Huber Hof Academy

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Nov. 3, 2009

2010 Olympic Torch Relay

Posted in Field Trips

With all of the excitement that has been building on the news about the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay starting in Victoria and making its way up Vancouver Island, I just had to take the kids to see it in real life :) Plus I have to admit that I really wanted to see it myself *grin*. So we made the trip to Campbell River and found ourselves a nice little spot to hang out near the 50th parallel to wait for the runners. As it neared there were tons of police vehicles monitoring the traffic and then the big red Coca Cola truck was the first thing to come into view :)

As the Coca Cola truck was passing by us they started hopping off of it and gave all 3 kids flags & these really cool coke bottles that have fibre optics in them so they randomly change colors from green to blue to red. They were a BIG hit in the car on the way home in the dark *grin*.

Next vehicle in the relay entourage was the RBC (Royal Bank of Canada) truck pumping out the tunes while they danced around on it. It was like being at a parade *grin*.

Once the sponsors had gone by we could finally see the flame! At first all we could see was fire floating above the heads of others watching ahead of us and then it finally came into full view. That baby was really burning! I think the fact that it was starting to get dark really made it look even more impressive than what we had seen on tv :)

And there it goes. It was only seconds from the time it came into view to the time it went past us but it was so worth it to see the excitement on the kids faces as it burned right in front of them :) We never made it to the new Spirit Square downtown Campbell River where the torch finally ended by lighting the cauldron on stage because the crowds were so fierce but we found a nice little spot right in front of the fireworks display *grin*. It'll be great memories for all of us as we may never get the chance to see it again :)

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Oct. 29, 2009

Sausage & Bean Soup ~ Recipe

Posted in Kitchen and Recipes

With the snowy cool weather upon us I thought it would be the perfect time to share a recipe for one of my favorite soups :) I actually took these photos during the summer months when I had an odd hankering for hot soup during a heat spell! LOL

Ingredients:

Roast chicken bones left after meal
1 whole head of garlic
2 or 3 ribs of celery
3 or 4 carrots
5 onions

1/2 pound of bacon
6 sausages
pepper & salt
basil

Start by grabbing a large stock or soup pot and add your chicken bones, peeled carrots & onions and the entire head of garlic. I love to cut the head of garlic horizontally across the middle so that it opens up the making it even easier for that wonderful flavor to escape. Don't worry about the skin on the garlic as you are going to strain it all out before finishing your soup :)

Once you have all of your veggies in your pot fill it until the water level is just under the rim and place it on the stove. Turn the heat on high until it comes to a boil. As soon as it boils you can put on a lid and turn it down to low so that it can gently bubble away for a couple of hours to infuse your water with all of the yummy flavors.

While you are waiting for you chicken stock to cook you can start to get your meat ready for frying. Take your half pound of bacon and slice it up. I cut mine about a 1/4 inch thick but you can do it thicker if you like. There are no rules to how chunky your bacon has to be!

I love using our homemade sausage for this soup which is a garlicky beef & pork blend but you can pick up any of your favorite flavors at your butcher. If you want a soup with a little bit of a kick you may want to find yourself some spicy Italian sausages! To prepare your sausage for frying take a sharp knife and slice through the outer casing and peel it off of each of the sausages.

So it's been a couple of hours or perhaps an entire afternoon if you got busy and forgot about your simmering stock

, but now it's time to strain it. Taking your largest colander and another large soup pot, place the colander into the empty soup pot and pour the hot stock into it. Be very careful trying not to splash any of the hot liquid onto yourself. Quite often I actually wear my oven mitts when I do this to protect my hands from splashes and steam burns :) Let your colander drain a couple of extra minutes to catch the final drips of stock and then place both the stock and colander of bits to the side for later. If you have chickens the boiled veggie leftovers is a delicious treat for them :)

Now that your soup pot is empty again, return it back to the stove and add your chopped bacon and sausages to it. You are going to fry them right in your soup pot. That way you won't loose any of the good flavors. Fry until nice and brown :)

As soon as you have browned your meat you can add your homemade chicken stock and all that's left to do is to season it with salt and pepper. I LOVE adding basil and usually add about 3 tablespoons of dried basil as I don't have any fresh at this time of year, but that's not set in stone and if you hate basil just leave it out and add your favorite spices :)

Mmmm, so delicious and I think I've got some fresh Portuguese rolls that are just begging to be dipped in it *grin*.

