RAIN!

I've always loved the rain. We've had great sunny hot weather, which i also love, but I've been missing the rain these last few weeks. Yesterday the kids were just as excited as i was to get out and run around in the down pour. Now hopefully our garden will perk up and the grass will loose it's crispiness :)

Hatched

    Everyone was up early this morning (5am early) and after breakfast we were trying to get a look out the kitchen window to hear what construction trucks had started beeping behind the house. We happen to check on Chomper and were surprised to see a crumpled up monarch hanging on to the chrysalis!! So we took it outside in our PJ's and watched him pump up his wings and climb on his milkweed.

   He flapped and crawled around the garden for a few hours and then started practising with his wings. Then like magic he took off to the hedge and was gone...

    But fear not, our butterfly adventures are not over. While we were looking at Chomper when he was on the dill Wesley found this...

    Our first black swallow tail caterpillar of the year...I'll confess that I'm more excited then the kids. I'm in LOVE with these little caterpillars, they feel like pets. They appear in the garden and munch on the dill getting fatter by the day.

grasshoppers and smartie parties

 

    For the last few weeks we've been finding this grasshopper on our lily out front. He was quite a but smaller when we first started seeing him, but he's gotten pretty big over the last few days. He seems to stay on the lily all morning, then disappear until the next morning, Isobel is in LOVE with him!

 

   We are lucky enough to get lots of packages and letters in the mail. There is nothing like getting something in the mail to get everyone hopping. Yesterday We got a box from Granny and Pop complete with a new tea set and some smarties. Wesley announced "me and Isobel are having a smartie party, hey that rhymes!"

smarties are gone, time to climb in the box

   The garden has been growing fast, we've been eating cucumbers, peas, beats, lots of herbs and yesterday Wesley picked the first tomato. Everything is getting pretty dry so we've been wishing for rain, no luck yet.



this little sunflower was planted by a Squirrel :)

Cat construction

I had to share these cute little kitties we got from Mamaroots. Her stuff if beautiful and she has a great blog too (thanks for sharing it kitten :) mamaroots.com . The kids love them! Wesley's been building a house for them the last few days out of Lego, he's even got a scratching post!

Chomper the super caterpillar

Yesterday Chomper stopped pooping, and started making a little silk ball on the milk weed, then we watched him attach himself to it. We were all pretty excited to we checked on him on last time before bed and found him hanging upside down!!

When we came down this morning he was looking a little different and kept wiggling around. He was changing colour a bit and puffing up.

Then like magic...

Now we wait for twelve days!!

Chomper

We've got a new house guest! we found him at Lemoine point and brought him home, milk weed and all. He's been here for a few days and is a eating and pooping machine!! Wesley is measuring him and checking him out off and on all day. Isobel calls him the 'pillar' but his real name is Chomper.

Little scientists

We hit Toronto last week for a few days. We did the Zoo and the Ontario Science Centre, both were a bit hit! The Zoo was great, i think we enjoyed it as much as the kids. The oragutans, hippos and the fruit bats were the big hits. There were tons of baby animals...soooo cute (too bad a forgot the camera at the hotel). Wesley LOVED the science centre, and could have spent a few days there I'm sure, guess we'll have to go back soon!

Wesley thought the body part display was pretty interesting

Wesley's favourite part was building the castle

Isobel and miss Mckenna checking stuff out

Canada Day

Hope everyone had a great Canada day. We headed to Lemoine point early to feed the ducks. Isobel was generous and gave them all her snack and Wesley kept finding feathers!

Then we hit downtown to watch some of the war reenactment going on. Isobel loved the canons, Wesley preferred the fountain. All in all everyone had a great time:)

We found a really neat fountain in City park. You can walk on top of the grid and watch the water underneath, very kid friendly and interactive!

swimming swimming in my swimming pool

The pool has been up and running for a few weeks now. I am yet again surprised at how comfortable the kids get in the water when they're in it every day. Wesley started swimming around the pool with his lifejacket on and is now jumping in the shallow end on his own with no lifejacket. He's VERY proud of himself!! Isobel is loving the water as well. She has very little fear and will stand at the side and say "READY" and leap...so you better get there or you have pull her up from underwater. She's gone under a few times now and it doesn't seem to bother her much :)