the VERY long grass (taller than me lol) and through the woods.........its fun :)

Hopper.....................

Susannah and Sam introducing themselves to another new friend last night...........