Huber Hof Academy

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~Fall Pumpkin Harvest~

Oct. 25, 2008

Salt Spring Island Fall Fair

Posted in Vacation 2008

I've been going through my photo file and realized that I didn't finish sharing all about our island holiday :) So tonight I'm going to do a little remeniscing *grin*. It just happened that when we hit Salt Spring they were having their annual fall fair and you know I'm a sucker for animals and fall fairs so we had to go! We were forewarned that the traffic was going to be heavy and that there was a regular shuttle bus running that was taking people to the fairgrounds but Dh figured that it couldn't be that bad. WRONG. There were cars for as far as the eye could see and at some points on the road it was so congested with parked cars on either side, oncoming traffic and pedestrians that he nearly gave up all together and took us back to the trailer. Thankfully we were able to find a spot about 5 minutes walking distance from the grounds and Dh didn't pull all of his hair out :)

Things were much calmer once we arrived :) L was in 7th heaven when she found out that she was allowed to pet the bunnies and Baby M did his best to get his grubby paws on them to as we watched like hawks to divert any man handling attempts! LOL. Remember poor kitty?

Baby M loved the goats. They were more than happy to come and check him out thoroughly with sniffs and licks :)

They had a really cool bee hive display to, with the comb in between plexi glass and the live bees were busy working. Sorry about the glare on the glass but if you look up in the top left corner you can see that some of the comb is actually filled :)

It was really interesting reading about them. We used to keep bees when I was a young girl and I was terrified of them! They seem so much safer trapped behind glass :) This year we had a colony of wild bees that made a huge hive from one of the tree limbs in the lower field. It was amazing how noisy they were!

Here's my dream cow :) One day real soon I'm going to have a beautiful Brown Swiss just like this lovely lady in my barn. I can just taste the fresh milk and cream I'm going to get *grin*.

And finally, it just wouldn't be a fall fair without a few rides. Baby M and L went on the mini train before we left. The lucky kids that sat up in the engine got to ring the bell all the way around :) One last happy moment before we had to fight our way back through the crowds and busy street *grin*.

Blessings,

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Oct. 2, 2008

Our Vacation ~ Bathroom Woes & Beach Fun

Posted in Vacation 2008

Okay where was I?? Oh yes, now I remember *grin*..... the pooper. I told you it was going to be a real stinker of a story! LOL. When we arrived on Salt Spring to our new spot on St. Mary's Lake we had the pleasure of full hook ups for the camper which meant we would be able to have both power and sewer. Well this would have been completeley fantastic if our sewer tank was functioning properly. When we first picked up the trailer from the rental place the tank indicator lights showed that both the grey water (dish and bath water) was full as well as the sewage. Dh told the guy right away thinking that they had forgotten to dump the tanks but he said oh no he had done it already and that sometimes the lights go a little haywire because the sensor malfunctions. To prove that he had dumped it he even pulled the pin on the sewer outlet to show that nothing would come out. Luckily, nothing came out! So off we went thinking everything was ok.

It wasn't :( Anybody seen the movie RV with Robin Williams when he and his family go on vacation in a jumbo motor home and when they arrive at their first camping spot they find out that the sewer is full, they don't know exactly how to dump it and a very, very stinky mess ensues?? Well, something quite similar happened, with spectators and all.... minus the geyser *grin*. Dh hooked into the sewer pulled the pin and only a little bit of stuff came out so he thought that he would flush the tank to get out anything left behind out. His dad has a 5th wheel so he's not unfamiliar with doing this, that wasn't the problem. As he was starting to flush the tank he realized that it wasn't exiting, but filling!! The plumbing was plugged somewhere and it was full and it wasn't ours. EWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Boy would the guy at the rental place looked super dumb if it the clog had let loose when he was proving to Dh that he had dumped it, which he really hadn't. Poor Dh worked and worked at it for nearly an hour and couldn't get it unplugged :( Someone had flushed stuff down it that they shouldn't have and it wasn't moving. That meant we no longer had a bathroom. Luckily for us the communal washroom for the campers was right across the street so we had to use it for our entire stay.

After we had recovered from the whole bathroom fiasco we were free to have some fun at the lake :) It was so nice and warm!

L tried snorkelling but just couldn't grab the concept of not breathing through her nose and ended up sucking in a lot of water *grin*. Then she got smart and started to plug her nose, now if only she would put her eyes in. LOL.

Who new that beach hats doubled as such great water toys :) There was a great patch of sand for them to play in and Dh and I brought our lawn chairs and just relaxed in the sun while the kids played. For some reason though they couldn't stop calling the lake, 'sea' water, and everytime they found a reed of grass or something they would call it seaweed! LOL. Can you tell we don't spend a lot of time at lakes?

Blessings,

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Sep. 28, 2008

Our Vacation ~ Moving On

Posted in Vacation 2008

On our last day on Hornby Island we did a little more exploring and I just had to stop at the community hall. This is one of my favorite spots when visiting and I always stop to see it :) I am completely in love with the entrance. The doorway is cut through a GIANT stump of a tree!! Absolutely amazing :) The entire building is really great with its stone chimney, shake roof and faux cord wood walls. If you ever get a chance to go to Hornby you've got to stop by here.

One last visit to the shore at Ford's Cove and a little daddy/son bonding time :) So cute!

And we're off again! Round and round we go, where we stop nobody knows *grin*.

Salt Spring Island here we come!!

Ahh, our new home for the next 4 days anyways *grin*, on St. Mary's Lake :) And the weather couldn't be better! Check back for a real stinker of a story tomorrow *wink*.