Enjoy!

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Aug. 26, 2009

A Special 6th Birthday Party

Posted in Family

Oh my how the years are just flying by! My little girl turned six last week and it seems like it was just yesterday that I was holding her in my arms for the first time, gazing at her pudgy little cheeks as they spilled over the top of the white flannel blankie that the nurses had swaddled her so snugly in :)

Well those days are definitely behind us but have been replaced with a little lady in training which is oh so much fun *grin*.

And of course every young miss loves a tea party! So lucky us Omi has a lovely gazebo in her garden where she regularly serves tea and goodies to guests and was L's first choice as birthday party central!

You've just got to love summer birthdays to with yummy-o fruit kabobs...

veggies & dip galore all courtesy of the vegetable garden...

and of course the dainty little tea sandwiches, deviled eggs and summer cucumber salad *grin*. I think she's got the rest of us a tad bit jealous since we're a bunch of December/January/February babies! Nothing but snowballs and ice cream cake for us LOL.

It was such a special day for a special 6 year old.
Happy Birthday baby :)

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Aug. 24, 2009

Great Giveaway Blog ~ Loaded with tons of kids gear to win!

Posted in Fun Stuff

I wanted to take moment and share about a local island gal that I've come to know online that has started a fun giveaway blog... hence the Fun & Funky Mommy blog name *grin*.

As a former children's consignment store owner and a mom she's always loved children's stuff. Be it toys, clothes or neat little inventions to make daily life easier, safer or just more fun she's been searching for it and she's finding it!!

So she started her new blog earlier this year to get the word out about all of the great items that both big and small companies are making and especially to share with everyone what all of those very talented mom's out there are making. The icing on the cake though is that she's offering most of it FREE to all of you through giveaways!

A few of her current giveaways are:

Easy Daisies Magnetic Fridge Schedules..... No Slippy Hair Clippy hair clips

Soft Star Shoes

Babble Baby Wear

And of course some of my RosyUndPosy cloth sandwich and snack bags :)

So make sure you hop on over and check out all of these great giveaways plus more and don't forget to check out her sidebar because there are loads of great coupon codes to use as well!

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Aug. 24, 2009

Chocolate Zucchini Cake Recipe ~ Delicious!!

Posted in Kitchen and Recipes

Here it is! I've finally made it back to my blog to share my Chocolate Zucchini cake recipe *grin*. I don't know how many of these we've eaten so far this summer but it definitely isn't helping me out with my quest to shrink my waistline! LOL.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup olive oil
1 3/4 cups sugar

Cream the above ingredients together and then add:

2 eggs one at a time
1/2 cup sour milk
2 1/2 cups white flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. cloves
1 cup walnuts (optional)
1/2 - 1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups grated zucchini

What I usually do is sift all of the dry ingredients together after I've added my two eggs to the creamed butter and then I alternate adding little bits of the dry ingredients and the sour milk so that it doesn't get to dry :) And then finally I stir in the zucchini, chocolate chips and nuts if you're using them :)

Pour it all into a well greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan and bake at 325* F for approximately 40 - 45 minutes or until your knife comes out clean.

Most of the time half of it is gone before it even has a chance to cool down properly! *grin*

Enjoy!

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Aug. 21, 2009

SIGG Water Bottles : The Shameful Truth...They Knew They Contained BPA

Posted in Family

Okay, so I had a nice warm and fuzzy post all ready to be typed up about our week and my chocolate zucchini cake recipe but I had to set it aside momentarily to share some shocking news about SIGG water bottles and the fact that they had been using BPA (Bisphenol A) a hormone disrupting chemical in the liner of their bottles!

