♫♪ Walk Like an Evening Ship ♫♪

Thursday night was the monthly family night at Layla's school. It was a Halloween themed dance on one side of the gym with games and activities on the other side, and dinner set up in the halls. Dinner...not for us! You think you could get Layla to sit and eat when there was so much fun to be had in the gym? Not likely.

Layla is dressed as an Egyptian this year but she has a hard time saying Egyptian without focusing so when she sings it comes out "Walk like an evening ship".

The photos I took in the gym didn't really work out to well but here's a glimpse of Layla and her friends at the party.

The kindergartners performed a dance that they had practiced only 3 times but it was pretty cute anyways.

Carvin' Up a Good Time

Last week Layla's class went on a field trip to a pumpkin patch. She got to choose 2 pumpkins to take home but somehow, they never made it. Layla said they had holes in them so she didn't want them. Her teacher said she put her name on 2 of them and she definitely had them before home time. My guess? They suffered the same fate as so many sweaters this year, they were abandoned on the playground when it was time to board the bus.

Sunday morning we took the dog for a walk at the beach near Penticton. On our way home Layla was excited to point out the pumpkin patch they had gone to. We decided to stop and pick up some pumpkins. I had never been to a pumpkin patch and Greg hadn't either so we thought we would let Layla show us how it's done.

Thanksgiving weekend's record breaking cold snap was not easy on the pumpkins and many of them were rotting and in rough shape. We did manage to find a few gems and Layla pointed us in the direction of the scale and for less than a twoonie we went home with 2 beautiful pumpkins.


At home we went right to work. Layla was a big help and did a great job cleaning out the pumpkins.
Mmmmm YUMMY!

...and the final result. Cinderella and Princess Jasmine.

Tomorrow? Roasted pumpkin seeds. Can't wait!

Autumn in the Okanagan

Autumn in the Okanagan is just so beautiful I thought I'd share a few photos I have taken this week.

This I took today on my way home from work. It's called Yellow Lake. This is where we went fishing last year. I loved how the clouds moved down the mountain like a waterfall and the serenity of the lonely fisherman on the still lake. Sure my commute is long...but what scenery!

This was taken yesterday on my way home from work. It's close to White Lake and I just loved how the trees were changing color and the way they twist down the hills like a river.

This I took on Sunday on our way home from a walk at Vaseux Lake. I loved the reflection on the clouds in the lake.

Here is Layla at the Vaseux Lake look out.

FIELD TRIP!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to join Layla and her class on a field trip. We went for a walk to see the salmon who have returned to the Okanagan River to lay their eggs.

Our high that day was a frigid 11 degrees so our morning walk was very cold. It seemed like the adults were the only ones who felt it though. Kids just don't seem to feel the cold like we do. By the way, Layla is the girl in the pink jacket and blond braids on top (sometimes wearing a purple hat)

Baron was happy to join the class on their walk. He loved watching all of the children and didn't make a peep the whole 90 minutes we were out there. Very unusual for the Bearster.

Here is Mrs Millward teaching the class about the river restoration project which includes returning the river to it's natural twisty state rather than the straight channel it had been made into years ago. This gives slow moving areas and pools for the salmon to spawn without having to fight the current so hard.

I had a great time and hopefully I'll be able to join them on more of their field trips, they seem to have a tonn of them. So far this year they have gone to a farm and picked a tonn of fruits and veggies (and got to bring them home), skinned a deer, picked grapes at a vineyard and learned how to make them into juice, went to the Nk'mip golf course to run the Terry Fox run, and next week they are going to pick pumpkins from a pumpkin patch to take home. I guess full-time kindergartners have lots of time for extra activities. Lucky girl.

Baking with Grandma

For the Thanksgiving weekend we were thankful to have Grandma and Grandpa Bourne come visit. Grandma thought it would be a good idea to make her famous oreo cookies with Layla. Layla was pretty excited to bake what her Dad promised would be the best cookie she has ever tasted.

Layla got to combine all the ingredients and stir, stir, stir.

Greg was elected the official taster because, well, he had the most experience.

This one was a special cookie Layla made for Grandma with lots of extra cream cheese icing. Oh the sacrifices one makes for their grandchildren.

We all approved of the cookies and had them polished off within 48 hours. Soooo yummy.