Ronnie comes for lunch

Smallest bought his school report home a few days ago (Bad Mother forgot to blog about it!!). His is marked in a different way to Smalls and he got mainly 'Beyond Expected Level' and 'Expected Level' - he has done brilliantly and is definitely ready for Grade One. We are very pleased with both boys performances at school. We think they have settled wonderfully in school and life here.

This morning was a rush. Treats for Hickory the Bus Driver and a card written. Reports signed and packed away in bags. Swimming shorts and towel for Smallest's wet play day. Moo and I finished the puzzle (though we didn't really have time) and then hurriedly got ready for last assembley at school. Small told us it might go on until lunchtime - it didn't, but it was long. Moo went out to put some washing on the line and bumped into a Chipmunk. Apparently (so Moo says) they both stood there looking at each other, then the Chipmunk wagged his tail at her, she said Good Morning and it ran away.

First we piled into the Gym and watched all the kids coming in and sitting down. Then the Principal talked about how well the school was doing. The volunteers (me) got called up and were presented with a mug with the schools name on it and a voucher for Tim Hortons. All the extra curricular activities like TaeKwonDo, Dancing, Reading Buddies, Dance etc all got a round of applause. Then they said goodbye to the teachers who were leaving. Next came a slide show lasting half an hour, which was lots of photos of all the students throughout the year. We then did a 'clap out' where everyone except Grade 8 students lined the corridor and clapped as the Grade 8's left the building for the last time before going up to High School.

The volunteers were then asked to go to the library where we had drinks and nibbles including a yummy cake. Moo made me go in and be sociable and I tried very hard. Smallest's teacher came up to talk to us, she told us how wonderful Smallest was. She said there were three kids who all excelled and she thought they would form a nice group together next term. She also said it was nice getting to know Small who was involved in Reading Buddies with her. I spoke to a couple of the Mum's I knew, ate some cake and then Moo and I came away with the intention of going for a walk along the Seaton Trail.

When we got there though it was starting to get humid again and the ground was wet. There were mosquitoes everywhere and they started to bite so we turned around and went across the road to the forest walk instead. The ground there though was muddy so we went to the cafe, picked up some lunch and headed for the Nature Beach.

We walked along the trail, narrowly missed some senior cyclists and finally got to a bit where we could get on to the beach. There was a log placed just right and we sat on it and watched the lake. It was really misty and we couldn't see far. We collected a few stones, ate our picnic and then we had a surprise guest.

A Raccoon peeped his snout out and bold as you like, walked over to our log where our blanket and water was. I told Moo to move as I wasn't sure what he would do. He moved along the log to the water bottle, picked it up with his opposable thumbs and tried to get the top off. I got a stick and waved it at him whilst telling him to please put the bottle down. He didn't of course, but he dropped it and moved away eventually and crawled back to his hideout. Cheeky thing! We continued to walk along the beach ducking under trees, climbing over fallen tree trunks until we couldn't walk anymore because we were blocked by a big tree. We turned back and walked the other way until we came to a house whose garden went right to the beach but was built up with large concrete blocks.

Whoops

Moo is an Aquarian - she never does as she is told!

We decided to walk, jump and hop along the rocks. It was very adventurous of us and we only stopped because a tree was in the way (which I did try to climb) and it was too high up to get to the beach the other side.

While we were there we saw some tiny baby Beavers, but they weren't close enough to photograph. We climbed the concrete blocks up to the wilderness ahead and walked back to the trail. We carried on walking and saw some Yellow Finch, heard the chickadees and watched a yacht (wondering if it was looking for Moo). We stopped at the top of the hill and had a Date Square (until I realised it had Cinnamon on and gave it up).

Then we walked back down to the car, had a quick look at the beach, yacht and a speedboat and drove home.

Once home, we turned off the aircon because it felt really cold in the house, put the jigsaw away and started another one. Then the boys came home - SCHOOL'S OUT FOR SUMMER! They both wanted to go in the pool so we all went up. The boys played in the pool and Moo and I blogged, read, crossworded and fought off the mosquitoes.

We ate outside for dinner when Huffle got home. Then we had a game of cricket but the mosquitoes finally got the better of us and. Escaped inside for jigsaw, showers, TV and table tennis.

Moo is very happy to have seen a waggy chipmunk, a thieving raccoon, two baby beavers and we thought we heard a Moose or a Bear! Not bad for a visiting English Lady eh? good Job!

 

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