When BPA first became big headlines alerting everyone to the unsafe amounts of it that were leaching into our children's plastic baby bottles, water cups and more I went on a quest to find a safer alternative to the regular plastic drink cups for all three of my children.

The Swiss company SIGG was one of the front runners as a safe choice for children's drink bottles so of course I bought one. I was concerned that they were made of aluminum but was assured that they were completely safe as they had a protective coating which would keep the liquids from coming in contact with the aluminum and it was BPA FREE.

It now turns out that all of those SIGG water bottles that we all snapped up prior to August 2008 did in fact contain a water‐based epoxy liner which contained BPA!!

But that's not the real kicker...

Why have they been sitting on this knowledge since August 2008 which was when Sigg quietly changed the formulation last year to their new "next generation 'EcoCare' liner," which is "100% free of BPA, phthalates, BADGE, BFDGE, and NOGE"? Shouldn't this have been made public knowledge right away so that we could have stopped purchasing the older bottles that were still being sold with the BPA liners or at least made an informed descision as to which liner we really wanted to trust our children's beverages to be served in?? I sure think it should have been!

If you're not sure what bottle liner your SIGG bottle has there is a really handy photo over at Z-Recommends illustrating the older liner that is shiny and brassy looking versus the new EcoCare liner that is a creamy color. Unfortunately ours is definitely an older model :( You can also read more of the nitty gritty details behind all of this contraversy there.

Now to be fair SIGG claims that these liners have been tested and that they do not actually leach any BPA but if you were buying new bottles to avoid BPA entirely why in the world would you take a chance and purchase anything with it?!

Sorry SIGG....

Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me. I just don't think I can trust you anymore.

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Aug. 20, 2009

Fun Quiz Time

Posted in Fun Stuff

I haven't done a quiz in quite some time so when I saw it over at eclecticeducation's blog I just had to try it out *grin*. Turns out I have quite an eclectic way of speaking to! Only half of the words that come out of my mouth are normal and the others are slightly wacky since I'm not even American. LOL
Let me know how your turns out!

You Speak General American English!

50% General American English

25% Yankee

20% Dixie

5% Upper Midwestern

0% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

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Aug. 10, 2009

Blueberry Zucchini Muffins ~ Recipe

Posted in Kitchen and Recipes

Everyone knows that you only need one zucchini plant to provide you and usually your neighbor with a non stop supply of the delicious veggie for cakes, muffins, and baked or fried treats! This is the case for my mom and we are reaping the benefits with an abundance of delicious zucchini to eat :)

So far we've had chocolate zucchini cake, stir fried zucchini, zucchini sticks with dip, zucchini breaded & fried with dill dipping sauce and now delicious muffins. I don't know what it is but we never seem to tire of it *grin*.

While blog hopping the other night I came across this great recipe for zucchini muffins with blueberries and a delicious hint of lemon :) The kids LOVED them! I must say though it seemed to take me a good 15 minutes longer though to get mine to cook right through the middle. Just to much blueberry juice in there. LOL.

In all the hub bub of the kids watching them cook and come out of the oven I forgot to take a photo of them finished and there wasn't one left either. Oh well, next time :)

I've got another package of zucchini in the freezer that I'm going to pull out for cake tomorrow. We couldn't keep up with the last lot of them and a great way to keep your zucchini for baking at a later date is to grate it up and freeze it in ziploc bags :) Works perfectly!

How about you, do you have a favorite zucchini recipe?

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Aug. 8, 2009

Hairstyle Fun ~ Coronet or Crown Braiding

Posted in Fun Stuff

L's hair is now past her waist and it can't be left down anymore. It's either in her food or flying in her eyes and just generally in the way *grin*. So with all of this hot weather we have been having I've been playing around with it and practicing my french braiding :)

Normally I just do a plain french braid straight down her back but I adore the old fashioned crown or coronet french braiding that braids the hair in a circle on top of the head. At first I didn't realize that there was a trick to getting a perfect circle around the top of her head so I french braided it like normal, taking hair from both sides of the braid and just making sure that I continued around the perimeter of her head to keep it pretty circular like in the top photo.

