September 2020
And some clever quip...
Victoria For Labour Day
Our kids stayed at Grandma's house for the
week before Labour day, and then us working parents over to visit
for the second weekend. Marcus and James and their parents
came as well so we had lots of kids and lots of parents which gave
more time for activities. I've wanted to go to Whitty's
Lagoon for quite a while and so we packed a lunch and headed out!
If you get the tides right, there
are small sand island forming shallow lagoon where the water heats
up. There doesn't appear to be a dry route to the islands, but
you came to the beach to get wet right?
After our time at the beach, we got back in our cars and drove
home. We noticed a "farmers market" sign and dropped in to see
if there were any good local veggies. The farmers market was
run well - hand sanitizer, limited admission numbers and prescribed
walking route around.
While we
did find some veggies, Claira found some kids sized fingerless
gloves and Helen found some nice ceramics.
Outerbridge Park
Outerbridge park is just around the corner from my parents house -
you can walk over after dinner and still be back in time for bath
time. When the kids are entertained, I enjoy going over to see
what I can spot.
One on trip over with the kids, Claira claimed
she saw a frog. It jumped before she could show anyone else,
but she was sure it was a frog. I spent a bit of time and
eventually found a large number of frogs getting sun on
leaves. They were very patient - you could get quite close and
they didn't jump.
I was able to take photos, go home, get the kids and by the time I
was back, the frogs were still there. The kids weren't as
fascinated as I was, but I think they still enjoyed seeing them.
Tie Dye Project
My mom got 4 white shirts and some tie die kits. The kids
followed the instructions winding the shirts up and then wrapping
them in elastic bands. In the morning sun they put the dye in
and then left them for a few hours for the colour to set.
After a few hours, the dye was supposed to be set so the shirts went
through the washing machine. Turns out the red runs quite
badly so we got 4 mostly pink shirts, but the kids were still happy.
Beach at Cordova Bay
We
normally go to the beach near McMorrans restaurant. There
are other beaches and one of my favorites is D'Arcy Lane Beach
Access because it's mostly walking distance and while the beach
is small the rock cliffs are quite interesting.
My Mom's birthday is early September. It's rare all of her
grandchildren are around for her birthday - Happy Birthday!
Playground at Lochside Elementary
There are two playgrounds fairly close to my parents house - McMinn
Park and the playground at Lochside Elementary. While there
are lots of good things at McMinn, Lochside is a bit closer so the
kids can pretty much on a whim. This years favorite equitment
was the Rotator - an umbrella like piece of equipment where the top
can rotate. It's not quite fair - Claira is just a little
shorter so she can't get on everywhere. Nara has great hand
strength and can hang on longer than everyone else. We tried
to make games that everyone could win, but the rules because quite
complicated quite quickly.
Reifel Bird Sanctuary
Early in the COVID Outbreak, the Reifel Bird
Sanctuary closed. I didn't hear when it opened again, but
the internet told me it was now open. The new format
requires you to book ahead to get a time slot so the parking lot
doesn't become crowded. It was a little rainy so we got a
"short notice" slot, but on a sunny day you definitely need to
book in advance.
At this point, my kids are pretty good at feeding birds out of
their hands. This behaviour is widely seen - kids everywhere
are sticking out their hands trying to attract chickadee's and Red
Wing Blackbirds. On our recent trip to
Manning Park, we found birds
there were looking for hand outs, as are birds at Stanley
Park, but it's not universal. A walk around QE Park found
that the Chickadee's completely ignored seeds in our hands.
There are bird feeders around the sanctuary at various places so
it's pretty easy to spot small birds near the paths waiting for a
turn.
My bird portraiture still needs work, but
I'm trying.
Tags: Reifel Bird Sanctuary(6), playground(5), Outerbridge Park(3), bird(3), running(2), hand feeding(2)
People: Claira(17), Nara(11), James(7), Marcus(6), Janet(2)
From: John Harvey Photo > Blogs for 2020 to 2005 > September 2020
Last Modified Sunday, January 3rd, 2021 at 00:06:04 Edit
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