Signs of Spring #2 and #3

It's still fairly cold around here but it's been above freezing long enough for the pond to melt and now he can get at the fish without breaking his beak our friendly neighbourhood heron is back.

The snow is also pretty much gone now but the grass is yellow and the trees are bare and I think it's going to be a while before anything is visibly growing outside.

In order to feel less jealous of our English friends with their daffodils and whatnot already, Rose and I got crafty and made our own.  Not sure we'll win prizes for botanical correctness but they brighten the place up.

Something New

I've been meaning to try this with the kids for ages, the drop-in rock climbing sessions at Queen Elizabeth Park Community Centre.  It is obvious that it's in their blood as they both zipped up like the little monkeys that they are and kept going for nearly 2 hours.

Play Time

Yesterday we had a semi restful day, Jacob's friend came round and we stayed in pretty much all day.  Rose spent over an hour working on her extra school reading programme and finished level C so as a well earned reward I am now sitting in Lil Monkeys play centre drinking coffee while they hare round the place like loonies.  (Maybe a small adults gym area might be good here too but the chair is comfy and the coffee and WiFi are free so whatever).

Jacob said he wouldn't enjoy it but I'm not sure it turned out that way.

And here is the main reason Rose chose this place as her level C treat, jumping off something high into something squashy.  Cool.  In Victorian England, when I was growing up, a playground was a swing set or if you were lucky there might be a slide or a seesaw or something and there was probably Tarmac/asphalt or gravel or a tank of sharks or some other dangerous substance underneath.  Kids have it so good these days.

Maple Syrup 2015

Today we went to Mountsberg Conservation Area for our annual maple syrup experience and including lunch and wagon rides it definitely did not count as a spendthrift day out, but I think we made the most of it.

In the interest of avoiding waffle and repetition I shall list all the new stuff we learned.

March break originates from the time when farming parents kept their kids off school for the syrup harvest.

Jacob doesn't like the smell of woodsmoke.

Rose is too small for a kids yoke.

Jacob isn't.

Rose has the same wingspan as a red tailed hawk.

Jacob's is nearly as big as a turkey vulture.  See Mothers Day Two post from last May for a comparison.

Owls have 14 vertebrae in their necks.

A Peregrine falcons favourite food is defrosted rat.

Bison are not (very) scary from a distance behind a big fence.

Signs of Spring

Today was definitely not as warm as yeaterday, around 1 degree with a windchill of roughly -60, or at least that's what it felt like hanging around at a playground waiting for the kids to burn off some steam.  I wonder why they don't put in some treadmills or step machines or something for bored parents so we can keep warm and get some excercise too.

Here is a typical sign of the spring thaw along with returning bird life, bursting buds and broken ankles from falling into mammoth new potholes.  Huge black ex-snow drifts.  They were white until last week but the snow has started to melt out and left all the nasty cack behind.

As well as the big manky heap of stuff note Rose's dance and hope that Jacob didn't mistake it for a tasty chocolate snack.

Guess the Temperature

Today was Kirstin's first spendthrift day of March break.  Two free activities were planned with varying success.

After lunch we set off on a hike to the children's farm in Bronte Creek.  It must be the gazillianth time we've been there and jacob complained that the play barn was too full but there was a baby goat and one of the peacocks was trying to impress a bored looking female so the kids got to see its feathers in full display which was pretty cool.

So judging by this photo what temperature do you think it was?

The answer, a rather balmy 10 degrees.  Not quite t-shirt weather Rose but nearly there.

The way home took rather a long time because we went the back way and although I told the kids we weren't lost I didn't know where the hell we were for most of the way.  Oh well, it was good excercise.

After we got home and recovered we tried to go and see raptors (birds, not dinosaurs) up close and personal at the library.  Not sure if this is their natural habitat and we didn't get to find out as far too many people turned up so we couldn't get in.  Still, we got some books out and Rose met her friend from school so it wasn't an complete failure.

Testing

Yes I know, it's been a while and now you're just getting a rubbishy testing piece.

The reason is this.  I have acquired an iPhone for no money and am seeing if I can use it for blogging purposes.  So far it has taken me 4 days to work out how to upload a photo without having to email it to myself and do it from the iPad instead.  So much for a masters in computer science.

For testing purposes here are the kids at Art Gallery Burlington on Saturday.  Rose and Tom love these horrid sculptures, to the point where Rose once suggested that she and Daddy could live in their own house with these sculptures instead of me. Charming, it's so worth having children.