But then I did some digging around on YouTube and found some great videos on coronet braiding and learned the secret trick! *grin*. It's called a Lace Braid. Instead of taking hair from both sides of the french braid like you normally do you only take hair from the bottom side of the braid and leave the hair in the center of the head alone. Where you would normally grab an additional chunk of hair from the center of the head you just take that strand and cross it over while trying to keep the center hair nice and smooth. As you can see in my photos above and below I need to work on the neatness factor. LOL

It creates a beautiful braid that pops up slightly and creates a perfect pocket along the inside so that when you have finished your braid you can swirl it around the original braid and tuck it nicely in underneath :) I tacked it in with a few bobby pins so that it wouldn't come loose and it held beautifully for her all day and she's pretty tough to keep looking tidy with all of the princess and fairy costume changes she makes in a day!

I've linked to a couple of the videos that I found helpful below in case you are new to lace braiding like me and you really have to check out this site called Dreamweaver Braiding!! It has some of the most gorgeous braids and instructions to :)

This one shows the difference between French Braiding & Dutch Braiding. French braids blend into your hair and Dutch braids actually pop out of the hair for an entirely different look.

This one shows how to do a Coronet Braid using the lace braid technique. She actually does it in a Dutch braid but I used the regular french braid method for the lace braid I did on L in the above photo and it helped immensely to see it in action.

And this last one is a fun one showing an Elizabethan hair taping hair style :) I'm going to try this one next as it's super cute with the ribbon wound around the braid.

Happy braiding!

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Aug. 4, 2009

Storing Dill for Pickling

Posted in Kitchen and Recipes

Canning season is rapidly approaching and I can't believe that it's August already!! The pickling cukes have exploded and it's time for dill pickles and my mom's fantastic green relish that I use in everything LOL. So in anticipation of bushels of cukes I've started harvesting dill so that I won't be short when I need it :)

No need to dry it or have it on hand fresh for pickling cucumbers, just pick your stalks now if they're ready and then strip off the heads and all other leafy parts leaving behind the hard stems and place inside a large glass jar. It freezes beautifully!! I've made the mistake in the past of waiting until I was ready to can and then not having enough dill and not being able to find any left at the farmers market because everyone had already snatched up the last of it :( So this is a perfect way to make sure I'm ready at all times *grin*. Make sure you store it in a glass jar though because it traps the strong dilly smell inside. If you use plastic the smell will infiltrate your entire freezer and make everything taste slightly like dill :)

Of course after all that hard work *wink* we had to have a coffee break! Shhh... don't tell my husband that I secretly eat chocolate zucchini cake when I visit my mom's house for coffee! LOL

I love having my little mommy time with my mommy *grin*. Plus by the time I've had 2 or 3 cups of coffee I've got such a caffeine infusion going on that I come home ready to tackle any job that is waiting for me! That can be a really good thing when it's time to tackle the laundry mountain! LOL

How about you? Do you have a special routine that restores your spirit and readies you to tackle your daily duties?

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Jul. 31, 2009

Amazing FREE Preview of 45 Sylvan Dell Children's Books

Posted in Book and Curriculum Reviews

I just LOVE books and what's equally exciting is when books & free are combined together *grin*.

Sylvan Dell Publishing has an amazing assortment of fantastic children's books for the elementary aged crowd! They're beautifully illustrated and at the end of each book is a little Q&A or information section where you can delve deeper into some of the topics that were covered while reading :)

So when I heard that they were offering to let the public preview them in their new interactive ebook format I couldn't wait to check them out!! You have access to 45 great titles, you can view them in either manual mode or auto-flip, and you have the choice to listen to them in either English or Spanish (more languages on the way later).

