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Nov. 3, 2009

2010 Olympic Torch Relay

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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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Mar. 13, 2009

Captain George Vancouver ~ A Voyage of Discovery

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Today our homeschool group had a field trip to our local museum where we learned about Captain George Vancouver and the discovery of Vancouver Island :)

The first part of our lesson was learning about how the explorers were able to chart the new land that they found by using a lead line. If you are not familiar with what a lead line is it's just a heavy piece of lead tied to a rope that was dropped over the side of the ship until it hit the bottom of the ocean floor.

You can tell when it has stopped going because it no longer pulls heavily on the rope once it is sitting on the ground. From there they would inspect the symbols or knots on their ropes as they pulled the line back in to determine just how deep that section of the ocean was :)

Each of the children had a graph that they filled out showing the depth around the balcony of the museum. What a great little exercise! As we were outside the children learned that there were three major players when Vancouver Island was discovered in 1792. The Russians, the English, and the Spaniards and each of them hoped to find the Northwest Passage. It was a confusing time for the Native Americans who had already been on the land for 10,000 - 12,000 years. There were so many foreign languages being spoken that they couldn't understand a word of and the Spanish were erecting these HUGE wooden crosses all over that represented their claim to certain areas of land.

I think the highlight of the whole program was when the children got to try writing with quill pens and ink :)

There were two stations set up and everyone had their own quill pen and paper where they wrote entries into their ships log just like Captain George Vancouver would have done in his log while charting the waters around Vancouver Island on his ship aptly named the Discovery.

Quill pens were usually made from goose feathers that had been boiled to clean and remove all of the oils from them and then while still soft the tips were shaped and trimmed into the traditional quill pen tip.

To finish off our visit the children were given a 'treat'. *grin* I'm not sure exactly how much of a treat it was though. LOL. They all got to try a little bit of sauerkraut!

When the explorers and their crew were out at sea for months on end their food sources were very limited and they had little to no access to fresh fruit. With the absence of vitamin C many of them developed scurvy and died from it as a result.

There were some remedies that they tried to use to prevent it such as boiling down oxen bones until they rendered a gelatinous goop that was thought to cure the scurvy, but sauerkraut proved to be the most successful preventative since it is very rich in vitamin c. The problem was that it was not very tasty and the crew wouldn't eat it!! So Captain George Vancouver tricked his crew into eating it! He made it known that only the highest ranked officers were allowed to eat the sauerkraut and that it was off limits to the rest of the crew. Well this of course made them extremely jealous that they weren't allowed it and with George's plan working perfectly he pretended to give in to their pleas for it and thus his entire ship's crew was eating something vital to keeping scurvy at bay :) Pretty smart guy!

I hope you had fun following along with our Voyage of Discovery field trip :)

Blessings,

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Feb. 7, 2009

A Very Special Bakery Tour

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Friday afternoon our homeschool group met at a local bakery in town for a tour, but it wasn't just any tour! Friday also happened to be K's 10th birthday and we had set up the tour so that the children would get to see a cake get decorated and eat it which was also going to double as a surprise birthday cake for K *grin*.

All 20 of us squeezed into the kitchen and got to see the super huge oven, cooper boxes and where they made the breads and pastries. The first worker actually arrives at the bakery at 1am to get the breads started rising and then at 3am the head baker arrives to help get the rest of the pastries and such made. On any given morning he said that you could walk into the kitchen and find over a 1000 pastry items on the big carts and so much bread dough on the work board that there would barely be a bare spot :) I can't imagine going to work at 1am... I'm just heading off to be at that time usually! LOL.

Here are 2 of the giant Hobart mixers that they use. Wouldn't you just love to have one of those on bread day?! I sure wish I had one. In the summer when I was selling at the market I was making 22 loaves of fresh bread every Sunday morning and the giant oven and mixers would have been a welcome blessing :)

After we got the tour of all the machinery we got down to the really yummy stuff. He shared with us how to make icing roses and the kids were totally blown away by it. I'm still not sure how in the world he did it, but it sure looked easy :) By now K was starting to catch on that this cake was for him because the baker asked him what flavor of icing he wanted for his special day. LOL.

And when he wrote happy birthday K on the cake the secret was definitely out! Haha, we sure surprised him, he had no idea :)

We lit the cake, sang happy birthday to him and pigged out on delicious butter frosted cake with a bavarian cream filling. Delicious! When we got home K said that it was the best birthday every :) I'll have to admit it was the easiest one ever *grin*. If you happen to have a child with an upcoming birthday and you want to do something a little different, check in with one of your local bakeries and see if they will let you bring along a group of children for a tour and cake making demo. It's something they definitely won't forget!

