How Cheap?

I am fed up of spending money, everything seems to cost money and everything costs more here than in Grand Bend (may be not, I could just be in a bad mood).  So here is a cheap post.

Yesterday afternoon's keep-the-kids-busy activity was go out for a walk, with temperatures soaring to about 3 degrees it would have been a shame not to make the most of it and I didn't have to get my wallet out.  Look, the snow is receding, revealing all manner of interesting, zero cost sticks.

Some of them were covered in burrs, Jacob decided to de-burr one while wearing knitted gloves and got completely coated and very cross.  It took him ages to get them all off, what an excellent and time consuming free activity to stumble upon.

Swinging is also free and fun (when you've finished ridding yourself of dry foliage).

So is running up and down the skate park ramps like loonies.  I tried it a few times for fitness sake before I'd really thought about how daft a grown woman looks doing this sort of thing, specially when she can't keep up with a 5 year old!

And finally a snap of Rose's new sun glasses ($6, not so cheap) and Jacob's new and fascinating bed time reading (50c,  that's more like it).

A Post of Nothing

I've just been reviewing photos of the last week and they are sadly lacking, unfortunately this indicates that life has been quiet.  After the excitement of the Maple Syrup Festival the rest of March break passed without much activity.  We had a blizzard which prevented outdoor activity with the exception of a huge amount of snow shoveling and spent a couple of days signing on for swimming courses, not finding museums and getting lost around town.

We did find this park on the day that we failed to find the museum.  That's lake Ontario behind the snow children and yes, Rose came out without snow boots, brrr.

I also finished my panel for hanging over the front door in place of the manky blind.

Maple Syrup, mmm

Yesterday we went out for a truly Canadian March Break treat, the local Maple Syrup Festival, and what a fun packed day we had.

We went on a historic tour of how to tap sugar maples and boil the sap down to make syrup.  There were lots of tapped trees so you could check out how much sap was in the buckets, not so much in this one.

Loads in this one.

And here are J and R tapping a tree with a 'bit'n'brace'

This is how the pioneers boiled down the syrup it in the 19th century in big, scary looking cauldrons over a fire.

And here is our lovely guide Laura (not Ingalls which was a shame) with a turn of the century engine thing that is apparently safer and much faster than the three witches set up.

Anyway, when we'd finished learning stuff there was lots more to do.  We looked at cows, smelled pigs and the children gobbled at turkeys.  We learned how to play a game of catch with sticks that Jacob was very good at and toured a 1900 farm house.

We took a wagon ride to the pancake house and ate pancakes for lunch.

Jacob and Rose tried maple sugar candy and maple taffy, I think the weather was a bit warm for the taffy (wow, it reached 10 degrees in the afternoon) and it melted all over them.

And finally they ran about on a bunch of hay bales for half an hour while I stood around holding coats and thought about how nice it was to be able to stand still in the sunshine without freezing to death.  Needless to say they were filthy and smelly when we got home (I think the hay bales were cow contaminated) so much to their disgust the day ended in the bath.

A Need for Green

On Sunday we went on a family trip to the Royal Botanical Gardens.  There were exhibitions about carnivorous plants and poisonous animals but my main reason for this expedition was the need to see some plants with green stuff growing on them, this winter has been so long.

I'm not going to say much so lets get straight on to a couple of photos.  Rose was very into looking at Venus Flytraps with a magnifying glass.

Jacob liked the cacti, these were his favorites, I dread to think what that face was for but there were no spines in his trousers when I washed them.

These were Gary's favorite spiky things.

I enjoyed the Mediterranean garden where there were trees with leaves and flowers blooming.  The kids found a coy carp pond and an old tramp on a park bench.

And finally, this was Rose's Saturday outfit which I felt ought to be made available to her adoring public, she looks like Dame Edna Everage in full rock princess mode.

Work in Progress - Family Edition

Here's how we are all amusing ourselves in the cold weather.

Rose received a set of paints and a little wooden bird house from a party last week and spent a lot of Wednesday morning carefully decorating it.

Jacob took some time off Minecraft to write a story that is apparently about random things.

 I made a scrap quilt to hang over the front door in place of the manky blind.  This was a great excuse to visit 2 of the local quilt stores as I needed backing, batting and binding and a treat for finishing scrubbing all the floors. I didn't need 11 new fat quarters but that didn't stop me purchasing them.

School fundraiser games

You know all those 'guess the...' games at school fairs? the weight of the cake, number of sweets in the jar etc, etc.  I have a new one for you.  Guess the outside temperature from Rose's outfit.

And today's temperature was...

... -14 degrees + windchill, but if you've got it I suppose you may as well flaunt it.