Fall outings and pumpkin love

Fall is one of my favourite seasons - beautiful clear air, blue skies, and cool enough to spend lots of time outdoors. We took the kids to the pumpkin patch and then to the grasslands for a hike last weekend. So much fun! Finn's eyes never left the tractor, and Amelia hunted for the biggest pumpkin she could find.

The hike on the grasslands was a great romp from rock to rock and before long Amelia had demonstrated and then persuaded Finn to leap from the rock into her arms... total trust...

Toad summer

This summer, toads have been plentiful. In fact, we've had a whole colony living in our yard all summer. It started with finding MR. Toad under my kayak in the front yard. He loved it there, and we saw him often. Then the kids brought home a buck of tiny toads from the lake, then another... you can imagine the joy of all the children in our life who came to play at toad world. The sandbox was repurposed as a toad habitat and there was endless searching,  scooping, rescuing, holding and chasing of the tiny creatures. Thankfully they all managed to escape (or were perhaps eaten by birds?) by the end of summer. But it will always be known as Toad Summer.