Iceberg

We have been told that if you go kayaking out to see the icebergs, that you should not get too close as they can flip and fall apart.  This iceberg was one whole berg on June 12 but this morning we went to look at it again and it had broken apart. 

All in one piece (taken on a sunny day)

part one (cloudy day)

part two (cloudy day)

Salmonier Nature Park

Salmonier Nature Park provides wildlife rehab, research and environmental monitoring.  They have a small museum with different animal furs, taxidermy, antlers, and other misc. information on native animals and the local environment.  The animals that they are not able to rehabilitate they keep at the park in enclosures.  While there we saw moose, bald eagles, snow owl, peregrine falcon, caribou, wild squirrels, and a brown bunny.  The kids had a good time walking around and trying to find the animals in the enclosures, some were more elusive than others. 
 

Snow Owl

Caribou



Falcon

Bald Eagles

moose, but we think it looks like a donkey with no antlers

Great Horned Owl

Wild squirrel

Snow Shoe hare

 

 

After the park we stopped in Holyrood at one of the rocky beaches to let the kids have a snack and just enjoy some sun.  It was a nice afternoon to be out and just enjoy the day.

 

 

 



Baseball

This week Nathan was asked to play on the grade 6 baseball for a weekend tournament.  They had too many kids for 1 team and not enough for 2 teams.  So some of the grade 5 boys were asked to play on the team.  Nathan agreed and we played 4 games in 3 days.  They lost all 4 games, but had a good time playing.  Nathan played really well and hit the ball right over the middle every time, unfortunately they were not high enough so a few of them were caught and he was out.  It was a fun way to spend the weekend and kept us busy so no one was bored!

Rotary Sunshine Park

The past 2 weekends we have gone to Rotary Sunshine Park for a hike and for fishing.  The first weekend we walked around one of the ponds and then walked over to the second pond to have a snack on the dock while the kids tried to catch these little fish called "pricklies", not sure what the real name is, but they are similar to a minnow in size and have spikes that will prick you if you are not careful.  The kids also dipped their toes in the water to cool off.  It was a nice outing.

The second weekend we brought the fishing gear and tried to catch some trout.  NO luck!!  Not even a nibble.  I take that back Nathan did catch one baby trout that fit in the palm of his hand, it was returned to the water to grow.  We finally walked over to the beach area and the kids enjoy catching pricklies and getting wet.  the water was cold, but the kids did not mind.  It was nice to just sit in the sun while the kids run wild and have fun.



Nathan did catch a baby trout

Snails and Lobsters

The girls have been collecting snails that they find in the flower beds.  So far they have a pretty good collection, I am not sure what they plan to do with them, but they are having fun washing them and feeding them. 

A friend of ours went to by lobsters fresh off the boat on Friday ($5.50 a pound) and he bought four for us.  The kids have enjoyed playing with them and are interested in trying to eat them.  We figured at $5.50 a pound we could afford to have some for the kids, that is cheaper than chicken!!!  the kids were not terribly excited about eating them and did not enjoy the taste.  Paul and I ate 4 lobsters that night.  I will admit that while lobster is nice, I will take crab over lobster any day!   

Nesting Bald Eagle

    Yesterday I was looking at the news and saw that there are a pair of bald eagles nesting not too far from us.  So todays excursion was to go for a hike to find the nesting eagles.  It was not too long of a hike, but there were a lot of stairs and it required a lot of uphill hiking.  The kids did great on the way down, but were a little whiny on the way up.  I can't blame them!  We got to see the nest and there was one eagle sitting on the nest.  There are 3 eaglets that they are sitting on, but we could only see the one eagle.  We did get to see another iceberg, but not too much else.  It was fun to see an eagle nesting in the wild.  So many firsts...

Icebergs

    Today we went in search of icebergs.  I have been told this is iceberg season and we should be getting a lot of icebergs this year.  We drove up the coast abut 45 minutes to Cape St Francis where we saw about 10 icebergs, some were pretty far away and the kids climbed the cliffs to get a better look out.  There were quite a few icebergs close by that we could see.  After Cape St Francis we drove down the coast to the fishing village of Flatrock where we walked out to edge of the cliffs and had a snack.  Flatrock had a lot BIG boulders the girls liked to climb on and Nathan liked investigating the rocks for any neat rocks or animals (dead or alive).  I have been enjoying looking up where the icebergs are at and chasing down the ones that are not too far away.  Looking forward to when the whales come through!

this was taken from Signal Hill earlier in the week



Look to the left of the iceberg and you can see a boat

zoomed in on the boat



Village of Flatrock behind the kids