Blessings,

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Nov. 8, 2008

Native Artwork Lesson at the Museum

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The Campbell River Museum offers some really fantastic programs for children and yesterdays presentation on Native History was no exception!

It focused on the three main native groups of Vancouver Island which are the Kwakwaka'wakw which are found on the northern part of Vancouver Island, the Nuu-chah-nulth which are found on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and the Coast Salish which are from the southern part of Vancouver Island.

Our guide spoke about native artwork and had some great boards showing some common shapes that are used in their drawings or paintings (above). She went over what some of them were called but unfortunately I can't remember :(

If you happen to be reading this and you can point me in the direction of a website or good book that can be used for children or adults that talks more about native art and the different brush strokes or shapes used I would love to hear from you :)

The above completed drawing was used to show the children how the first board of different shapes are actually used to create a fantastic drawing like this one on a building. An interesting little factoid that she shared with us was that each family would paint a drawing on their home like the one above which was sort of like their family crest and this would be like our house numbers today. There were no such things as house numbers of course and this was how you could tell who lived where :)

After the little talk the children got to try painting just like they would have long ago. Each work station had a paper, paintbrush and a clam shell with some curious powder in it. The powder in fact is an iron rich soil, hence the red color, called Ocre. In this particular area the natives would use Ocre and fish eggs (roe) to create a beautiful red/brown paint.

There was a small stone with the shell to be used together like a mortar and pestil to crush the salmon egg into the ocre. As the oil of the salmon egg mixed with the ocre it made a smooth paint that was a breeze to use and it was amazing how well it went onto the paper and the could be used quite a lot before you needed to dip the brush again.

Do you know what some paint brushes were made of? Porcupine hairs! Apparently when the quills of the porcupine stand on end when it gets startled there are also guard hairs that were plucked and used as the hairs for the paint brush :)

Do you know what they might have used to create black or white paint? Black was made from the charcoal from their fires and white was made from ground up clam shells found along the beaches.

Not all native art is the same either. Above is an eye drawn by 3 different groups on the island and as you can see each of them has its own distinctive style.

Above and below are L & K's eye drawings :) I think that we are going to try and find more books on native art and see if we can draw something to. The kids and I really enjoyed what we learned and are looking forward to doing more research and projects on it :)

Blessings,

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Nov. 10, 2007

City Hall Field Trip & A Little History Of Campbell River

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Today we had the pleasure of getting a tour of the Campbell River City Hall and the council chambers. We got to sit in the gallery which is open to the public for each and every meeting unless it is something that is considered 'in camara' which means that it is only for the mayor and councilors. 'In camera' meetings usually include things like acquisition of new land or personal matters regarding staff or private financial topics. We learned about the different areas that make up the Comox Strathcona and what the differences were between cities, villages, and electoral areas.

Here our guide was showing us the photos of past mayors and councilors that have had the opportunity to serve Campbell River.

And this is Campbell River's flag. Behind the mayors chair was the Canadian flag, the British Columbia flag, the Campbell River flag and another one which I can't remember what it was. I think it was a Spirit of BC flag or something like that.

Along another one of the walls was the changes that Campbell River has gone through over the years with some really great photos dating as far back as 1904!

I took pictures of them for you to see : ) Some of you are familiar with the area and will find it interesting to see how much things have changed!

And here we are current day Campbell River. I hope you enjoyed the little history tour : )

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Jun. 19, 2007

Beach Day Hooray! Pt. 2 (Lots of great Photos)

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Okay the long awaited second part to our beach day has finally arrived : ) It took me a little longer to get all the pictures sorted and uploaded onto my computer than I thought.

After we moved to the other beach behind the wharf we found a ton of creepy crawly and wriggly creatures just waiting to be uncovered! Just about every rock we turned over was loaded with these baby eels underneath. As soon as the rock was lifted off of them they would go crazy wiggling around and scattering as fast as they could.

There were lots of these little fish to. We called them bullheads but I'm not sure if that is their correct name or not.

Check out this weird tunnel that was under one of the rocks. The surface of it is completely smooth and the same shape as the rock and inside of it is that really strange tunnel. I'm not sure if I really want to know what crawls in and out of it.

Maybe it belonged to this? Ewww!! This worm was thoroughly disgusting *grin* but K seemed to like it and insisted that we take pictures of it : )

We found this little green urchin near the worm. Not quite big enough to be harvested yet (needs to be 55mm in diameter) so it's safe from the fishermen's pick bags for now.