Blessings,

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Sep. 27, 2008

Our Vacation ~ Tribune Bay

Posted in Vacation 2008

Originally we really wanted to camp at the Tribune Bay campsite that is right next to Tribune Bay Provincial Park home of the beautiful beach that has been dubbed 'little hawaii' because of all of the sand, but they close at the end of summer :( We weren't that far from it though and boy was it great!

Sand as far as you could see and not another person in sight. We had the entire beach to ourselves *grin*.

I'm not sure about the 'little hawaii' part in terms of heat *grin*, as you can see above it was a little chilly and L wore her fuzzy sweater pretty much most of the time. LOL. Could have something to do with it being September to :)

K was the bravest of the bunch, spending quite a lot of time waist deep in the water :) The darn sun was in the wrong spot for photos though. Sort of looks neat though with the silhouettes and sparkling water.

Baby M had a blast in the water :)

Dh built a lot of sandcastles that day to...

and each and every one of them Baby M demolished as soon as the pail was lifted off *grin*.

It's a lot of hard work building sandcastles to!! Dh needed some rest and relaxation after all of the demolition so he fashioned himself a nice little foot stool out of sand and soaked up the sun for the rest of our stay :)

More photos tomorrow,

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Sep. 26, 2008

Our Vacation ~ Setting Up Camp

Posted in Vacation 2008

You wouldn't imagine how relieved both Dh and I were to have made it safely and without any more mishaps to our destination on Hornby Island :) We were the only ones camping to in the sites with power, so we had the whole grassy stretch to ourselves which is great with 3 very noisy children racing around on bikes *grin*.

The immediate view around our camper wasn't anything to go crazy over but just beyond that was the most amazing views of the ocean. I could so easily live right on the beach for the rest of my life! LOL. It was great to smell the fresh sea air and watch the ferry coming and going along with other boaters throughout the day :) We live very close to the ocean here at home but not quite this close.

Just down the hill from our campsite was the cutest little coffee shop shaped like a boat...

and the marina was great for exploring to :)

Remember that old movie 'The Great Outdoors' with John Candy and Dan Aykroyd? If you do then you remember the speed boat in it named 'Suck My Wake' *grin*, well this one sparked the memory of it for Dh :) Anyone up for a hair raising speed boat ride? LOL.
I'll share more photos again tomorrow :)

Blessings,

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Sep. 24, 2008

Our Vacation ~ Hornby Here We Come!

Posted in Vacation 2008

Where to start! Let's go back to before we even left *grin*. The day before we were set to head down island we had to pick up the trailer. It's actually not ours but a rental, good thing to but that's for later in my story. LOL. Dh and I had talked about taking out a BCAA membership just in case we broke down or something but in the end Dh decided that we probably wouldn't need it.... boy was he wrong. We were about an hour from home and Dh noticed that his battery wasn't charging!! Uh oh, was it the battery, the altenator....? Now he always carries a bunch of tools in his dry box in the back of the truck but he had taken them out to make space for the camping stuff *grin*, oops :) He opened up the hood and didn't even have a wrench to check the battery connections. Thank goodness we were right close to Canadian Tire so he ran across the street and bought a cheap electrical tester to try and find out if the altenator was giving off any output, it wasn't :(

By now I was more than a little concerned. We were quite far from home, not sure if we would be able to get an altenator and would we make it home?? Well we were able to get one just before the parts store closed and we had just enough juice in the battery left to start the truck and make our way home with all electrical extras shut off. Phew! I was never so happy to see home :) We hit the driveway, Dh backed into his parking spot to level the trailer and the emergency brake cord snapped off! ACK!!

I was seriously thinking that this holiday just wasn't meant to be at that point! LOL. As you can see in the above photo we did make it after all :) Dh spent the rest of the evening fixing the truck and then we did a mad pack to get all of our stuff jammed into it for the coming week.

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to Denman Island we go :)

Don't mind me, I just love ferry pictures *grin*.

On most of the smaller ferry routes there is only a toll booth on one side of the route, so when we arrived on Denman Island there of course wasn't anyone there waiting to send the ferry off ramp down :) See that rectangular box he's hanging onto above? That was hanging from the ramp when the ferry docks and he pulls it down so that he can operate the ramp from the ferry :)

One more ferry to go :) This is the view from the ferry line up while we waited for the next ferry.

Hooray!! We're finally on Hornby Island :)

We did all of our bookings online so we had no idea where the campsite we were heading to was or what it would be like *grin*. As we traveled all around the island to get to Ford's Cove our last little bit of the trip was down a steep road that was quite narrow in some spots....

and very close to the steep embankment in spots :) It literally dropped off from the side of the road downwards to the beautiful farms below! As we neared the bottom of the hill there was a large sign that said something about the end of the road coming and 'NO TRAILER TURN AROUND'. Hmm, where are we honey?? No reply. Are you sure this is they way?? He's looking a little worried now *grin* as we take the final corner to a marina with a very tight parking lot and another narrow gravel lane leading to the Ford's Cove general store.

That's it! End of the road. Although the sign does say camping. Honey maybe you'd better ask where the heck we are going now that we are at the point of no return, LOL.

We were indeed in the right spot :) Just behind the general store up another steep and narrow gravel driveway was our camping spot. I've got to give Dh big kuddos for his champion handling of the truck and trailer in squishy spots! I would have been chewing my fingernails off and searching for someone to con into doing it for me *grin*. I'll post more pictures tomorrow again :) I've probably got enough to keep you going all week

Blessings,

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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 :)