I just have to say that I am totally crazy about the auto-flip mode *grin*. You select the book you want, the language you want it read in and click on auto-flip and it reads the book to your child! Not that I think it's great that I don't have to read anymore *wink* but from a multi-tasking perspective when you have different aged children learning at home this could be a wonderful tool to use during times when you need to do a little one on one work with a different child. You can set the little ones up with the story book to listen to while you tackle some hard math equations with another child :)

Another perk to ebooks is that they are so much more economical than purchasing the real thing. For me that's a hard one because most of the time I really love to have the book in my hands opposed to sitting at the computer but this is definitely a cost cutter and makes it more accessible to more families and the language choices could be a fun way to practice language skills as you learn a second language :)

Okay enough babbling LOL. I'm sure you're thinking where's the link already!! Pop on over the the LOG IN page and you'll find the code already typed in. All you need to do is hit the 'validate access code' button and you're in :) And don't worry, you have plenty of time to get there and check them out as many of you are probably on summer holidays right now :) You've got until October 31st, 2009 to take advantage of this great trial!

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Jul. 30, 2009

A Visit To Daddy's Tug

Posted in Family

Well it's another scorcher of a day here and I don't know if I can make it another week at these temperatures!! We checked the thermometer outside a moment ago and it's 35 degrees in the shade. YIKES! We are so not used to this weather here :( It's normally around 23 degrees so this is a bit of a body shock LOL.

I had to make a trip to the post office this morning so we decided to make good use of the cooler morning air and loaded into the car nice and early, and since Hubby was heading down to his tug to finish his tow plan and fax in log sheets we thought we'd tag along with him to :)

The kids just love going onto the tug and as soon as we hit the deck they were scrambling into the wheel house! You might have thought they would be interested in checking out the radios, watching other boats or spinning the giant ship's wheel.... nope, the first place they went to was the snack cupboard! LOL

It was so funny. There was M & L with their heads nearly right inside the cupboard looking for something good to eat :)

We weren't there very long before it started to get noticeably warmer and it was time to head home again. As L was making the trek up the steep ramp from the docks I noticed that she was wearing rubber boots!! Crazy kid. Here she's trying to dress cool and then she sticks hot boots on her feet :)

How about you, how are you beating the heat today? We love to eat frozen grapes & blueberries and tons of icy fruit smoothies. As I type this I think I'm going to head off and make one now *grin*.

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Jul. 29, 2009

Check Out My New Blog Template!!

Posted in Fun Stuff

I'm so excited... I finally completed my blog makeover that I started last year *grin* I know that some of you only read your favorite blogs through RSS feeds or Google Reader so I thought I'd write a little entry and invite you to pop over to my blog and let me know how you like it :)

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Jul. 27, 2009

Popsicle Binoculars ~ Craft

Posted in Fun Stuff

L was watching a kids show a while back and they were making toilet paper tube binoculars and ever since then she has been dying to make them *grin*. This is one unbelievably easy craft but I put a bit of a spin on it by using some brightly colored popsicle sticks to decorate them with plus they make them really sturdy!!

Supplies needed:

Hot glue gun
Toilet paper tubes
Colored popsicle sticks

Our popsicle sticks were a bit larger than our toilet paper tubes so I snipped them all to the same size as the tubes and we hot glued each stick individually around the tube making sure the snipped straight edges of the popsicle sticks were flush with one end of the tube :)

After we had completed gluing our popsicle sticks to two of the toilet paper tubes we ran a line of glue down one of the popsicle sticks like above....

and then stuck another one to it to form our binoculars. They are so darn cute with their bright colors and the popsicle sticks make them stiff enough that M who's 3 can play rough with them and so far they are holding up like new! If he can use them without wrecking them then it's a good thing because he's a bit of a destructo! LOL

I see you :)

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Jul. 26, 2009

A Devine Wedding

Posted in Family

On Friday my mom and I traveled to the Sunshine Coast to attend my cousin's wedding :) I was really excited to go because she is so very special to me. We used to spend our summer's together when we were little either at her house or mine which were an absolute riot, and there were oh so many family get togethers! Over the years though as we grew older, graduated school and moved onto adulthood our visits began to grow more sparse and we hadn't actually seen each other in quite some time but I was thrilled to hear that she had met someone really special :)