Now we get into the REALLY cool creature that we found! This is a Cryptochiton stelleri or more commonly know as a Chiton. But this is no ordinary chiton it is a Gumboot Chiton or Giant Pacific Chiton!
The pacific coast of North America is one of the only places in the world where you can find this Chiton which is the largest in the world and we were lucky enough to stumble upon it. They can grow up to 35 centimeters in length and we estimated this one to be around 25 centimeters. So this was definitely a big one!

My dad was flipping over the rock and all of a sudden he sort of jumped. He had touched it and of course it was soft so he didn't know what it was, it was dark like the rock and had some seaweed on it so we didn't even see it right away. LOL.

Cryptochiton actually means 'cryptic' or 'hidden' because it tends to look like rocks in it's habitat which I can testify is true!

We peeled it off of the rock so we could get a better look at it. This is the underside of it. It sucks on just like a starfish. The oval in the center of it is called the 'foot' and this is how he moves. They creep slowly along like snails making waves along the foot with their muscles. These movements are called 'pedal waves'. K was brave enough to touch it and it sucked right onto his fingers : ) Somewhere at one end of the 'foot' is his mouth which consists of two rows of sharp teeth that it scrapes over surfaces to get food. It usually eats algae. Good think those teeth didn't appear : )

Here's a closer look at its underside. You can see its 'foot' in the center then the 'gills' and then the 'girdle' which is the wavy outer portion.
Click here for a really clear shot of the underside that shows the mouth and the gills perfectly.

It started to curl up to protect itself. It sort of reminded me of pictures of armadillos that I've seen when they roll into a ball.

Here is a close up of its thick 'mantle' which is its leathery outer skin. Most Chitons have 8 very distinctive plates that overlap on its back but the Gumboot's plates are covered by its 'mantle'. There can be up to 20 different species of algae growing on the mantle. We placed him gently back on the rock that we found him so that he could grab back onto it again and resume its camouflage : )

There are about 650 different species of Chiton and this is another species. This baby Chiton was only an inch in length but this one shows you the 8 distinctive plates on its back and the girdle that runs around the edge.

We found this boom chain buried in the sand. They use them for tying the logs together when they make a log tow. You can find lots of them around her washed up on the shores. The second link from the top shows how the sea water has eaten the metal almost completely away.

As we were wandering around we got to see this sailboat go by. K loves sailboats so this was just as exciting as the creatures : )

After a hard morning of rock flipping we were starving! So we decided that we would eat out at the burger bus : ) Notice the sign.... Happy People Eat Here. We were definitely happy to see food *grin*

But the fun didn't stop once we left the beach.... oh no we had more fun at home : ) This is one of the dead crabs that we found at the first section of the beach we searched. He was a big one to.

His shell was completely detached when we found him which was really great because we got to get this neat look at what his insides looked like. The meat was even intact still. The birds weren't quick enough to snatch him up : )

This is its underside. Do you know how to tell if the crab you find is a male or a female? See that triangular shape which is centered at the bottom of it. That means it is a male. If it were a female it would have a circular pattern there. Unfortunately we weren't able to find a dead crab that was a female so I can't show you.

Here's a close up of some of our barnacle rocks. These ones are called Acorn Barnacles.The centers of the barnacles open up so that their feather like legs can come out and they rake the sea water for tiny plankton that is floating around. When you touch them they clamp shut and retreat further into the outer shell. Did you know that if you can't completely cover a barnacle with your thumb then it means it is as old as you!

Here is one of the limpets that we found. They are part of the mollusk family and hang onto things with one giant suction cup type foot.

I'll leave you now with one final creature photo : ) this is the underside of the limpet. You can see his round 'foot' or suction cup that it uses to hang on tightly to rocks and then his little head is above it with its two tentacles sticking out on either side and directly in between them is his mouth.

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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May. 20, 2007

Trip to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Center

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Here are the pictures that I promised to put up of all the animals we got to see on our field trip to the North Island Wildlife Recovery Center in Errington. We had to get up at 5:30 am so we could get out of the door by 7am and make it to Errington on time for the tour at 10am. I wasn't sure how far off of the highway we would have to go to get to the center and I was worried that we were going to be late because we had to stop for fuel and some muffins on the way but we ended up being 15 minutes early : ) Better early than late, and I'm usually late *grin*

This is Bardo their resident Barred Owl and he was the first animal that we got to see. His handler showed us how his head turns 270 degrees which was really cool to see how it just sort of spins around on his body!

