Popsicle Weather

Welcome to July! It's hot. It's sunny. It's flip-flop and bathing suit weather. It's time to eat freezies and play in the water!

Blue and white are Margot's fave flavours.
That's great news for me, since mine are red and purple.

It's also time for late afternoon bike strolls. Destination: the park.
Nothing says "summer" like a child biking to the park with her bathing suit and crocs.
Margot can now ride a bike without training wheels. Yeah! There were a few slow falls and elbow scrapes (and I'm sure there's more to come!); but otherwise, she's been gaining confidence and enjoys biking. She loudly encourages herself:  "You can do it, Margot!"  and sometimes sings while she carefully maneuvers her bike.

This picture was taken 3 weeks ago.
Notice the training wheels.

Summer is also the time to get outside and move!

Margot received the "most improved player of the week" award at her tennis camp.

She really enjoys tennis!

A demonstration

Make sure you eat freezies this summer! Sure, it's only sugary water, but this is the only time of year where you can justify enjoying them!  :)

A Long Weekend in Northern Ontario

We packed our car and headed 6 hours North West to the land of Sudbury. Our primary reason for visiting this part of Ontario was a friend's wedding, but we also decided to take full advantage of the area.

The highlight was our hike on the Chikanishing trail ("Chicka") in Killarney Park.

A rocky, moderate-rating terrain. Luckily, there were red arrows
painted on the rocks indicating where to go.

Margot loved hopping from rock to rock.
She nicknamed this move"the bunny hop"

Almost scrambling

Tree pose with a view of Georgian Bay.

An eagle and a tree balancing in the windswept terrain
(more breezy than windy)

What made this hike fun was the uneven terrain and the company

It wasn't all rock, there were a few forest interludes.
Simon and Margot finding raspberries.
Simon is using his sense of smell to check it they are
poisonous… doesn't smell like it ;)

We went off-course to get closer to the water.
The clear water was quite chilly!
I guess we won't be swimming there today.

The view

In the town of Killarney (population 500), about 10 minutes
outside of the park, there is the world famous "Herbert's Fish & Chips"
There is always a line up (this was at 2:00pm) and we waited
for about 30 minutes.

Margot enjoying the fish and chips.
It was good, but "world famous"? Really? Hum…
Maybe it's because everyone is so hungry after their day in the park
and it's the only place to eat...

We also played tourist in Sudbury and visited the top two attractions:

# 1 - The Big Nickle:

That's the small nickel and the long-gone penny

#2 - Science North Museum 

This museum exceeded my expectations! The layout, interactive displays and enthusiastic staff members made this a fun-filled Saturday.

Margot in the free-flying tropical butterfly gallery
This one who landed on her was a "Queen Butterfly" (related to the Monarch)

She wore an orange vest so it would attract the butterflies.
Behind her is the eclosion cabinet filled with chrysalis.
Most of the butterflies were from South-East Asia and Central America
(there was even a row of chrysalis from El Salvador!)

This is "Plain Tiger" (from Singapore)
Margot loved the butterflies

Margot LOVED touching insects.
This is a true katydids (i think)

A watersnake

Turtle

Petting a tarantula

Walking up the ramp. Fun and sunny!

We went to see a demonstration about air.
That's us in the theatre.

And this is a nice picture of Simon and I at the wedding: