Second riding lesson :)

This morning Abigail had her second riding lesson.  It was sooooo cold!  It feels really good to be at the stables though and around the horses - and we are getting to know where everything goes and what we have to do!!  First job was getting the brushes and giving the horse a good brush!  Then Abigail got to clean the horses feet - the girl that works there showed her again how to do them and then Abigail got to do it!!  Her horse this week was called Samaria :)  

Abigail was given a different horse this week - a younger horse as the teacher felt Abigail was a good enough rider to control it - it proved a little difficult though as although Abigail is a good rider, she still lacks the confidence to show the horse who is boss!  She needs to be a little more assertive!  In the end they took the horses saddle off and had Abby riding bareback so she could feel the horse better and gain more confidence!  Abigail preferred riding bareback :)  By the end of the session she was doing better but still needs to gain more confidence!!  

At the end of each session Abigail has to take her horse outside for food and groom her while she eats :)  The brushes have to be cleaned and out away properly, the 'bit' has to be washed and the saddle and bridal have to be put back properly in the tack room!  I love that she is learning all of this!  That it isn't JUST riding, but learning how to care for a horse too!

Farewell to the German Exchange students!!

Last night the school held a pot luck supper and social to say goodbye to the German Exchange students.  Each Canadian student presented their partner with a scarf in the Sal colours and with the date of the exchange :)  

There were activities for the Canadian students to take part in - making friendship bracelets, signing pumpkins and taking part in a language skills test in front of a 'jury'.  They also had a 'photobooth' with funny props to take souvenir pictures :)  

Susannah and I sat with the German teachers husband and their Daughter, and we enjoyed chatting to him about his Honeymoon in Scotland and various trips through England - including losing a  student on the tubes in London lol!

After the supper, Susannah and I headed out to pick up a few last minute gifts for Kevin to take home, and Laurence took Kevin and some friends to do bowling on Gateway Blvd.  They had a great time and I think it was a good choice for Kevins last night here :)  

Today we headed in to the school in time to say goodbye before Kevin got on the bus!  Many of the students and their Canadian friends were in tears and there was a lot of hugging!  We all said goodbye and then we left Laurence and his friends to it!  

Kevin sent me a text from the airport - he is really sad to be leaving which is lovely to hear as it means he enjoyed his time here and had a good holiday!  We really did get lucky with Laurences exchange partner :)  And we enjoyed showing him our home and little part of this fabulous country :)  

So very true...I see this every day :)

The end of our day....

Kevin helped Abby with her art project she is working on, Susannah caught up with her texts or FB or IG or whatever by the fire....Sam pottered about and Laurence and I ran out to get a few groceries we had forgotten about but NEEDED (like toilet tissue oops)

Then time for three stories before bed....we are continuing to read books with a theme of Fall or Halloween :)  

Home for a fire and s'mores :)

We got home and I got the fire going in the fire pit.  We wanted to introduce Kevin to s'mores :) 

We also showed him how to make 'snakes on a stick'

Abigail saying goodbye to her scarecrow and she burned him on the fire:

Sammy keeping warm:

Kevin trying to keep the snake ON the stick while it cooks :)  

Fire and smoke patterns:

Sitting and enjoying the fire....Monday was the last evening Kevin will spend with the younger three, and the last free evening we had, so we made the most of it.  I think it was a good evening :)  

Tomorrow we have the pot luck supper for the exchange students - a chance to say goodbye and for everyone to share what they have done over the last two weeks :)  

An evening at Elk Island Park....

Laurence had to work tonight, so we picked Kevin up after school, came home to pick up Susannah (and have a quick supper - I had barbecued pulled pork in the crockpot and it was YUMMY) and then we headed out to Elk Island Park.  We drove around the Bison Trail twice - once on arriving - in daylight, and once on the way home, in the dark/ twilight.  

I think Kevin was really surprised at all of the bison and how they were everywhere - he said the area by the bison trail reminded him of Africa - which it does in many ways - similar tree shapes and the animals in their groups etc etc....

We drove up to Astotin Lake, and stopped by the beaver pond.  Luckily we saw three beaver swimming around :)  One young one and a couple of adults :)  

We got out and took pictures, and walked down to the lake - I was really surprised to see that it has already started to freeze around the edge!  The kids all tested the strength of the ice - it held Sams weight but not Abigails.  They know not to go onto thin ice, so we were just by the edge.  It was quite amazing how the lake has frozen sooo much and so thickly already!!  It has frozen in waves :)  

We walked around the boardwalk and enjoyed the sunset:

Everyone liked smashing the ice at the sides of the boardwalk/ dock - the entire lake on this side is already frozen!

We walked up to the Pioneers cottage before heading back to the car.  We were the ONLY people there today.  The parking lot was empty!  It was cold (-5c) but it was a beautiful and sunny day!  No wind really!

Monday afternoon...

Monday afternoon Abigail had her French class, and so Sam and I decided to go to Big Als Aquarium and see all the fish and creatures they have there!  We were in there a good hour or so and really enjoyed taking our time watching all the strange and beautiful fish!

This stingray would follow Sams hand and swim up and down or across :)  

This toad looked sooo grumpy :)  Too cute!

The seahorses are so amazing and beautiful to watch!  So graceful!

This little guy was probably my favourite though.  It is a Warty Frogfish!!!  He is $199.

Wow!!  Such a funny looking fish and he kept swimming into the side of the tank like he was banging his head against the wall lol!

After Big Als, we walked over to the Timmy's close by, and Sam had his favourite chicken noodle soup :)  I had a cup of tea that I had to wait AGES for...I finally got it JUST before we were about to leave to pick Abigail up!

It was a nice way to spend the afternoon...not sure what we will do next week yet.

Abigail is really enjoying her French classes.  She missed last weeks class, so had some homework to do to catch up but she is doing so well that it seems it didn't matter :)