After meeting Bardo and learning about the rules that we were to follow as we toured the grounds we headed outside to the many outdoor buildings with different birds. They were so neat. All different styles made to look really natural with driftwood and other materials to hide the fencing materials used to cage the birds in. Above is a Bald Eagle. This fellow was brought to them with a missing upper beak. It had been shot off by a gun and completely missing when he arrived. If you look closely at his upper beak you can see some wire which is part of his prosthetic beak.

Outside his cage they had this little container with all of his prosthetic beaks that he has used so far. Every 6 months he is fitted for a new one. Unbelievable what they can do!

This is a Horned Owl. Our tour guide asked the children if they new why they had yellow eyes and many of them new that it was for hunting at night. Did you know that an owl's eyes let in roughly 100 times more light than a humans eyes?

As we carried on towards the pond we got to see this beautiful pair of black Australian Swans....

Geese and goslings......

Ducks and ducklings. Aren't all of the babies so adorable : ) There were vultures, wild turkeys, all sorts of geese and ducks in the pens.

The large pond was full of wildlife that is free to come and go as they please. So we got to see some Canada geese, different mallards, more ducks and geese and then there was this floating board with at least 10 large turtles sunning on it and more swimming around it. People had turned them into the center because they buy them when they are really small and as they grow they no longer have a place to keep them or they aren't appealing to them anymore so they don't want to keep them. I think that they are awfully happy now : )

We had hoped to have a look at the bears that they have on the grounds but they were all sleeping in their cave : (

They have 3 baby bear cubs that came to them after their mother was killed by a falling tree where they had been logging near Port Alberni but they are completely in isolation. The only way to see them is by video surveillance so that they do not become friendly with humans and will be good candidates for release back into the wild.

All of the animals that they keep are what they call imprinted, which means they have had to much human contact and are to friendly to be released into the wild. They just wouldn't know how to function properly out there alone anymore.

Once we finished looking at everything outdoors we went inside to their museum. They had all sorts of skeletons, fossils, hides, nests, stuffed animals and more to look at. Above is the skeleton of a Bald Eagle.

This is a fossil of a fish from the Oligocene Age.

A Heron....

A Cougar in a tree with a Quail that it had caught.
The neat thing in this section of the museum was that underneath each animal was a sound box that you pushed the button and you could hear what it would sound like in the wild.

And of course the spider display case *grin* full of tarantulas and other creepy poisonous spiders, scorpions, centipedes and more. They also had cases of different ducks, and eggs ranging from teeny tiny robins eggs up to large geese eggs. No ostrich eggs though. Maybe they were just to big for the display case : )

It was a great trip and it is amazing all of the things that they have and all the work that goes into it since it is all done by volunteers and donations. Hope you liked the pictures : )

Blessings,
BChsMamaof3

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Oct. 27, 2006

Trip to the Quinsam Fish Hatchery

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Yesterday we got a chance to go to the Quinsam Fish Hatchery. It was a really wet and rainy day but it was oh so worth it : ) The salmon are spawning right now so the hatchery is busy harvesting eggs for new stock.

When we got to the hatchery we were allowed to go into the back where the salmon were being trapped as they came up the river. They were then grouped into chutes where they were pushed into a large holding tank that was pumped with CO2 so that the salmon would get docile and sleepy. This made it easy for the hatchery workers to pick them out of the tank and assess which salmon they were going to keep for harvesting and which ones would be released back into the wild.

As the salmon were pulled out of the tank the ones that were going to be kept for harvesting were bonked on the head and sent down another chute. Don't forget that killing them really isn't cruel it just sounds bad but they are going to die after they spawn anyways and this way their eggs have a much higher chance of survival without the danger of predators and pollution and helps to increase the low amount of salmon stocks in this area.

Once the salmon get to the end of the chute they are divided into groups of males and females. The males are left on the chute momentarily and the females are hung up head down so that any excess blood runs out of them and not into the eggs.

Here are some of the male salmon that are waiting to be processed.

Once the females are ready to be opened up they cut open the underside of the salmon and the eggs or roe as it is called come spilling out and any that remain are scooped out. These are then stored for when they will be fertilized. Once they finished harvesting the roe they began to milk the male salmon to remove their milt which will be used to fertilize the females eggs.

Here is what salmon roe looks like. All of the children got to hold one of the eggs in their hands. K got to hold this pile of them since he was last in line and got the remainder of what our tour guide had. They are funny to touch. They aren't soft. More like rubbery balls. I was surprised that I was able to get a clear shot of them with my camera. I had little M in the backpack, the umbrella and the camera going all at the same time and usually just as I'm about to take a picture little M jolts me and I end up with blurry pictures : ( So this was pure luck.