While she was living in Korea with friends teaching English as a second language she met Mr. Devine. Yes, that really is his last name *grin*, and I guess the rest is history! It was the nicest ceremony that I have ever been to. The pastor that married them was a long time family friend and he made it extra personal and touching as he spoke to them and letting them know what special gifts from the Lord that they were to each other :) Both of the mothers read from the bible to them, the bride even sang a song as the groom played the guitar and they had written special vows to read to each other with the groom ending his by saying he'd lay down his life for her. Awww... how romantic :)

Her dad had surprised her with a vintage car that would take them along with the rest of the bridal party for their photos. It was so cute to see them all in it cruising slowly down the street with their parasols up *grin*.

When they returned from all of the photo taking there was a small gathering with all of their closest friends and family for lunch, speeches & toasts, fun trivia games and even some Irish dancing as the groom is Irish :) They couldn't have asked for a lovlier day as it was all held in her mom and dad's backyard which made a lovely backdrop for the celebration.

The following quote was shared at the wedding and it was so perfect that I wanted to share it with all of you as well :)

Love....
Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling… Knowledge can last, principles can last, habits can last; but feelings come and go… But, of course, ceasing to be “in love” need not mean ceasing to love. Love in this second sense — love as distinct from “being in love” — is not merely a feeling. It is a deep unity, maintained by the will and deliberately strengthened by habit; reinforced by the grace which both partners ask, and receive, from God… “Being in love” first moved them to promise fidelity: this quieter love enables them to keep the promise. It is on this love that the engine of marriage is run: being in love was the explosion that started it.

-CS Lewis

Joined as one.... God's special gift to one another. How beautiful :)

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Jul. 23, 2009

Our Garden

Posted in Life on the farm

We are enjoying our garden so much this summer and what makes it extra special for the kids this year is that they did ALL the planting!! My oldest son K is 10 and wanted to spearhead the task as being garden manager this year *grin*. Of course there were no complaints from me! LOL. So he did all the work and the smaller two helped with planting and some weeding as well.

Here's one of the mammoth broccoli heads that we have been enjoying for dinner every night. They are so sweet and tender.... just like candy :) Nobody can be a vegetable hater when it comes right out of the soil in your own backyard. The difference in taste is immeasurable compared to what we pick up at the grocery stores and children are so much more eager to eat something they had a hand in growing *grin*.

We haven't been able to keep up with the butter crunch lettuce we planted. It's growing much to quickly for us, but if you look closely you can see that the pesky bugs have been enjoying it by all of the little nibbles they have made in the leaves!

Our cabbage is just starting to ball up now and form little mini heads and the beans are flowering but for some reason I don't have photos of those or the carrots & turnips yet :)

How's your garden growing this year?

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Jul. 22, 2009

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Program.....

Posted in Homeschooling

...... to bring you this super exciting announcement. I'm back!! *grin* After my not quite intentional blogging hiatus I'm going to start updating my HSB blog again. Woohoo! LOL

I have really missed catching up with all of my great HSB friends plus all of you other fantastic visitors that frequent my blog and sharing what we've been up to. You might have already noticed but if not I've added a handful of new entries today below this one to help bring everyone up to speed on some of the activities we've been doing for the last couple of months and I have a new blog look in the works behind the scenes to :)

Our days have been chocked full of nature outings, weekly museum field trips, mass amounts of camping and generally silliness *grin*. On top of all that I've also decided to start my own home based business called 'RosyUndPosy' and have been selling eco friendly reusable cotton bags for lunches, the market, produce and more! I'm really passionate about creating everyday items that will help reduce all of the plastic waste we throw into our landfills everyday :)

Keep an eye on my blog as I'm planning to share some of my bags with all of you next month!!! I just love to share eco-goodness *grin*.

Phew! My blogging skills are a bit rusty but I'm ready to go full steam ahead and I'm really looking forward to the start of the upcoming school year. I've been flipping through my homeschool catgalogues and I've picked some good old favorites and we're trying some new stuff this year to which will be fun to share with all of you :)

How about you... have you started to think about September yet or is swimming and sunbathing the main priority still? LOL.

