Summer Beach Bums

So where have we been hiding?

Why at the beach of course with nature as our personal playground :)

We've been to a couple of different lakes but I just love being near the ocean and I definitely wasn't disappointed when we found a spot right along the beach.

 

 We enjoyed sunshine and welcomed the cloudy days to recover from the heat..

played with giant bull kelp...

swam in the ocean while tug boats, barges and fishing boats chugged by...

 

scrounged under the rocks at low tide catching crabs and seeing who was brave enough to hold the big ones that threatened to pink our fingers...

dug for clams...

 

watched the cruise ships float by each evening and slept so deeply after each day of play to the lapping sound of the ocean with the rise and fall of the tides :)

Oh how we are counting the days until Hubby comes home from work again and we can do it all over again *grin*.

How is your summer going? What makes you smile during the summer months?

Hugs,

Rosina

Down by the Bay

Down by the bay, where the watermelons grow. Back to my home, I dare not go. For if I do, my mother will say, "Did you ever see a boat riding a goat?" Down by the bay. *grin*

We live only about 10 minutes away from the ocean and quite often we pack up our markers, coloring pages, books, binoculars, journals or whatever else we might want and head down the the wharf for the afternoon.

It's a great way to spend the afternoon getting out of the house but staying close to home :) My oldest loves boats and never tires of sketching freighters, tug boats or fishing vessels that are coming and going out of the marina and this time of year there are always lots of people fishing right off the large dock.

It was quite busy this afternoon when we were there as lures were being cast and excited screams were let loose as someone thought they just might have caught one! Quite a few times there was mad dashing with a giant net but we never actually got to see anything landed on the dock. Oh well there's always next time :)

~ Rosina

Gold River

I've been totally absent again for a couple of days but I promise I'm not ignoring you all *grin*. We hitched up the trailer to head off camping along the Gold River on Friday morning and meet up with hubby's family. There's only one word to describe the weather.... SCORCHING!!

We knew the forecast was for the high 20's low 30's but when we arrived on Friday it had actually clouded over and even sprinkled a little. I had teased everyone that I had done the rain dance before leaving home because I really didn't want to get caught in the dead heat! No such luck. By Saturday the sun was back in full force and it was a sweltering 34 degrees in the shade and I heard someone say that the humidex made it more like the 40's. UGH, I so can't do heat :(

The kids seemed to fair okay in the heat and we tried to keep them extra hydrated with water. Their poor little bodies were so sweaty that the dust just stuck to them instantly as soon as they left the camper *grin*. K had fun playing with his cousins as my SIL's youngest is only 4 days older than him :) So they played in the tent, drew board games with crazy rules and wandered around the campsite.

My little princess stripped every huckleberry bush in site and even tried her hand at making huckleberry juice by smooshing them up and putting them in her drink bottle *grin*.

Where we camped it isn't far to the harbor where fishing boats and tugs can be found tied up...

and they have a fair sized dryland sort and booming ground as well :) I always love to see the machines working with the logs. It reminds me of the haydays here when logging was the driving force of our community. My dad was a heavy duty mechanic and fixed the old off road logging trucks and machinery and one of his friends would take me out in the logging trucks every summer. What a blast!! Some of the roads that we took were so narrow that it felt like you had no road to drive on, and then there was the thrill of spinning around in some of the log loaders that clung to the mountainsides like spiders *grin*. There definitely was never a dull moment out in the bush!

Air Nootka also operates out of harbor and the kids got to see one take off while we were there :) Now if only it hadn't been quite so hot it would have been a perfect trip LOL.

I was so happy to finally make it home to the cold and windy north. As I type this the sky has partially clouded over and the wind is screaming in through the windows so hard that it's making everything on the counters and fridge fly all over the place. I am not going to complain because that icy cool wind feels FABULOUS! *grin*.

Hope you all had a great weekend to :)

~ Rosina

Rain Rain Go Away

We've had some pretty wet weather these last few days and today was no exception. Actually as I'm writing this the rain is hammering against the windows as the bird feeders swing wildly and the house groans uncomfortably.

Needless to say we're going a little stir crazy not being able to spend as much time outdoors as we would have liked. So as a fun little outing I packed everyone into the car along with a few school books that we are reading right now and headed down to the wharf.

There we could watch the birds and sea otters play, boats coming and going and get pounded by the rain and wind while still staying dry *grin*. It was a nice change. I read aloud for about an hour while the 3 of them colored and drew pictures to go along with the story in the backseat :)

I hear we're supposed to get the sunshine back by the weekend... boy do I hope so!

~ Rosina

Nature on the Go ~ Outdoor Challenge Day 11

We had to head into town again today so we had nature 'on the go' :)
Hubby headed down to the wharf to check out the new tug boat so we got to watch all of the fishing vessels, sail boats and tugs come and go in the harbor.

We even had a chance to do a little wildlife viewing *grin*. Well a pigeon isn't exactly exotic but the kids found it amusing to watch them strutting around on the wharf :)

And don't forget about the flowers! Isn't the giant teacup super cute?! I had a hard time talking the kids out of begging for me to take it home *grin*. I must say I was mighty tempted to buy it myself! So even though we spent most of the time in the truck and in stores we still had a chance to sneak in a little nature :)

Do you have photos of your children enjoying the outdoors? Visit The Great Outdoors Challenge to join in the fun and you can also visit other participants and see what sort of nature fun they have been having by clicking on the names below :)

~ Rosina

Fellow Nature Players:lisa, sanders, angelina, phyllis, sarah, christie, jennifer, debbie, dong dong, denise, luisa, joy, stephanie, cori, alex, dawn, kristen, catherine, tricia, becky, christy, ruth, kari, courtney, branflakes, jessica, renee, haiku, brynn, amy, clemencia, sherry, leslie, lise, renee, anet, jenn, marina, amy, ella, marcia, karen, beth, julie, kyndale, kelly, lizzie, eileen, ag, mari-ann, cindy, robin, nicole, debbie, julia, anita, lisa, jenn, montessori, marita, jeannie, hallie, mandy, kangaroo, andrea, joey, carmen, teena, stephinie, gidget, elizabeth, emma, rosina, saminda, melissa, katie, becca, atouria, barbara, ariella, missy, elizabeth, sarah, eileen, lisa, stacy, jennifer, tulsileaf, lisa C, morticia, angela, rana, jamie, lisa c, luz, charley, heather, valerie, kirsten, rachel, annie, kendra, beth s, lindsey, michelle, megan, renee