After we had seen all of this we all walked down to the river where we were able to see some of the wild salmon struggling to get up stream. It was really neat to see since they are in barely 6 inches of water in some spots so the tops of their bodies are out of water and they are thrashing and jumping to try and get over the rocks and other obstacles in their way.

It was a great day and we have the mud stains to prove it : )

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 21, 2006

Pictures of the Kermode Bear (Spirit Bear) and Pacific Undersea Gardens Octopus ~ Victoria Field Trip

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When we drove down Douglas street heading into downtown Victoria I couldn't believe how many statues of the Kermode Bear there were along the streets. It seemed that everywhere we drove there was another one! They were beautiful. Some were painted with landscapes and forest scenes others were brightly coloured collages, some even were painted as if they were wearing clothes.

The Kermode Bear or Spirit Bear has recently been adopted as British Columbia's official mammal and mascot of the upcoming 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. The Kermode Bear is a genetic throwback from the Black Bear with a recessive gene that causes it to have its beautiful snow white fur. Only about 10% of the bears in our area are Kermode Bears and they are quite elusive. Princess Royal Island which is in the heart of the Great Bear Rainforest off the coast of northern BC is one of the few places along the coast that you can find them to view. If you click on the link for the Great Bear Rainforest you can see some amazing wildlife pictures!!

K standing by one of the Kermode Bears in front of the Royal BC Museum.

Inside the Royal BC Museum just behind where you purchase your passes is this awesome skeleton of a whale hanging from the ceiling.

Another really great place that we had a chance to visit while we were in Victoria was the Pacific Undersea Gardens which is right in the Inner Harbour. This was one of Karl's favourite spots on our trip. Once aboard their ship you descend down a stairway to the bottom of the vessel and you are now 15 feet beneath the ocean's surface and you have a chance to view up to 5000 different species through the viewing windows. They had a pool as you can see in the above photo with a couple of starfish in it and K and L got a chance to touch them and find out what they feel like : )

Once you have finished looking through all of the viewing windows around the vessel there is a theatre room with a bank of really large viewing windows and there are stadium style benches to sit on. This was perfect. K and L ran from window to window following fish and crabs and I got to sit on the benches with little M. The highlight of our viewing experience was when one of the octopuses swam out and stuck right onto the viewing window. All of the children got to see his tentacles and suction cups up close. They continued to chase it back and forth as it swam around in front of us. Did you know that each suction cup is moved independently from the rest? and that he moves by jet propulsion? British Columbia is home to the largest octopus in the world called the Giant Pacific Octopus.

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 19, 2006

Craigdarroch Castle ~ Pictures from our Victoria field trip

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Our next stop on our castle field trip was the Victorian mansion Craigdarroch Castle which was built between 1887 - 1890 on a hill overlooking the city of Victoria by Robert Dunsmuir. Craigdarroch means "rocky, oak place" in Gaelic. Robert Dunsmuir was a Coal Baron and was British Columbia's first millionaire, and the richest and most important man in Western Canada. Unfortunately he passed away on April 12th, 1889 just before the castle was completed. His widow Joan moved into Craigdarroch castle in 1890 and lived there until she passed away in 1908.

The interior of the castle was mainly composed of oak panelling which was fabricated in Chicago from white oak. The stairs, doors, stained and leaded windows, and 2182 panels were all shipped from Chicago to Victoria on 5 railcars in the summer of 1890. When we arrived at the castle they made sure we took notice of all of the oak panelling and I believe she said that when it was purchased in 1890 it cost close to $40,000.00 The castle had gas lighting as well as electric lighting, running water for indoor plumbing, central heating, telephones, and a burglar alarm system!

The inside of the castle was beautiful! The stained glass windows which are said to be one of North America's finest collections of Victorian residential stained and leaded glass were exquisite. As you can see from the picture above there were many stained glass windows in each room and below is an example of their beauty. I was so happy when we returned home and I found that this photo of the window had turned out so good : ) The rooms were completely furnished as well in Victorian era pieces. This was really great since Hatley castle really didn't have any furnishings at all. K loved going from room to room looking at what each one had been used for. Many of the rooms you could actually walk into and go through while others were roped off and you had to view them from the doorways. Another bonus to this castle was that it was self guided and you were able to go through all 4 floors of the castle. There were no restrictions as to where you could view. K said that this was his favourite and I think it was because of this fact. He wasn't happy at all that we couldn't see all of the floors at Hatley castle.

An interesting fact that I forgot to mention in my blog about Hatley Castle was that the stained glass windows that were made and shipped to Hatley were shipped in a mixture of sugar and molasses to make sure that they arrived safely and undamaged. How would you have liked to be the one that had to clean off all of the molasses mixture? I don't think that I would have. Just imagine trying to get all of the sugary residue out of all of the nooks and crannies between all of the leaded pieces!

