Me: Go stand by the cannon so I can take your picture.
Ben: But Mummy! I'm not allowed to do that! Can't you see there's a chain around it?!
Me: It's okay.
Ben: really?
Me: Yes.
Ben: Are you sure?

March break day trip to Niagara Falls

We went to the butterfly conservatory, rode on the skywheel and went down to the falls. the weather was great

September camping, so many milestones!

This trip was so amazing in so many ways! We all had a blast. The weather was completely perfect and we had something new and exciting to do every day. From taking a hike along the Bruce Trail, to sitting in a canoe, to just chilling on the shores of Cypress Lake Ben was a joy and a wonderful companion. He has the makings of a true outdoors men. This trip was chalked full of first for him and they were all great!


First sight of a wind turbines on the drive up!


First time in a canoe! We saw a water snake who Andrew picked up of the end of his paddle so that Ben could have a better look. Thereafter whenever we saw an animal Ban demanded Andrew pick it up on his paddle.


First time staying up to see the moon! We tried to wake him after he had already fallen a sleep one night but it just wasn't happening, so the next night we decided to keep him awake until it was dark enough to see the big beautiful full moon, and a night time camp fire. It was really special.


First open air fire! Also the first time eating food cooked over a fire.


First smore! He like the chocolate and the marshmallow. The gram cracker? Not so much.


First time sleeping in tent! (For Ben not Andrew, but I didn't have a picture of Ben in the tent!)


First time in a hammock! He loved it so much. It was great for us too because he was completely contained and required almost no supervision. Occasionally he would demand a new book.


Longest ever car trip! We were planning to stop many more times on the way up for bathroom breaks and to stretch our legs. But we only had to stop once! He was a really pleasure in the car on the way up. On the way back, however, after only about an hour on the road he threw up all over the place. (It was a rental car *sigh*) But nobody's perfect right?


Longest ever hike! He didn't really need a lift but I was willing to indulge since we were walking for such a long time. The funny thing is, after the first long walk, and then playing for hours in the rocks by the Georgian Bay, he didn't even ask for a lift on the walk home! He ran most of the way back.

All in all it was a pretty perfect trip.

Sensory Camp is Awesome! - Even after you leave.

So Sensory camp is over but not forgotten thanks to our little bean and lettuce plants.

Especially in an urban setting, it's easy for people to lose their connection to the natural "wild" world. It's easy to forget that all the food we eat originates in the earth. In a world of intense food processing, fast and faster food, a child's knowledge of food creation may be limited to the super market and the factories where food is packaged and processed.

A vital connection is missing. The connection to the soil and the complex ecosystems that thrive there within making life possible. If parents don't feel that connection to the soil themselves how can they pass it on to their children?

In a world were parks are being replaced by parking lots, trees are be coming rare and manicured grass is the only thing we see ever growing how can parents reconnect themselves?

If they are fortunate enough to have access to some out door soil they can cultivate their own little garden. (Last year we did tomatoes, this year it's pumpkins but we've had a slug invasion so we'll see if any survive.) But, with limited knowledge this is challenging, intimidating even. Surely if it were that easy everyone would do it, right?

Well, one of the things we learned at Sensory camp is that all we really need is a pot, soil, seeds, a sunny window sill, and water to grow our very own "food" plants.

Now we are seeing just how it grows and eventually we will eat some food right out of the dirt! (And yes we did do this at Sensory camp, but this is different because these are plants we have grown ourselves, right from seeds!)

Sensory camps was not only a fun way to to pass the summers day it also taught us some valuable lessons and is allowing us to renew our connect to the soil.




I'll update with more of our plants progress.

Sensory Camp is Awesome!- Day five.

*Big sight*
The last day of sensory camp was a bitter sweet affair. Bitter because it was such a wonderful program and we were all so very sad to see it end and sweet because we got to taste vegetables from the teaching garden and make a tasty face. But I'm getting a head of myself. First things first, I finally got a photo of the legendary manatee on wheels!


We reviewed all the five senses on the green carpet after we were all name tagged and signed in. Then we headed off to the teaching garden For the last time :(
At the teaching garden we planted our very own Bean and lettuce plants. One of the facilitators gave us a quick demonstration on how to fill the pots, put the seeds in and water with a spray bottle.
Then each child got their very own pot with their name on it and planted their beans.

Afterwords the pots were stack in a bin to carry back to the center while we read a book, but , the story was interrupted by a loader bringing logs for a new log circle. It was very difficult to concentrate on the story with that interesting machine doing interesting things.


After the story it was time to harvest some vegetables and have a little taste. We had a walk around the garden and the facilitator identified different vegetables and picked one of each.

Then the children were invited to find, pick, and taste a black bean all by themselves.


For snack time we were able to taste all the other vegetables.
White cucumber, yellow zucchini, yellow beet, and green and red tomatoes.


Ben did not like the zucchini or the beet but he did like the cucumber and the bean. He declined to try the tomatoes as he is not fond of tomatoes. Those of you who know Ben know that he is a very finicky eater and it has always been a challenge to get him to try new foods. I was surprised and delights that he tried so many new vegetables all at once.



During free play one of the little girls tried to teach Ben how to hula hoop. She was pretty good at it too.
Ben made several valiant attempts and then decided to try to pull hula hoops into the tube instead.

After free play it was time for a song and then back to the center for our craft.


On the way back we played follow the leader once again.



Our craft was making a tasty face that we could eat. The pudding was a big hit.




The tasty face disappeared very quickly.


Then it was time to say goodbye to Sensory Camp. But, at least we have a piece of camp to take home in the form of a bean seed which we will hopefully be able to grow into a lovely pant.

Sensory camp is awesome! - Day Four

Today we explored our sense of touch. We started out as per usual with the activities tables and Ben made a bee line for the Manatee with wheels in the bug bucket. Which lead to me having an interesting discussion with another Mother. (I thought Manatees were commonly known, but apparently they are not, well just in case you don't know what I mean when I say "Manatee on wheels" it's like this only with wheels.)
The sun was shinning brightly so off we went to the teaching garden. One of the little girls decided that she was going to hold Ben's hand, and they skipped a long full of care free youthful exuberance.


Ben was unfortunately a little too exuberant and he fell and cut his hand, but I was able to take care of it. with some disinfectant, polysporin, a Wall-E Bandaid, and a kiss.
Then we sang some songs in the teaching garden that involved jumping,


and next the children used their sense of touch to explore objects hidden in a sack to see if they could guess what they were just from touching. We had snack with a story about a spider and his textured web.

At free play time Ben went straight for the watering cans again, and even though I don't like to structure or influence his free play, I felt obligated to tell him that there was a sand pit with shovels.
So he was happily digging away until we were called back to circle. Then he was sad that he didn't have an opportunity to water any plants so we quickly ran over to the watering wheel barrow and quickly water a plant.
After free play my suspicions that the the facilitators at sensory camp are tree huggers was confirmed! ;)
The children had to feel a tree with their eyes closed and try to remember the feel of that particular tree, and then find it again later. It was really sweet and a great activity.
Ben helped tidy up the tube and hoops and we all headed back to the center to do a craft.



On the way back the children demanded to play follow the leader, and the facilatator concented provided that the children stayed behind her, which they did very well.


Then we found out why it is important to stay behind the leader when a little park buggy came zooming down the hill.


Back at the center we made touch paintings with different textured materals and glue.


When we were leaving Ben was sad that tomorrow would be the last day of sensory camp and he was telling me that he hopes school will be just like sensory camp. Sadly he was very disappointed to learn that there will be no teaching garden at school......