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Jul. 5, 2009

Art in the Park ~ Chainsaw Carvings

Posted in Art Appreciation

Today was the annual Art in the Park event in our hometown and it's always lots of fun :) There is live music, face painting, lunch, craft vendors and of course the main highlight... the chainsaw carvers!! There were three of them this weekend and when we arrived just after lunch they were in full swing. I just loved the carving above with its big rock cod fish swimming around the mountain of rocks. It's amazing that this carving started with a giant cedar log and was transformed into a fantastic statue all with the use of a chainsaw!

Bears are a very popular animal to carve and this one is looking really great.

There's much more to it than just wildly carving away at a log to! This fellow is actually consulting a book with a photo of a bear and using it to mark his next chainsaw cuts :)

Another amazing carving of a river otter.

Just look at the detail in the work. He's using his chainsaw to define the otter's fur. You've got to be awful careful, one slip of those spinning teeth and you might cut off a vital part of your sculpture!

This mother wolf and her pups was one of many carvings that were on site today and available for purchase. They cost a pretty penny but wouldn't you just love one of them in your yard?!

This is one of the chainsaw carvings done in previous years. We love to wander through the park and check out all of the older carvings :) Campbell River also has a really great chainsaw carving competition that takes place around Canada Day and there are TONS of carvers to watch work. After it is all finished the carvings are placed around the city. It's fun to come across them in different spots throughout the year :)

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Jul. 2, 2009

Happy Canada Day!

Posted in Family

Happy belated Canada Day!!!

This year we decided to skip town and head out to the Quinsam Campground for Canada Day :) I'm just loving all of the great local campsites nearby that teleport you directly into nature. Not just those seaside campgrounds with open fields and cramped quarters amongst the 1oo's....

No, these spots are in densely forested areas with plenty of space between you and your neighbors and plenty of critters to spy on *grin*. And it just happened that this one was a huckleberry goldmine! As soon as the kids spotted them they were running with bowls picking them for their dessert, not to many actually lasted until dessert time though LOL.

On Canada Day we headed into town to take in some of the festivities. There were tons of vendors along the foreshore with crafts, food, face painting and more.

After scorching ourselves in the sun for a couple of hours we found some shade by the fisherman's wharf and waited for the parade to start : )

It's Smokey the Bear! Remember 'Only YOU can prevent forest fires'

These girls were hilarious in their bumper boats! I think they were part of the swimming pool float. You can see more photos of the parade HERE.

Hope everyone had a great Canada Day!

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Jun. 30, 2009

Whale Watching ~ Telegraph Cove (Tons of Photos)

Posted in Nature Journaling and Notebooking

A little over a month ago I was presented with the opportunity to go on a complimentary whale watching excursion with Stubbs Island Whale Watching that operates out of Telegraph Cove and you can bet your bottom I was jumping for joy. Well the day finally arrived and on Sunday I made the trek north along with my dad :)

We arrived an hour before our departure time of 1pm which gave us plenty of time to enjoy lunch at the Killer Whale Cafe which is located at the end of the boardwalk and overlooking the marina.

The food was amazing! With a hot plate of halibut and chips and great coffee we were set :)

Check out the boarding pass they give you. Great way to conserve on wasted paper to! The laminated card is about the size of your drivers license and has all of the specs on the boat they use for the tour. When you go to get on you hand it to the captain and everyone shares where they are from. It's a great way to find out where everyone is visiting from :)

There were tons of harbour seals sunning themselves on the rocks. Some of them had pups with them as well which was fun to see the babies :)

Not to far out of Telegraph Cove we got to see a Minke Whale. They are the 2nd smallest baleen cetacean in the world, extremely fast and make long irregular dives so it was hard to keep track of him.

Above you can see what the Minke Whale would look like if we'd had a chance to see more of him out of the water, but we got to smell his horrible bad breath!! Nicknamed Stinky Minke, this one definitely lived up to his name and fouled the air around us *grin*.