Once we reached the fourth floor, seen 39 rooms and climbed 87 stairs we finally made our last climb up to the tower. From there we got to enjoy the panoramic view looking over the city of Victoria and the Juan de Fuca Strait. It was magnificent, but we did not find the Princess : ) When we arrived on of the ladies that greeted us at the doors asked Karl if he would be able to find the Princess so he was a little disappointed that she was not there when we arrived. LOL.

Above is a photo of Robert Dunsmuir he was also the father of James Dunsmuir who built Hatley Castle.

I'm going to get more photos uploaded so I can show you all some more : )

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 18, 2006

Hatley Castle ~ Pictures from our Victoria Field Trip

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We had a great time in Victoria this week. We were only there

2 days and it wasn't long enough : ( There are so many things

to do and see and so little time. It's a shame since we are so

close yet so far away from Victoria. It took us about 5 and a 1/2

hours to drive there from home.

K loved the castles!! Our first stop on our way into Victoria was

the Royal Roads University at Hatley Castle. We made it just

in time for the 12 pm tour that took us through the main floor

which was the library, dining room, parlour, billiards room and

others. The rooms were immense, and the beautiful stained glass windows in each of the rooms overlooking the ocean were glorious!

This castle was definitely built to enjoy the view since there were

lots of windows and it was so bright in each of the rooms. In the

dining room where Laura Dunsmuir sat at the table there was the outlet in the floor where a call button had been. So when she

needed one of the servants to come she just pushed it with her

foot and it would call to the servants quarters. There also was

an elevator. Our tour continued up to the second floor where we

were able to view a couple of the bedrooms, and that was about it.

I was a little disapointed since the rooms aren't furnished with

much of the original furnishings. Pretty much all of the rooms

were filled with conference tables and chairs and stuff to do

with the university classes. And the upper floors are now offices

so we were not allowed to view them at all. But it was still neat

to see the structure itself. Apparently the last X-men movie that

was produced was shot on location at the Hatley castle.

This is a photo of James Dunsmuir. He built the castle and he

and his family moved into it in 1908. James Dunsmuir died in

May of 1920 at the age of 69. His wife Laura continued to live

at the castle with her daughter Eleanor until she passed away

in August of 1937. Eleanor passed away 6 months later. How

tragic.

Outside of the main entrance to the castle on either side of

the door were these two stone statues of James and Laura Dunsmuir. They were really neat to see. They also had a working doorbell which was a carving of a mermaid with the

button in the centre. Can you imagine, a doorbell in 1908?

After we had finished touring through the castle we went

outside and walked the grounds which are very beautiful as

well. There is a rose garden, the pond with the bridge leading

out to the gazebo on the pond, pathways through the forest,

and a formal english garden with beautiful stone pillars and

benches to rest on and enjoy the views : )

More castle pictures to come.

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 13, 2006

Did you know you can visit the Royal BC Museum for FREE? You can : )

Posted in Field Trips

While organizing our field trip to Victoria I found out that you can visit the Royal BC Museum for FREE : )

If you're planning to go to the Museum in Victoria you can get in for free by calling 1-888-447-7977. You need to call a couple of days before you go and tell them you homeschool and the day you'll be visiting the museum. After that they will give you a confirmation number to give to the cashier when you arrive to the museum and your passes will be awaiting your arrival. It's that easy!! The passes are good for one adult and however many children you have in your family. Any additional adult such as your husband gets in at a discounted rate.

Just one of the many homeschool advantages!!

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 12, 2006

We are going on a Knights and Castles Field Trip!

Posted in Field Trips

We have been reading about Knights and Castles for the last week so yesterday I decided that we should take a trip to explore some castles. K was exstatic! So we spent quite a bit of time trying to find a place to stay. We are going to Victoria, the capital of British Columbia and we are hoping to stay in a Bed & Breakfast but with it being the high season and that almost all of the places do not take small children and babies (that means L & little M) I found it quite difficult to find somewhere. I did find one B&B with a suite large enough for our family of 5 and I'm just waiting to hear back from her to confirm our booking. YAY! We really wanted to stay at the Castlebury (check out the photo of it on the main page) it is your own private medieval castle, but it is really supposed to be for romantic getaways and definitely not for families : (

While we are in Victoria we are going to go to Hatley Castle which was built by the Lieutenant-Governor James Dunsmuir in 1908. It is now a University but they have a museum and allow you to go inside and tour through the castle, and they have stunning gardens as well.

