Friends and flowers

We spent a pleasant half day with friends at our Botanic Gardens.

Grandma was very impressed with the plants that were in bloom.

We stopped for lunch and a play and then took a stroll around the rest of the garden.

Of course we stopped to examine the giant water lilies(not many in bloom), raced twig boats

 and climbed in a sculpture(work of art?).

We were very pleased to see a family of native wood ducks too!

At the zoo

We decided to visit the zoo again these holidays. Because we are zoo members we can visit any time and the boys generally prefer to go in non-holiday time. however they were both very keen to introduce Grandma to the pandas. We all have our favorite spots in the zoo.

The baby more hens had a great time playing on the lily pads but were a bit anxious that mum might forget them!

One that we all agree on is the Australian rain forest exhibit. It is a cool place to be on hot days and a peaceful environment whenever you visit.

We were fortunate to meet a zoo volunteer when we stopped at the flamingo exhibit. She told us that both flamingos(the oldest exhibits in the zoo) are blind.One is almost as old as Grandma and believed to be one of the oldest in the world.Because of modern-day importation laws, the birds cannot be replaced.

The pandas put on a good performance for us and we didn't have to queue too long to see them.

 And then we were off to the Children's Zoo. To "talk" to Claude and pat some of his mates.

Violin Concert at the Salvos

Once a year and every year since we first started learning violin with her our violin teacher puts on a concert for the older members of the Salvation Army Cor that she attends.

The old folk enjoy seeing the young ones come back each year and as one lady told me"not only grow taller but stand taller in their confidence and ability to play.

None of my children are exactly extroverts so this is a good place to learn to perform in front of an audience. I should point out that this is something their teacher has had to make herself do to. In other words she understands!

The audience is always very positive in their comments(hint:few if any have played the violin so mistakes will pass unnoticed!)

There is always a great sense of camaraderie amongst Jenny's students. This year Jenny asked if our daughter would be willing to play in the concert even though she know longer gives her lessons. Yes it is something we look forward to in our Suzuki violin walk and this year wht could make it better but Grandma was with us as well!!

At Marie's Part 1

take three girls!

Marie invited several homeschool families to her place for  a shared lunch. For once the five families were able to all make it! We all had a great time,playing with our friends, shooting clay pigeons,playing with our friends, riding on farm bikes,playing with our friends,spotting
birds of prey,playing with our friends, cycling,playing soccer,playing with our friends,spotting geese and unusual ducks,playing with our friends,inspecting an amazing garden,playing with our friends,...I think you get the picture!

the gate of bones!

gathering for the shoot

this is how its done!

take aim and...

that was fun!

you remember me don't you!

you know I'm really fond of you

very!