I took this photo after we left Telegraph Cove and headed towards Blackfish Sound. It is absolutely gorgeous through the Plumper Islands!! I get to see some of it from time to time when I go on Dh's tugboat or little excursions like this whale watching trip but I could be here every day!

On one of the rocky beaches some of the onlookers observed this great and well fed Black Bear. Just look at the size of his legs! The captain of the boat took us in closer and cut the engines so that we could drift quietly nearby and watch.

We get to see lots of black bears in our backyard at home all year long, but what was so interesting about this particular bear was the way it was rolling over huge bolders to get at the crabs and little fish left behind after the tide had gone out. You can see, he climbed right over top of it and then rolled it backwards! It was treating itself to a little seafood buffet :)

Nest we came upon a group of 4 Killer Whales heading towards the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve. They were identified as being part of the A Pod and it was so cute to see because there was a mother and her calf in the group!

Again when we had caught up to them while keeping a safe distance from them, the captain cut the engines to the boat so that we could drift silently and revel in their magnificent beauty. We also got to listen to them talking with the use of a hydrophone which is an underwater microphone.

As a child we used to go fishing in a little 12 foot aluminum boat out of Kelsey Bay and we were always guaranteed to come across the orcas. I remember being terrified and thrilled at the same time as they would swim close to our boat so it was fantastic to be so close to them again :)

The calf was quite
rambunctious and did quite a bit of playing around with its mother :) After we watched them for while we turned around and started heading back again.

This is one of the Orca Lab volunteer run research stations located on Cracroft Point where the Johnstone Strait and Blackney Passage merge. Orca Lab was founded by Dr. Paul Spong in 1970 and they monitor the killer whale (orca) movements and habits by microphone and visuals.

It was absolutely gorgeous when the sun came out. At this point the blue sky was reflecting on the ocean surface turning it a beautiful blue :) I'm pretty sure when I took this photo we were in Blackfish Sound looking towards Blackney Passage.

Just as we were heading back to Telegraph Cove we spotted a Humpback whale over by Malcolm Island!!! Amazing giant creatures. It moved so slowly as it humped up and down through the water. We watched it for a bit and then it seemed to disapear. A couple of minutes later though we heard a loud whoosh of air and a spray of misted water blowing out of the ocean surface as it started to surface again :)

As we followed along behind the Humpback Whale we were really hoping that it would raise its tail out of the water as they have massive tails! It never did but when I returned home and looked at my photos I realized that I had caught a photo of its blowhole. Look at it, isn't it amazing?! Did you know that these behemoths can take in 20,000 litres of water into their mouths at one time when they are feeding? So cool!

More great scenery!

There were tons of Bald Eagles all over to, so of course I had to snap some photos of them to *grin*.

Four hours later we were heading back to the Telegraph Cove marina. Our whale watching excursion was ending and it had been so much fun :) What a fantastic afternoon!! If you ever get a chance to visit Telegraph Cove I highly recommend taking a trip whale watching with Stubbs. It's something you definitely won't forget :) Me, well I'm trying to talk hubby into buying a great little house I saw for sale out in Blackfish Sound. I would definitely pick up and move there if I had the chance!

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~About Me~

Hello from Canada! I am a homeschooling mom to 3 very rambunctious children ages 10, 6 & 3 years old while holding down the fort as tug boat captain 'Dad' sails the seven seas *grin*. We're located on 40 acres in a tiny rural community in beautiful British Columbia and this is my quirky journal about our homeschool journey, running my home based business 'RosyUndPosy' making 'Eco Friendly Bags 4 Green Living', and everyday life home on the farm. Hope you enjoy your visit :)

Looking East down Race and Current Passages to Helmcken Island

Want to have a peak at what the weather looks like here today? Here's a cam showing the lovely scenic view looking east down Johnstone Strait past Helmcken & Hardwicke Islands.

Looking North across Johnstone Strait to Hardwicke Island

And this one is looking north across Johnstone Strait towards Hardwicke Island. Hit the refresh button on your browser to update the picture and make sure you stop by during daylight hours :)