We are also go to see the Craigdarroch Castle which was built by Robert Dunsmuir a BC Coal Baron during 1887 - 1890. Craigdarroch Castle is an example of a "Bonanza Castle", massive houses built for men who became wealthy because of the industrial transformation of North America. The castle has one of North America's finest collections of Victorian residential stained and leaded glass windows.

We are also going to visit the Royal BC Museum and the Parliament Buildings.

I will have to post some pictures after we come home : )

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 11, 2006

Field Trips and Get-togethers Part 3

Posted in Field Trips

Here's the next instalment of my field trip and get-together post. I hope that you are finding it interesting if not helpful : )

Each year I think it is very important for the elementary grades to take a trip to the local fire station. I don't think there should be any limit to how many times you can make this trip and the older children usually enjoy going as well since who doesn't like to climb on the fire trucks : ) This is a great way to double up on fire safety and what to do in an emergency. Here you will get the rundown on the stop, drop, and roll method, how to react in the case of a fire (crawling on the floor, feeling doorknobs before opening doors, putting towels or blankets along the floor of the doors to stop extra smoke from coming through and so on) and of course how to come up with a family escape route and meeting place. The added addition to all of this is they also discuss with your child how to use 911. Myself I didn't realize that when we went for the first time they would talk about this. They roll played with the children getting them to dial 911 and then answer the questions that the operator would ask them. Such as what type of emergency they are calling about (fire, police, or ambulance) what their name is, address, telephone number, what is happening and so on. Another fun thing that sometimes is available to your group is the use of their little house sort of like a playhouse that they fill with simulated smoke (not harmful to breath) and the children get to go in and get the feel of what it would be like if their home were on fire and why it is so important that they crawl on their hands and knees.
If you have a local art gallery nearby you can check with them to see if they offer any sort of classes for school groups. Our gallery allows the children to come and view the current exhibit along with an informational talk and then after they get to make a craft. This year we are going to go close to christmas when the gallery has a special gift gallery display and then the children will get to make a christmas ornament.
You know those banners that the city hangs up on the light posts in the downtown areas? Well sometimes they offer times for anyone who is interested to come and paint one. They usually have a theme that you have to follow and it is a lot of fun for the kids to do. The cost of the one I saw in the spring was $30 per child and this included all of the materials and the place to do it and at the end of the summer you got to keep your banner that was displayed for everyone to see. They usually advertise these events in your local newspaper and it is sometime in the spring.
If you have a Boston Pizza nearby they offer a field trip outing for homeschool children. They give the children a tour of the kitchen area and show them where they make all of their pizzas and then the children get to make their own pizzas! This is a great hit since what kid wouldn't love to make any crazy kind of pizza they can imagine and eat it to : )
Dairy farms are another great field trip. This is a great way for children to learn about where the milk they drink comes from. We got to see all of the newborn calves in their little calf huts (these look like little igloos)and pet them, see where the milking cows were kept and how they milked them. The one that we visited had a parallel milking parlour where two rows of cows came in at a time to milk and they were all hooked up to the milking machines. A word of caution, when the cow has stopped giving milk during a milking the milking machine automatically looses suction and drops off of the cow. Well we did not know that so we ended up getting sprayed with milk as the milking ends swung out above our heads from both sides : ) If you time it right you may also be able to catch a cow giving birth. We were a day to early but there are always heifers getting ready to birth so you just might get lucky! While we were there we also got to see their chickens, and how they collected the eggs and washed them in a large egg washer, and we also got to see their pigs. I was really amazed by how clean they were! They weren't dirty at all, just nice and pretty pink : )

Blessings

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 10, 2006

Field Trips and Get-Togethers Part 2

Posted in Field Trips

There were a lot of great ideas this year for future field trips. We had originally planned to have one field trip a month, but I think that we may have 2 a month a couple of times just so that we can fit them all in!

