June The Busiest Month of the Year

Once I finished teaching piano lessons I thought life would slow down a bit. Boy was I wrong. Life seemed to speed up. Soccer, Baseball, Horsebackriding, recitals, year end facilitator meetings, year end parties, and swimming lessons. I am looking forward to July. Hopefully there will be some lazy days.

We visited Helen Schuler Coulee Center last week and enjoyed an hour stroll through the Old Man River Bottom. The above picture is under the train bridge. We went with my sister Kristina and her two daughters, (Brooklyn is in the picture) and my mom. It is a beautiful area and the kids really enjoyed themselves. We had visited the same area a month before when the leaf buds were just coming out on the branches and everything was still brown. What a difference a month and some rain makes.

This is a picture of a wild rose. These roses are the official provincial flower of Alberta. I find them so beautiful. I found them near the entrance of the center.

On June 20, Westwind Alternate School held a track meet and a year end pool picnic. Our kids had a great time and did very well. In this picture Adam is getting ready to do the Long Jump. He ended up with a first place ribbon.

Now we are nearing July 1st which is a big deal in our little town. Our town's birthday as well as our country's. Lots of people come home and the town nearly doubles. After that Summer Games (Adam is on the under8 soccer team), then a trip to Miami. I'm sure I will enjoy a few lazy days on the beach watching Adam and Jarett play in the ocean.

Earth Day Adventures

On April 22, 2008 a few homeschooling families got together to celebrate Earth Day. We went on a service race, collecting recycling from our neighbors with the intent of depositing the recycling at the Raymond Recycling Trailer. When we went to the trailer it was full. It remained full for 3 weeks while the large amount of recycling stayed in my driveway. When we were finally able to take the recycling to the trailer we found the surrounding area very dirty. Many weeks of the trailer being full and people leaving their recycling out of the trailer seemed to be the cause of the mess. As a group we decided to clean it up.

The Haynes', Witbecks and Burtons worked together to make the area more fresh.

For the most part, the kids played and the moms worked but they did begin to chip in near the end.

The finished product. It felt great to do something nice for our town.

Writing On Stone Provincial Park

Yesterday, May31,2008, we travelled about an hour east and spent the afternoon at Writing On Stone Provincial Park. They have a new interpretive center which is fantastic. A lot of learning occurred and the kids had a great time exploring the hoodoos and playing in the Milk River. We went with one of our best family friends, THE SIMPSONS, as well as Carter's good friend Carson Dudley. It was a fantastic way to spend a beautiful Saturday afternoon.