Marshwiggles See the Wiggles!

Quite a coincidence, the Wiggles and the Marshwiggles came to Toronto on the same weekend! In all seriousness, we knew ahead of time, and planned a family outing to see the Wiggles, as we have some Wiggles fans in our midst. Emmi still enjoys them, and Pip is old enough to behave well in a concert, and also to remember the experience. It seemed like a good time to go.

We started off with a supper at the Old Spaghetti Factory, and then walked over to the Rogers Centre, and found our seats.

Pretty soon, the Wiggles took the stage, along with a troupe of tumblers (acrobats). The concert was a lot of fun, and was enjoyed by all of us. The drive home was quiet, but since then I have been hearing snatches of "Fruit Salad.. yummy, yummy" and other well-known Wiggles tunes (the Big Red Car song is also popular) around the house!

Royal Winter Fair

The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair is on in Toronto! Our local homeschool group organized a school trip there, and so this week we loaded up the van and headed down the QEW to Exhibition Place!

Here is the group preparing to go in. We had Granny and Granddad with us, plus all six of us (David is taking the picture).

There is so much to see and do, that I am tempted to make two posts to show all the pictures we took! However, here are some highlights!

One of our first stops was an equestrian "detective" hunt where the children had to hunt for, and decipher, clues in a display. When they finished, and cracked the code, they were rewarded with very nice little backpacks. The backpacks had safety information inside, and were very useful to hold all the other cool things you get at the RWF, a good place to start! Here Tim is pondering a clue:

Another fun stop was a craft area where the children were able to paint a small figure of a horse.

We enjoyed the egg display, which (among other useful information) showed us how many eggs one chicken lays in a year. There were also 5 day-old chicks (cute!!) and real chickens, laying real eggs, to see.

There were many interactive displays which told us about farming, how plants grow, how to be healthy (etc. etc.). One neat game had us trying to raise a good crop (on a computer) by manipulating objects that represented water and different nutrients. Very engrossing!

And of course, there was more! Sheep shearing, cow (and goat) milking demonstrations, equestrian show jumping, SuperDogs..... it was a full day!

Fungi

Why did the mushroom like to get out and party?
He was one fun guy.


In our science program, we studied fungi recently. Did you know, that fungi are not plants? They don't produce their own food - but feed off other things. They are not animals either, they get their own kingdom. It seemed in order to get outside and find some of these amazing beings!

Granny and Granddad (our personal Field Botanists) accompanied us on a nature walk. The woods were beautiful with their carpet of bright leaves even though the day was dull.

It is neat to see "in the wild" something you have studied in a book. We also enjoyed just being together!!

Of course, there were lots of other things to do!

The variety and beauty of fungi is amazing. What an amazing God who chooses to beautify even the method He uses in the forest to dispose of dead material.

Cross-Country Race

Three of the Marshwiggles were entered in a cross-country race that took place this past weekend. There were over 200 homeschoolers who ran in the race! Tim and Ben were in the boys group ages 5-8 and had to run 800 m. Emmi was in the girls group, ages 9-12, and she had to run 1500 m. The day was cool, but not rainy, so good weather for running.

Here is Emmi with some of the friends we went with, doing a walk-through of her race.



Here is where the run was held, on a lovely, large farm.

Tim at the starting line. The line was much wider than this!

Everyone from our group seemed to have a good time, and the Marshwiggles all finished in the middle of their groups. Ben finished ahead of Tim; watch out for Ben - he's one fast guy!

More Montreal

Here are a few more pictures to entertain you all from our trip to Montreal. This is the very iconic Bio Sphere, we were able to ride here on our Bixi bikes, and also around the Gilles Villeneve Formula One racetrack - we felt so fast!

David enjoyed mugging for the camera in many of our pictures. Here he is with one of the well known mayors of Montreal, they seem to be thinking similar thoughts..

And here is David trying to get into the Bank of Montreal. Did they shrink my husband, or just build really big doors?

There was a fair bit of art about, and here is David with an interesting sculpture. There are lots more pictures, but I will treat you all to the shortened version of the "friends and relatives vacation slide show", and let you get back to something more useful.

Bixi!

So here is a neat idea! David and I were in Montreal this past weekend. While we were there, we used bicycles to get around quite a bit. In Montreal, they have a bicycle system called Bixi. Throughout the city there are Bixi stations, with a bunch of bikes at each station. You pay $5, and for a 24 hour period, you are allowed to use a Bixi for a short trip (less than 30 minutes) as many times as you like. It was very convenient, and fun too!


Here is David at a typical Bixi station.

And here he is on the Bixi bike. The seats are adjustable up and down, and there are front and rear lights that come on as soon as you start riding. There is a little basket-type thing in the front with a bungee, so you can put your bag there.

And now, David is at another Bixi station!

The stations are very close (only a few blocks apart), so in the section we were, it was always easy to find a Bixi station. Bixi seems to solve some of the problems of mass transportation, so here's hoping it catches on, and maybe we'll see Bixi's in other cities!

Thanksgiving with the Marshwiggles

Happy Thanksgiving! Let us give thanks to the Lord for all the good things He has blessed us with! We were blessed to have a lovely day, with family, and a great big meal. Here are a few scenes from our Thanksgiving!

Welcome to our home!

The happy occupants of the home:

Our centrepiece for the meal, we're still able to get some flowers from the garden!

The decoration as you come in, I got this idea from a magazine and thought it worked out pretty well!