To start the year off we are going to go to our local Regional Library for a tour. For the younger kindergarten and elementary ages this is a great opportunity to get to know the library. How a library works, why we have one, where to find the juvenile books, understanding how they are categorized (the juvenile books at our library are alphabitized by the authors last name. They do not follow the Dewey decimal system at that age level so that it is easy for them to find the books they want to read) and signing up for a library card if they do not already have one. For the older children they will get a more in depth tour of the stacks and learn who invented the Dewey decimal system, why we use it and how we use it. They will also learn research skills and how to make good use of the wealth of knowledge found in the library and through inter-library loans.
Since the weather is generally still nice in October without to many rain showers we have decided that we will organize a nature walk. One of our moms is a nature buff and is going to lead this outing. She is going to identify the different trees and shrubs that grow in our area how you can estimate how old a tree is from its rings (hopefully we will find a fallen tree so that the kids can see the rings), as well as help everyone to identify which pine cones come from which trees. If we are lucky we will be able to glimpse some wildlife while we are out there. A squirrel, some grouse or other birds, maybe a deer? For the younger children we are going to get them to collect the fallen leaves in their beautiful fall colours and take them home to make a leaf collage out of. *A great way to do this is to arrange them on a sheet of wax paper, put another sheet of wax paper on top of them once your child has decided that they are exactly how they want them, place a tea towel on top of the wax paper sandwich and then iron it with a hot iron until the wax papers fuse together. To finish it off you can fit it inside of a construction paper frame and hang it in your window.*
October is also a good month for pumpkin hunting. Now if you do not celebrate Halloween this can still be a fun outing. We do not celebrate this occasion but we still hunt for pumpkins and then turn them into delicious pumpkin pies! YUM. Many farms in our area have large pumpkin patches that you can wander through until you find the perfect pumpkin and a few of them offer special features like hay wagon rides. The one we usually visit will pick you up in the hay wagon and haul you out to the pumpkin patch with their tractor. The kids always love this. Once there they usually have wheel barrels that you can use to load your pumpkins into once you've picked them out. I say them since it's usually to hard for everyone to decide on one and we come home with a handful : ) Then it's back onto the wagon for another ride back to the farm gates. If you don't know where to find a farm in your area that is offering this sort of thing a good place to look is in the classified ads in your local newspaper in the farm or garden produce section. You can usually find them listed there.
Corn mazes are another fun activity to do. About an hour and a half from our home is a farm that is now part of the wildlife preserve and they still plant feed corn, pumpkins and a few other things to keep the land working. Each year they keep a section of the corn field uncut and they turn it into a huge maze or labyrinth. They hand out a map to you when you get there which you can put into your pocket to help you find your way out once you are hopelessly lost in the middle somewhere : ) Don't worry there is always lots of people there to help you out if you find yourself stuck. It is a really neat experience standing in the passageways between the 8 foot high stalks of corn. This particular maze is also open in the evening so the really adventurous group can go in the dark. They provide the flashlights and you provide your own amusement with only the stars to guide your way (oh and yes you still get the map of course).
Grocery stores are another useful field trip. Many stores will give your group a tour of their facilities including their stock rooms in the back. The kids love to see the huge walk in freezers, fridges and where the stock boys go to fill the milk shelves. While there they get a full rundown on the food groups and where they can find them in the store as well. (If you are enrolled in a distance education program or one that requires you to complete the PLO's this will count towards that) Our local Save-On-Foods included in their tour a little goody bag for the children to take home. Inside was a story book about eating well, stickers, and as the children toured the produce section they were allowed to take an apple or a banana for the bag as well.

I've got more to come so make sure you check back : )

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 2, 2006

Live whale watching website update

Posted in Field Trips

I just received an email form orca-live and they are having difficulty getting their live feed working for some reason. So if you have gone to the website and have not been able to access it properly I apologize. They have said that they are working on getting it up and running so please check back with them as it is really worth it!

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Sep. 1, 2006

Vikings in New England this September 16th & 17th in RI

Posted in Field Trips

We are studying Vikings right now but unfortunately we are nowhere near Rhode Island but maybe one of you are : ) This sounds like an awesome field trip whether you are studying about the Vikings or not. I came across the link on one of the Sonlight forums and I thought that I would pass it along to some of you other homeschoolers that do not have access.

Check it out at: http://www.brown.edu/Facilities/Haffenreffer/vikings/vikings.html

If you go let me know how you liked it!!!

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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Aug. 28, 2006

Listen & Watch Live Whales on your computer

Posted in Field Trips

I thought that I would share this website with everyone. We have been watching whales on it for a couple of years and thoroughly enjoy it each summer!! and it makes a perfect online fieldtrip.

Off the coast of northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (I'm so close I can smell them, grin) in the Blackfish Sound and Johnstone Strait they have hydrophones and cameras so that you can watch and hear live feeds of the killer whales (orcas) as they pass through the areas each summer. There is even a hydrophone on the rubbing beaches at Robson Bight! Don't worry you aren't to late to catch them they should be around the area until the end of next month. Right now they are just off of Telegraph Cove and if you check out the site in the morning you might catch a glimpse of them above water which is absolutely awesome!!

www.orca-live.net

Happy whaleing.

Blessings,

BChsMamaof3

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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 :)